Budget Reviews 

Well, as a well know brand and a company I’ve used in the past, I tried to book a car for this December in the UK. The website looks fine but the user experience is terrible, too many options over lapping each other and very difficult to select what you want on an iPad. Whichever directors have chose this website have done it on looks only and not usability, very disappointing. I’d strongly suggest you look at it in depth as the competition are wiping the floor with you.

I booked thought Costco and paid in full- £628.30.

On collection they scanned my credit car for ‘security deposit’.

Flight home was cancelled so returned the car 4hrs late.

On checking my credit card statement Budget car rental have charged me £466.65!!!!

Apparently, in addition to the extra days rental they charged me of £49 for the later return (fair enough). They recalculated the whole weeks rental and increased it by 70%.

The agent I spoke to on the phone called Angela informs me this is standard practice.

Avoid! Save your credit card!

Charge me now, dispute it later.
>1 months for them to tell me no refund after multiple emails and phone calls asking for updates.

One employee said a flat tyre repair would be at no cost, inaccurate I was charged the full amount of £250. I disputed and they declined refund. I would've arranged to repair the flat for <£100 however since they advised me nil cost I accepted the repair they organised.

Then when a second employee said the dispute will be fine because they should have a call log of the staff member telling me it would be at no cost, again wrong, corporate told me they don't log phone calls and don't accept a verbal agreement they can't confirm.

Essentially implying I've lied about it and signed a lease agreement; he then advised staff/managers will be updated regarding my case so staff don't give wrong advice...

Booked through British airways picking up the car at Bologna airport.There wasn't enough personnel. Went to office, given keys, went to car park and the employee was leaving to tend to her children. Had to go back in to take keys. Given a car with very small boot, has chosen fiat Punto, Opel mokka is much smaller. Could not fit suitcases.Car was all scratched with chip on front screen, none of this had been noted, had to get them to make note on contract. The amount to pay on computer was incorrect, clerk had to take out mobile phone calculator to re calculate. Aggressive personnel. What a joke, never again...

Added roadside assistance charge to our prepaid (and pre-checked-in) contract despite making repeated assurances that no extras had been added, then pressured my wife to sign contract quickly without reading it. This happened at San Francisco airport for a booking made through the UK office.
After we got the bill and saw that they had added $30 extra and complained, they repeatedly refused to refund us because they said it had been signed for, despite the fact that this was added without our consent and that we were repeatedly lied to and pressured to sign the contract without reading it.

Never use Budget ever. We hired a car in southern Italy in July 2022 for nine days. After we returned to the UK I was advised that we had been fined for speeding in France. We only drove the car for around 290km. How I could have reached France and back I do not know. The registration plate was quoted from a Dacia whilst we hired a Fiat. Budget have taken an extra £83 since we returned. I received threats of fines from the French authorities in August 2022 and have received another one today demanding a payment of 180 Euros for a similar offence. This is causing me an enormous amount of stress as I don't know what to do to resolve this. No one answers the telephone and emails are not responded to. I have tried to complaint the complaints form but it gets rejected every time saying that the page doesn't exist. If someone from Budget would actually like to get in touch then this would be great. Tomorrow I am going to go to a local desk and stand there until someone actually speaks to me.

Charged additional cleaning fee despite only very minor dirt. Very disappointed. Customer services refused to reverse the charge. Avoid unless you are happy to pay additional charges.

Just picked up a car in Geneva for a business trip to Chambery. Everything went smoothly at pickup and drop off. I paid for a small car but got a nice SUV. Really happy.

The car booked was not available, so we cancelled the rental at the desk (we needed the 4 door we booked, not the 2 door offered). They then processed a cancellation fee against my card, despite assurances from the staff at the counter.

Last time with Budget.

Awful room that smelt. Tv did not work. Paid for breakfast for 2 for 2 days expecting full breakfast but ended up with toast and coffee. 6.50 for crap breakfast and bad service. Never again. This was ibis budget Birmingham. Avoid at all cost.

Horrible customer service, no way to reach anyone via phone for hours. Overcharged. Avoid!!!!

Have had patchy performance in the past (understaffed) but further hires have been really good.

