Car Rental Review - Sixt (Dubai Int. (DXB) T3) - GAC GS3

Sixt Dubai International Airport DXB Terminal 3

141 AED/day

4.4

Rating

4.4/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Very friendly staff
Good car
Efficient processing

The idea of also sharing my experience about car rentals is relatively new on Flyctory.com. This posting is just the third one in my new category. Like the previous posting, it is about a drive from Dubai DXB Terminal 3. After I have not been too happy with Europcar during my December 2020 rental, I went for Sixt, when I have been a the same airport in May 2021. I rarely used Sixt in the past, even though my Lufthansa Senator / Star Alliance Gold status grants me a Sixt Platinum card. As Terminal 1 in Dubai still has been closed, the rental was taken at the home terminal of Emirates despite arriving in Dubai with the German airline.

Sixt Dubai T3 – The Rental

For that rental in Dubai, I had a three day rental of the CFAR category, compact SUV cars. The rental had a total free mileage of 600kms. As I majorly planned to explore some sights in Sharjah, it has been absolutely sufficient. The rental fee was 422 AED including taxes (roughly 95 EUR) at a self-retention of 2,000 AED / 450 EUR.

Sixt Dubai T3 – The Rental Office

Sixt Platinum, Herz Gold and all the others… While you more or less can just grab your car at other airports with a certain status level, there is an awful lot of paperwork to do when you rent a car in the United Arab Emirates. Thus, practically all companies first have an office, which is doing all that stuff, right after arrivals. With your rental contract, you then leave the terminal and cross the road to the parking garage across Terminal 3. The Sixt office there is doing the car check with you and hands you over the car key.

Sixt Dubai T3 – Receiving The Car

The first stage, i.e. the paperwork, in the airport terminal, was really smooth. The processing has been really effective and the Sixt representative was really nice. She even excused herself that they could not provide me an upgrade based on my status level.

The handing over of the keys was a bit of strange as I have been asked to check the car myself. This is typical for many rental locations, but I never had that in Dubai before. The handover of the car has at least been very quick.

Sixt Dubai T3 – Returning The Car

The return of the car worked very well. The car has been checked and I received the status report of the car. The rental agreement typically cannot be closed due to the SALIK road toll crossings, which are settled by crossing (5.25 AED).

The Car – GAC GS3

The technical details of the car do not influence my review.

The compact SUV I rented was the first time I had a GAC (Guangzhou Automobile Group) car. The Chinese brand, sometimes also sold as Trumpchi, is rather present on the Emirate market. The compact SUV GS3 has been quite spacious and luxurious, especially if you relate it to the price, which is roughly 17,000 EUR in the U.A.E. For the short trip, the car came with an absolutely sufficient capacity. The only thing I struggled with was the GPS, which was not too up-to-date (for example, it neither did not the Pullman Sharjah nor the Hampton by Hilton Dubai Airport I stayed in) and sometimes gave me idiotic routes though commercial district (I am tempted to call it slum) gravel roads. A general issue (which my car at home’s GPS has as well) that modern navigation feel to be very attracted to leave the motorway, just in order to enter it at the same exit again and cut some meters. Typically, a very useless thing. The rear view camera also struggled quite frequently with the Dubai sun or with the headlights of cars in parking garages.

Overall and regarding the rate, riving the car has been really comfortable and I really enjoyed it. The condition of the car was really good and it felt to be well cleaned and serviced.

Sixt Dubai T3 – My View

The whole paperwork situation in Dubai is just leading to quite lengthy rental processes. That’s not Sixt’s fault. Their staff did very good work, the car was in absolutely fine condition. The company did a job nearly as good as a rental in Dubai can be. Thank you!