Budget Rent A Car
Reviews and Complaints

Picked up a Toyota Prius on August 19th at the San Jose Airport. Soon after getting on the road, the car screen lit up with several warning signs of malfunctions. Contacted Budget and were told to exchange the car and appreciated the service. However, it was inconvenient for us to find another drop off point during our trip so we did keep the car. Just letting you know that this car was released to us with many maintenance issues and concerns! Reported to the rep. when we dropped off the car.

Aug 20: 2 reps on duty for 14 in line plus many more waiting for keys.

we waited 90 minutes to be served after which the paperwork was processed & another 20 minutes to get keys. noticed shimmy on Deerfoot, windshield wiper on passenger side did not function properly. forced to change holiday plan.

Aug. 23: returned car, told reps the problem who seemed unconcerned but advised to contact customer service. Vehicle was a Toyoto Carolla with 44,628 km, plate # ABU41384. Our concerns are:

1. service at rental desk

2. condition of rental vehicle

3. exhorbitant cost of$614.03 for 3 days & less than 3 hours of driving

David & Carole Bates

15 ch Journeaux

Chelsea, QC J9B 2A3 d.c.[protected]@hotmail.com

I had rented a car on 7/11/23, Amazon prime day for 7/25/23 to 8/4/23. I was told I would receive $75.22 on a Amazon gift card upon the return of the car on 8/4/23. Well 1 week later and still nothing. I have communicated with Budget to no avail. So I had also placed a rental on 7/11/23 for another car to be picked up on 9/22/23 and returned on 11/20/23. Well after the first nightmare I called budget to request a full refund of my PREPAID CAR RENTAL which was for $1747.38. I was told that I would receive a FULL REFUND. However, the credit pending on my credit card is for $1451.21. The customer service rep decided to deduct the amount of the Amazon Gift Card $296.17, which I had not even received since I hadn't even picked up my car yet. When I called back to get it fixed, I was told they could not fix it since it had just been entered into the system. So I contacted my credit card company to dispute this as fraud and theft. I have always rented from Budget and never in my 13 years of renting have I ever encountered such a nightmare with this company. If you do not wish to honor Amazon Prime cards then don't offer them. When issuing a refund, make sure your associates are smart enough to know your policies and give the correct amount on the refund not steal your customers money. This had be the worst rental experience I have ever had.

On [protected] my wife and I rented a vehicle from the Charleston International Airport location. Between the car being filthy and needing fluids after we left the lot. These fluids were purchased by us. We returned the vehicle on the 28th of July at the same location. A bag was left in the vehicle and when we had realized it, we went back down to the return area to inquire. After waiting 30 minutes we were told that there was nothing found in the vehicle. While waiting for confirmation of our flight I went back down a second time and asked a second person who after 30 minutes said that there was nothing found in the vehicle. Our flight was delayed which forced us to rent another vehicle and when we went down to pick that vehicle up, we inquired again about the bag. We arrive back in Anchorage on [protected] and my wife received a text that our bag was found in the vehicle. Since that date we had been trying to call and talk with someone out the bag and whether it is worth getting it shipped back up here. To date, I have gotten to listen to a dozen voice mails that are full and can't receive messages, or numbers that just ring and the phone hangs up. This has been truly the worst and most frustrating rental car experience I think my wife and I have ever had.

I requested a SUV and was put into an electrical car, which looked like a regular car. I drove it 100 miles not knowing it was electrical. When I arrive at my destination, there were no electrical charging stations in the area. I am 70 year old woman, I should have been told it was electrical since there area specific knowledge you have to have to navigate an electrical, like downloading apps to find the nearest charging station. It takes 2 or more hours to charge the car, time I did not plan on my trip. It caused me to spend the majority of my time worrying about how to get back to the airport. This took pace July 21, 2023 and I returned it July 24, 2023. # [protected]

All the customer service representatives were not nice. They simply said it was my fault because I should have known. The were flippant, and arrogant, and did not appear to understand the severity of my circumstances. I essentially was stranded, and al they could tell me was it was not my fault and that an electrical car is just like a gas car, which is not true. I can pump in under 5 minutes, and don't have to leave the car sitting for 2-7 hours. The hotel offered an electrical outlet and I used the equipment in the trunk to charge it, but aver 24 hours it had only supplied the car with 40 miles.

