Drivalia UK Reviews 

Great deal from James in customer support, extremely helpful, highly recommend.

The staff Alan and rohit made the process easy and smooth and Nick the manager was great helped us, the car was great we loved the drive and the experience

Rohit and Alan both are great,, would definitely recommend Drivalia Belfast

It was great dealing with Abs when we picked up the car on 4th August. He upgraded us to a better car and deal for a reasonable fee
He set up our phones for Android auto and showed us around the car and was very friendly and knowledgeable

I can recommend Drivalia and Abs highly
John

Excellent service the staff for car and van rental

DO NOT USE! Get you to sign agreements before you seeing the car, get you to sign for damage photos that are up to two years old then when you return the car claim you have caused damage that has miraculously move from 2 year old photos!!! BEWARE!!

Very easy to deal with. Great service. Great bunch of lads. Thanks chaps

Extremely well done to the team here. Very smooth handover and easily managed. Thanks see you next time when I’m in the city

I did not get the call handler's name but he was very patient, helpful and threw in a extra milage at a reduced rate. very impressed!

Booked via easyJet/CarTrawler for a family wedding trip to Belfast. At the Drivalia desk we got hit with two charges we weren't properly told about: £202.18 because we didn't have a credit card (only a debit card), and £72.01 for crossing from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland, which was never mentioned at booking.

The credit card requirement was buried as one vague line in a long confirmation email ("a credit card... for deposit purposes") five months before travel. It only became clear it was mandatory, and that a debit card would be refused outright, in a reminder email 4 days before pickup. By then it was too late to sort out. The cross border charge wasn't disclosed anywhere before we got to the desk.

We weren't the only ones either. Three other families travelling for the same wedding were caught out by the exact same credit card issue on the same day. Looking at other reviews here, this seems to be a recurring pattern rather than a one off mistake.

It turned what should have been a straightforward pickup into a stressful, expensive start to an important trip.

If you're booking with Drivalia, read every line of every email closely, and call ahead to confirm exactly what card and documents you need. Don't just rely on the booking confirmation.

If you paid by debit card, ask your bank about a chargeback. If it's not resolved, small claims (MCOL) is an option for amounts like this.

Excellent experience. Superb vehicle. Friendly staff at Gatwick North Terminal.

Booked our car for 11 am, no car yet at 1pm.

We turned up this morning to pick up the car and we did not have a PHYSICAL credit card for holding the deposit. This was our bad for not reading the T&C. However, they were not ready to help figure out a solution; despite having driven there with 2 little boys and being clearly distressed. The only option they gave us was to pay 400 GBP for full insurance (when we had already paid premium insurance via a third party when we did the booking). All in all, paid 254 to not drive a car. Will never user Drivalia, nor Easycars again.

Drivalia (Heathrow) were awful. The shuttle bus was infrequent and then the journey took half a hour to reach them. They did not have the car we had pre-booked and insisted on charging us to upgrade to another vehicle. The vehicle had allegedly been cleaned, but still contained items and clothing from the previous renter. We complained to the broker company we had booked it through, and Drivalia lied to them about what had happened. They are by far the worst rental company we have ever encountered.

My booking was done by booking.com. The rental car showed signs of heavy wear and tear and hadn't been cleaned—there was animal fur in the trunk. There was an information (warning) relatet with oil inspection out of date. However, the worst issue was that the car was handed over without two existing defects being noted in the handover report (even though four others were listed). Even after we brought this to the staff's attention, the report wasn't corrected, and the matter was dismissed as trivial. Yet, upon the car's return, those very two defects were subjected to close scrutiny. Had we not taken photos when we first picked up the car, we almost certainly would have lost our security deposit.

A big thank you to Sanj and Moss for their excellent service. I highly recommend Drivalia around the world.

I want to preface this by saying that I worked in rental cars for years so I understand the process. I had an extremely disappointing experience with Drivalia that nearly derailed the start of a three-week holiday in the UK.

I was ready to make my booking online when I contacted Drivalia's online chat to ask a simple question about collection arrangements. The chat agent advised they could make the booking for me instead and offered a discount, free cancellation, and a free additional driver. I agreed and received a confirmation email (I now realise this was to allow booking and collection agents to gain a commission which they wont for online bookings).

Unfortunately, the chat agent failed to update the pickup time and left it at the 9am system default. As a result, when we arrived to collect the vehicle, we were told we had been recorded as a "no-show" and our car had been given to someone else.

What concerned me most was that staff confirmed no attempt had been made to contact us before the vehicle was reallocated. This would have identified the booking error and avoided the entire situation.

I accepted that mistakes happen and initially expected Drivalia to resolve the issue by providing an alternative vehicle. Instead, the only option offered was a replacement vehicle costing approximately £630 more than our original £575 booking.

At that point we were overseas visitors, carrying significant luggage, stranded at an industrial estate, and being told our only option was to pay more than double the agreed rental price. We were also told that no manager was available, they have no telephone, and no means to contact head office or the reservations team, this seems implausible.

Despite being told there were no cheaper alternatives available elsewhere, I searched online myself and quickly found another rental company with a substantially better price. When I asked for assistance getting there, the request was initially refused before the staff member eventually agreed to take us.

As someone who has worked in rental car management for many years, I found the handling of this situation far below the standard I would expect. Booking errors can happen. The real test of customer service is how those errors are resolved. In this case, Drivalia created the problem, failed to contact the customer before releasing the vehicle, and then attempted to charge more than double the original booking price to fix it.

At best this is complete failure of all customer service responsibility, at worst this is a deliberate tactic to extort more money/commission from customers you know are in a vulnerable position.

The experience left me with no confidence in the company's customer service, booking processes, or commitment to resolving issues fairly.

Car was good. Getting it took a while as they were very busy. Checking it back in with Abdullah was smooth

After a bad experience with them a couple of years ago I thought I'd give them another go as it was short notice and there wasn't much choice. I should have known I'd regret it. Because my booking was using the name I normally use, my middle name, rather than the first name on my passport, they said I'd have to pay an extra nearly £40 per day for extra insurance. Booking was still fine but I'd have to pay nearly 300 extra. Of course, something like amending the name is just far too difficult. Extortion.