Budget Car Rental Reviews

I rented a car from Budget Rent A Car in November from the Minneapolis airport. When we got to the desk, there were several people in line and only 1 representative to check people in. It took almost an hour to get to our turn and get our car ordered up. The Rep apologized and did upgrade us to a Ford Fusion Hybrid. Then it took the staff another 20 minutes to actually bring the car around. The car ran fine and was very nice to drive, until the 3rd morning. We drove the car the night before, shut it off, turned the lights off and locked the car. The next morning the car was completely dead! The remote door entry would not work. I had to find a You-Tube video to see how to use the key to get into the car. Once in, it was still completely dead.

I had a wonderful experience renting a car from Budget at the Sears location in the Brandon mall. The service that Sahar provides it’s amazing. Sahar always has a smile and makes you feel welcome. Sahar is an asset to your company. Will always use that location to rent because she provides excellent customer service.

I'll keep this as simple as I can. Rented a car while in Anaheim Cal. Received a parking ticket. I paid the ticket immediately (October). Ticket was for 52.50. I Send by regular mail and email Budget receipts of the payment. Two months later Budget withdrew $122.50 out of my bank account. The idiots don't have brains enough to double check if the the ticket is still owed before inconveniencing their ex client. I am currently disputing the charge. I know I will get my monies back back but having to deal with Budget again and having to submit paperwork to the bank has been a really bit inconvenience. I call them idiots because there was not one person at Budget that seemed intelligent enough to get something going or understand on my behalf. Stay away from renting with Budget.

I made a $260 prepaid reservation for mid-November. When my wife got pneumonia, we had to cancel, expecting Budget to refund $210 and keep the $50 processing fee. We received email saying this would happen. Budget subsequently refunded only the $50 and kept $210. Two lengthy phone conversations since have assured me the claim will be re-submitted and corrected. The promised number of business days come and go, and still no credit correction. I had been a satisfied customer with Budget Rent-A-Car for many years of business travel, but I had never before had to cancel and expect the company would abide by its own cancellation policy. They've lost my business.

Mother reserved car months ahead, to be picked up Thanksgiving day at the only location in the area that was open to go out of state. She reserves a car with Budget every year on the same week and picks up at the same location, ORF airport, and uses the same credit card every year including last year Dec. 2018. We arrive with her PREPAID reservation and give the VISA bank card for security hold that is the same card that was used to pre pay for the rental online, and she is denied the rental. She has prepaid, the sign posted behind cashier states debit card policy and how they do accept debit, this is the same card that has paid for the rental, this is just a hold needed.

I rented car for two months. The budget provided the car and I paid all by bills and car was inspected and found all OK and I was charged to my credit card in Sept. 2018 accordingly. Thereafter, I received their claim letter and raised bill of more than C$ 800 towards damages. I did not agree for any payment so far since I returned car in good condition and it was inspected by their staff and my bill was paid in full. If there was any damage then why they did not inform me next day. I did not get any information till I received letter from their lawyer to pay. It is big harassment for me since I am senior citizen and retired. How can I deal with Budget in future?

Let me preface this by saying I am a very patient person and I typically do not let situations undo me in the way that this situation has. We rented a car through Budget in July and pre-paid $350 for everything prior to our trip to Iceland. When we picked up the car in September for the start of our trip everything was fine, they placed a $556 dollar hold on my credit card which I assumed was just in case of damages, etc, that was completely fine. When we turned in the car, the charge of $556 was dropped, we were told the car was in good condition and that we were good to go.

I attempted to rent a car in the Philadelphia area and went through the website to verify information in which did not give the amount or an approximate amount of a deposit other than the charge for the rental. When I arrived at the Bala Cynwyd location it was told to me there would be a $200 deposit, which I hadn't prepared for as I was flying out the next day. I went through all of the policies and nowhere was that stated. I am highly disappointed in the lack of transparency with this company and will not solicit this car rental agency after using this place several times. I would give a less than 1 star if that was an option.

I am in tears right now writing this. I am not a crying person, but I am come my wit's end. I am suppose to be on Vacation. All was well, and I had to come back for a 24 work function. I because of time difference I only had breakfast, by the time I land it is almost 5pm, I pick up my vehicle and start heading home. 40 mins into my 22 mile drive because it is rush hour, my low tire pressure light comes on. I am about halfway home, I am hungry and tired.

Budget tagged on additional charges that were not occurred. They charged me for an empty gas tank...it was filled at airport gas station! They charged me an extra 4 days...car was returned on time. They also charged me for liability insurance. If you have rented with Budget make sure you check your credit card statement. They are dishonest! The charge is in dispute with my credit card company as Budget customer service is as hopeless. My rental car went from $274.00 to $516.00. Never again! It seems standard that they charge for gas. If you are already committed to renting a car through them. Have they look at gas needle when you return car and sign to the fact that it is full.

My rental cars side mirror was damaged by another motorist. Budget billed her insurance and also debited my card, collecting twice the damage amount. To get them to acknowledge this was a nightmare. I had to conference call budget and USAA insurance. Budget wanted a copy of the cancelled check USAA had paid them with. Unbelievable. This is not a good company to do business with, it is better to go elsewhere. Anywhere else for that matter.

Rented a SUV from them in Bozeman in July to see Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. The SUV's entire windshield was cracked. We did not want to take the SUV as we felt it was unsafe so returned to the rental car counter. We were told no other cars were available and after checking the other car rental agencies in the airport none of them had cars available either. We had flown from Fort Lauderdale all the way out to Montana and had no choice but to take the car. My husband ensured the agent at the counter notated the SUVs crack across the windshield.

Worse car rental company on this planet. If you like to be charged fees without even actually renting the car, then go ahead and select Budget. Otherwise, use anyone else. I wish there was a zero star option on here. The corporate office is the worse I've seen as far as their policy on cancelling a rental. They truly are a horrible business and I plan on sharing this over again.

In the hopes that some corporate executive actually reads this evaluation, I will try to politely explain my grievances and my firm belief that "BUDGET AUTO RENTAL" located at the Cleveland International Airport, is engaging in an "unlawful" -Bait and switch- program. Confirmation #** (for compact auto/economy: quoted charge of 453.96 for approx. 13 days of use). Itinerary #**. Reservation made (on/about) 5 Sept 2019.

Please be aware that Budget Rent-a-Car expects customers to return the car in the same condition it was when picked up. This means they expect the customer to take the car thru a car wash and have it vacuum cleaned prior to returning the vehicle. If you fail to do this, they will charge your credit card afterwards a hefty amount for cleaning services. I was charged $75 just for vacuum cleaning the front doormats. This is a SCAM, so please be aware!!!

I do not even want to give one star! The several people I talked to with this company, they overcharged me, and blamed me for the overcharge without giving any concrete explanation. We waited in the line more than an hour at the Orlando airport and picked up our car 1.5 hr after the scheduled time. They even gave us a totally different class of car without apologizing or saying anything. The customer service over the phone was even worse than the service at the airport. They literally steal peoples' money!!!

Updated on 12/04/2019: Are you making any fun on customers, I have provided evidence and again charge only refund $20.82, my actual bill is $134.03 that's it... Why do making again charges, you have a all details in your system but again asking all details. Bad thing there is no Budget or avis people in the airport when i return the car and I dropped the car in the budget car line and went to inside airport inform the budget counter then they said "Leave the keys inside the car then good to go we ll take care of everything". Please check airport camera's. I went inside at what time and whom i communicate inside airport... Again am telling i was refilled the fuel full tank and 2 days rental is $134.03. Apart from that i will not ready to pay single cent to budget... This is something like mental torching to customer, renting a car like a hell in Budget or AVIS... I don't want to provide anything other than these...

I have been renting from Budget for fifteen years at the Panama City Beach, Florida location. Chris has been my handler for that long period of time without any issues. However, my last several renting experiences in the past year have become a nightmare. Chris has become an ** with my dog traveling with me leaving the smallest traces of dog hair. My last trip I was charged $250 for traces of dog hair even though I thoroughly vacuumed the car before returning the vehicle. Chris even said that he smelled a “hint” of cigar smoke in the car. There was no smoking in the car at all during my trip. I say all of this because I believe Budget nowadays is eager to be greedy and lazy to clean the cars they rent even at a standard level of use. I will never use Budget again.

