24 Car Rental Brands at Madrid Airport (MAD)

Reviewed: April 28, 2025

Excellent!

Reviewed: April 22, 2025

Excellent!

Reviewed: April 22, 2025

This car rental experience had both surprises and minor inconveniences. Initially, a Volkswagen T-Roc was booked, but we ended up with a brand-new Nissan Qashqai, which was in excellent condition, had a clean interior, and offered a smooth driving experience. However, the Qashqai’s trunk space is indeed limited, making it less suitable for journeys with lots of luggage. The rental company staff were enthusiastic and courteous; the pickup and drop-off process was seamless and efficient, with clear communication throughout. However, the cross-border fee of over 180 euros was unexpectedly high. At pickup, we were recommended to purchase a traffic violation insurance for around 68 euros—though slightly surprising, we accepted it for extra peace of mind. The trip is completed without receiving any violation notices so far, and we hope everything remains smooth. Overall, the experience was average, suitable for travelers who aren't picky about car models and value convenient service.

Reviewed: April 11, 2025

Good.

Reviewed: April 6, 2025

The vehicle experienced a breakdown, but it was promptly replaced. Additionally, the customer service from Zuzuche was very helpful, ensuring the issue was resolved smoothly. Overall, it's quite satisfactory.

Reviewed: April 23, 2025

1200 euros were frozen, not sure if it has been refunded.

Reviewed: March 13, 2025

Don't be fooled by the initially cheap price. I wanted to rent a Golf, but they said they only had a Ford of the same class. There’s an additional charge of 0.5 euros per km if you exceed 1000 km. I recommend calculating the costs carefully before deciding whether to rent. I opted for full insurance upon arrival, which cost 94 euros. The deposit was reduced from 1200 to 200 euros. Overall, the experience was quite unpleasant—lacking transparency. Picking up the car was also troublesome, as I had to take a shuttle to another hotel, which added at least an hour to the process.

Reviewed: November 16, 2024

El coche fue mejor de lo que esperaba

Reviewed: July 24, 2024

The car was very new and the price was great value.

Reviewed: April 23, 2025

Very satisfied

Reviewed: April 7, 2025

Very satisfied, no upselling, no unnecessary chatter, and excellent service attitude.

Reviewed: November 10, 2024

After entering the store, I scanned the code to get a number. The process was fairly quick. Took some time to find the car, but later a staff member helped locate it.

Reviewed: November 3, 2024

There was a fuel deposit of 134 euros. After refueling the car and returning it, the staff said everything was fine and there were no issues, but the deposit was never refunded.

Reviewed: October 11, 2024

Very satisfied.

Reviewed: April 14, 2025

Very satisfied

Reviewed: March 11, 2025

Satisfied

Reviewed: October 7, 2024

Average. The car pickup took a long time; initially, I was given a manual car, and the replacement vehicle hadn't been cleaned. The sunroof sunshade was missing, but luckily, it wasn't summer. Returning the car was smooth, and they didn't push for insurance sales.

Reviewed: September 21, 2024

The car provided was not the one I reserved, and it had some issues. They refused to replace it.

Reviewed: September 18, 2024

Satisfied

Reviewed: April 12, 2025

They told me Jeep Renegade would be my car and even misled me by saying the police would fine me if they saw luggage inside the car.

Reviewed: February 17, 2025

Pretty good

Reviewed: February 13, 2025

Quite good.

Reviewed: February 5, 2025

I booked a V-Class but was given an old Vito instead. The oil warning light came on several times, the tire pressure was unstable and kept alarming, and the seats were dirty. Aside from the driver's seat backrest angle being adjustable, nothing else could be moved. The comfort level was extremely poor!

Reviewed: January 30, 2025

Very satisfied.

Reviewed: April 10, 2025

Very satisfied

Reviewed: April 6, 2025

Exceeded expectations with professional and friendly service, and a very clean and well-prepared vehicle. Make sure to provide your flight number, as the store will arrange to pick you up.

Reviewed: April 7, 2025

The service was very satisfactory, the staff was very friendly, and the pick-up and drop-off process was extremely convenient, located at the ground parking lot of Terminal 1 at the airport, less than 100 meters from the airport exit. Large companies provide excellent service and a quick, easy experience.

Reviewed: February 15, 2025

Very patient.

