Budget Car Rental Reviews

We accidentally left behind my daughter’s wallet when returning our rental car at the Tampa airport. We realized within 20 minutes. We immediately ran back to the rental area. After some time they said they located the wallet but the money was taken out of it. $200! The manager proceeded to tell us that he watched the cameras and no money was taken, although the manager would not allow me to see his name or badge and couldn’t tell me who found the wallet. He said he wasn’t sure. Shady af and complete thieves! Police will be involved! Do not use Budget!

Beware Scam!!!! Budget Rental Car Federal Circle JFK Airport. Worst rental car experience ever. I picked up the rental and was at first very pleased that the car was big enough to hold all of my family's luggage comfortably.... But regrettably I failed to check how much gas was in the tank until after I had already passed the Budget exit gate and was driving out near the Airport. There was only between a half and three quarters of a tank of gas in the car, but of course the paperwork stated that the tank was supposed to have been full. Rather than turn around and make a big deal of it, I decided to let it go and just return the car full and take the hit. Big mistake. After a two week vacation, I stopped at an Exxon and put $54 worth of gas in to fill the tank completely, which was about $7 over the amount that the pump had first automatically shut off at. I forced the extra amount in to be sure, and then drove straight to the car returns.

You will be sorry to rent from them. Very misleading agents, deviants and untrustworthy. If you are going to San Diego, especially, they are terrible. Absolutely, the worst I have ever seen.

I was reserved for a Toyota Camry or comparable. Sent away in a Toyota Tacoma with more than 36,000 miles on it, a pickup truck that had been ridden hard and hung up wet. Worse, when I turned on the Tacoma, the "maintenance required" light came on. The utterly unhelpful counter clerk would neither rent me one of the sedans in his inventory nor perform the maintenance required on the Tacoma.

I am from GA. I have booked my car via Costco for 3 days at Dallas, TX. After getting down at flight at night 11 pm, stood in lane for 2 hours. Budget car representative told my GA license doesn't work at TX and tried to charge me $35 per day insurance. After my request he told to charge only one day. But when I have returned car and saw receipt after coming home, they charged for 3 days. I have called customer service and explained. As she didn't agree for refund, I asked them to connect to her manager. Finally they agreed for refund. But although it's 40 days still its not refunded. Today when I called them customer service person is very rude and told their notes never mentioned about refund. They wasted my valuable time and patience. I never book budget rental car in future. I always suggest you all to be careful and don't get trapped by me for their lies.

I rented a vehicle in advance and prepaid. Budget could not provide the vehicle and could not cancel the vehicle at the budget office. They made me call customer service, which is obstinate and unreasonable and in my opinion has zero credibility. They could not provide the vehicle and could not tell me when they could provide a vehicle. I did not realize the folks I contacted were a third-party vendor. They gave me no choice, even though Budget could not provide a vehicle. They stated that since I prepaid that I would have to pay a termination fee. After several days, Budget did realize they were wrong and refunded my car rental but not the termination fee.

Budget charged a security deposit of $250.45 on my car rental and has not released the hold on those funds although the car was returned 10 days ago. Budget Customer Service clerks tell me I need to provide them with my bank's fax # so they can coordinate refund of the payment (still pending, never posted). The bank says there is no such fax #; Budget is responsible for releasing the hold. Budget customer service clerks refused to transfer me to a supervisor. The car was fine, but Budget needs a robust process to release the hold they have placed on the funds. And their customer service clerks need to be trained to transfer the call to a supervisor when appropriate. I will NEVER EVER rent another vehicle from Budget.

I had a very disappointing experience with Budget Car Rental. I reserved a 7-passenger vehicle on June 6 for pickup on June 14. To make sure everything was set, I called Budget two days before my pickup date and was told that my reservation was confirmed and the vehicle would be available. On the morning of June 14, a Budget associate called and informed me that they had no vehicle available for me. My family and I had a flight to catch from Dulles Airport, and this last-minute cancellation created unnecessary stress and disruption to our travel plans.

We got to Budget at LaGuardia Airport and there was a line out the door. I counted 30 people ahead of us and I looked inside that there was only one employee behind the counter. It took 90 minutes to get to that employee. It then took another 30 minutes to get our reserved car. When returning the car the next day, there was only one employee at returns. He told us that if we wanted a receipt we had to go unto the office. In the office there were 10 people ahead of me and one employee and one trainee on duty. It took 30 minutes to get the receipt. Then to add insult to injury, the handicap bus they sent for us was not working!

