Budget Rent A Car Reviews

Absolutely terrible experience with Budget at Venice Airport. I am extremely disappointed and feel completely misled.

The price shown online was not the price I was charged at the counter. I had already purchased insurance online, but they added additional insurance charges without properly explaining them or getting my clear consent. This is unacceptable and feels like taking advantage of customers, especially tourists who are unfamiliar with the rental process. The extra charges were not clearly disclosed, and I only realized afterward how much more I had been charged.

I strongly recommend checking every single charge and refusing any additional insurance unless you fully understand and agree to it.

Very frustrating experience and definitely not what I expected from a well-known rental company. I would not recommend Budget Venice Airport based on my experience.

I was flying home on Sunday Aug. 10 through O Hare airport and my flight was cancelled so while in Montana I rented a car to drive from Chicago to Grand Rapids, MI one way.

My reservation #0159****US5. When I got to Chicago to pick up my car, the agent told me that they cancelled my reservation because they weren't renting any cars to go one way because they may need the cars for people who were stranded in Chicago. I was stranded in Chicago. She did however have a service right there near the desk who would drive us to Grand Rapids as a personal driver.

I desperately needed to get home for cancer treatment for my husband the next day so I had no choice. There were no flights. It cost $425 to get a lift home. I feel like I was swindled by your company.

Is this something you do, and they split the cost which was 4 times higher than the original rental fee.

I have been told to call O Hare Budget directly but there is no direct number and I have been given the run around for a week. Could you let me know what the policy is for this please.

Hello. I recently tried to rent a cargo van that turned into a change to a car rental.

At the conclusion of the transaction I wasn't able to rent car or truck. The agent closed out the car transaction , however he failed to close out the truck one and he never gave me a reservation number. I've been charged a fee of 150 of no call no show for this reservation which is incorrect as I was at the location the whole time. I've since had nothing but the run around and also spoken to another agent at that location which demonstrated the epitome of bad customer service.

I have a case number that is still in process for resolution and it gotten to the point where legal action will be taken due to just how bad of an experience this has been if I cannot get my money back. I need someone to address this issue in the next 24 hours please as its been ongoing since the 20th.

My case number is 8490**** with a unique reference number of 3050A131. Please contact me at 513-404-**** or myrnataylor13@***.com

Hello, back in May of 2026 I called Budget to rent a car for June 16-23 of 2026 from JFK in NY. After getting reservation emailed to me I noticed that the reservation was incorrect.

The agent had made it for May 16-23, 2026 but we were not going to be there until June. So I called back to fix the error and was given a much higher price. Since we did not make the error, we asked the agent to have the same price as previous. The original price was already billed so it was a big deal to change.

The higher price was over $162.00 more. After talking to several people to fix it. I was also told that I would have to pay $250.00 deposit and would get it back after the car was returned. It has been a month and I am still waiting for the $250.00 deposit back.

We I called yesterday July 14,2026 I have only received $163.00 back! I am still waiting for the remaining $87.00 which I was told will be in 2 payments! Why do I have to wait over a month for you to refund my money when you have no problems taking my ASAP? When I called yesterday the agent was asking for a fax number to BofA?

Why do you need that! I just want my money owed to me.

This will be the last time I ever rent from Budget/Avis. A copy of this will be sent to BBB.

Calling this place a joke would be generous. Their van left me stranded with a dead transmission in 100-degree heat.

Instead of helping, their "customer service" made me call my own insurance for a jump start. When that obviously didn't fix a broken transmission error, they jerked me around for 8 hours until I had to Uber myself an hour to an airport location in *** just to beg for a replacement.

Back in ***, their "sole" CS rep *** flogged my issue for over a week. I had to physically drive back to the location where the clown at the front desk told me *** is supposedly the only person who can help, I had to demand someone in operations to get any attention. The operations manager they finally put on the ***, demanded "proof" that the van actually broke down.

After I sent photos of the dash errors and third-party diagnostics, he had a *** call to tell me I'd get a refund - but that Im now BANNED from renting here for reporting the issue.

Its been weeks and I still haven't seen a dime.

They rent you dangerous vehicles and then blacklist you when you call them out on it. Absolute bottom-tier business.

I rented a vehicle (Toyota Crown) for personal trip. I received the car in good condition on Friday 5/22 and returned on Sunday 5/24.

I gassed up the car in the gas station near the car-rental-return and I paid cash. When I returned it, the agent asked, 1- are the keys in the car 2 did you refuel the vehicle and I said,Yes and Yes.

I just opened my AMEX Statement and the rental fee went from $382 to $468, I called and asked what happened and the customer-service-person (nice lady) told me I was charged for re-fueling. I was unable to "prove" that I paid because I have no receipt (since I paid cash). I am outraged for 2 reasons, #1 they charged me for a full tank of gas and then #2 she asked to negotiate it down to 7 gallons, an arbitrary and capricious number ...

if you ask me.

I am an experienced traveler, and I am a good Budget customer. I ALWAYS return the vehicle(s) filled with gas. AND, ***, is one of the easiest places to do it .. because the gas station is a stone's-throw from the car-rental-return!!

I acquiesced to the customer-service person's request to negotiate it down to 7 gallons because I know she has a job to do and I did not want to tie her up with my tirade. However, I demand a refund of that $34 dollars.

Rant over,

The car was nice,

Customer Service person was nice too,

Thank you in advance for the refund,

Cordially,

***

I rented a Jeep Cherokee through Costco Travel at an agreed base rate of around $412. Within 24 hours, I discovered the car had a plugged sidewall tire, a dangerous and illegal repair that made the vehicle unsafe to drive. I documented the damage and sent photos to Budget. In response, they confirmed the defect and instructed me to exchange the vehicle immediately.

That alone should've triggered better service. Instead, here's what happened:

I was downgraded to a cheaper Chevy Trailblazer, yet still charged for a standard SUV.

A Budget rep promised me a free rental day to compensate for the safety issue, but it was never honored.

Budget then re-rated my contract, increasing the base charge to $699.96 without telling me.

All fees, taxes, and surcharges were inflated because they were calculated off that improper rate.

I was charged a total of $930.13, far above what I agreed to, with no updated invoice, no breakdown, and no justification.

Only after escalating through Costco (who I originally went through) did Budget refund $342.28, but they still never explained what that refund covered or provided a breakdown of the refund.

I asked repeatedly for a corrected invoice, an explanation of how the refund was calculated, or proof that I was ever informed of the rate change. They never responded.

This isn't just bad service; it's a company that rents out unsafe vehicles, manipulates pricing after the fact, breaks its own verbal agreements, and hides behind silence when questioned.

I've since submitted complaints to the BBB and am pursuing additional consumer protection options.

After reading many reviews, this is not uncommon with Budget.

If you care about safety, transparency, and being billed fairly, avoid Budget. I wouldn't trust them again under any circumstances.

Yep, as expected they sent me notice that they charged my credit card for topping off my fuel.

I've rented for 20 years NEVER have I felt threatened at pick up and charged at return after returning the tank FULL, AND offering to show them my fuel receipt at drop off. I offered to show the receipt due to the threatening comments when I refused the option for them to charge me for a tank up-front (note - it's charge for a full tank no matter how much is in the tank) vs me returning it full.

What I did differently because of the staff's comments...

I took a picture of the km's left at time of pick up and when I returned it...609km on tank when I picked it up 658 km in the tank when returned.

As mentioned above, at return I asked if the attendant wanted a copy of my fill receipt and he said "No, you're all good".

Pretty sure this location is doing this to the majority of renters ... quite the scam they are running.