Firefly Car Rental

The Firefly car rental experience isn’t a great one, but if your goal is to get a vehicle that will get you from A to B at the cheapest price possible, it’s your company. If you’re looking for good customer service, it’s not your company. I’m giving it three stars because the car that we rented was just fine, and as far as I can tell, there weren’t any hidden charges on our bill. However, I’m not convinced that this is actually a separate company from Thrifty, as I don’t think we interacted with a single Firefly employee. We arrived to pick up our car around 4 PM, and there was nobody at the counter. We flagged down someone from Thrifty, who was able to help us. Same thing when we tried to drop the car off, around 8 PM. The guy couldn’t give us a receipt, but ensured us that he would «take care of it.» There were lots of shuttles running to get to and from the airport, so we didn’t have any issues there. It takes about 10 minutes on the shuttle, so plan accordingly.

I have to say that you can’t beat the price of renting a car from here, but I would think twice before doing so again. When I walked into Firefly (which by the way is in the Thrifty car rental) there was no staff on duty. An associate from Thrifty, who was getting ready to leave work at 6:30 in the morning, offered to help me because apparently they have access to Firefly’s database.
Sure the car was dirty inside and out, which I could probably deal with since the rental was so cheap, but the Chevy Cruze obviously had not been maintained in awhile, as I would find out later. On my drive to Loveland, Colorado I tried to clean the windows, but the wipers were shredded and did nothing to help visibility. It however, only made it worse. I pulled over at the nearest gas station to clean my windows before finishing my drive to Loveland. Days later it was brought to my attention that the back right light was out. Since it was only the white light and not the brake light, I decided not to do anything about it.
When I woke up on January 31^st there was snow covering the car, but to my surprise there was snow also on the seats because the doors had been pried open one too many times at the top and there was a gap wide enough to let the snow in the car. However, I did think this was kind of funny. So I brushed the snow out of the car and off of the windows and I headed back to Denver from Loveland to catch my flight at 4 am. While driving the air pressure light came on indicating that the tire pressure was low on the front left tire. So I pulled over at a gas station and put air in the tire. However, this did nothing to get the light to go off. The roads were covered in snow and ice and all I could do was hope that I would get to Denver safely and without the tire going flat.
When I finally reached the car rental agency at 5:20 am, I was greeted by a Thrifty associate who checked the rental in, but she couldn’t give me a receipt or let me know what my final charges were. She wrote something down on my rental agreement and told me to place it on Firefly’s desk inside the building. She said that the Firefly associates would not be in until 8 or 9 in the morning. I walked into the building which had no lights on and left my rental agreement on the desk as instructed, but it makes me quite uncomfortable to leave my personal information on a desk where anyone could walk in and take it.
While I do appreciate the cost I’m just not sure that Firefly is aware of the liability with these cars. If these cars aren’t going to be generally maintained, I’m afraid to think of what could potentially happen to someone who rents a car that is even worse than the care I was given. It was snowing on my way to Denver and with a tire low on pressure and the wipers in horrible condition, there is the potential of harm to myself or someone else. Luckily it was a Sunday, very little people were on the road, and I maintained a speed that was well below the speed limit in order to get to my destination safely.
Honestly, the price is great, but I would think twice before renting from here again. But thanks Thrifty for checking me in and out both times and being very helpful. I appreciate it!

They must pay their xounter people to be rude and inconsiderate. They must also require that their employees are strung out. Id rather deal with a machine, so rude I left. 1 star too many

You get what you pay for and here, that’s not much. Understaffed and inconvenient, it took the two people at the counter an hour to help four people in front of me. Additionally, when I added my girlfriend as a driver I wasn’t told there would be an additional charge, which almost doubled my original quote from $ 183 to $ 277. I don’t mind paying if I’m told before the fact, but after the fact is bad business and disrespectful of the customer.
I will make it a point to not rent from them, or their parent company Thrifty, as well as let everyone exactly what I think of this half ass operation.

Great service and even better car. I spent and hour and half dealing with idiots and all the other rental places until firefly. I would rent from them again

I scored $ 20/​day car rental on Priceline so I’m willing to cut them some slack. But Denver ClusterFly is the worst car rental to date. ‘We’re new’ is the reason I was given why there is no identifying signage for their shuttle stop at DIA. They had two to three lines w no crowd control, instead of ‘helping the next customer’ it just backed up on the weakest counter (which was the only free counter when I arrived). Despite a 3:30 reservation I am still waiting for a car with a few peeps ahead of me.

FIREFLY IS A TERRIBLE COMPANY.
Terrible from start to finish.
1. There was no sign for Firefly at the rental car shuttle stop.
2. No shuttles came for 30 minutes.
3. Firefly was closes at 10pm and there was no notice given to me that they would be closed
4. Instead I am waiting in the Thrifty line which includes both Firefly and Thrifty customers with only one person helping everyone.
5. Thrifty does not honor your reservation with Firefly. INSTEAD YOU JUST END UP HAVING TO RENT FROM THRIFTY. WTF.
Worst company ever. Don’t EVER rent from Firefly.

