Budget Reviews 

rip off as it says inc 'collision waiver' but when i collected in Cancun they said i was liable for 20% of the car's value!! the car we got was an old banger with 72000 miles on clock and v weak aircon. you cannot even get T&C off the budget.co.uk emails as it redirects you to a deadend. i am also meant to an 8% rebate but no sign of that.

Arrived to Tivat airport, Montenegro to pick up our rental car. They would not hand out the car unless we paid insurance fee - EUR 338!!! despite I paid for full insurance from home!!!
NEVER USE THIS COMPANY!!!!

Total scam. You cant take a car without their insurance . Car was broken front headlight 😭

SCAM! Don't waste your time. Trust the thousands of reviews of customers experiencing the same stuff. Obviously dishonest practices encouraged from their head office as these reviews show its going on globally. They will add additional charges without authorisation. They lie and claim things that are not true.

Booked through a 3rd party carjet.com. my flight was cancelled by British Airways heathrow to belfast 08.50 on 16th June 2024. I rang budget belfast to advise them that I would be late. Arrive Belfast to be told that due to being late they gave my car away and that I needed to rebook and pay again. Guy said never got the message but when he tried the phone in front of me my message was there. Guy at the desk was not very helpful and quoted me double the price of the original booking plus wanted to put a hold on my credit card for £1800. Left me stranded in Belfast having to find a taxi to get me to my final destination. Never again. Carjet refuse to give a refund therefore I have had to pay for another car.

Love it when you have to book a phone call (multiple times) to never receive one. Website doesn't work. Told to "quick pass" my reservation but the website 404 errors. Great service. No problem when it came to taking my money funnily enough.

Was forced to purchase additional cover at Tivat Airport, despite having it when i purchased the rental via rentalcars.com. Was told to get the money back from rentalcars.com. The employees refused to release the hired car until i purchased the cover. Please be very very careful of this company

Our actual rental was fine but on retur
n home we received an invoice for late return , extra mileage and a petrol charge. None of these claims were true !
We had to provide evidence of our flight details and bank statements to show we had bought petrol whilst they could provide no evidence to support their claims or explain why this had happened. The woman at customer service was very patient and authorised a refund but why did we have to go through this experience? The staff at Charles de Gaulle were disinterested and rude. I think the problem must lie with them.

Booked a car rental service online via RyanAir app when travelled to Belfast, Ireland. At the arrival, we were refused to get a car because a rеtаrdеd personal could not read my driving licence. They didn't issue a refund either. However, I was able to rent a car from Hertz which was next to Budget. What a racist сunts.

I think these people are scammers. We rented a car in Tivat airport. We have done it via different company (CarJet) and when they didn’t show up we went with budget. I think these too companies work together as it’s was about 4 other people like us. We completed booking online. After waiting 3 hrs to get to be served by 4 people that works there (well only one is taking booking others just stand around so it takes 1 hr per person) we were told we need to pay £120 for 4 days insurance. We have explained we have our own insurance we were told they don’t care, last minute bookings last minute rules. So if you want a car you have to pay. As I said it was about 5 of us who got scammed like this. When we returned the car we were advised that it’s less fuel then we had when we picked up the car. Because I already knew I’m dealing with scammers I had taken picture of fuel readings so they would not get us on this. DO NOT USE THESE PEOPE!

Experienced layers of problems renting a car in the UK. Firstly after booking, I received automated emails telling me I had to sign up for a surprise 500 pounds extra for insurance. It was difficult to get someone on the phone to understand the problem. On picking up the car the whole booking had to be started from scratch for reasons unknown. On dropping off there was not clear instructions about where to drop the key, as well as the drop off area being so full, there wasn't room. No QR code required for key drop off made me almost miss my flight. Aside from that the car was ok, but I'm not keen to use them again.

We rented a car about two weeks ago. While we were there we got a flat tire. The roadside assistance was no help, there was no spare tire and we almost had to cancel our trip if your team didn’t call AA after almost six hours of waiting for help. And on top of that we had to buy a brand new tire. Now we are getting charged an extra $300. I tried calling but none of the lines work. Don’t waste your time

Hired a car from Budget at Toulouse Airport. I was surprised that I was supplied with such a scruffy looking car. It was Belgium registered Nissan Juke with small dents in most body panels, a large scrape on the front bumper and two badly scuffed alloys. On returning the car the woman checking it appeared to have a bodywork diagram showing no damage, she therefore informed me I would charged for the bumper damage and an alloy. Unfortunately due to the long wait in handing the car over I didn't have time to have a long debate over this although I made it quite clear I didn't cause the damage. On checking the contract I was given it clearly stated there was pre existing damage listed on the contract included the damage I was accused of. I am now being asked by Budget for evidence that the damage was pre-existing. Why don't they just read their own contracts. Unbelievable !
I hire cars on a regular basis and have never had this sort of fiasco. The car was a tatty piece of junk which I wouldn't have expected from a hire company like Budget. I strongly wouldn't recommend using them.