I will start by saying I have rented a few cars from this location and NEVER had an issue. This time was different. I always remembered booking my reservation through an app and prepaying before pick up. Perhaps that is why I have never had an issue. I made my reservation online. It was for a compact sedan and it was approximately 30 dollars per day before taxes and fees. Again, I have rented cars before. I know those are extra. The girl that took care of me was kind of pushy about extra services, insurance and upgrades. Again this wasn’t my first time renting a car and I know she was just doing what she was probably told to do. I asked what kind of car I was getting and she told me, something small like a Honda Fit. She then said, "We do recommend a little bit bigger of a vehicle with the weather and temperature." She recommended a Mazda CX-5. I did have a passenger with me and luggage and I agreed it made sense.

Budget car rental and we had a very good experience and the car was great as we drove it to Michigan for the family gathering. However the biggest con was that they never inspected the vehicle and when I got to Michigan; I found a broken window which was a very tiny window. I called the company mention about the broken window that we never caused and they were going to charge us for the broken window but I called customer service. Customer service did not do anything, no documentation and we were charged for the window that we never caused damaged to. Come December hey, I called the company and the report was never documented! The man never inspected our vehicle before we left for Michigan!!!! And unfortunately we will never rent from budget again!???

Budget refused to honor our reservation at their 959 West St pickup and said they had a vehicle at airport that cost more. Had to pay again to get to airport, stand in long line and add almost 2 hours ruining our tour reservations. Second time refused to honor reservation at Miami location. So frustrated and terrible business practice.

Our party of 7 had reserved a standard SUV for the Thanksgiving break. When we went to pick it up they had rented it. They offered us a smaller vehicle that could not fit our party. At that time none of the other rental companies had cars available. Our family and 2 other college kids that could not go home for Thanksgiving were left stranded. Budget did nothing to try to help. I will never rent from them again. I hope others learn from our mistake. This is a dishonest company that will rent your reserved car to someone else.

We rented a mid size car at Phoenix Airport Nov 11 2019. Sales rep changed what car we were getting when we told him we didn't want to purchase "full coverage" insurance. The Ford Focus we were given had at least 1 bald tire, resulting in a flat on the first day. There was no jack or spare in trunk. Walmart refused to repair. Smaller tire company patched, we returned car to a different location and told them the problem. They upgraded us (to a more costly to run vehicle) to a Jeep Compass which tried to stall at every light and was low in oil. Be careful what you rent, check it over thoroughly.

I rented from Brunswick, Georgia. Friends and I planned on one day but thought we might keep it 2 days so I asked how much. That lady told me it was fine, it would just be a charge of 104. We were fine with that. Two weeks later I didn't get my deposit back because we kept it that extra day. Now I'm all for paying for what I'm told I'm paying for but they made my credit card overdraft because they didn't tell me the additional charges. So I didn't get my deposit back and when I contacted them via email they told me some bull about mileage and the amount was correct. NEVER RENTING FROM THEM AGAIN!!!

Budget/Avis have kept a substantial amount of money from us because we couldn't find a petrol station to fill up- 30 pounds of petrol and they have kept 200 pounds. I will never use them again. We have tried to get a reponse and get nothing back.

Made a reservation online and paid for a week rental in advance in Budget in Weston Florida. I realized I jumped the gun on this and went to cancel barely 5 minutes later online. Talked to a "Roberto" in their online chat room who insisted that I had to pay a $50 cancellation fee and refused to refund my entire purchase that was just done barely minutes earlier. Online chat was completely uncooperative and I was stuck for $50. Even my partial refund was going to take 3-10 days according to Budget. The very next day I rented a car for a week instead with Enterprise just down the street from Budget, on Weston Road, in the Rick Case Honda Dealership. I called first to make sure there was no cancellation fee and there wasn't.

Was charged last two rentals this year with a fuel charge even though cars were brought back clean, vacuumed, and with a full tank of gas. Had to call both times to have charges reversed. Never had a problem with them until this year doing this. 2nd time lady didn't even tell me it was going to be charged on my card. I have to now take pics of fuel gauge on pickup and drop off and provide gas receipt apparently to get this to stop.

If you want to listen to the manager talk about himself non stop for your entire visit, this is the place to go. Forty five minutes will be the minimum time you spend listening to Rob talk about himself and his experiences pertaining to your travel destination...and more you could care less about. The computer never works which means you have to spend more time listening to Rob whine. Horrible experience all together.

Prepaid for a rental at Budget Rental Car as I always do. Seven day for $340. I returned it 2 hours late and they charged me $87.34 more. When I tried to call in to Customer Service I was hung up on 3 times while waiting. They are charging over $40 per hour for their cars. Stay away form here.. Never renting from them again.

We rented a car at BWI. Our hotel was 45 minutes from the rental location and was reachable only by interstate. As we neared our hotel a message appeared on the dash telling us that there was a problem with the rear tire passenger side. The tire was losing air pressure. As we were in a strange city and on a freeway we attempted to get help from Budget. We called the number on the contract and could not reach the airport location by phone. We called the number nine times. There were 6 prompts on the voice attendant and we tried all six. One of those answered and instructed is to disregard the prompts and the station would pick up. This led to another three calls none of which were answered.

Landed in Miami Airport. Stood in line for 1 1/2 hours to get to the counter. They would not give me my rental I ordered beginning of year. They would not give me the car because they do not take cash they said. While standing in line I was told they ran out of cars. Their excuse was people did not bring them back in time. Paperwork does not have no cash allowed. I feel they told me this because they did not have a car. Was stranded in the airport with 2 children. They did not care. I have used their service many years. Can not trust them anymore. Will not be using their service. Especially in the Airport in ORLANDO FLORIDA!

My experience renting a car with budget was horrible. I was overcharged they have the worse customer service. You will be on the phone with them for over a hour getting transferred around and still will not get your issue resolved. BUDGET lost my $3000 credit card payment. Now I have to issue a dispute with my credit card company. Never will go there again.

I have rented cars from Budget many times in the States, Brazil, Dominican Republic but NEVER have I had such a bad experience as in Malpensa, Italy. I would strongly advise that you pay extra attention to any car rental in Italy as it seems that they always try to scam you into spending more money than usual. In any other situation in the past, Budget would offer me any car in the lot in the case that the requested car was not available at the moment. Well, I requested a car to hold up to three luggage but when I arrived in the airport, the clerk said they did not have any car at that price level that would hold that many luggage. Well, I was expecting to be offered another car at no extra cost, but the clerk kept trying to offer more expensive cars - and larger - for extra costs. The car ended up being too big for someone driving in Europe and I had to go back to change for a smaller one.

Recently I rented a car from South Bend, Indiana airport. I waited in line to get my car for over 20 minutes, and was compensated with a car upgrade which was wonderful. But when I returned the car 4 hours BEFORE it was due; I had dropped the keys in the key drop box as nothing was open. 12 days later I checked my bank statement and I was over charged by $52. I called customer service and I was told I needed to call back in 20 minutes because they were not able to help me at the time.

We were shock by our recent experience with Budget. The car they issue to us had bad tires and one went flat while we were driving - and they charged us for this. It would be one thing if we had run over a nail or were in anyway responsible for this flat. Additionally, when we were first assigned a car- it wouldn't start. Then they had issues with the next car, until we were give a third option which was very "budget". The customer service was terrible during this flat tire incident. I can't recommend this company at all.

If you want to be screwed out of several hundred dollars of additional charges not even in the fine print - rent from here. This specific location must get some special reward for gouging travelers. We even had the rate and final cost approved by the corporate office yet they still managed to rip us off another $300 dollars when we brought the car back on time.

Guys don’t ever rent from Budget. They are a bad company. I got online on Priceline and I rented a vehicle for $11 a day. When I got to the location in Monterrey Mexico me and my wife waited for them over an hour. They were running late and had an extra hour making us wait and explaining to us that they were going to charge us $3000 aside from the optional insurance that they gave you on Priceline. I didn’t understand why I had to pay $3000 or not pay but have that taken out of my bank account as a deposit. I canceled everything and luckily I did get my money back for the insurance that was optional. Please be aware. Budget is a scam.

One has to be very careful when working with reservation with budget. My experience recently was I called customer service to extend an existing reservation. The customer service agent confirmed a price and it was locked for extension. I never received an official email from the agency, and ended up getting doubled amount on the bill. When I called customer service, their response, was that I never called budget customer service for extension and they do not have a process to retrieve the records. I think this group has lot of process gaps and no process to raise a dispute with billing. The customer service agent provides a few sorry's and then hangs up the call.

Rented car from Budget website. Got price including all taxes and a confirmation number. Their site cleary states insurance is optional. When I got to Aruba I was told I had to pay an extra $120 for insurance or they would not give me my rental. Their customer sheet clearly states it's a option. I was forced to pay and sign for it or get no car. I called Budget corp. office when I got back and was rudely told they would not refund the insurance cost, even though their paperwork clearly states it's a option, they let you reserve at a low price and then when you arrive refuse to give you your rental unless you pay upcharges.