We went out on the site and picked a SUV weeks before our trip. We got to Birmingham Airport and was told they no longer carry those vehicles but they were out on the site to choose from. This was an inconvenience for us because we had to get something smaller and we didn’t have time to check with other places because we were leaving. I feel it was false advertisement because it’s out there to choose from but they no longer have them. I spoke with Kendra and out of spending 629.00 they could only discount 52.00. We will NEVER rent anything else from Budget. Our trip was inconvenienced because of their false advertisement. This is unexceptionable and very unprofessional. I wish we had read these reviews before we rented from Budget. Our family will not be rented from Budget!!!!

I reserved a car two weeks before. I wanted a mini-SUV which they had when I made the reservation. When I picked it up I was given a different car, a mini-Van. I told them I didn't want a mini-Van because it's too big and hard to park. They said it was all that they had available, and the car that you get is usually based on a first come first serve basis. This means you are never guaranteed a car that you reserved. What's the point of reserving a car weeks in advance if you're not going to get it? The person at the counter was also very rude about it and seemed like he was ready to go home and seemed bothered and irritated. He said, "you don't have to take it if you don't want to." Poor customer service. It was late at night and I was very tired after a long flight. I definitely didn't want this kind of rude behavior from a rental car front desk attendant. Will never rent from this company ever again!

You people charged me $10:00 because I was a gallon short of gas. I'm retired and plan on renting cars. Guess what company I won't use? It's not the ten dollars, it's the idea of how petty you people are.

Hello to anyone looking to rent a car from Budget. I highly recommend not to, I rented my first car ever and needless to say I will never rent again. Especially from them. Long story short. Rented to drive to Fl paid for insurance and crap. For one day travel. Well dropped car off on the 8th and on the 18th I get a letter saying there’s a dent they're charging me for. So, I call there’s no record but 4 days later money is taking out of my account and they have pics of dent. So week later still fighting with them. And all they say is sorry we have to charge you for it. I said well the timeline doesn’t add up for one. There wasn’t pic but now there is?, and I had insurance on the thing. Well, sorry we have to charge you for debt. So if you’re thinking about using them I recommend think really hard.

I rented a car through the United Airlines website and selected Budget because the total rental cost was quoted at approximately $243. When I arrived at the rental counter, the Budget representative told me I could add insurance for about $40. That sounded reasonable, so I agreed and signed the paperwork. A few days later, I checked my credit card statement and discovered I had been charged $733. Nearly $500 of that amount was for insurance and additional charges that were never clearly explained to me. Had I known the insurance would cost hundreds of dollars instead of around $40, I never would have agreed to it.

Did not receive a full tank of gas. Was charged for not filling it up. I only filled it what I Received. Contacted facility. Was told my account would be noted so I wouldn't be held liable. Never noted account. The mileage did not match what I used from previous rental. Think someone there is using vehicle without paying. Talked to drop off facility. Was told they wouldn't charge me for gas but did anyway. Talked to customer service no response. Company is not trustworthy.

They canceled our truck the day before we were set to move. The only alternative they offered was at a location almost 2 hours away. Do not rent from here.

There are two issues regarding my recent rental: According to the contract, the total cost should be $77.46, but my credit card was charged $176.31. I made the car rental through Booking.com. It clearly states that only a driver’s license and a credit card are required. However, when I arrived to pick up the car, I was asked to present a second ID. The only additional ID I have is my passport. I never expected that traveling locally in Ohio would require a passport, so I did not bring it with me. I had to drive home to get it, which took an hour and caused a significant delay and inconvenience due to this unexpected requirement. Why Budget requires a second ID? If this is a mandatory requirement, why didn’t Booking.com inform customers in advance to prevent situations like this?

Terrible experience. Did not have the size vehicle we reserved and needed for our vacation. We had no choice but to take a smaller one. They offered free gas fill-up as an apology but we were still charged for it. Speaking to customer service after our trip was awful. The supervisor was extremely rude and talked over me and would not hear me out. He apparently thinks our family should have waiting at the airport for days until the correct car was available. Was not willing to make it right. We are not hard to please but expect the car we reserved to be there for us.