Reviewed: February 13, 2025

After picking up the car in Madrid, we drove directly to Toledo. Halfway through, a tire alarm went off and there was no way to address it on the highway. We had to keep driving to our destination. Upon checking, we found the front left tire was slightly deflated. We immediately went to the AVIS branch in Toledo, but the location provided by the rental platform and the GPS didn’t have a store—it seems the branch had already closed. With no other options, we spent half a day looking for a repair shop but couldn’t find one. Ultimately, we used an air pump station to fill the tire and monitored the situation. Later, we discovered the tire had a slow leak, triggering the alarm every three days. Although it didn’t compromise safety and Spain offers convenient free air pump facilities at gas stations, this issue still wasted a lot of our time to enjoy our trip.

Reviewed: November 30, 2024

Very satisfied.

Reviewed: October 25, 2024

Satisfied

Reviewed: April 6, 2025

The car rental service was excellent.

Reviewed: March 23, 2025

Quite satisfied

Reviewed: February 14, 2025

Satisfied

Reviewed: February 11, 2025

The service was enthusiastic and proactive, but the provided car was in poor condition. It took an hour and a half to pick up the car, and there were more damages on the vehicle than recorded by the company. The right rearview mirror's turn signal was broken and exposed, forcing me to switch to another car. The replacement car also had several unrecorded damages. The pickup experience was very unpleasant.

Reviewed: February 5, 2025

Pretty good. Although there was a promotion for insurance when picking up the car, once I told the staff I was willing to leave a deposit and didn't want to buy their recommended insurance for over 80 euros, they didn't push further.

Reviewed: March 24, 2025

The vehicle was very new, and both pick-up and drop-off were extremely convenient.

Reviewed: February 8, 2025

I scheduled a car pickup for 1:30 PM, but due to the large crowds during the Spring Festival, after completing the paperwork, the car was still not ready. I ended up waiting for over an hour and finally got the car close to 3 PM.

Reviewed: February 4, 2025

The rental car was excellent, compact enough to navigate narrow roads, and had great power.

Reviewed: March 2, 2025

The service was satisfactory, and I felt reassured after purchasing full insurance.

Reviewed: February 6, 2025

The store was easy to locate. They tried to upsell a lot of extras like roadside assistance, but these could be declined. Vehicle maintenance was poor—after driving less than 200 kilometers, the AD Blue warning light came on in the diesel car.

Reviewed: October 15, 2024

No hard sell on insurance, and the staff had a great attitude.

Reviewed: September 12, 2024

Coche en muy buen estado

Reviewed: August 13, 2024

An international company with no unnecessary tricks; simply check the required documents and take the car.

Reviewed: January 17, 2025

The store is very small, with only one staff member. Since I returned the car early, no one could take me to the airport, so I had to call an Uber myself.

Reviewed: November 5, 2024

Pretty ok company. Prices went up, and if you dont take insurance, ensure you get ALL the damages, they never include them all ....

Reviewed: September 6, 2024

Check-in staff pushes you to buy the insurance, which is very odd. and return vehicle car was very picky like he was going to buy the car!!!

Reviewed: July 29, 2024

I had already paid the airport pick-up fee, but even after the rental company's customer service and the airport staff communicated, they still claimed they couldn't see it in the system and charged me a high airport pick-up fee again. They told me that C-marked cars couldn't enter the city center and that if a camera caught me, I would have to pay a hefty fine. They suggested I switch to an Echo-marked car for an additional cost; however, in reality, C-marked cars can enter the designated core areas of the city as long as the car is parked in an underground garage and a photo of the parking ticket is kept for reference. This is completely different from what the rental company staff said. They also threatened that the insurance I bought through the rental platform was useless and that they wouldn't help if anything happened, exaggerating to intimidate me. This was the worst rental car company and staff I encountered in Spain. In the end, I insisted on choosing directly through the rental platform, and the staff looked very displeased and did not give me the car model I booked; they only provided a Peugeot 308 and would not respond to my questions anymore.

Reviewed: June 13, 2024

My reservation was for a petrol car. After giving me the pickup slip, they chased me to the garage to take it back and changed it before handing it back to me. I realized it was an electric car after driving for over 200 kilometers. When I asked in English at the store whether the car was petrol or diesel, the staff acted like they didn't understand, even after I asked several times. I then realized why they pretended not to understand. It's not just about attitude; I could understand their bad attitude after I refused to buy their insurance, but pretending not to understand 'petrol,' 'diesel,' and then changing the car was just dishonest.

Reviewed: February 23, 2024

Couldn't pick up the car, very dissatisfied

Reviewed: October 5, 2024

In Spain, a credit card under my name is required to rent a car, which left me without a car for my entire stay in Spain.