If I could give less stars I would. This car better be worth the 1-​hour+ line to check in, the shuttle driver who almost collided with another shuttle, and the finally getting through the line to be told that they don’t know when a car will be ready. Before you ask, we had a reservation, we had a guarantee, and we are still sitting, waiting for a car to be returned, when we should have started our vacation 2-​hours ago. WTF? How the company stays in business, I don’t know… I’m about ready to go to thrifty and pay the additional 60 $ just to get on the road!

HIGH FIVE TO FIREFLY
We were scared about the bad reviews, but we were shocked when we got there, it was some of the best service I’ve seen! The line was reasonable (about 15 minutes) The cars were the cleanest I’ve ever seen! It was spotless! Normally what happens is you pay $ 100 for a filthy car, but here we paid $ 20 for one that was spotless! The cars were not old at all, idk what the reviews were talking about. The cars were brand new! They upgraded us to an SUV for free and our Jeep Compass had less than 3500 miles on it! Firefly was great, especially for the price
TIP– IT MAY BE A CHALLENGE TO FIND, BUT TO GET TO THE RENTAL OFFICE TAKE THE THRIFTY SHUTTLE.

Wow, wish we’d read the reviews before booking a couple months ago. Had reservation, hideously long line with people waiting two hours *after* making it through a forty minute line. Thought it was due to the festival (though still awful with a paid reservation) but lady at thrifty counter (same fleet) said it was normal! Yikes. At the risk of losing all plans for the day we gave up sprinted over to EZ to rent a minivan at cost to us of an additional 150. Just awful.

Warning: save your sanity and move onto another car company. Is saving a few dollars worth waiting in line for 2 HOURS?!? That is literally how long it took to go through the line and get keys finally in hand. Those in line would applaud the lucky ones who got keys after 2-​hours.
Oh, and check the license plate number on the paperwork to the car. Because it may be different and the exit guy will turn you around. It happened twice in the 2-​hours I was trying to get a pre-​reserved reservation. I rarely Unilocal,so when I do, you know it had to be a BAD experience.

I wouldn’t give this place 1 star. They practice illegally. Renting cars they don’t have. Currently I’ve been off the plane for 2 hours. Still no car! If I did my job like this I would be fired! I made my reservation 2 months ago, do you think anyone cares. DO NOT RENT from here!!! If you do, it’s at your own risk.

Arrived for my car at 12:30 for my noon rental. Upon arrival, the lobby was full of guests. I thought that is odd but OK, I have a confirmed reservation, so this should be quick. That was my second mistake, and the first one was booking through them. All of the other people had reservations too, but they had zero cars available. You would think that knowing they had these confirmed customers they would have cars. Not the case. Next time I will pay more and get what I paid for. I ended up having to pay double the rate at another car rental, but was thankful to have a car. Just hoping they don’t charge me for the car they didn’t have.

If I could give negative stars, I would. Arrived at my reservation time, and was told I will have to wait three hours for a car. And the only consideration they will give after talking to the manager is 25% discount. When I insisted on talking to the manger, Keith, and waiting at the desk until he arrived, all I got for my trouble was threats from Keith to not rent me a car at all. Their systems are broken, and their managers are rude. I have rented hundreds of cars in the past, and have never been treated so unfairly and so badly by a car rental company. Firefly, Thrifty, and Dollar are all owned by Hertz. I will be staying away from all of these companies in the future!

If I could give a negative 5 stars I would. I had a car reserved for over a month for 11:00 am and it is now 1:00 pm, they are out of cars, and a car may be available at 2:00??? This place is a mess — the manager has a «not my problem» attitude and the poor gal at the desk is getting beat up. Corporate disconnects your call (3x!) 40 very unhappy people. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

If I could give «no stars» I would. Avoid this subsidiary of Hertz at all costs. Completed the online rental at a good rate for Sept 5^th to 12^th. Flew into Denver early and shuttle took us to the shared office (with Thrifty) at 9:50 pm. After 10 min waiting finally noticed a counter sign telling customers that Firefly closes at 10 pm and to go to the Thrifty counter, «they may be able to help.» Whaaaa? The Firefly guy left his post early because they ran out of cars! Thrifty was more than happy to rent us a vehicle at three times the rate I had confirmed w Firefly. I was incredulous. Spent the next two hours trying to get Firefly’s customer «disservice» to help to no avail. Disgraceful operation. Horrific experience. The fact that this unit is affiliated with Hertz is a blemish Hertz Corp should have removed.