DO NOT RENT FROM BUDGET!! THEY FORGED MY HUSBAND’S SIGNATURE! We rented at Naples Airport and had previously booked through Booking.com. We were never given a signed contract. We paid online. After we returned the car they ended up charging us $900 in fees! They charged us for an upgraded car we never got and for returning the car at a different location among other ridiculous fees. They provided us a document of us agreeing but it was not my Husband’s signature! THIS IS ILLEGAL AND WE ARE SEEKING LEGAL COUNSEL. They are fraudulent and DO NOT RENT FROM THEM EVER. They are performing illegal practices!!! Watch out BUDGET!

Staff will disconnect calls without any respect of communication, no callback. Rude service when feedback is warranted of experience. Disrespectful behavior, interrupting and talking over the customer as they are actively speaking. Continue to do so after corrected. Refunds not actioned when stated it would be. Customer experience is not their goal.

I only gave budget 1 star because there wasn't a negative star to give. The worst rental company ever! My son and I weren't able to rent a car because of hidden fees that were thrown in at pickup. Because of this we had to sleep in my storage unit for 2 days until I could find someone to come pick us up. As if that weren't the icing on the cake...here we are almost a month later and I have still yet to receive my refund.

I rented a car from Flint Bishop Airport location 4 months ago. I drove am hour to pickup the vehicle and they told me that they had no vehicles. They couldn't give me a reason why. I have a wedding to be at tomorrow in a state that is 12 hours away! I called another location that had a car, but the cost was more than double the cost that I reserved for. I asked for an adjustment and was told that had to go through the corporate billing office. I called them and they told me that they couldn't adjust the price because their system was down. They told me that I could try and call back in 3 hours to see if it came back up.

Never rent from Budget again. Trying to charge $450 for cleaning smoke smell. I have NEVER smoked a day in my life. Gave me a smoky car that had been in an accident. Made tire wheel or bearing noise issues. Remote for car was half missing. I reported all upon drop off. Reported smoke upon leaving and drop off. Drive car only 3 hrs and dropped off in Falmouth, MA. Told the lady at desk there both issues. Now they trying to charge me. The paper for the charges says I dropped car off in Falmouth, Ma only 3 hours after renting it. They say on charges that I dropped off in Boston the next day. They obviously rented car back out without closing my rental.

My rental had a flat tire, and no spare. Budget would not deliver a replacement vehicle as the incident was a considerable distance from the location I received the vehicle. Budget’s emergency road service advised me to have the tire replaced, which I did. Now, Budget refuses to reimburse the costs to replace the tire, stating that I did not get prior approval. While I do not have written approval, there is a record of my conversation with ERS. They got me on a technicality. Budget knows I had no options but to replace the tire. So now, the vehicle has a new tire at my expense which they refuse to give me back to me, as I have requested. Shame, shame!

Because we prepaid online & had to extend our rental by only 2 additional days, we were charged an additional fee that was 1.5 times our original fee ON TOP of our original fee!! This company is a JOKE!! They are the perfect example of why companies fail!! Will NOT be surprised when they do!!

I would give 0 stars if that was an option. I had to buy 4 new tires (550 euros) after a serious blowout on the motorway just one hour into my rental. The tires were at minimums and had steel wire showing. They should have been replaced by Budget prior to renting this vehicle. Despite providing photographic evidence and a professional mechanic’s report confirming that the tires were unroadworthy at the time of pickup, Budget has denied my claim for reimbursement. Their refusal is based on my lack of "Roadside Assistance" or "Excess Coverage." It is my position that a customer’s insurance selection does not absolve a rental company of its legal "Duty of Care" to provide a vehicle that meets Irish road safety standards.

Today I had a bad experience, the lady at the counter was nice, she enter my information and the system says my bank account is close, immediately I called to the bank and the person on the line says my account is not closed. Finally nothing to do, I asked for my refund and she says no because when you cancel is 24 hours before. I lost my money.

This is the second time Budget has not been good for us. This time, I filled up 35 miles from the airport, thinking this would be fine. They charged me for 2 gallons of gas. I was charged 23$. I guess you have to fill up within 5 miles of the airport to not get charged. Just ridiculous.

The worst rental company on earth! Do you want to get screwed with the final bill for no reason? This is the company. Worst company in America.

I went to Fresno two weeks ago now. I just got a bill for $450 saying a cleaning fee.. They said it was dirty. There's trash, some biohazard? It was unbelievable. They sent me pictures and there was a little dust and fingerprints but nothing excessive. I would guess 10 minutes to wash up..