Reviewed: September 30, 2024

Got upgraded to a larger car without additional charges.

Reviewed: September 30, 2024

Quick pickup and return, no sales pressure, courteous staff.

Reviewed: July 29, 2024

I couldn't reach them by phone.

Reviewed: July 25, 2024

Picking up the car was very slow due to the high number of people. At around 11 AM local time, only two out of five counters were open. The staff was sluggish, and it took over two hours to get the car. The vehicle itself was in decent condition with various features. Returning the car was relatively quick. They offered an upgrade and insurance at pickup, but you can just decline.

Reviewed: August 9, 2024

I rented a Polo, but the rental company gave me an old, beat-up Toyota. The car showed a tire pressure warning after just one day, and I had to exchange it in another city, which caused great inconvenience to my trip. During the car return, an attendant, who seemed to be Indian, inspected the car with a flashlight, nitpicking every little thing. They blamed some scratches on me even though they weren't my fault. Since I swapped the car midway and forgot to take photos, I had no choice but to accept their damage assessment. I suspect they were nitpicking because I didn't buy their insurance. On top of that, they charged some €0.5 daily emissions fee, which I find shameless.

Reviewed: August 8, 2024

Overall it's fine. The car's condition is average, and the air conditioning cools down too slowly.

Reviewed: July 26, 2024

Basically satisfied, the service attitude was average.

Reviewed: June 25, 2024

Terrible car, suddenly showed DEF LOW one day, had to spend time fixing it, ruined the whole day's plan.

Reviewed: June 22, 2024

Make sure to navigate to Parking Rent Car T1

Reviewed: July 31, 2024

Good service.

Reviewed: July 15, 2024

Very satisfied, the staff speaks slowly to communicate with you

Reviewed: August 20, 2023

Many important details were not adequately highlighted.

Reviewed: October 8, 2021

The store recommended the new Volkswagen Golf. It was a brand new car and a great experience!

Reviewed: January 5, 2020

Pretty good

Reviewed: July 15, 2024

Very satisfied, the car return inspection was completed in just two to three minutes.

Reviewed: February 13, 2020

Great

Reviewed: August 12, 2019

The check-in process was very smooth. We were delighted to be offered an upgrade that was more spacious (a touring van). This suited our needs perfectly. However, please give yourself extra time for the return at the Madrid Barajas airport (Terminal 1). There was 1 person jockeying between the desk AND the return lane. We waited over 15 minutes for the return, eating into our window of extra time for the airport. National, get more people working there during peak hours.

Reviewed: February 26, 2024

Very satisfied

Reviewed: December 16, 2023

Firefly staff are great, decent fleet of cars I'm happy doing business with them!

Reviewed: October 23, 2019

Great, spacious car!

Reviewed: September 29, 2019

Was very busy at the counter so we had to wait for a bit. Nothing special. As always they tried to sell upgrades for insurance and car models, also nothing special. No problems at all with the check in procedure.

Reviewed: September 24, 2019

The counter staff were very helpful on arrival and departure. The car was excellent and reliable. A perfect rental !

Reviewed: September 2, 2019

sadly firefly staff would not accept that i had my own insurance and quoted '' not with firefly you haven't!' 'she then insisted I buy more! Hidden within the fuel options! She was Kurt with her responses and not at all accommodating. For this reason I would never use or recommend firefly again. I have added proof of the extra excess/service charges below

Reviewed: April 1, 2020

I waited for the company's shuttle at the airport for two hours, but it never showed up. When I called the rental company, they told me that they had stopped their service due to the pandemic. I asked why they didn't inform me beforehand, and they said they had notified Zuzuche. When I inquired with Zuzuche, they were also unaware. It took thirteen days after starting a claim to receive my refund.

Reviewed: January 14, 2025

The staff at the pickup counter insisted on upgrading the car type, citing the luggage being too large to fit in the car, which felt like a forced upsell. Overall, not very satisfied with this rental experience.

Reviewed: January 10, 2025

Overall, it's okay. However, I hope customer service can assist with one issue. They charged in HKD because my credit card was issued by a Hong Kong bank. At the time, I specifically told them not to use HKD as the exchange rate is much worse, but they still used HKD for the authorization. Customer service, please help contact them to see if they can charge in EUR and cancel the HKD authorization. I have already sent them an email as well. Thank you.

Reviewed: February 10, 2020

Nice car. No problems with care or renting.

Reviewed: June 11, 2019

The car was great, it was the counter service that was poor - actually, I never was serviced by the Dollar agent (he never showed up) but the Thrifty agents helped me!!!!