I rented a saloon car from Budget Rent-A-Car at Redmond airport, OR for a weekend trip to Bend back in Aug 2019. I returned the car in excellent condition having driven to a hotel in town and a couple of local soccer fields for soccer games. I returned the car to the airport on time with a tank of gas. The car was perfect. Budget chose not to check me in so I returned the keys to the Budget rental desk in the airport reporting that the car was fine apart from an empty washer reservoir and they should refill that for the next renter.

Budget apparently refunded me on 11/1/2019 for the 2 of 3 days I was unable to use the car and unwilling to mess around getting a replacement from Budget. I did not know they had refunded me when I wrote the negative review - they only told me on 11/6/2019. While I did have a negative experience, I will take it as a positive that they listened to my complaint and tried to make it right.

I called Budget telling that the car’s battery was dead. They told me that they would give a jumpstart for free. The mechanic told me that the battery was damaged and they would not charge me for the service. For my surprise, after 7 days, they charged 185 dollars in my credit card for a jumpstart. I filed a claim and budget answer me that this service was not in my contract. I have been cheated, don’t trust in budget. Rental Agreement: **

I rented a vehicle from Budget on 8/22/2019 and returned the vehicle on 8/25/2019 with a clean checkout (no damage). On 10/8/2019 (6 weeks later) we received a charge for $210.00 for "glass damage". I called and explained that we were given a clean checking when we returned the car and were not aware of any damage to the windshield. They checked the records and said there was damage that had to be repaired before the car could be rented out again. On November 1, 2019, I called and asked for a photo of the damaged windshield. I was told they do not take photos of glass damage but she would review the records. When she returned I was told there was no trace of repairs to the car and the the charges would be reversed. 1) Save your Receipts. 2) Don't hesitate to question the company if it seems wrong. 3) Speak up so others will know how to respond to a dishonest situation.

I made the reservation thru the AARP link. I also prepaid to get a discount. When we arrived to pick up the car, the agent was all about up-charging and add-ons. I declined all upgrades and add-ons. When the contract printed there was a line item for $7 per day vehicle upgrade. I pushed the contract back and told him I declined that. He said he would have his manager remove the charge, that we did not have to re-do the contract. I hesitated but signed. He kept my copy of the contract to give to his manager to take care of this. Upon return of the car, the drop off receipt had the charge!

At the mid of this Oct I filled the gas in a gas station about 200-300 feet away from Budget Car Return site in Newark Airport. Right before I reached to the car return site I noticed the gas meter showed the tank was about 8/10 full. I returned to the gas station and asked the guy there to fill the tank again. The guy in the gas station said the tank was full already. He tried to tap more gas to the tank and reached to a point the gas almost spilled. But the gas meter still showed the tank was 8/10 full. The gas meter in the car did not work properly. Please PAY ATTENTION to the gas meter.

I rented through Costco Travel. I had a price that was given to me online which included an extra driver. At the counter at the airport however everything changed. I informed them I did NOT need any insurance because I have full coverage on my cars. This was verbal. I was asked to sign the waiver declining insurance but was unaware of liability attached at the very bottom. The Budget employee told me I was signing a waiver to decline coverage. When the car was returned on time I was charged an extra hour also. This amounted to an extra $90. So far I have the extra hour refunded but can't get the insurance cost refunded. So disappointed in this American Company and the lies to get more of the almighty dollar.

The worst service ever. I rented from Budget Tel Aviv. After a few days the battery broke. I had to wait almost 24 hours to get the battery replaced. None of the 3 phone numbers they provided were available. When calling, you just hear a message and then it cuts off. After replacement of the battery, the screen was not working anymore, no radio, no back camera, nothing. When I asked to get 2 days off my contract, I was received by a lady at the Dan Hotel office who was super obnoxious and did not want to do anything. She said to me, that it is normal a battery brakes, it can also happen with my own car. When I did not accept that reply, she told me she will call the police. I have filmed that reply of her. NEVER AGAIN BUDGET!

We rented an intermediate level car through Costco for pickup at the Santa Barbara CA airport. After we declined what the counter agent, Steve, led us to believe was a complimentary upgrade when we were presented with a bill for nearly $200 more than our reservations, Steve said ok and gave us what he said was an equivalent model to the intermediate car we had reserved for the price we had agreed to in our reservation. We had been delayed over a half hour by that time and had to rush to an appointment. The car was very small and I was certain I had requested a larger car. The rental fee was the amount we originally agreed to but back at the hotel I realized we had been given a compact yet were charged for the intermediate level. We will skip dinner and return to the airport to see if this can be rectified. They phone at the airport goes to voice mail and then to international customer service that hung up on me twice. Ugh.

I arrived after a 12 hour flight to pick up my prearranged rental. After the standard introduction and paperwork. I'm asked which insurance do I prefer, the limited or full? I don't wish to accept any as I have full coverage that any other company has accepted before. She tells me they don't accept "third party" any longer. So I'm simply to accept what they offer. Then she goes on to mention how she's sorry she has to tell the passengers on the flight behind me they won't have enough cars for them. Should have walked away at this point but again it was after a 12 hour flight and I had already waited 45 min to pick up my rental.

I rented a car for Oct 2 thru Oct 11th. The pickup was good. That is why I gave 2 stars instead of one. I had a change of my train to the next day Oct 12th so I called the rental office to tell them I would have the car an extra day. The guy I talked to said no problem, just bring it in and the extra day would be adjusted. I arrived the next day and the lady met me at the car upset I was a day late. I told her I called them to let them know. After processing I got $16 out of my $100 hold deposit. Charge for extra day which was fine but a $20 late fee which I was never told would happen and $35 for gas because my tank was not all the way full.

My wife preordered and prepaid for a Ford Explorer to be picked up at McMurray location. We preordered 3 weeks in advanced and received a confirmation e-mail that it would be ready for pick up. I had a relative leave work to take me to this location. I was lucky he didn't just drop me off. I walked in and the counter attendant said, "I can't help you, I have no cars." I thought he was joking, but I soon realized he was telling the truth. He told me there was nothing he could do. I asked why didn't you call me and he replied, "I didn't have your phone number." I asked, "how about an e-mail?" He replied, "I don't have that either. I do have a KIA you could have." I was shocked... Finally, he gave me a 1-800 # to call for service.

DO NOT USE THIS LOCATION!!! I reserved a car last night to pick up at 8:30 am today. I used the website, and the reservation was confirmed without any issues. At 7:50 this morning, my phone rang. It was the rental agent saying she did not have any cars for me. But she was "expecting a couple of returns at 9am." I made my reservation for 8:30 because I had an appointment to get to, so waiting for a car to be returned at 9 (IF they were on time, THEN waiting for them to clean and prepare the car for my rental!) was NOT going to work. The rep did say that they had a larger SUV available. I asked if there was any way they could get a car brought over from the airport Budget location. She replies that they are "corporate owned" so no that was not an option.

I rented a car from Budget Rent a Car in Helsinki. When I returned the car the overweight fellow at the check in and I went around the car and confirmed there was no damage. I received a paper with the total charges for the rental car (just the rental charge nothing more) and boarded the aircraft. I am positive there was no damage on the car! When I got my Mastercard bill, there was an additional charge of 843. Euros on the bill. I called Budget customer service, they said I damaged the car. I knew that was untrue, both my wife and I were present when the overweight 20 something man and I went around the car to check. But Budget customer service said there was nothing I could do about it because it was already charged to the card. I have insurance with my credit card, and so it will not cost me anything, but that is not the point. I know they have cheated. I do not want them to get away with this.

I am not one to write negative reviews; in fact, I make it a point to do the polar opposite. However, I am having an issue with getting a refund back from Budget. Six weeks ago, I prepaid for a Budget car rental with my debit card as my car was in the shop. I had rented from them four years before without a major credit card so I had no reason to believe that I could reserve a car with a debit card only. When I get to the counter, they tell me I am not qualified for the car as I did not have a major credit card. Okay, fine. I called Budget, and initially the rep said I would owe $150 for cancelling without a 24 hour notice even though it was not my fault I was denied the car. I got a supervisor on the phone, and he clarified that I would get a full refund because I did not qualify because the rep was new. Okay, fine. I get that. He processed my refund and said it would be refunded 3-5 business days later.

I rented a vehicle from Budget in Salt Lake City. They charged me for a loss damage waiver fee ($40.99/day) without my consent. I called their customer service multiple times and never got a person or received a call back when I left a voicemail. I was later sent a notice in the mail that I would also be charged $33.28 in refueling charges, despite the fact that I filled the vehicle upright before returning and provided a receipt. Do not rent from this company, they are deceptive and will take your money.