I would like my money back, all of it. You couldn't pay me $1000 to repeat that situation. I think it is wrong not to share the kind of car especially if it is electrical. I felt I was a genie pig, a test for budget.

Hello, on the dates of July 14th through July 20th we rented a car in Aguascalientes, MX. The reservation number was [protected] with insurance [protected]. We booked through Expedia and were told that the rental would be around $145.00. When we went to turn in the car tell me why we were charged $383.41. I was very unhappy and wondered why was there such a big difference. Also, they gave us a car with no seat belt and told us that it was no big deal, just to take it. Also, the air was not working correctly. It was just a total mess.

In May of 2023 there was an error regarding the rental car I thought was reserved through Budget at Albuquerque Airport. So the only car they could provide was through Payless - and I was told that was the ONLY car left. Later that day we noticed a distortion on driver side of windshield but did not bring car back since we were told there were no more cars. The distortion made reading signs somewhat difficult - it made a tiny zig zag pattern that distorted straight lines. Upon returning the car I showed the problem to the attendant who saw it. At the desk I requested a credit. The manager came out and wanted to look at the car but even though it was only a few minutes after return, the attendants told him they could not find any such car. (Big surprise)

I was eventually given an acceptable credit. Now I am receiving letters (dated 6/20 and 6/30) from Nora Henry, Emergency Road Specialist, that I am to be billed $694 for causing this distortion.

The distortion is something that a driver could not have caused - I checked the manufacturer.

However, on June 26 my email to the customer service department was responded to by Luz, Customer Care Rep at Payless, which said I would not be charged.

Protect yourselves - DON'T rent from Budget or Payless.

5:00 PM July 7, 2023

Reno, Nevada Airport.

Confirmation number: 326 0926

George McCabe

We have been waiting in line for over an hour to get a car and aren’t even close to being helped yet. There has been one person working the counter until a few minutes ago. There is now two people working the counter. There is over 20 people waiting in line for cars as they continue to take preferred people in front of us. Clearly you don’t have enough employees. This is ridiculous and I’ll never rent a car from you again. I had an important dinner reservation for 6pm that I had to cancel. I would have left and rented from another company but I prepaid for the car. I’m extremely disappointed in your company. Many people here are very upset. Very very disappointed.

This billing statement was for the add-on charges above & beyond the basic rental price, which was promoted and paid along with airfare on the airline website.

I spent over an hour trying to decipher this bill, as it became a personal challenge (I'm an engineer, not an accountant).

Clearly the billing statement presentation is intentionally engineered to make it incomprehensible, such that few will take the time (to even attempt) to understand all the charges and extra BS they layer in.

Absolutely astounding, and effective.

I see this as a hostile business practice.

I did write to Budget saying so... but ha ha on me, this is a calculated tactic.

End result: the insurance + fees upon fees was more than 2x the basic car rental.