Reviewed: May 25, 2019

We were up sold from a mid size to a larger car in Madrid. The car was good but too large to drive around the narrow streets of towns in southern Spain.

Reviewed: October 17, 2015

The signage is too small and hidden. It's actually on the -1 floor of the car rental shop at Barcelona T4 airport, with a Hertz sign, making it hard to find. When asked, they said it’s Dollar. English communication was fine, but the Spanish accent is heavy, so you need to listen carefully. Overall, it was good. The car was nice and came with an English-speaking GPS.

Reviewed: January 8, 2020

The guy over the counter tried to charge me 30 euros saying that I took a fast track number to avoid the queue after waiting for 1 hour! They also charged me a called 16 euros premium fee, the car was dirty and dented, the counter guy didn’t give me the right directions to get to the car, he was rude and unpleasant, if possible avoid Goldar Rhodium ACE and intercar they are all the same group and their customer service is really bad they try to rip you off all the time.

Reviewed: November 23, 2019

It's a scam with the "extras", I've been charged an extra 150 euros for cleaning fees but the vehicle was in good condition when we returned it.

Reviewed: November 2, 2019

Hacen lo posible para venderte seguros adicionales, te meten miedo sobre costos adicionales.

Reviewed: October 1, 2019

Perfect communications via whatsapp. Great service.

Reviewed: June 10, 2019

SOLO brought our vehicle to terminal. Leaving car we just drove to departures lane and their representative was waitin gfor us-- no parking or driving to parkin house at all-- GREAT

Reviewed: September 25, 2019

Worst experience ever renting a car. Rhodium is a US company with exactly 0 cars of it's own. They use GoldCar to supply customers with vehicles. Unbelievable and completely unavoidable hidden costs. Airport surcharge, not communicated in original booking price as all other legal and ethical companies communicate. You have to choose one of their insurances, this means that if you have credit card benefit covering rentals that's null and void and you need to pay for theirs. The staff do their best, but they work for an unethical company and have the huge challenge of convincing you the misinformation and lies the company policies include are standard and should have been expected...wouldn't want their job. If you have any sense avoid Rhodium or Gold Car who services them for that matter.

Reviewed: August 18, 2019

I wish pick up was faster bc I have 3small children but they did the best they could so they say.

Reviewed: July 17, 2019

Better sign indicating where Thrifty counters are, only Hertz signs. Both at pick-up and drop-off points same problem

Reviewed: April 11, 2019

Really helpful staff, gave me the model I wanted. Easy process and great service.

Reviewed: June 14, 2019

The instructions said the office was opposite check in desks 165-170, there are no offices there. Got sent here there and everywhere by staff at Madrid airport and eventually found the office on a different floor! Mentioned this to the man on the counter and he just shrugged and said they knew it was wrong! He was very rude, in a bad mood, unhelpful, not at all friendly, very pushy trying to sell me insurance I already had and told me they were blocking one amount from my card and then blocked more. He also lied to me, telling me the amount would be blocked for 30 days, trying again to get me to sign for the insurance. When I returned the car they confirmed the balance would be unblocked within 2-3 days!

Reviewed: April 18, 2018

Only one staff member, very slow

Reviewed: February 8, 2017

They kept asking me to pay two deposits of 1000 euros each, which didn't make sense. After further inquiries, I found out that it was for insurance. What kind of insurance costs 2000 euros? The rental order clearly stated it should only be 8 euros. After a long negotiation, they then claimed one deposit was 300 euros and the other 101 euros for fuel coverage. Having been on a 16-hour flight, I was too exhausted to argue. The rental platform didn't reach any agreement with the rental company, and their insurance wasn't recognized. Ultimately, we consumers suffer the losses.

Reviewed: March 24, 2018

The attitude was average. One woman was very rude and kept pushing the emergency roadside assistance insurance, claiming it was a must, even though the car rental insurance already covered it.

Reviewed: February 23, 2018

There is no store at the airport, you need to wait for pickup at gate 130. They said it would take 5 minutes after the call, but I ended up waiting for half an hour.

Reviewed: February 23, 2018

Pick-up was very convenient, and the rental company provided great service.

Reviewed: July 15, 2017

This is a fraudulent company. After paying all the fees on the rental website, we arrived at the rental company and tried to pay with a Visa credit card but were told the payment couldn't be processed. After contacting the rental website, we were told that we had to buy additional insurance to rent the car. When buying the insurance, the Visa card suddenly worked without any need for a chip card. In the end, we had to pay over 70 euros per car.