3,707 reviews
- Yes
- ·
- No, I received a worse vehicle
- ·
- No, I received a better vehicle
Awful company. Beware of scummy hidden costs! Worse than it's competitors. They say "bargain" but have hidden ways to rip you off. Car was sub par a well. Easily the worst deal I had in the car rental market over the last 5 years. Show details
This is the second time we've used Bargain Car Rentals in Tasmania, once from Hobart and now Launceston. Both experiences have been very positive - great staff, good vehicles and good prices. A pick & drop off is available service from and to the airport, and the office is less than a 3 minute drive. Convenient, efficient and trustworthy operation from our two experiences.
We normally always use bargain car rentals and have had previously excellent service. This time around we used a shuttle pass to and from the airport. We had the same driver and elderly gent and he was terrible in his service. I made him aware that the seatbelt in my wife’s seat did not function. He was not interested and my wife travelled in an… Read more
unsafe unrestraint bus to the depot. We got the same fellow on the way back and service was again terrible. I will not be doing business with Brisbane again based on this experience.
Reviews with attachments
Great experience: clean car in good shape, unlimited km perfect for long drives, pick up drop off was quick. Show details
Great vehicle for the money. Highly recommended this car. Customer service fare. Show details
We loved our car it was perfect for what we needed The whole process from the initial booking to pick up and drop off was all to easy Definitely value for money and great service I recommend getting the comprehensive insurance as it gives you total piece of mind highly recommend Show details
Its a perfect place get rental for a bargin! All instructions for vehicle pick was stright forward to me. Show details
The customer service was friendly and brief us on the rental details including what and where to park when returning the car back to Hobart Airport. Show details
This is one of my best experiences with car rentals! The customer service team was very friendly and helpful. They allocated a car with a bigger boot so all our luggage would fit. They also gave very detailed information about the car rental process and gave us an extended time to return the car. My family and I were very appreciative and grateful… Read more
for all that they have done out of goodwill. The car was also easy to drive and we had no issues throughout. Will definitely consider them when looking for car rentals when I next visit! Kudos to the team! ✌
Our visit to Tasmania would not be complete without Bargain Car Rental, was a great deal and the MG/HS was very good to drive and excellent on fuel. Show details
Overall our experience was good....however when we got to Brisbane Airport the "instructions" to get to the pick up point were very brief for a dyslexic person to comprehend. I doubted myself even when I was at the correct "bus stop." Our driver was "under the pump" and seemed decidedly stressed at 8.45am so I hoped the rest of his day went… Read more
better. I was at least reassured that it seemed we'd be getting to our hire car eventually? It turned out to be a peak morning with many more wanting to get on the limited mini bus type van. At the Office there were people everywhere looking decidedly vacant & worrisome. I persevered. Our Cashier was friendly, knowledgeable & speedy making that the best part of the process. Our lil MG3 served us very well for the week & racked up some regional k's easily. Totally a satisfied customer overall, just really felt for the Staff & the pressure they were under which rubbed off onto our consumer experience with other customers commenting amongst ourselves on how stressed out they appeared.
- +7
The Melbourne office of bargain CR left the car wet with water droplets to hide the many scratches that were on the car. Then when I asked the car cleaning staff if they could try it, they through me a towel. Once I finished, it was incredible just how many bad scratches was on the MG vehicle. Show details
Find out how Bargain Car Rentals compares to other Direct Car Hire
Know better, choose better.
The worst insurance coverage I’ve ever seen on a rental car and I’ve rented many times all over the world. Before booking read the terms and conditions because the insurance coverage is very limited and unusual. Eg- You are not covered for hail damage or hitting an animal, (neither of which were covered in the standard rental insurance). It all… Read more
renders travel insurance covering rental car excess of limited use. Based on this it seems you could hit a kangaroo or the car ruined by hail, write off the car and be up for the full cost of the entire car regardless of your travel insurance excess coverage. So maybe you have to feel lucky to rent with Bargain. Apart from the unique insurance arrangements the customer service was good and the car was clean and had no problems.
Latest follow-ups
Could not recommend this company more highly. The staff are friendly AND efficient, check out & drop off effortless and any minor problems are ironed out quickly and effectively - they give car rentals back a good reputation (unlike other companies we have used previously) We will definitely be back! Show details
Follow-up · The minor problem was a small defect. Another car was offered but as we were happy with the car we had the defect was fixed at a service provider at our next destination. Such great service and made our holiday stress free!
