Thrifty Car Rental - Panama City Tocumen International Airport - PTY - Panama

I was quoted a total price online via PRICELINE for $391.59. When I arrived at the location, Thrifty Employee Abraham told me that under Panama law he cannot accept insurance provided by my credit card company Chase and I will have to purchase Thrify's coverage or he will not release the car to me. Accordingly I purchased this coverage to get the vehicle. Later I did online research and found out that Abraham misstated the facts to me and my credit card provided insurance would have been fine. Upon return, I saw Abraham and he flatly denied that he required Thrifty's insurance. He said that he told me that he could accept my credit card insurance and I chose to purchase Thrifty's insurance. Abraham simply lied to me . My online reasearch shows that this is the way Thrifty does buisness in Panama. I understand that this is a franchise but Thrifty's Brand Protection should take corrective action. Upon my return I called Thrifty's Customer Service and was told that since this is a franchise Corporate office cannot do anything about it. I am a lawyer by profession and I refuse to believe that Thrifty's Brand protection cannot take corrective measures. I ask that your office look into this and refund the excessive charge of $608.85.

Solicite la covertura minima necesaria y me engañaroj por no ser local!! Me cobraron add ups que no eran necesarios!! Primera y ultima vez que rento con esta compañia.

VIA GOOGLE TRANSLATE:

Ask for the minimum coverage required and I engañaroj not be local !! They charged me add ups that were not needed !! First and last time renting with this company.

I just wanted to express the satisfaction i had when renting a car at Thrifty in Panama City. I was recommended to take the Standard Protection Package which covers me for all important things...Car 100% and liability to $300K. I didn't want any worry, and I did not want to rely on any kind of coverage I thought I might have. I know my credit card says they cover me, but I fell for that once before in Las Vegas and after having an accident, I learned the hard way that they do not cover "EVERYTHING" as they claim they do, so I figured that I would not like to take such a risk like that in Panama. After all I was there for business and pleasure.
The agent was great, very nice, and I was nice too, maybe that is why they gave me a nicer car than the one I reserved.
I had a great experience. Sometimes people slip through the cracks, and those are the ones who write negative blogs, which I totally understand, so I wanted to balance things out a bit with my positive experience blog.

I was very disappointed with the service I received at Tocumen airport in Panama. When I arrived, I was given 3 quotes on a piece of paper for "insurance " without the breakdown. All the quotes were above 500 dollars when my reservation was 45 dollars. I was given misinformation from the check-in agent. He not only said all insurance was mandatory, but he also treated my transaction as a "debit" instead of a credit card, which I later learn was different. The check-out agent informed me that all the insurance was not mandatory that I could have just covered the car, and they only require mandatory insurance for debit cards and I used a Master Card.