Drivalia UK - BIRMINGHAM INTL AIRPORT Recensioni 

I booked a Mini Electric car through the third-party website Discover Cars and arrived at the supplier office, Drivalia UK, to pick it up. However, this company requires a high deposit and insists on accepting only credit cards with embossed numbers.

In the UK, most banks now issue credit cards without embossed numbers. I presented two credit cards issued by UK banks, but the Drivalia UK receptionist refused to accept them, claiming that it was my problem for not having an embossed card. (How is that my fault? I don’t control how banks issue cards!) They weren’t even using old roll-over card processing machines, so this requirement seemed like an excuse to reject customers booking through third-party websites.

As a result, Drivalia refused to honor my original booking and instead offered a different rental plan at 2.5 times the original price.

The entire experience felt like a scam. As I left the counter, I overheard another staff member trying to sell the same overpriced rental plan to another customer. This made me suspect that this is their standard sales tactic:

1. Advertise a low rental price to attract bookings.
2. Refuse to accept the customer’s credit card using a made-up excuse.
3. Offer an alternative rental plan at a significantly higher price.

This seems like a dishonest business model. Be aware—do not book with Drivalia!

BEWARE!! You will end up paying far more than you thought. I booked and paid for a car rental at Birmingham airport in October 2024. Upon pick up, I said I had adequate insurance cover for the excess so did not require full insurance. I had my credit card used on many other occasions for this purpose. I was told that my card was declined so I needed to pay for the insurance cover. We tried three times. I needed the car and as the pick up site was off site (not at the airport) there was no other option than to pay. I checked my bank account and the credit card authorisation had gone through as normal - three times. I asked for a refund after sending them the proof of the three transactions but the customer service is non existant. I tried to go to the ombudsman but of course (as I needed the car and needed to sign the contract to get it) they couldn't do anything as they had a signed contract. I ended up paying three times the original cost of the rental. I think they are operating a scam and have urged the ombudsman to investigate them further. Look at other review sites - they generally get terrible reviews and quite a lot of them are for the same issue that I had.

I had booked the car via the Easyjet website. Upon arrival at the rental check in desk, I was asked for the paper copy of my UK driving licence. As I did not have this, I was asked to make contact with NI Direct to obtain a share code for my driving licence. I had difficulty obtaining the code. In order to have the car released to me, I had to pay £140.00.
I had hired a van from this Company in April 2024 and was not asked for the paper copy of my licence or a share code. This appears in my opinion to be double standards.
I was advised that this was a new ruling.
I had hired a car in October 2024 from another Company and was not asked for the paper copy of my licence or a share code.
I think this Company needs to move with the times and stop asking for paper copies of UK driving licences.
A disgruntled customer who is out of pocket to the tune of £140.00 that I have no recourse to a refund even though there was nothing mentioned about this amount. Renters beware.

BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT DRIVALIA OFFICE CLOSES AT 8PM!!!, as I found out when I arrived to pick up my hire car. Left literally stranded with my 85 year old mother! Paid in advance in December. No one informed me about office closing hours and I do not see this important information written on any of my booking forms. Thankfully HERTZ came to the rescue and were more than helpful. It was worth paying the extra to have a proper service. I won’t be using Drivalia again.

Having been let down by another hire company, Drivalia were able to provide a vehicle whilst all others at Birmingham airport were unable. Sammi was extremely helpful in providing a vehicle and providing a lift to and from the airport. Service was exceptional

Again i have to shout out to Amaan at Drivalia BHX, this person is very polite friendly and informative i was very happy to experience this wonderful service from Drivalia BHX, keep up the good work wishing all the staff a happy and prosperous new year...

£1500 DEPOSIT! AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE.

I rented a car from them at the Birmingham airport branch for 35 days, good price, picking up the car everything went smoothly, when I returned the car very straight forward no drama, got my deposit back after a few days, I will rent again from them.

Flight was delayed. Shop shut at 8pm. At 19:50 we were told they would call us back in 10. Little did we know that the phones were then closed at 8pm so was left without a car to leave the airport. Luckily we were staying in the city if we had plans to travel to a different city we would have had to have paid for a hotel etc. Had to get a taxi back in the morning to find out that they do not accept credit cards that are not embossed meaning we had to pay a cash deposit. Initially they said we had to pay £420, after refusing they lowered this to £300. Quite a ridiculous small print as most company’s do not give out embossed credit cards any more. However I am sure they know this already - it felt like a scam. Staff were nice but not very forthcoming/empathetic.

I have been using Drivalia at Birmingham Airport for a couple of years now, and would not hire anywhere else.
All of their staff are courteous, professional and helpful and always with a smile. From the pick up driver to the branch manager. It’s the reason I keep up the repeat business every time I come back to the Uk to visit my family.

Smooth booking, getting the car and returning. All went perfectly smoothly. Staff very kind and professional. Car I got was in a very good condition.

Awful company. Car is fine but they try and charge you for anything and everything after you leave the car back. Tried to accuse me of missing fuel even tho the condition report they sent me after clearly showed it had more fuel in the tank than when I got it. I rang straight away when I got the bill. Assured it was a mistake and they would sort it. Money was still taken from my account. Had to ring and request a refund, after being told it was 10 days to refund. No money after 10 days no money after 20 days. Rang several times to get told many different stories about it not being processed and delays in refunds. Company is an absolute joke. Avoid at all costs.

