The Thrifty Car Rental Company was established in 1958, in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, renting only Volkswagen Beetles. Since then, the company has grown into an international network of franchisees. Nowadays, Thrifty has more than 1300 operations in more than 70 countries over the world. The company offers a great variety of services under the THRIFTY name, such as: Car Rental, Parking, Semi-new Car Sales, Fleet Outsourcing, and Franchising.

In 1997, Thrifty Car Rental joined Dollar Rent-a-Car, forming the DTG (Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group). Although each brand works independently, together they are one of the biggest Rental Car franchising networks in the world.

Its inception in Brazil happened in September 18th, 2002. The master franchiser is Liberty Representações e Serviços Ltda, located in Curitiba. Thrifty can be found in: Curitiba, Florianópolis, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Vitória.