Do not use. Day after travelling 100 miles had flat tire. Called their roadside assistance whose rep couldn’t find anything wrong. Not offered tow but tyre re-inflated and told to drive vehicle to a tyre shop to get it checked. Rang the customer assistance number Budget provided to obtain guidance; not answered nor any facility to leave message. Tried ringing numerous times and held on one call for an hour; no answer. Left with no alternative but to drive vehicle to tyre shop, 15 miles away. Punctures to both front tyres discovered (how unlucky was I to get 2 punctures in one journey?). Budget then charged me for the repairs which were only waived when I complained. So the customer support function was non-existent when I needed it resulting in me driving a defective vehicle. Dealing with their defective vehicle cost me a day and a half of a 6 day holiday. Avoid this company at all costs.

Absolutely disgusted by this company.
After a really sensitive/dangerous situation I had to hire a car urgently with two very young children. I was away from home and did not have my license on me (only a picture) I was turned away.
My father had already payed to hire this car in what was an already awful situation… Iv now been told he won’t get his money back. Such a scam. I will not be recommending this company to anyone unless they want to be ripped off.

Excellent service in Gatewick Airport South Terminal carried out by Ivan (Budget/Avis). Probably the best service I have ever experienced renting a car. I can only recommend renting a car through Avis/Budget.

Not got to the collection day yet but its all gone Pete Tong and they are about as easy to contact as Hermes.
1. Received check-in link requesting driver licence info etc. Completed but it wants credit card info for age verification etc. Moments later an email arrives outlining I am liable for Young driver surcharge £40.01. I am nearly 40yo, what?!
2. No live chat on website or app as they suggest.
3. Email link on website broken link.
4. UK call centre contact number "unavailable due to the current situation". What situation? the War in Ukraine? My neighbours hamster dying last week?
5. No answer from hire location desk phone, been ringing all morning.

Liars, watch out.

Rented a car from budget car rentals in Manchetser, Uk from 17th to the the 19th of April. Returned the car and there were no problems.

On the 11th May they sent a letter to me informing me a parking ticket had been issued to me whilst renting their car,
and that they would take 30 pounds off my card for administration of the parking ticket.They took the thirty pounds stirling on the 28th May. The ticket was invalid and I contacted the parking authority who agreed it was invalid and cancelled the ticket. I have an email from them to that effect.

I have since contacted budget/Avis on several occasions asking them to refund the 30 pounds, as they promised to do in an earlier email, I quote "To dispute the offence, the authorities must be contacted directly. Details of the dispute process and all contact details for the authority will be detailed on the re-issued PCN that you will receive. Upon receipt of official confirmation that the fine has been cancelled, a refund of the administration fee will be performed. Please note, the confirmation that you receive may be forwarded to us via email to expedite matters."

So I forwarded the letter and they have since ignored me. So the bit about receiving 'official confirmation' is not true.

Awful, we paid £1,400 for a car for 2 weeks in Boston with Sat Nav. Massive que at the Counter, which took well over an hour to get to the front of. Then told no sat navs left. Eventually one was found. Got to the car, after leaving the counter to find it had just over half a tank, not a full tank of fuel at all. But we had to return it with a full tank. rear tyre was low pressure. We discovered during our driving that the Sat Nav was an old old, needed updating as all the junctions were in correctly number on it so we had an awful time driving around. Upon return meet by random guy who took keys, could have been anyone. No final bill, confirmation of return ever received from the company. Would recommend using another company.

We rented a car from budget, the contract stated unleaded,but it was diesel. We contacted them so this could be corrected and stop any other renter causing issues. No thanks, no discount even though we had to rent another car for 2 weeks, nothing. Just too bad, human error. They would not even match the car rental offered by rentalcars.co.uk on their own car, because they wont do it. Where has the customer service gone. I now hate using budget and will do anything not to use them again. Only use them if the price is massively different.

At Sandefjord airport, Norway: worst costumer experience ever. Desk unattended when we arrived, left waiting for an hour until someone came, check-in date was wrong on paperwork and we were overcharged because of their mistake. Process to resolve is far from straightforward, and we haven't heard from them yet. Utterly unprofessional. I will never use Budget/Avis again.