I don't trust any of our rental car companies, but when you need a car, you need a car. I chose Budget because it appeared to be the lowest price up front. I made my reservation for the smallest possible car (economy), weeks in advance. When I arrived, first I waited about 40 minutes in line just to check in. When I finally got to the counter, it took about 10 minutes to do the paperwork and then I was told to go outside and I'd find my car. My paper said "Kia Soul," and unfortunately I'm not very familiar with various car models so I didn't question it and I went outside. The car was way too big for me, and I discovered they had gotten me with the old "free upgrade" trick (even though they didn't mention it when I was checking in).

Never Again! The first time I rent a car, I prepaid for the car already but when I picked up, they told me the car that I prepaid was not available so they change me another car but one month after I returned the car, I WAS CHARGED because the car that they exchanged for me has the XMR radio?? Moreover, I refill full the fuel before I returned but I still WAS CHARGED about $40 for fuel. I asked them but they ask me for the receipt? How can I keep a receipt for the fuel after one month of my vacation?

On August 14th of this year I made a prepaid reservation with Budget Rent A Car for an upcoming trip to Los Angeles. The cost of the rental was $185, it was prepaid on 8-14-19. I picked up the rental car on the morning of Friday August 30th, at that time the clerk I spoke with indicated that he had a better deal for me with a different car than the Volkswagen Jetta that I had reserved. He stated to me that he could give me the car for only $20 per day. To the best of my recollection this was a small Ford SUV. Given the fact I didn't plan to do much driving other than from the Airport to the Hotel and back I was not overly concerned with what kind of car I was driving. This seemed like a good deal to me and a chance to save some money. On Monday Sept 2, I returned the car to Budget with a full tank of gas. I refueled the car at a Chevron Station on my way to the airport.

Like Jerry Seinfeld said "You know how to take a reservation! You just do not know how to hold a reservation." At least 30 people had reservations but BUDGET DID NOT HAVE ANY CARS FOR THEM!! There was total confusion among the Budget team! Some said they had cars while other said they did not!

I recently went on vacation with my wife to Hawaii and rented a Jeep. Everything was great with the vehicle. We had no problems with it. Iit wasn't damaged when we picked it up and we only drove it on paved roads. Had no problem returning the vehicle. All of the customer service up until that point was excellent. There was no damage noted on the vehicle when we dropped it back off to Budget, because there was no damage that we were aware of while we were in possession of the vehicle.

Yes, I did read cancellation policy. I was shocked when I had to cancel within a couple of days for a rental 6 months in the future and there was no wiggle room. It cost $50 to cancel $54 reservation!

Budget /Avis rental car (apparently same company) royally ** us over. Extremely long wait, broken equipment, staff verging on disabordinate, intentionally misleading aka lied to our faces, and damn near refused to make it right. NEVER AGAIN will I use BUDGET/AVIS.

No longer a quality service orientated company. Save yourself some dough and rent from a discounter, same hassles but less money. Budget was once a leader in customer service. Now they have so much business they apparently don't need mine anymore. Bye bye Budget. Oh and by the way the Kia I just had with 20000 miles on it was in worse shape than my last rent a dent.

The lady was very rude when we got there and she slammed my phone on the desk then she told me I could not rent a car because I didn’t have a credit card. She was saying that I was informed we needed a credit card which was not true. I live in Chicago and was in Florida with my three kids. I was stranded with no way to get to a hotel. With three kids crying and no one to help!

Orlando USA, trick you. Into signing. We travel to the USA two to three times a year, from the Uk (take in mind that this flight means that we have been trailing in total around 18 hours). We always use the web site Travel Supermarket. In May this year TSM site diverted us to the Budget car hire site. After its search. This is nothing unusual as its diverts you to the best price for your dates. When we approached Budget car hire pickup desk at MCO, The salesperson tried to sell us the usual extras, To which me and my partner both replied: That we do not need or want any extras or add ins. Everything great until around two weeks after we returned to the UK.

I reserved a car in July but I never actually rented the car but never canceled the reservation. 2 months later I get a $400 parking ticket in the mail accusing me of a ticket. How can I have a parking ticket and I didn’t rent the car. They are terrible they hold your information from previous reservations and pin false accidents and tickets on you. Stay away from Budget and Avis.

Be sure to read all documents before signing. Rented a car, paid with Chase cc miles. I requested a car seat, toll pass, and pre-fill fuel. After turning car in I was charged an additional $289 and several additional toll charges. I was charged for insurance and several other fees. Chase was supposed to include all fees and taxes. I expected to be charged for my additional requests, but instead charged for more. What a joke. I also reserved a full size vehicle and received an economy. My Experience was straight out of the scene from Seinfeld. I will pay double before renting another car from Budget.

I rented a car for 13 days from Budget Rental Car. I needed to pick the car up 5 hours earlier than I placed on the form but still within the 24 hours I paid for. I had made the mistake of prepaying for the rental. I called the airport and was told the car I had rented was available for when I now needed to pick it up. I made this request 1 day before picking up. I was told because I had prepaid I would need to completely cancel the reservation and start over to change the pickup time. This was going to cost me $350 additional to pick up the car even though it was available and I had already paid for the period I needed. Lesson learned. NEVER rent from BUDGET.

Showed up in St Louis MO at 9:30 am, reservation stated pick up at 9:45 am, agent was charging me $90 for being there 15 minutes early, keep in mind this is more than the full charge for the rental. Also reserved a luxury class vehicle and was told they had no luxury vehicles and offered me a jeep "for the same price" acting like they were doing me a favor. I asked to see a list of their luxury vehicles and they played it off by saying a jeep is a specialty vehicle. This is a business practice that I would consider less than ethical. At the very least is a bait and switch. Never Again!!

My entire experience with a Budget was awful. The check in room forever then I got a representative that I couldn’t hear. I was then Overcharged and no one can tell me why. I will never use them again!!

I rented a car at the Denver Airport at the end of May for one week. The car had not been cleaned and had trash still inside. There was a crack in the windshield and various scratches and dents on the exterior. I took pictures but was not able to find someone to speak to without going back inside and waiting in line, so I took the car and went on my way. When I dropped it off I was an hour and half late due to my plane flight back. When I got my charge, Budget charges another full day of rental for the car. I call and complained and they took $27 off a $60 charge. Now 3 and half months later, I noticed a $187 charge on my credit card from Budget with no explanation.

The process of picking a rental car company is challenging enough, but if you use price as I did, then you'll probably be extremely disappointed. I can share that I rented a new Ford Explorer literally one month before traveling. First issue: they rented all Ford Explorers to other travelers (regardless of whether they reserved that vehicle or not) and substituted another vehicle. We were not that upset as they substituted the Explorer for a Mazda CX-9. However, we immediately noticed that the windshield was broken (huge crack running from a rock strike) from right to approximately the middle of the windshield.

I had a terrible experience with Hotwire.com and them screwing up my reservation but Kahn at the Ottawa Airport (YOW) Budget rental desk was tremendously helpful! He was patient and understanding and helped save the day! Lesson of the day don't go through 3rd party companies like Hotwire.com. They will screw you over. Go directly to Budget.

Rented a car in Dallas. The car broke down and was picked up but was never provided another car. Disputed the charge on my credit card. Their version about what happened differed from mine and ended up having to pay $396 for a one day rental. If you have problems with your car, document everything. Will never rent another car ever from any rental car company ever!

I had a rental planned for my trip to California and last minute had to rent a car earlier than expected I had nothing but problems. I couldn’t combine the 2 rental dates. Spent hours on the phone with customer service only to get a runaround. Worst service ever.

I rented a van from Budget in Chicago and the car cut out while I was driving it after first picking it up. Dismissed it and returned the next day to find that it had died. Waited 70 minutes for roadside assistance come jump it, drove it 40 minutes to my final location, turned the car off and then tried to turn it back on... but it was dead. Called again and Budget told me they not send anyone out to swap out the car or replace the battery. Was told to call back when I was getting ready to leave so I could drive it to their drop off location, even though it wasn't open -- Budget was acting like they were doing me a favor.