Car was rented through Budget GB, but supplied by Budget USA. Car was collected with 7/8 full fuel tank, and returned with 8/8 full fuel tank. Despite this I was charged an 'additional fuel' fee, due to the fact that I had driven less than 75 miles. There seems to be no provision in the Budget USA invoicing system to recognise that I actually topped up with MORE fuel than was required. They simply note that I had driven less than 75 miles, and applied the charge. Budget GB washed their hands when requesting a FULL refund, saying that Budget USA was the service provider. The Budget USA check-in agent did not request a fuel receipt, the proof of which would have prevented the charge.

I returned a car on Monday. Budget took an extra £300 from my account and by Friday still haven't been able to tell me why. Their call centre do not know the reason so I can't even discuss this with them. What on earth is going on?

I rented a car from Budget. I asked if I needed to take pictures as it was scratched and in bad condition, they said no as I had full cover with them. It kept beeping because it was due an oil change. The car was not in good condition, many scratches etc I returned it, no accidents or damage. I then got a bill sent to me for sand on the inside foot areas of $250. I think that this is outrageous. It could have been hoovered in 10 min. I have never been charged for normal wear and tear dirt.

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS THIEVES AND SCAMMERS. I have rented a car but they refused to give the car because i had a 6 points. They promised fully my money but they havent done it until I disputed my money yesterday. Next day thieve Budget used its second option to charge cancellation fee. Avoid Avoid Avoid

They stolen £60 from my account.

This company is a thief and will charge your card without authorisation.

THESE ARE SCAMMERS!!! DONT NOT USE!!!!! We were asked to sign to take the car away and then returned giving a £500 bill for insurance!!!! Its is fraud they digitally out in our signiture at the end of the terms and conditions when tell use there werent any terms and conditins printed and just gave us a box to sign on a ipad and told us it was to take the car away! They scam your cards and take additional money off!!!!!! Dont sign anything for budget rental you are signing your card to be charged additonal money!!!! It is Fraud! This needs to be investigated immediately!!!

Unless you have two ways of paying for hire, ie debit card and credit card I strongly advise you not to hire from this company. I had booked on line with my debit card but when I got to collection point for car I was asked to provide a different payment type so I showed them my credit card. Unfortunately I did not have a PIN number for this so it was not allowed to be used. They then charged me £249.04 for added insurance on my debit card which is u refundable, this was on top of original car hire price. They do inform you of this but it is in very small writing at the bottom of their original confirmation email.

This is a review of Budget Car Hire - London Putney. Seeing that my agreement was with Nationwide Hire UK, this also applies to them as it was their choice to use Budget Car Hire - London Putney as a provider (reviews are at BAD status) and leaves a lot to be desired in terms of customer service.

The period of car hire (7 seater) was from Thursday 28th March at 18:00 hrs to Tuesday 2nd April 2024 at 18:00 hrs.

I phoned Nationwide Hire UK to find out where the car was as it hadn’t been delivered at the time agreed. I was then referred to Budget Car Hire - London Putney who informed me that their driver was running late. The car was delivered at around 19:00 hrs.

On Tuesday morning, out of courtesy, I phoned Nationwide Hire UK to let them know the car was available for collection. Again, I was referred to Budget Car Hire - London Putney who highlighted the 3 day collection window (in the agreement) but I was assured that it would be collected as soon as possible. With this 3 day collection window that ended on Friday 5th April 2024 at 18:00 hrs, presumably that meant that I would be responsible for the vehicle in terms of damage, parking tickets etc.

Since Tuesday, I phoned Budget Car Hire - London Putney on each day in an attempt to get confirmation when the car would be collected. Being at work, I had to either leave the key in a safe place (under a plant pot or bin – I wasn’t happy doing either as a replacement key is expensive) or arrange for my aunt to be at the address to hand over the key.

Budget Car Hire - London Putney have offered different reasons on each day:

1. The car was not on their collection schedule but would be put on it.
2. The car was on their collection schedule but they couldn’t say when a driver would be available to collect the car.
3. The car would be picked up the following day (used for a total of 3 days).

On Sunday 7th April, I spoke to a representative from Nationwide Hire UK to confirm I had no responsibility for the vehicle since Friday 5th April and that the car was now parked in a controlled parking bay and could possibly be issued with parking tickets or even towed. I emailed Nationwide Hire UK with photos of the car and the location and sent a message using the website for Budget Car Hire - London Putney stating the same information.

Coincidental perhaps that on Monday 8th April 2024 with the real possibility of penalties, a driver turned up at approximately 9:30 hrs to collect the car. I had a total of 4 phone calls from the driver and 6 phone calls from the office that morning within a 10 minute period when they didn’t get an answer at my door (my aunt was in the kitchen). Apparently, NOW a matter of urgency for everyone concerned despite being 2 and a half days late.

This review would be 0 STARS if it was an option. The appalling customer service and inconvenience cannot be ignored. I can only assume collection of any vehicle happening in a timely fashion would be because there is another booking directly afterwards and the company NEEDED to collect the car.

PLEASE take note of the following if you're considering using either company:

1. You have a car parking space available for the rental period, 3 day collection window and beyond.
2. You are prepared to personally pay for any damage that may occur to the vehicle during 3 day collection window as your insurance would have lapsed at the end of your rental period but the vehicle is still your responsibility.