24 Car Rental Brands at Madrid Airport (MAD)

Reviewed: August 5, 2025

Reliable and trustworthy as they are a big company.

Reviewed: July 22, 2025

Saw other customers complaining loudly at the rental company.

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: July 25, 2025

The service is decent.

Reviewed: June 22, 2025

Good service attitude, clear explanation of contract terms.

Reviewed: March 24, 2025

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

Reviewed: July 28, 2025

Fast and considerate of customers.

Reviewed: July 21, 2025

During holidays, there are many people renting cars, and it took an hour to get the car.

Reviewed: July 11, 2025

Satisfied

Reviewed: May 4, 2025

The overall process was efficient, but they have strict requirements for rental documents. For a seven-seater car, you need two physical bank cards under your name. Both cards must be physical and under your name.

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: July 24, 2025

Before renting the car, I took a video and noticed some minor scratches. When returning the car, the company refused to acknowledge them and insisted on deducting the insurance.

Reviewed: July 20, 2025

Very good.

Reviewed: July 18, 2025

Very satisfied

Reviewed: July 17, 2025

Not bad, the deposit was refunded quickly.

Reviewed: July 16, 2025

I booked well in advance, but ended up with a heavily damaged car. They claimed it was the same class, but it was clearly lower. I won't choose Europcar again.

Reviewed: July 23, 2025

Good

Reviewed: July 18, 2025

The car provided was a DR brand, which I later found out online was a Chery car rebranded by the Italian company DR. The car's condition was mediocre, and the carpets in the front row had two large holes worn through. I had to tear a cardboard box to place over them. When picking up the car, there were a lot of people, but only two staff members who were being very slow, so it took over two hours to get the car. The phone number was always unreachable! I tried calling the number on the order from the time my plane landed until after I returned the car, and it never went through. Later, I requested to return the car in a different city, Seville, due to my travel itinerary, but the request was denied. They also refused a delayed return request, so I had no choice but to drive through the night without rest to Madrid to return the car.

Reviewed: July 17, 2025

Very satisfied, but requires a credit card to rent the same model.

Reviewed: June 28, 2025

Not bad.

Reviewed: June 10, 2025

Acceptable

Reviewed: July 23, 2025

There is a shuttle bus, about 10 minutes to the car rental shop. The vehicle had 12,000 km on it and was great to drive. However, I don't recommend using Google Maps for navigation as the ramp directions after freeway exits are very confusing.

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: July 18, 2025

The overall performance and condition of the car were satisfactory, but the store's service was quite average. I booked the car a day in advance to pick it up from the airport store, but during my way to the pickup location, I called and found out that the actual pickup spot was elsewhere, and this was not communicated to me beforehand. When arriving to pick up the car, the store was closed, and I had to wait a long time. Returning the car was even worse — despite arriving an hour earlier than the agreed time, I ended up waiting for 3 hours. The store was closed, and no one could be reached despite countless calls. After 3 hours, the platform finally helped get in touch with the store.

Reviewed: February 26, 2024

Very satisfied

Reviewed: July 8, 2025

The staff at Alamo car rental company were very friendly and professional. During our rental period, the car got scratched. An excess charge was initially held, but the damage assessment took a long time—53 days in total. However, the refund was processed promptly after the assessment report was issued.

Reviewed: June 20, 2025

The service staff in Madrid were terrible, but those in Barcelona were especially great!

Reviewed: June 1, 2025

Very 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: June 23, 2025

The wait time for picking up the car was too long.

Reviewed: June 22, 2025

Excellent

Reviewed: May 25, 2025

The pickup and drop-off process took a long time, the location was hard to find, and the shuttle bus to the airport ran infrequently, nearly causing me to miss my flight!

Reviewed: May 14, 2025

The experience was terrible. I waited for four hours, and when I asked about the situation, they were very impatient. They even switched my car, and it had less than half a tank of fuel.

Reviewed: May 2, 2025

Centauro's service is really poor. There were too few staff during pickup, the place was full of customers, and I had to wait for a long time. They charged me a €1400 deposit and another €105 fuel deposit, claiming that it would be refunded if I returned the car with a full tank. Before returning the car, I filled the tank until the pump clicked off, but the fuel gauge still showed it was slightly below full. I specifically went to another gas station to fill it until it kept clicking off and couldn't take any more fuel, but the gauge still showed a bit less than full. Then, I drove less than 5 km to the return location. I explained this to the staff, but they wouldn't listen—only going by the fuel gauge. They said it was because I drove those 5 km that it wasn't showing as full, and they insisted on charging me €6. I even offered to go to a nearby gas station to prove it was completely full, but they told me the store would close in 5 minutes, so they couldn't process the return. I had no choice but to accept the loss and left by taxi. While waiting for the taxi, I saw their airport shuttle bus arriving with a full load of people coming to rent cars. They didn't even bother to cover up their lies! Absolutely disgusting! I checked reviews from other international users about this company and found many similar experiences—people being charged for all kinds of ridiculous reasons. Lots of negative reviews! I hope the Zuzuche app can include other users' reviews in the car rental options to help customers make informed decisions.

Reviewed: June 19, 2025

Spanish people are usually very enthusiastic and talkative, but the service here can only be described as average. Perhaps the job is relatively monotonous, making their attitudes seem mechanical. The staff at the pickup counter were still pushing expensive add-ons. The person at the T1 drop-off point seemed quite arrogant—only answering questions directly and disregarding others' thoughts or information. They even insisted that cars picked up at T1 must be returned to T1, which caused me to go back and forth several times to confirm with the front desk.

Reviewed: May 23, 2025

Terrible! They set traps secretly. Be sure to check the scratched areas on the chassis carefully to avoid falling into their trap!

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: May 24, 2025

Average

Reviewed: May 23, 2025

It's okay.

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: May 9, 2025

It's always an excellent experience.

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: 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: 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: 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 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: September 24, 2019

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

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: 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 4, 2025

Satisfied

Reviewed: June 28, 2025

Excellent

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.