Here’s what Firefly Car Rental did right: They rented us a car at the price we were quoted, which was the cheapest we could find in the area by a decent margin.
Everything else was really horrendously wrong. If you don’t mind awful service, dirty conditions and general frustration… if price is the #1 criteria for you… then I would say go ahead and rent here. Just be prepared for a bad customer service experience.
So where to begin? The Firefly rental terminal shares a space with Thrifty. That is, the Firefly rental counter is a desk stuck on the side of the Thrifty terminal. They share shuttle buses and seemingly personnel. Getting to the rental center was OK. The shuttles are labeled well, it’s easy to find one, the driver was fine. Once we arrived, we got in line to rent our car along with probably half a dozen other people. My husband got in line and I was in charge of wrangling the bags off the bus. As I did, the guy working the counter looked at me and said dismissively, «If you’re here to rent a car, you have to get in line.» I informed him that my husband was already in line, thank you.
He then proceeded to help an elderly gentleman who was in line in front of my husband. He rushed through all of the questions and rattled off his required script. He did not seem to understand that the man was having trouble both hearing him and following him. He did not slow down and acted impatient when the man asked him to repeat himself. When the elderly man finally got his keys for his rental, the young man helping him clicked the keys in the general direction of the parking lot and said, «That’s you right there.» The older man definitely did not follow. It was almost painful to me to watch this interaction, which was incredibly rude to the older man and inconsiderate. The young man helped another one or two people in front of my husband, following the same rude protocol and not seeming even remotely genuine. I also heard him ask the same questions repeatedly. I really think he might have been high — and no, that’s not a judgement or a stereotype.
When it was my husband’s turn, I was not expecting greatness, and we did not receive it. After rolling through the same scripted, insincere bull@%@#$ and asking my husband whether he wanted to buy gas before returning the car or buy it from Firefly about three times, he finally said he would go get our car. I would note also that he did not tell my husband there was a $ 200 credit card hold, even though I’d heard him tell everyone else before us. I checked my credit card the minute we got in the car and sure enough, $ 200 hold. So the insincere schpeel wasn’t even consistent from customer to customer. He also was completely dismissive when the elderly man came back in and asked for help figuring out how to turn the lights on in his car, and he made several people who came in returning cars go back out and check their own mileage — sorry, but isn’t that something an employee should do? Both for service reasons and accuracy reasons?
Anyway, moving on… after standing around for — count em! — 35 minutes, the young man finally caught on to the fact that we were giving him the death glare and seemed to remember that he owed us a car. At which point he told us someone else would be getting our car (wait, we thought you were getting our car!) and then proceeded to actually go hunt down our keys himself, which required him to check with his coworker at a different desk, in the back, back to the coworker, etc. before finally locating the right set of keys. Every single person who was on our shuttle bus got their cars first. This was particularly unwelcomed as it was 10 p.m. and we had a three-​hour drive ahead of us.
Also, during all of this waiting time, we were standing because ALL of the seats in the terminal were absolutely filthy. Covered in stains and unidentifyable food items. So gross that it looked more like a cheap motel truck stop than a depot at a major international airport. So disgusting. Please look at my photo. I didn’t dare even put my bag down on one of the seats for risk of contracting an STD.
As for the car itself, well. We weren’t given the type of car the young man said he was giving us. The car we received had been cleaned but not well. When we returned it and I gave it a once-​over, I found trash under the seats from previous renters. The car did the job, it got us around Colorado while we were there. We were charged the amount we were quoted. The shuttle ride back to the airport was OK, though I didn’t understand why the driver waited for 20 minutes for the bus to fill completely while there were (literally, no exaggeration) three other empty buses lined up behind it.
All told, I’m putting this business on my dead to me list because I value customer service more than a few extra bucks. But if you want a cheap rental and service is OK to be sacrificed because you need to save every penny you can, Firefly will probably do the job… eventually.

The first-​tier rental agencies at DEN are open 24 hours. Firefly closes at 10 p.m., but will allow you to book an online reservation for pickup at that time or later and then leave you high and dry when you arrive. They share an offsite building and counter with Thrifty, who despite being part of the same corporate entity (Hertz) cannot access Firefly reservations and will offer laughable walk-​in rates as an alternative. Poor experience.

I hardly ever wrote a review — only if the service is exceptional (good or bad). This falls into the latter. One service desk staffed with apathetic agent (one) and manager (that solved no problem). After a long wait, (40 minutes), they finally got me a car — keep in mind that I booked on Priceline with flight info so this should have been a simple pickup. I got to the older Malibu and turned it on. I was instantly greeted with ‘service engine’. They charge an additional $ 3.65 per day which I reluctantly paid. It didn’t work.
I went to the desk and they proceeded to take another 30 minutes to try and find a working car.
They are pathetic, not empathetic and run a poor service… The minor savings is not worth it. Avoid them at all costs.

I’m glad I have this new option at DIA!
Just rented a car for two weeks and I’m a fan. Why?
+ The rental desk staff did not hassle/​guilt-​trip/​play mindgames over additional insurance options. They simply confirmed the choice I made online.
+ While I received the dreaded «free upgrade» and I just wanted a fuel-​efficient economy car, I was pleased the upgrade did give me 35mpg.
+ Changing the return date on my rental was a breeze.
+ Once again, THE STAFF (and prices) make this my new BEST OPTION. Each person I encountered respected time and was so polite and cheerful it was almost creepy.
I selected Firefly simply based on their rate, and was worried because of other experiences I’ve had with budget-​friendly DIA car rental vendors. However, so far Firefly is the perfect trifecta– Rea$onable, Friendly, Competent.
I’ll definitely try to rent from Firefly again!