I recently rented a vehicle from your company. I picked my vehicle up on June 15th. Upon the vehicle being pulled into the staging area by Jessica the windows were down. I did not think anything of it as it was a warm day. After the normal walk around, I entered the car and noticed a slight smell, amongst other items visibly not right, resembled stale smoke/marijuana smell. I drove off and went home. The next morning at 5am when I started to load the car for my family’s road trip the smell of marijuana or like stench was overwhelming. I had to roll all windows down and let the vehicle air out. At 5am my options with the vehicle were limited. I packed my family up in this vehicle that was clearly not ready for another family and started my vacation. The airing out process ended up being a daily and sometimes multiple times a day task. This was very inconvenient and posed an uncomfortable feeling for myself and my family. The vehicle had one tire that would not hold air. So I spent time daily putting air in the tire. I understand those things can happen, so I just dealt with it. Upon returning the vehicle June 26th I made my concerns known. Jessica, who check the car in, stated that she was aware of the scent as they had bombed it but also knew that it didn’t work, and they haven’t figured out how to get the marijuana scent out of the vehicles. Claiming to be 100% Smoke Free and having cars in circulation that smell like smoke is concerning. I asked to speak to the manager about a credit or refund. I was told that she was out and she would call me later that day. On Weds. June28th after not hearing from the manager I sent an email. I got nothing. On Friday June 28th I called back to the office and spoke to Angie, the manager, she asked me to hold after hearing my initial concern. 15 Mins. Later I hung up and called back. Was told I would need to hold again. Another 15mins. Went by before Angie picked the phone up. Angie spent more time over talking me, not wanting to hear my concerns, and telling me that there was nothing she could or would do since I didn’t take time out of my vacation to handle this situation DURING my vacation. A situation that could have been prevented in the first place if they weren’t trying to hide the smell of the vehicle initially. Angie became noticeably irritated and not wanting to take ownership of the situation. Once again, something that could have been prevented initially. She instructed me to call customer service. I did. I was offered 1 day off. I asked for a supervisor and was transferred 3 times before being told that I needed to come online and do what needed to be done. I am at a loss over the lack of customer service in regard to this situation. I understand that losing my business won’t impact your business one bit. I have rented from Budget for several years now, and granted, this is the first issue I have had. However, the handling of this issue has made it so much worse. I am formerly requesting to have 75% of my rental fee refunded to me. I will allow time for this to be handled before being escalated to BBB and higher ups in corporate.

We rented a car 27437527US5 in March for a Trip that began in May/June. We reserved a car for June 5th. I went to the office in Amsterdam to pick it up and they explained that it was canceled. The fact that I rented many months in advance and received reservation reminders right up to that day of the rental meant nothing to them. My family of four made plans involving ferry trips and accommodations based on the rental. If the reservation was canceled before our trip we could have adapted but canceling more than a week after arriving abroad and only finding out when visiting the office the day before the rental was unacceptable. We could not believe this was happening so we called Budget and had them make a new reservation the same as the canceled one 32080149US3. The woman on the phone assured me there would be no issue. We went back the next day on June 5 and we received the very same treatment: reservation heartlessly denied once again! And the Budget employees compounded the terrible experience by acting with callous indifference. I was outraged that a company would behave in such a prodigiously uncaring and unprofessional manner. We have traveled extensively as a family over the years and rented countless vehicles, including many from Budget, and never experienced such appalling service.

May 1, 2023 I rented a vehicle from Avis Budget at1620 w. University, Denton Tx. The rental was for $42.00 a day. Every week I made numerous calls to find out how to pay them. Most of the time I got an automated recording giving me a long list of options. None of them had humans at the other end. It would just be another automated recording. I never was able to get any human on the line except a couple of times and they would not take my payment. So after awhile I come t o the conclusion that maybe they take it all at one time when you return the care. I had the car for 37 days, I called them several times. I returned car and got a invoice while I was at the budget location.hat the invoice reflected$1520.00 total charges. That was the numbers that were agreed on. The next day they hit my bank for over $2758.00. I filed a complaint and budget sent me another invoice..the second one that I received. They charged me $500 for MISC CHARGES $380 FOR LATE CHARGES AND MORE FOR EXTENTION FEES. When I asked budget what the misc charges were for I was told for repossessing the rental vehicle. The car was never repocessed I told them. And asked for any proof that it had been snd explained that I spent hours on the phone trying to pay them. And obviously they knew they were going to get paid because they hit my account for $2700 the day after I returned it.. so then I got a third invoice which listed things in another way that was not understandable. Words that didn't go together. And one of the charges as for SALES TAX $945. Budget had changed the MISC TO JIBBEROUS. I have communicated with customer service by email so many times and they said it was investigated and budget did nothing wrong and does not owe me any money. But no one will discuss the facts with me.