21. July 2026
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Car Rental Review – Thrifty at Dubai World Central (DWC) – Nissan Kicks

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

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Thrifty Dubai World Central (DWC)

Thrifty Dubai World Central (DWC)
3.5

Rating

 3.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Only provider with service at DWC TErminal
  • Good car
  • Good hand-over

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Failed at car return

Even though Dubai International (DXB) is still by far the more important airport of Dubai, Dubai World Central (DWC) – or Al Maktoum International Airport is slowly developing. From rather low-cost flights from Europe like the Eurowings service from Germany to flights from Russia – the airport is developing slowly, but steadily. It of course also features rental car offices are closed. During my flight there in January 2026, Thrifty has been the only car rental company who finally provide a rental car at the airport, doing it by a delivery and collection service from one of their city offices. I checked them out and share my experience.

 

Thrifty at Dubai World Central (DWC) – The Rental

I had a two day rental from Thursday to Saturday in January 2026. Including full insurance and all delivery and airport fees, the rental rate was 290.56 AED, roughly 70 Euro. Most of the paperwork and the payment has been arranged before. This included a the information about my flight and my estimated drop-off time, as well as necessary documents like scans of the passport and drivers license.

 

Thrifty at Dubai World Central (DWC) – Location & Office

There are rental car offices for all major providers at Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC). All of them are currently closed. At the time of renting, I solely found Thrifty as a rental option. There is another provider nowadays, who does car rental from the Southern Dubai location by shuttle service. Thus, there is a driver with your car waiting for you at the parking lot (see below).

 

Thrifty at Dubai World Central (DWC) – Receiving The Car

Receiving the car felt comparably smooth. The driver was already waiting for me at the parking lot. However, my flight was quite a bit of delayed. As I saw on the ground, I already received WhatsApp messages and calls from the driver, while I was still in the air. Even though I updated the driver as quickly as possible about my status (profiting from the fact that my cell phone contract offers a U.A.E. option), I received multiple messages on the ground. The hand-over process went rather smoothly, though. There is always a bit of paperwork to do in the country. Nonetheless, I was very pleased with the pick-up.

 

Thrifty at Dubai World Central (DWC) – Returning The Car

The return did not go well at all. The directions to the rental car return are clearly given. However, even though I gave Thrifty the time when I return the car, there was no driver / staff member to pick it up. I was a bit earlier than expected, so I was not too nervous about it. Some 15 minutes after the agreed on hand-over I had a first call with the office. The long story short: more than an hour after the agreed return time and multiple calls (with the very friendly staff), I left the keys in the car and went to the check-in. A lot of wasted time. By the way, I never received a receipt over the rental, even though all other documents were well communicated by e-mail.

 

The Car – Nissan Kicks

Especially for the short trip with limited luggage I had, the Nissan Kicks was a really nice car. There were no maintenance issues or damages worth mentioning. With a mileage of 45k km, the car was also in a very reasonable state – especially when you factor in the low rental fee.

 

Thrifty at Dubai World Central (DWC) – My View

First of all, I am thankful that Thrifty offers this service to Dubai World Central (DWC) at all. I heard from other people that they had similar issues at returning the car. Overall, it is bothering that the airport does not somehow provide a reliable, stationary rental car service. I would rather use an Uber or Taxi to the city next time (roughly 150 AED) and arrange rental cars from an office there.

 

Car Rental Reviews

Here are all my car rental reviews so far:

 

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