We arrived at Brisbane airport and left our details for the shuttle bus pickup as instructed. Arrived at the pickup point to see the shuttle and driver parked. We approached with our bags, and the driver entered the vehicle and departed without us.… Read more
I rang the shuttle number and left our details again and details of what had happened. I also called the Bargain Brisbane (07) 3077 6807 and was on hold for over 30 mins before hanging up. The shuttle bus arrived over an hour later. We collected our vehicle. The interior had not been cleaned including spilt soft drink residue over the rear seats. I brought this to the attention of an employee in the yard who proceeded to the wash bay. Another employee arrived with a cleaning cloth and proceeded to clean the rear window!! I showed him the state of the interior and seats, but he did not appear to understand English, so already being over an hour late, I cleaned it myself and got out of there. My company and I will not be back!
Follow-up · Got an email from Bargain 2 weeks later saying they had passed the feedback on to the Brisbane office... care factor? Nil.
Bargain Car Rentals Gold Coast Airport The process of booking and the price of the rental are great. The staff were friendly and helpful. Insurance is confusing. BCR make it sound like you are taking a risk and don’t have insurance if you don’t… Read more
choose one of their additional options. After a few phone calls I ascertained that the car is actually insured at a base level, and my travel insurance would cover the rest. The shuttle bus pick-up at the airport went well. BCR sent a text message with a simple map, but also a Google Maps link, to the pick-up location. The car was fine. I made sure it had Car Play for GPS, however the radio was on but not tuned into a station and I had no idea how to turn off sound of the radio without turning off the sound for the GPS.
I have scoured the emails to find any instructions and expectations for the return of the vehicle and can’t find anything. I was led to believe, over the phone - there’s nothing in writing - that a shuttle bus would be available to take me to the airport upon return of the car. From what I can work out, there is only one shuttle bus, so if you miss it by a minute, you could be waiting quite a while for the next shuttle bus. I recommend allowing at least an hour for getting back to the airport before your baggage drop off closing time. I was told the shuttle bus would be there in 5 minutes but it was actually 20 min - I missed my baggage check in and flight, at a cost to me.
From the instant I arrived at the Gold Coast (and maybe before), I was spammed with emails and text messages about giving feedback and reviews. I received at least 10 communications during my rental period. If I hire a car again, I’ll probably still will use Bargain Car Rentals, but I will definitely leave excess time if I want to depend on the shuttle bus for getting back to the airport.
Follow-up · I didn't work out the car radio - I just put up with the fuzzy sound. :( I pretty much wanted a car that had indicators and windscreen wipers on the same side as my own car, and I wanted some kid of gps, either additional or built in. As I already outlined, the return process was disappointing. There was no shuttle bus to take me to the airport… Read more
Positive reviews
Picked up car at Cairns Airport. Shuttle was efficient as was hiring process. Got a quote from Avis which nearly three times higher than Bargain (through Booking.com). Arranged insurance through a third party provider. MG was ok - you get what you… Read more
pay for! Drop off was a little chaotic, like another reviewer I was told to get on the hiring queue - didn’t and threatened to walk off wherein a person miraculously appeared. Shuttle to airport takes up about 20 minutes (which is what they promise). All in all though, a very satisfying experience.
Follow-up · Reader's questions: Third party insurance easy? Yes, very easy. I booked the hire car through Booking.com and the third party insurance was offered at that time. There was a premium to pay which was far less than the usual 'add on' and the company contacted me before the hire period started to confirm coverage. Shuttle wait times reasonable?… Read more
Second time customer of Bargain Car Rentals. Airport shuttle missed us first time around. With our flight arriving 4 hours late, Pickup went OK despite us having to do so shortly before their Office closed. This time, we got the car we booked: an MG 5, way nicer than the MG 3 we had last time. The MG 5 was in great condition with less than… Read more
30,000 km covered. We drove it for 571 km adding a total of 43.7 litres of 91 octane fuel. That's 13 km per litre: surely too high ? Maybe it wasn't really full on Pickup... Anyway, it was very comfortable and pleasant to drive. The large boot took our 2 suitcases easily. Only issue: it was hard to get enough ventilation without using Air Con. Dropoff was not so good: we handed over the keys and the lady said to go to the Office. There was a long queue of folk collecting their rentals. When we got to the front of the queue, the lady simply said you are good to go. Suggestion: if all is found well with the vehicle on Dropoff, perhaps we could have been told that right away: we would have been out of there 30 minutes earlier...