This is about the Budget Car Rental company in Israel. Mainly at the airport and in Jerusalem. On June 2019 - I rented a midsize car- Hyundai 25 from the airport. We arrived at 1AM in the morning. Went to Budget Desk. After a lengthy wait at the counter (slow, slow clerk...) filled all the paperwork and got the keys. Then, Headed all the way to a parking lot that had NO attendant, found the car, loaded the suitcases, Started the ignition, looking at the dashboard - 83,000 KM WOW. 3 yrs old car. SURPRISE --- the screen that suppose show info and enable to change Radio; WiFi; Bluetooth --is FROZEN. Went back all the way to reception desk and asked to replace the car - "There are no other cars available. Come tomorrow or go to Jerusalem." Next day - called the branches in Jerusalem - but no one wanted to handle it. "You should GO BACK to the AIRPORT office”.

My mother recently rented a van from Budget and there were policies that were not listed in the agreement, told to her or listed on the website about what happens if you get a flat tire and the people that worked there had no idea about the fees that they charge to put a new tire on their own vehicle when the tire that blew was a very old tire that literally split everywhere on it not a nail in it, it should never of been on the car to begin with. So in the end they charged them 300$ for a new tire and that includes a fee of switching the vans out which they were never informed of the fee they just acted like it was no problem.

I rented a car from Budget on September 2nd. Due to the Hurricane Dorian my flight was cancelled. I had to drive 16 hours straight to Orlando/Sanford airport to get my car out of the parking garage. I returned their car on the 3rd at 12:30 3 hours early than expected. I dropped the keys in the drop box because the entire airport was closed. When I saw my credit card they charged me an additional $395 for 2 more days of rental when I did not have the car, it was returned. I have shown them my CC statement when I left the airport garage with my car and they are telling me that is not proof enough!!! I will never use Budget again. I am not done with them yet. My plan is to take them to small claims court and dispute it with my credit card company. Very sad that they are putting me through this????

I reserved a car a month ago and I live in NJ. The reservation was at the Phila Airport. Drove there paying the toll for the bridge and was DENIED FOR USING A DEBIT CARD! Never was advised that I needed a credit card and could not use a debit card when the reservation was made. Now they owed me more than $250.00 which was needed to make the reservation. Initially I was told 7-10 days for my refund. When that didn't happen I called and was then told "Sorry 3-5 MORE business days due to THEIR ERROR. Yesterday was the 5th business day and I was ASSURED the refund would be on my card today. Guess what? NO MONEY!!!! GOING TO THE BBB!

First, understand that the Atlanta Airport Budget is a licensee, not a corporate location. Short version: In a hurry and late in the day. I twice confirmed I was *not* buying the insurance. As soon as I discovered they had billed me for it, I called. So sorry, cannot refund the money unless I return to the Atlanta airport, turn in the car, and write a new contract. Of course I was not in Atlanta and would need to cancel the trip for which I rented the car to fix the problem. In my opinion that is theft. I've lodged a complaint with the corporate HQ. My recommendation is rent from someone else at ATL airport. Don't give thieves your money.

My name is Denise ** and I'm a Fastbreak customer. I went to pick up my rental and I ended up getting the wrong car (because they claimed they didn't have my car). I went up there at 10 am and I didn't leave there until after 3pm. All the cars they kept trying to give me were very nasty (had food and smelt like weed in just about every car that they brought to me). The lady at the front desk ran my card TWICE and then had the nerve to try and swipe it the third time. I'm BEYOND pissed at this point and I don't think I'll be coming back to a company like this because nothing is ever right (workers are just TOO LAZY and very unprofessional).

My husband and I decided to take our son to Costa Rica for graduation gift. I booked our hotel stay thru Expedia, I decided to also book a car because they offered a discount. I checked over all my options, chose the best fit for total of 54-59$, sad thing is I was completely mislead. The car rental place was not at airport, it was down the street. We did not get the car we reserved but they offered a free upgrade. Boy oh boy there’s absolutely nothing free from these guys. They proceeded to ask us if we’d like in which I had already refused but they asked again, I said no no don’t want it. They also asked if I’d need an navigation system, I was never ever told I would be charged nor have I ever been charged before when I have rented a car. We were asked if anyone would be driving besides myself, we said possibly my husband. Never been charged extra for that either nor were we told we’d be charged.

I reserved a mini van from Budget Rent-A-Car in Wichita Kansas for our summer vacation with our grandchildren. I was supposed to be able to pick up the van at noon but when I got there I was told by an extremely rude employee that he would have to call around to find a van available. He finally found one that was 25 minutes away from where we were supposed to pick the van up from and proceeded to tell us we would have to go get it ourselves. He did offer us one of their rental cars to go out there but we were losing time in doing this.

We picked up our car at the New Orleans airport. It was dirty both inside and out. It clearly had not been cleaned or wiped down. It was gross with fingerprints all over the screen, spilled drinks in the cup holders, sticky stuff on the back seats that we had to wipe off before getting in and crumbs from food throughout. Just plain dirty. How can they provide a car like this??? Doesn’t someone check it after it’s been cleaned? Clearly the employees are not doing their jobs.

Reserved and prepaid a month in advance. One week prior to the reservation date I cancelled the reservation due to a change in plans. I was charged $50.00 to cancel. NEVER, EVER PREPAY. I WILL NOT BE DOING BUSINESS WITH BUDGET AGAIN.

Rented a car. Had an issue. No one would come to help. No one would send anyone out on the weekend and I was told not to leave the vehicle. Stranded and had no help until weekend was over. Then was docket 750 dollars on my bank card without authorization... Currently fighting it with financial institution... DO NOT RENT BUDGET!

Been waiting for 6 hours for their system to work so they can help. I get thru. Am told that I agreed to insurance. That why there's additional charge. I tell him I didn't agree to insurance. Counter agent marked it wrong. Check your "F" document you sign because they will LIE, LIE, LIE. Even if there's customer line for pick up sit at the counter and read the agreement. NEVER AGAIN WILL I USE BUDGET!! Now their system is down again and I can't get copy of what I signed. Call back in an hour they say. Why aren't there better companies out there. This one is not....

I was charged more than 500 EUR because Budget said that I made a scratch that I never did. The car was already very damaged in place that they said that I did the scratch. They said that I did another scratch just aside of the existing ones. Of course the pictures they have in the system does not show the entire area already damaged when I picked the car. A big stealing.

I rented a SUV in Tucson airport thru Expedia for $227 for 4 days. When I got there Budget charged me $457. They do not honor Expedia's collision insurance or taxes. $40 dollars per day. Plus full tank of gas. I'll never go Budget again.

Budget Rental Company employs bait & switch tactics promising car level upgrades that are not given at pickup. Both its online ads and call center reservations staff promise you an automatic upgrade when you rent the car. However when you request the upgrade you are told that there is NO upgrade cars available. HOWEVER if you are willing to PAY EXTRA for the upgrade they HAVE cars available. Budget has sunken to a new low with this one. I will never do business with these lying cheats again.

Picked up a car in Denver. It immediately overheated and had to be towed. Left me and my daughter stranded in a very sketchy part of town at 4:00 in the morning. We were exhausted, cold and scared. They wanted us to take a Lyft back to the airport where we had just waited an hour and a half to pick up a reserved car. Today... They are telling me I won't get my refund until Saturday, a full eight days after the nightmare. Unbelievable.

Rented a compact car on Aug 12 from Tampa Airport. Had to wait 1 hour for a vehicle. After I reserved it in July was told I would get a 100 dollar deposit back and paid an extra 50 dollars so I didn't have to bring back the car filled. On Aug 21 brought the car back filled anyway forgetting I paid the extra charge. Have not received my 100 dollar deposit as of Sept 4. When I called they told me they were going to keep 50 dollars because the gas needle was a tad under the full line and I would still have to wait another 10 business day for the remaining 50 dollars of my 100 dollar deposit. Spoke to a manager, was told that is their policy, there is nothing he could do and kept telling me, "Handle it. It's just 50 dollars." Asked for his name. He kept telling me, "I can't hear you" then hung up on me. When I called again and asked a customer rep for the name of the supervisor I was told he couldn't give it to me because I had never called. Total nightmare.

You can book your car as fast as you want; but no way of find a chance to cancel. Reserved a car within one day. Due to weather, going to cancel after one hour reserved. Customer refused to cancel, you have to call another phone to cancel. But that phone you call 3 hours could not connect it. Never to rent it from them by credit card. They can charge what they want .

Literally didn't even want to give them one star! On July 8, 2019, we reserved a 12 ft truck to move my daughter 6 hours away into her first college house. We confirmed it two weeks prior. When I called the specific location to let them know we were coming a half hour early to pick it up, the man was extremely unprofessional and even rise. He said he didn't have a truck and we had to deal with Budget directly. When I asked his name so we could let Budget know who we spoke with, he hung up on me.

