Payless Car Rental Reviews

Where do I start? Got a plane ticket to SJC via Southwest, and also reserved a rental car via Payless through the Southwest Portal (they have a business partnership between Southwest and Payless). Quoted price is $370 for a standard 'full size' car. 1. Got to desk and was offered a 2 person mini convertible. Ummm... No. 2. They "found" some other car, which they said was full size (did not mention model). 3. They then told me the price was $392. I said "No, you quoted $370" and that is what I am paying. After much back and forth with the rep, the manager came along and said very irritated to the rep "Just give her the quoted price--do a manual adjustment." So I got the $370 price printed on my rental agreement.

Horrible customer service! I left important keys on the rental car key ring I returned at Ontario Airport. I’ve been trying for two days to get ahold of someone to help me. Both telephone numbers for rental desk are disconnected. No one answers lost & found number. Customer service keeps transferring me to numbers that hang up after 10-20 minutes on hold. Supervisors won’t help! No way to file a complaint!

We rented a Mid-Size SUV through Southwest for April 3rd - 6th in San Diego. Upon arrival at the Payless Counter, the attendant offered us an upgrade for only an additional $10/day. Shame on me for not reading the details, but we were charged an additional $40/day, I guess I’m too trustful. When we went to receive the vehicle, it was not an upgrade. The attendant in the lot told us this was the vehicle he had cleaned for us earlier that morning. The counter attendant also continued to say, over 4 different times, "you wanted the insurance?", and "I have you down for the full coverage", I had to insist several times that we declined the insurance. The overall experience was very, very shady. To top it off, I had temporarily misplaced the rental keys at our resort, when I asked the concierge if anyone had turned them in, he asked which rental company.

4/22/25: We recently traveled to Colorado and were in need of a SUV to accommodate 2 adults and 2 children with enough room for luggage and ski equipment. When issued the SUV, we noticed NO floor mats throughout the entire vehicle. Well in Colorado, in March, the conditions for clean floors are not ideal. We left the facility and headed to Keystone CO. Three notable safety concerns were "over-looked" from Payless. 1) The hood was NOT latched and after noticing the hood flapping around on the highway, we needed to pull over to re-latch it. Definitely could have caused an accident. 2) The tires were grossly over-inflated to 47 psi (the normal was supposed to be 36), another serious problem while driving through the mountains! 3) There was very low coolant in the vehicle, and we needed to add more from our condo's maintenance supervisor. None of these concerns were address from Payless.

This company embodies a clown show and bad business practices. My wife had a confirmed reservation at CVG airport. She had to visit her brother who just passed away. After a 5-hour flight, arriving at night, this company tells her they don't have cars available. (And 10 other people in line with confirmed reservations.) Expedia should not work with these amateurs. The Sixth representative at the CVG airport told my wife he used to work for this company and it is a normal business practice at Payless. It should be PayNone - do not use.

I waited in line at the Payless desk in Phoenix for 3 1/2 hours with a toddler. I was told I was not able to cancel my reservation without forfeiting the entire cost. Since the wait was so ridiculous, the other customers and I took turns going to other car rental counters to compare prices and the costs were not that much lower. A few customers decided to rent with someone else anyway, and left the line which was the only fast movement we saw all day.

ZERO STARS. By far the worse customer service experience of my life! Flew into Phoenix approx. 8 pm with my 10 year old son. Only 1 employee working (slowly) and handed him printout of our reservation for a full size suv that we paid for. After 90 MINUTES of waiting, we got a small car. Called management after to get adjustment for the difference. He agreed to issue refund within 3 to 5 business days. 10 day later nothing. Reached back out and Payless offered half of what we agreed on. PAYLESS IS OWNED BY AVIS! WHAT A PATHETIC JOKE! Avis (with 4 employees working) is located right next to Payless!

PLEASE don't waste your money and time on renting a car from the Payless @ Denver Airport. We rented a Full Size SUV and paid over $1,000 for the week. When we got there, it looked like a junk yard but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. There was only 1 cust svc rep available, so it took quite awhile to get checked in. The first vehicle we were given had a flat tire, and looked like it had been sideswiped. The windshield was also cracked.

Staff seems nice. Then they put the screws to your wallet. Every fee is higher than any other rental company. If you don’t buy their insurance they hold 2000$ on your card. If you don’t make your set time they charge 30$ day reset fee. Talk a lot of Spanish so don’t know what’s going on. In the end cancelled whole reservation and filing with Priceline about shady practices. Went to Hertz with no surprises and ended up near same price and no scare tactics. Oh yeah if you get toll charge they make up their own fines on your card. Or you can pay for their over inflated toll pass. Be smart and stay away or they will ruin your vacation!!

The car was fine for the California only trips but they were very deceitful about refilling the gas tank. I clearly told the guy I wasn't using it much and would fill the tank before I returned it. He said they would charge me a lower price per gallon and would only charge me for what I used. When I got my credit card bill, it had a charge I didn't understand. When I called, She knew right away why I was calling, (probably happens all the time) and said they always charge for a complete fill. I then asked her why they charged me for over 18 gallons for a car with a gas tank that holds just under 11 gallons and she very quickly $23, still over charging me $8.00. Basically, they tried and did rip me off.