Not the car I booked. Vehicle performance was noisy and cluncky. I do not recommend hiring MG. As for the staff STAR SERVICE. Punctual and helpfull and on point. Therefore because of this I must honestly give the 5 STAR rating. I was impressed with their customer care, service and diligence as well as EASE of transactions. All the best for your future business. Thankyou guys Show details
Negative reviews
The Hobart airport staff from the supervisor down are inflexible and mean spirited. On returning the car we were told that it was in the wrong park and were told to place it elsewhere but only given brief garbled directions. No offer to relocate the car themselves. Having a second shot at parking the car we had to proceed through a boom gate and… Read more
noticed the staff of six waiting for us. It was to intimidate us because they would not sign off the return and required us to find the specific park, again refusing to help. AVOID this business
Whilst the shuttle bus Drivers are outstanding at doing thier job. Be careful of the sales pitch for added insurance when getting your keys. Check if you have insurance before hand and dont let them convince you in the moment that you need it when you may have it already. On a positive note the car I had was great to drive and had no issues with the vehicle at all was extremely clean and well maintained. Show details
Find out how Bargain Car Rentals compares to other Direct Car Hire
Know better, choose better.
When you go and pick up the car, they tell you the insurance you've already bought isn't good enough, and say you'll still be liable for a $5,500 excess and $160 per day fee if something goes wrong with the car regardless if it's your fault or not. They charged me an extra $150 for 3 days, more than the rental itself. I booked it months ago at no… Read more
point was this explained prior. Ive booked cars with other companies and never had this problem, really bad customer service and EXCESSIVE price to pay for insurance. Avoid!
Recent reviews
One star because 0 isn’t available. You get what you pay for. The vehicle I paid for had mechanical issues and was a serious safety risk in city traffic and on highways. This company should be ashamed of themselves for not maintaining their fleet. Absolute disgrace and nightmare collection process. Show details
Service was very poor. Windscreen was chipped, and when we called to ask for advice, we were told we had to return to Hobart, regardless of the fact that we were closer to Launceston to swap our car. We weren’t able to fully ensure the second car, even though the windscreen chip was not our fault. This meant we had $199 which they refused to… Read more
refund instead, insisting to make it a credit note or still trying to get our money back from this company. Be very, very careful.
I had receipt stating I owed $130.24 when I collected the car after paying deposit and selected premium insurance Get to counter and they hit you another $44.95 per day for there so called platinum insurance What a bloody joke the insurance was dearer than hire Total rip off Show details
Booked on the phone with every T… Booked on the phone with every T crossed, I arrive to pick my car after a 6 hours flight 1 day before my brothers funeral and I’m told I need a permanent address after not been told that, scum of the earth doing that! If you choose to hir one of there cars RED LINE IT and cr#p in the glove box for me! Pure scumbags! Show details
Be extremely careful at the counter. My Auto Europe voucher required a $500 refundable deposit, but Bargain used this figure to trick me. The agent requested $500, leading me to believe it was the hold; instead, they processed it as a non-refundable "Platinum Insurance" fee. They effectively "double-sold" me insurance I already had, disguising a… Read more
fee as a deposit. Check your contract: if they charge $500 but write "$1.00" in the deposit box, you’ve been had.
Additionally, they have predatory toll policies. Unlike mainstream agencies that cap daily fees, Bargain charges a $5.00 admin fee PER TOLL GANTRY. I was charged $90 in fees alone for $125 of tolls.
Finally, the car was poor value: an old, worn vehicle with over 100,000km and doors that didn't align properly from a previous accident. They charge premium prices for end-of-life vehicles and use fine-print deception to inflate costs. Avoid them and use a reputable global agency.
Waited in the very long queue for over an hour to be served. Only one person was working at the reception. If they have this amount of customers at the very least hire another receptionist. They were also so so slow at serving each customer. I’ve booked many times other car rentals such as budget and hertz and euro car and never ever had to wait… Read more
long in the queue and also was quickly served. The car I got had one blown headlight which made it very dangerous driving at night. Obviously they are not doing proper checks before renting out a vehicle. I have the feeling this franchise won’t get as high or as good as the others such as budget direct or hertz and so forth. This car rental is cheap for a reason which is huge delay in service probably not worth the bargain.
Dont be fooled. They keep your credit card No and you may think you have insurance cover but you dont. This company charged my credit card $14,000 when a tree fell on my vehicle. Despite the sales person telling me something different, their fine print says otherwise. They didnt care, just charged my card in small increments until it maxed out - on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Please be very careful Show details
ProductReview.com.au has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence our content moderation policies in any way, though ProductReview.com.au may earn commissions for products/services purchased via affiliate links.