What a nightmare! We were renting a car from Budget Car Rental in Rock Hill. Got in the car a nearly threw up, solid cigarette smoke. Guy says, "Sorry you'll have to take it into Charlotte to exchange it." SERIOUSLY! So husband drove it to Pineville (45 minutes) to exchange it. He is heading home now with a compact car. We paid for a full size. The roof is rusting, door panel is coming off... and on! He is calling their customer service now. We'll see what they say! I am at a loss for words. Are all rental car places this bad these days? We haven't rented a car in at least 10 years, so maybe things have changed. #EpicFail

We rented a vehicle from Budget late at night in May 2019. Despite loudly telling them that we already had insurance, they slipped that expensive option in on us anyway. After "signing" for everything on a glitchy tablet that kept blinking in and out, they printed out our paperwork. We tried to get the extra insurance removed, but they refused since we'd already agreed to it by signing the tablet. Also beware their toll package that charges so much per day for local tolls instead of paying for each individual tollbooth. We paid for that as well, but it's now August and we're still getting toll charges from Budget on our credit card every single month. It's only about $5 per month, so it's not worth the time to fight with them. But they have our credit card number and have been billing it all summer.

Ok, so I overreacted a little because no one who I spoke with at Budget was helping me resolve my issue — and I thought I was out $243. That was until I sent an email to the help desk at Budget and someone got back to me and said they would reverse the fee. Praise Jesus. I can buy groceries now. Thank you to Budget for coming around and helping me out in this messy situation. I will 100% from now on be triple checking the drop off location.

I have returned the car on time and dropped the keys in drop box around 7:30AM on a Monday. The owner of Budget claim the car is not in the lot till Tuesday. They didn't do their job right and charged me 165$ instead of 75$. She says good luck in a rude tone for me; when I said if I can escalate. Continued arguing that the car is not in the lot on time; when I asked them to look at their cameras. Customer care says they can offer 15% discount instead of refunding the extra charge for a service that I didn't use.

We reserved a 4 Door Jeep Wrangler months in advance and prepaid. I even called the week before to make absolutely sure they would have one. Pickup time was 1:00pm. Not only did they not have ANY 4 door Jeep available at 1:00pm. I’m still sitting here 2 HOURS later with NO vehicle. They have told numerous lies! That one is being cleaned and now they have said they are waiting on the oil to be changed in one. The manager has offered absolutely nothing to accommodate for their failure. They have destroyed our vacation and our itinerary timeline planned months in advance. DO NOT use this company!!!

According to Budget's website, you can earn Amazon gift cards when you pay through Amazon Pay. I followed their direction to the T. Now they won't issue me a card. This was a long term rental and one of the reasons I went with Budget was because of the gift card. I will never rent with Budget again. Too bad for them - I travel every 3 weeks.

I have recently rented from Budget from San Jose Airport. I paid the full amount beforehand to save money. But alas! 1. At the time of picking up the car, they did not have the car I have rented and they gave me another car, which is not unusual I would say. 2. I declined all the insurances they offer as I have my own premium insurance. I declined everything at the time of online reservation also. But the agent added extra 225 dollar charge for the car and 159 dollar for something called RSN (which I had no idea at that time, let alone sign up for it!) insurance which totals to 368 dollars extra money.

Got stuck renting a car after missing my shuttle - got quoted $139 online and when I picked it up, drove for 3 days, dropped it off. $402.39. FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS after being quoted $139. SCAM. They will charge you hidden fees and I will read off my receipt: Energy Recovery, Customer Fac Charge, LDW (which was $92.97????), 11.11% Fee and also doesn't even give a description for what that was for. Absolute lie and a scam.

I will never book with them again. Booked a month in advance. Decided to cancel within a day of booking only to be charged $50. I called them to figure out what this could be for, then spoke with manager who refused to waive the fee.

I reserved SUV Budget rental car from Costco travel site for BWI airport from 7/30 – 8/7. When I got there, a front desk person asked if if I want an upgrade. I said if it is free then I would. He said there will be 50% discount if I want the upgrade. I told him that I would not want upgrade if it cost me more. Then he said he has a Camry if I want it. I told him that I reserved SUV, not Camry. He finally gave me GMC Acadia with 8 seats.

I am a Budget Fast Break customer. I rented a car in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, last month from Budget. When I picked up the car it was late at night. The windows were rolled down when we got in, and we drove off leaving them down. We did not use the car until the following night. Then, when we got in the car to go to dinner, we noticed the car smelled terribly. Which was probably why the windows were down! It was a Saturday night, and late by the time we returned from dinner. We had a wedding the next day, and a full schedule on Monday. So I didn’t call them to complain, but when we returned the car Tuesday, I told the attendant, who wrote on the windshield that the car smelled. Now Budget is charging me $250 for the smell. When I called to dispute the charges, they said there was no evidence that the smell was there before I got the car.

I come to Chicago frequently and always rent a car during my stay. This was my first time using Budget. This particular trip, I was in town to be a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding. On Thursday, 7/18, while on my way to the rehearsal I got a flat tire. Unfortunately, me and four other cars that simply could not avoid a large car piece that had broken off and was bouncing around a busy intersection. No big deal, I thought, because my fiancé came with his mother's car to assist me in changing the tire. Lo and behold there is NO spare tire in the vehicle! There was, however, an inflation kit. This did not help because the tire was so shredded that the inflation kit was completely useless.

This is a deceptive business practice. I have not experienced similar deceptive behavior from any of the other car rental companies at major airports.

Recently I rented a car in San Fran for a road trip with the family across California. I reserved the car online. When I arrived there, the agent suggested the standard SUV is too small for 2 adults and 3 kids and I upgrade. The upgrade charges was about 5-10 USDs a day so decided to go for it. However when we finished all the paperwork and walked to the car, I realised the upgrade was not as described. In fact it was smaller than the original SUV I reserved online. Everyone was really tired after 11+ hour flight so decided to take it and ask for a change next day.

Hi, I rented a car from Budget/Avis out of Brindisi, Italy airport on 7/18, with a rental period of 7/18 - 7/27. Prior to arriving at the airport, and during the initial rental car reservation process, I attempted to decline all optional insurances (i.e. collision, etc.) through both the online reservation process, and by calling a Budget/Avis customer service representative. Neither approach was successful. The online booking would not allow me to decline the optional insurances, and the customer service representative told me on 7/16 I could only decline them in person at the airport when renting the car. All conversations were recorded and documented. While picking up the car at the airport, I specifically requested all optional insurances be removed from the contract.

I rented Two vehicles from Budget Rental car in Guayaquil Ecuador. 1 for 11 days the other for 3 weeks. I specifically went to Budget (USA based) because some of the others force you to purchase insurance. When I got to the airport at 10pm I was told that I had the base price and would have to pay for Insurance for both vehicles for $25.00 per day per car! This was more than my original booking (which was done thru Priceline who does car rentals thru Rentalcars.com). The man at the counter said I should be happy because I had base price so he had to charge more. I booked on AMEX which has rental insurance and the 5k balance other companies would hold.

I rented a car from Budget on 7/18/19 at the Wilmington International Airport. I reserved the car online and it was $155. When I picked up the car, I had declined all insurance but my bill was $191? I figured the increase was due to maybe tax? Then when I returned the car, my bill ended up being $210? I contacted customer service who stated that I was charged a refuel charge. Since I had filled up the car prior to returning, they would credit me back. However, I had chosen roadside assistance and that charge stands. When I checked in, I had declined any and all insurance.

Due to bad weather our plan was delayed 3-4 hours. Reached Orlando Airport and the Fastbreak was closed but the sign did not state it closed at midnight. Had to wait in line for over an hour and the cars were not ready. Had to return to the desk at a later time before the cars were ready. Our vehicles were supposed to be the equivalent of a Ford Edge. One vehicle was perfect the other one was a foreign car, Mitsubishi! That car had ants, we even left a can of insect spray in the glove department. Something was wrong with the defroster, the front window was always fogging up making visibility poor. Changing gears was not easy and we couldn't even figure out how to put gas in the car? Our counter person never told us if we needed to return the car with a filled tank or not. Horrible experience! Have not contacted Budget, too upset to talk about it!