From the moment I started filling out details the customer service rep could see my credit card sitting on the counter (not with the old fashioned embossed numbers) and he waited until the last moment to say we won't accept that cause its not got raised numbers. He tried to then sell me the premium insurance to take the excess to nil. Why can they not use a credit card that doesn't have the numbers raised? the banks have discontinued making these cards because of fraud so why would you have them in your terms and conditions as being the only ones allowed? They cancelled the booking and I got charged a £31 fee. So walked out of there after an hour waiting with no hire car and minus £31. Birmingham Airport branch but I imagine its in all franchises. Scammers!!!
Green Motion in the airport train station are just as reasonably priced and they didn't need the old fashioned credit card with the raised numbers. Probably because its a load of rubbish!

Booked car for collection at 8pm. Flight was a little delayed but not much phoned ASAP when landed to get a recorded message saying the office was closed. Apparently they close at 8pm even though that's the exact time we had booked our car for!! At no point in the booking process were we made aware of this. We were left stranded with our family at the airport, in the freezing cold with a storm incoming. We had provided our flight number when booking so they could see where we were at, plus we were only delayed by 20 mins. We spoke to them first thing by phone this morning to complain and they couldn't have been less interested. They're cheaper than other companies but it's honestly not worth the hassle.

I've had several positive experiences with the Drivalia team at Birmingham airport. From the speed of service to the friendly staff, and through to clean and quality cars. I would highly recommend.

The car collection from Birmingham airport branch on 5th Nov, was a smooth and fast service, the car was clean & ready, known marks and paint defects were advised and sent on email. I explained to the manager that as a result of flight time change, l would need to return te car earlier and needed to be at the airport soon after 8am. She said no problem lm normally here upto an hour before we open, l will drive you to the airport in time. On return on Friday the 8th Nov. She was ready and ten mins later l was dropped off, l know that she had12 years car hire experience in Derby before bringing her 5* customer service to Drivalia.co.uk, what service! We'll done to her & team! Be back! Paul Sedgwick. Spain.👍😎

I rented a car at Birmingham Airport in August 2024.
Unfortunately my flight got delayed. I called Drivila to inform them that I would not be able to maintain my pickup time. On the phone they were very friendly and said they would cancel my booking to avoid unnecessary cost. Instead, they would make sure a car would be available at the time of my delayed arrival and that I just had to turn up, make a new contract and I would get a car.
After a horrible trip with 8 hours delay and little sleep, I turned up at the Drivila agency as agreed. There, I learned that they had no cars left, my contract had NOT been cancelled, and that they refuse to refund me because apparently I had not turned up for my pickup in time. I am trying to deal with this situation since. As of November 2024, I contacted Drivila customer services 3 times via their official complaint route. I got one reply from the branch manager that she would forward my request and I am being ignored ever since.
Needless to say that I cannot recommend this agency. If you want to have a company that does not have your back at all times, makes use of vulnerable client situations and ignores you afterwards, whilst keeping your money, go Drivila.
I hope this helps other people to prevent Problems.
Best,
Chris

I had the worst experience for car hire for the past 20 years. Major delays as everyone had problems with their contracts. When I went to pay my credit cards were refused, even though they were recently issued and I had a Mastercard and a visa card. In the small print it states the card must be embossed- something that is no longer a requirement or provides any added security. This left me with no other option but to take out full insurance with Drivalia (I already had insurance) and I was charged a staggering 50£ a day! I was so delayed and just wanted to get out of there so I agreed to pay and got my car. Later I met another customer who had the same problem and they said they pushed back and the price was dropped by half! I realize now I should have questioned the cost but I never thought it necessary to haggle for insurance in the UK. Lesson learned I will never book with this company again and want to warn others upfront so you can make a more informed decision that I did.
Drivalia have contacted me, after I posted this message on trustpilot, to say they will refund me the cost of the extra insurance. I will confirm once I’ve received this on my account.
Final update: the branch manager at first confirmed I would be refunded, but when no refund had arrived I queried when would the refund happen. I got a follow up message then to say actually no refund would happen as I had signed at the desk for the extra insurance. So in the end no recognition of any kind that their process is unfair to the customer, no reference to them over charging regarding the excess insurance I was made to take, and to add to it just wasting my time post service. So no change to the rating I gave, I would give lower if I could.

I booked a hire car through the car rentals app with Drivalia from Birmingham Airport. I was told to call Drivalia when I arrived at the airport and they'd send a shuttle bus to pick me up and get the car. I phoned them continuously for 25 minutes with no reply. Finally someone picked up and said a shuttle bus would come. I waited a further 40 minutes and the shuttle didn't turn up and nobody at Drivalia answered the phone for the entire time. In the end I had to get a train so was unable to pick up my hire car dispute having already paid for it.

Muhammad from Drivalia car rental provided exceptional service during my rental experience. He was professional, friendly, and highly efficient, ensuring the entire process was smooth and hassle-free. Muhammad was patient in answering all my questions and provided clear information about the rental policies, vehicle features, and return procedures. His customer focused attitude made the experience much more pleasant. Highly recommend his service for anyone renting with Drivalia!