I booked my rental online over a month in advance. Went I got to the counter I heard the lady upgrading the people next to me yo the type of car I had reserved. I did not think much about it until the lady helping me told me I could not get the car I rented and they were going to upgrade me to a different car. I did not want an upgrade and the car I ended up getting was not even an upgrade and smelled like smoke on top if that. To make matters worse when I looked at my credit card bill they charged me an extra $189 for insurance I had declined. When I called they told me that I signed for the insurance. I tried to explain that I did not tell the lady I wanted extra insurance as my credit card has rental car insurance. They would not listen and said I marked the box. They are a very dishonest company and their employees are also dishonest in the way they trick people and lie. I will never ever rent from them again and wish I had looked at these reviews before I had

My car broke down in Lawton, Oklahoma on a trip. I am from East TX and 6 hours away. Dropped it of at a local dealer to be fixed. At the dealership I booked a one day rental through Priceline for Budget. I booked a compact car. A few hours later I took a uber to pick up my rental. Well when they looked up my rental I was told they had no compacts, only full size. I asked how much more and was told 18 bucks more a day. Since I needed a car I paid the outrageous price. Later that night I heard back from the dealership my car was going to take some time to fix. So I booked another car for a 4 day rental. The total was going to be 112 bucks for the 4 days. The next day I get there to drop off my rental and pick up my new reservation at the lower price. Only to be told if turned that car in that they could not rent it back out to me at that lower rate. I had to keep it at the 60 dollar a day rate.

We went to Denver last week for a family vacation and needed a car for which we made a reservation with Budget through AARP Expedia. We chose Budget because they had "in airport" rentals. Actually, the rental was not in the airport, but a 5 minute bus ride away. When we got to the Budget office, there was a long line of customers waiting which was moving very slowly. There were about eight stations where Budget agents could have been serving customers, but about half of the agents were bunched up talking, laughing and joking with a person who appeared to be a supervisor. The line moved really slowly. We did finally get our car, but it was a frustrating experience and will make me reluctant to use Budget ever again!!!

This is the worst car rental company hands down. Yesterday we picked up a car rental from their office in Dayton airport in OH so we can drive to Chicago’s O’Hare airport this morning to catch a flight overseas. As we were loading the car with luggage , we were shocked as we noticed the license plates had expired stickers!! This is very irresponsible of them and their negligence caused us so much stress and risk as we feared we would miss the flight because of this.

I was handed a GPS device, so I assumed it was part of my rental (I booked through a third party). I did not ask for the GPS nor was I told it would cost extra. I was also charged for an upgraded vehicle that I did not receive. When I called Customer Service to ask about these incorrect charges, they told me to contact the location where I rented the vehicle. However, the automated messaging options at the specific location took me back to Customer Service, so there was no way to reach that location directly and Customer Service could not transfer me. It was a very frustrating experience, and unfortunately it is still unresolved.

I am a constant renter at least 2-3 times a month, both personal and business. I prepaid for a rental today and once I got a confirmation the receipt amount changes by almost $200. Called the CS number and had to argue with them about the price of which he admitted that it was their fault and he finally cancelled the reservation and submitted a refund. What he did NOT do was close the rental out and now the payment is stuck in a pending state. I called the corporate office for further assistance and of course the CS rep "Cassie" was not in the least bit concerned that they had tied up my money.

Rented a car at the airport. Worst car ever! Had 2 big cracks on the window over 20 inches each. Was noted on damage sheet. Had 2 warning lights the whole time. 1 for oil and the other for tires. Turn indicator would not reset after turning. Windshield wipers completely rusted and ineffective in clearing the rain. Brake pads shot, squealed when applied. Transmission slipped. Can’t believe a major rental companies would put such a car in use. Arrived in the evening and were on a tour the next day. Didn’t realize all the problems until next day.

Had a horrible experience at the LAX Budget Rent a Car location. They tried to over charge us by 700.00 and tried to secretly add on charges for things we didn’t need. Had to insist on seeing the manager for assistance who had to cancel the whole transaction and redo it correctly. Had to call our credit card company who also said Budget was trying to scam us. We originally reserved a SUV, and they tried to give us a pick up truck. They finally gave us a SUV, and it reeked of ** throughout the car. Had to go back in to get another car. Printed receipt showed they gave us a full tank of gas, but it was almost a half tank. Had to go back to get it adjusted by a worker. Not a good experience and we won’t be renting from Budget Rent A Car any more.

We rented a car out of Budget Rental JFK NY airport. We are Fastbreak customers, which allegedly means fast in and out. Not so. The car was not ready. They claimed they had to run it through the car wash. There was a half hour delay. Apparently Budget washed the exterior. The interior of the car is filthy and reeks of cigarette smoke. Disgusting. DO NOT RENT BUDGET OUT OF NY! AIRPORT unless you wish to experience delays and drive a filthy car.

First time renting with this company and certainly a last. Giving 1 star because anything less is not permitted. Was told by Donovan at the airport rental site that we would be receiving a $100.00 deposit back after we return our car and long story short after countless hours of long phone calls and getting a different story each time by every rude customer service agent, especially the last supervisor I just spoke with. They're not giving us back our holding fee. Was basically told it was my fault, and there is no documentation of this fee or the previous phone calls I made, like that is my fault, I didn't know it was my job/responsibility to make notes in your computers for you guys..

I have Fastbreak. I made my reservation about July 11, 2019 for a mid size SUV to be picked up at the Philadelphia Int'l Airport. They didn't have a car ready for me. They finally found one; a GMC Terrain. So I asked could there be any compensation for my time? I was offered a tank of gas. I just didn't think that was good enough. So I called customer service; because what's the sense in having Fastbreak if the reservation isn't honored. I was offered $40.00 off my next rental. That pacified me some. So from Philadelphia my family and I were driving to Michigan. We had to stop 5 times to put air in the front passenger tire. But we couldn't tell what tire to fill at first because the diagram in the vehicle showed that it was the rear tire. So apparently the tires were rotated and not calibrated.

We rented a car from Priceline to be picked up in Birmingham, Alabama and had a confirmation number. When we got to Budget we were told even though we had a confirmation number they had no cars available. We had to run around looking for another car rental agency to rent us a car. The person at the desk did not apologize or anything. He just said, "We don't have any rental cars available." There were a lot of rental cars from Budget in the parking lot at the time.

My partner first had an issue with the insurance at the time of rental, we were given a car with a leaking tire to travel from Canada to Atlanta. We then spent almost 2 hrs on the phone with customer service employees who just keep rerouting the calls to main selection menu. We were finally directed to swap the vehicle at a specific location only to show up and be told that location can't swap the vehicle. We then had to drive another 40 min to a separate store. They swapped the vehicle but this one needs an oil change so we can't use it to get home. After another 3 hrs on the phone with over 6 different representatives all telling us different things they told us to go swap the vehicle again. All their stores are closed now... and they are trying to charge us for the vehicle swaps. The worst service I have ever experienced, 2 vehicles that were not maintained and we still don't have a third vehicle to get home.

I have rented Budget the past couple years for my annual trip after beginning to have less customer friendly experiences with other companies. Today, I was delayed on a flight from Chicago to Seattle due to storms. Due to being a Sunday, the offsite location where I had rented from closed early. A nice guy named Daniel informed me all other offsite locations were booked. When I looked online the SeaTac airport had outrageous fees and I would have probably shopped at another company offsite. Instead your representative Daniel was able to secure a SeaTac pickup for nearly the same price and it was for a full size up from an intermediate. Because of this experience, I will share my story and will look to Budget first, the next time I travel.

I leased a two door Volkswagen From Budget Rental. The car maintenance was not up to date. The engine begin to overheat and the car needed oil. I waited 6 hours for a replacement car and they never replaced the car. I will just go to Enterprise next time. It’s called Budget rental for a reason obviously. They are liars and don’t keep up the maintenance on their vehicles.

I have been going to Budget at 4114 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, Texas. Budget not too long ago transferred there from another location in Pasadena. They are awesome. Particularly a gentleman by the name of **. He is outstanding. He always come in with a friendly and helpful attitude, always ready to assist you in getting the best out of every trip rather it is business or pleasure. He won't let you leave until you’re fully satisfied. This man is amazing. We really appreciate you Tony and I thank Budget for hiring the best.

Loss damage waiver. It was added and charged to my bill without my acceptance. The counter lady kept pushing extras, adding drivers, adding insurance and even though I kept telling her no, she added this one on anyways. Very unhappy.

Would you pay $614 for a single flat tire?? Budget Rental cars feels that is OK, and put that charge on my credit card almost 2 months after my flat. The letter arrived 6 days before the charge. They say they have NO responsibility, but I do NOT agree. I have interacted with them on the phone several times, and they will not budge...

I was told at the counter that I could upgrade my rental for $12.95. I specifically asked the salesperson if that was a daily charge and was told it was a one time charge. Sweet deal until I turned in the car and discovered I was paying $15 per day for the upgrade. Salesperson said she did not say that it was a one time charge. I could not pursue the matter further due to having to catch an international flight. This is the last time I will ever use Budget Rent-A-Car. Beware of this company.

Rented a van for vacation April 17, 2019 and paid in full at that time. Confirmation was received. Two days before our vacation we received another confirmation on June 27, 2019. When we arrived to pick up the vehicle it was not available. They sent us to another location 15 minutes away and they too did not have a van available. Went back to the original Budget where we originally said we would pick the van up and confirmed by Budget. They ended up giving us a Ford Explorer. We had to stuff the luggage into the storage space because it was too small for all of our luggage. They said it would be cheaper and we would be credited for the difference. As of today we were not credited for the difference. Booked 2 months ahead of time and paid in full and no van available the day of our vacation. We were cramped into the Ford Explorer. Bad business Budget. I would give you ZERO stars.

Read the fine print... We were told we would get appropriate reimbursement if we turned in our car early. Turned it in two days early. Budget told us fine print said no rebate on “prepaid” rental. Here is the part that sucks. We paid $288 for 7 days rental insurance. Turned in a full 3 days early. Had to hound them on phone 3 times and finally got $38 credit. Two days of insurance should have been about $80. What a con. No more Budget for us!

I could go on for days on this one! Sooooo.... Budget didn't have a car for me on my scheduled time. 45 min. later still couldn't tell me when I would have a car or if I would get a car. Meanwhile others were getting cars. They were rude. Never would give me information. Had to ask every time. Took smoke breaks every 20 min. Blew smoke in my face at one point when I ask any news. Really!? Ok! (While they were outside smoking and mind you with at least 6-8 people waiting on them in lobby). They actually said my car would be there in 20 min. They ended up giving it to someone else lol! WAit What!?! When asked they said they had me mistaken for someone else! OMG! WOW! Ok Budget! They had taken my information first before telling me about not having a car.

Buyer beware of this company. Make sure you read your rental agreement. If you rent from them for a week say at 24 dollars a day and you return the car early. They have a right per the agreement to charge you more money as they did me. So I had 24.00 per day and they brought it up to 44.00 per day. They are a sneaky company and if you do not look at the agreement you will be charged. The rental person does not tell you up front about this either. As I said anyone reading this BUYER BEWARE. Make sure to look at all car companies. They will never get my business again.

We rented a car in Houston and returned the car in the early hours after refilling at an airport Garage, however there were no staff to receive the car. After returning home, we have now been charged an extra 107 dollars for 'Roadside assistance' after I specifically requested not to have it and for 'refueling the car.' As there were no staff I could not have contested these charges and now find they have taken the money. I travel to the USA frequently and have never had any of these charges from other companies. Use them at your own risk!

This is not related to the car but related to the customer services at the Denver airport. I would not recommend Budget for a friend nor will I use the service again. At least at the Denver airport. The CS person gave me a Chevy Tahoe and told me that it was a better car than the one I reserved. When I explained to him that I reserved a premium SUV and showed him the price difference on my app, he still insisted I was wrong. Then he told me to go into the parking lot and see if I can find a car for myself. It was raining, but I did this since it was late and I didn't want to argue with him.

I have never in my entire life been treated with that much disrespect because I choose not to have a credit card. This location needs to clean house. Its customer service experience was horrible and very unprofessional to say the least. I recommend avoiding this location at all cost.

I prepaid for a car so no hassle at car return to airport. Wrong! I was overcharged $52.95 for fuel surcharge when I provided him with gas receipt to prove I filled tank. I called customer service and they said to send receipt to them. First of all I could send any gas receipt to them it doesn't prove anything and I said I left it with rental car. Be prepared to be guilty and prove yourself innocent because they will not call the local office to see if car in fact had gas in it. Bad Business. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

I have been renting vehicles for over 40 years and have never had such poor & fraudulent service as I received from Budget Rental Car. Have NEVER purchase additional coverage for any vehicle I have rented and I verbally stated that at the counter with the Budget agent. Yet when directed where to initial all of those lines the agent obviously directed me to initial additional coverage to the tune of over $400! I did not realize this till I returned the car and was shocked to see the charge. I have written to the corporate offices and they refuse to reimburse the money.

Budget Car Rental can go fall off the face of the earth. Two different prices, one for "pay now" and another for "pay when you pick up". SO, I do the latter, since I'm not sure which card I actually feel like using at time of rental. Do the online reservation and enter my card info to "hold" the car. Lo & behold, it appears on my Amex statement five minutes later. So I make another reservation, and do the "pay now" thing, since as long as they're gonna charge my card, I might as well save the couple bucks.

I sent a young employee to Indianapolis for training and booked his travel online which included a Budget rental car. I had declined all the extra insurance charges on the booking since we are covered by our company policy. I charged the entire trip to my company credit card. When my employee arrived to pick up the car the counter person told him that Budget couldn't use my credit card and he would have to use his personal card instead for the car rental. He then continued to sell this young man multiple unnecessary insurance policies which he insisted that he needed. An economy car rental for 3 days went from the original cost of $144 to a final bill of $498.

Horrible experience. My family and I flew from Denver to Milwaukee and attempted to reserve two child seats. We used the Frontier booking bundle and there was nowhere to reserve child seats in the booking. When we spoke to the representative at the booking they assured us to contact Budget after the booking was confirmed and they would have child seats available for us. I immediately got off the phone with Frontier and called Budget and 15 phone calls later I finally spoke to a Budget representative in Milwaukee who assured me that the seats would be guaranteed at pickup. When we arrived to Milwaukee we requested the car seats and all they had was infant seats.

Due to the staff's error (which we had evidence to contradict), we were additionally charged. Told they wouldn't do anything about it. Called customer service, who attacked me as a person. When asking to speak to a supervisor, was told they'd call me back within 48 hours. Four days have passed and nothing. Don't trust them. Such a hassle, and they honestly couldn't care less.

After arriving from a long flight from London in Salt Lake City, we were ready to pick up our rental car we ordered for 3pm, online, prepaid. They told us there was an hour wait for an available car. An hour and a half later, we are still sitting here waiting, with no word when the car will be available. Ridiculous!

I wouldn’t suggest running from Budget to anyone. I had a reservation made for over a week. When it was time for me to show up for my rental, they could only offer me a pick up, when I had a reservation for a full-size car. Mind you in their eyes it was an upgrade (“only car available for me”). Mind you I had three kids with me and we were traveling out of town for hours away for the weekend. So no the pick up will not work because we have obviously had luggage we needed to bring and I was not about to throw that nor a kid in the back of a pick up on an interstate. The customer service rep did not try to help get me on the road in going at all, she simply told me that was all that she had for me and everything else was reserved for specific people, mind you I had a reservation for a whole week prior to picking it up. So I was left no choice but to call Enterprise, and thank God they came through…

May 2019, I reserved a Hyundai Elantra with Budget Rent-A-Car a week in advance. On the Saturday 5/25 morning of pickup 7:00 a.m., I went to the Nashville Airport to pick up my rental. There was NO Budget representative at the counter, so the AVIS representative had to take care of everyone. Apparently these two companies works together. There was a lot of people because this was the Memorial Weekend. I didn't want to hold anyone up with my reservation so I thought I would do Budget and all of their customers a big favor and quickly fly through my reservation. Especially since I reserved a Hyundai Elantra a week in advance already.

We hired a car for 13 days, and had it all PREPAID for in MIA Airport. At the counter, when getting the car, the attendant asked us if we wanted PREPAID FULL GAS TANK, which we accepted, because we returned it very early 13 days after, and we even confirmed: IT´S ALL PREPAID FOR, JUST THE GAS TANK. He then gave us to sign in an empty screen. Our huge surprise was to receive a debt of almost the same value as we had PREPAID FOR, and we only wanted the GAS TANK. We were fooled, and now Budget wants to say we signed for it.... BUT WE DO NOT AGREE!!!! We were fooled, and there are more than 130 other complaints just like ours on the internet... DO NOT RENT FROM BUDGET!!! THEY ARE NOT SERIOUS!!!! #BUDGETNEVERMORE

Be very wary of what a service rep is saying. We picked up our car at Orlando International. The service rep was asking about adding insurance and I told him no my insurance covers rental, he said "so the car only". I said yes. Fill out papers and sign thinking I was safe, get a notice immediately my cars had been charged over $450 from Budget. I had already prepaid so there should have been only a $100 if anything. I flip through the paperwork and the rep had added the insurance. So I had to go back and wait for it to be corrected, but the $450 charge now 10 days after the pickup hasn't been released. I returned the rental today, so in a week it should be removed. The fact a rep added things after I verbally declined with 2 witnesses standing beside me: read every single thing on the screen because they can't be trusted to listen.