Avis Reviews 

My wife and I had an appalling experience renting from Avis whilst travelling to Northern Ireland with our young child. We faced a significant surcharge upon collecting the car, paying almost three times as much as we had agreed! What is more, the Avis employee who regaled in demanding this from us at the front desk could not seem to find the relevant information in the terms and conditions to specify why in fact we had to pay this. We were given a customer service number to call, which was out of hours (since it was a Saturday) and left to feel completely helpless in an awfully uncomfortable situation with a toddler in tow. Needless to say, this has never happened to us with any of the other rental car providers we have used, so please beware if you are considering using Avis... The Northern Ireland customer service department have since circumvented my questions to do with this and no longer reply to my emails. I would advise you not to get into the same situation.

I have always used a competitor company however I shall always use Avis/budget the experience I had at East Midlands airport was simply the best. Vartan at reception could not do enough for us he was extremely polite has superb customer service qualities. Very professional. Simply the best b

Misleading, deceptive and predatory behaviour at Avis UK at Heathrow Airport.

I booked and prepaid for my rental in advance. At pickup, I asked whether switching from a manual to an automatic would cost extra and was told there would be “no difference in price.” No additional charges were explained to me during pickup or signing and I was not informed that I was being “upgraded”

Only upon returning the car was I presented with a total price almost double the amount of my initial prepaid booking. When I questioned it the staff informed me there was nothing they could do after the vehicle had been returned and told me to contact support instead.

Concerningly while I was there another customer beside me at the desk was disputing a very similar issue involving undisclosed upgrade charge which suggests this is far from an isolated incident.

Overall, the process felt extremely misleading and poorly communicated. I would strongly recommend against anyone hiring through this location.

Would rate 0 stars if I could.

It should be zero stars but you have to select at least one. My daughter and son in law were left waiting for the day for their car to be picked up in Panzano Italy. It had a flat tyre. Apparently it couldn’t be fixed on the side of the road and we have to drive them to Florence to pick up a new car. Apart from the pickup being late the idea that we have to drive to Florence and back, a 2 hour round trip, is ridiculous. This is after the AVIS online reporting would not accept the car registration of their own car and both emergency numbers provided by AVIS did not work. This is awful service.

From/To London Gatwick South Terminal Very efficient pickup, friendly helpful staff.
Car was an "upgrade", in that it was larger, but I'd have been happy just to get what I paid for.
The car was fine except the clutch was worn and juddering, and the screen wash was empty.
Neither a big deal.
Returned car, not waiting, again very efficient and friendly staff (Davide in particular).
Mentioned the issues with the car and was very apologetic and quick to resolve.
5star service 3star car; but issues were resolved.

Arrived in Bordeaux to be met with a half an hour queue, as 2 people manned the Budget/Avis desk. No quick pass desk open, no key collect kiosk. What is the point of being a preferred customer? Car was soiled with a recent rear seat stain. The supposed full tank showed 750km however when I filled it for return it showed 850km.. No one to receive the car on return, one person manning the desk, so no handover. Not impressed at all.

I have rented from Avis five times and spent £1,500+ with them. On my most recent rental I asked the desk representative directly what fuel level I needed to return the vehicle with. He told me clearly to return it with "a little bit" in the tank and confirmed I did not need to fill it up. I followed that instruction, stopping at a petrol station before return to put fuel in.
Avis then applied a penalty charge that doubled the cost of the fuel. When I disputed this, pointing out that I had followed their own employee's verbal instructions, they refused to engage with the misrepresentation issue and simply repeated that the written contract required a full tank.
I received no callback despite being promised one within 48 hours, and the full disputed amount was taken from my account before any resolution was reached.
I have now filed a formal complaint with the BVRLA and initiated a chargeback with my bank. I will not be renting from Avis again.

They tried to overcharge when we collected the car (by about £350) and we really had to argue hard to get them to change it. After we returned the car, they then put through unauthorised charges on our credit card which they’ve not yet justified. If we get no response we will dispute it through the credit card. Terrible company!!

I cancelled my booking for car rental in time after departure of my flight and have not received my refund as stated by Avis in writing that it'll be paid within 7 days. I have been in touch several times and with trawler.com the car rental broker who say thats refund payment is between Avis and me. I will contact my bank for visa charge back!

Avis customer service. Waits of over an hour. Staff often unapologetic and unhelpful. (my deposit was not refunded, my bank had to draw back the money)

They didn't check the car at drop-off and waited until I left the office (and arrived at the airport) to inform me of damages, (which had already been present on the car and signalled on the contract) - subsequently charging me 300GBP.
A car rental classic con. Never again.

Overcharged - charged twice by Avis for additional driver at Kefalonia Airport, Greece. Avis counter staff were rude and unhelpful and refused to sort it out despite acknowledging I had been double charged. Only a small amount of money but why do car rental companies like Avis always seen to overcharge?

I had a terrible experience with Budget/Avis at Southampton Airport. I arrived 3 hours late for a prepaid booking. Despite the car (MG ZS, LB75SDO) being available in the parking lot , the agent refused to honor my original voucher just to force me into a new, significantly more expensive contract. The agent explicitly lied to me, stating that the "Fuel Up Front" option (£97.60) would be partially refunded if I returned the car with fuel left in the tank. Based on this verbal promise, I signed, but the contract terms actually state no refunds are given for unused fuel. They took advantage of the fact that I was traveling with my family and needed to start our trip. I ended up paying £387.70 for a rental that should have cost half that amount. Pure exploitation of customers in a stressful situation. Avoid this location!

They charged me extra when i picked my car up and told me it was a security deposit. They then refused to pay me ot back and said it was for multiple extras. I got scammed into paying for additional things i did not need.

Stay clear of these!

All booked in advance. Waited 20-mins in a long queue. Staff very rude and unhelpful - admin their end was the problem - they told us to go somewhere else!!! We told them to persevere and sort it out - they took 20-mins and finally we left with a car. I’d score it zero out of five but that wasn’t an option. These staff should be fired - look at the catalogue of poor reviews!! Why do Avis tolerate such reputational brand damage. We used Hertz previously and they were great. We will stick with Hertz from now on.

I was given an automatic car at Bremen Airport (after renting a manual). This was not mentioned at the hire desk.
Luckily we have two automatic cars in our family, so after a little bit of trial and error I managed to drive it away.
The display of this car was set to? Polish or ? Tschech? and I was therefore unable to attach my satnav device. I could not find a way to change the language.
Car always beeped when changing lanes. Very disconcerting when driving on a motorway.
Overall a bad experience.

Already reserved a car online prior to travelling on holiday to Orlando and had the correct amount ready to pay on card only to be told at airport that a $250 deposit would also be taken. We knew nothing of this as it doesn't state on any emails that this would be taken. Of course we agreed as it was after 7pm and we had our children with us including our youngest who has Special Educational needs and disabilities but the payment wouldn't go through.
The employee on the desk then said he could give us the rental for 8 days and we only pay for those days and then to get in touch so we could extend for a further 6 days as we needed it to get around but he could give us a free up grade but FAILED to mention it will cost us more and never said that this would not include the deposit.
Due to this we have now paid more to rent this than the original price we could have paid if we had just known about the deposit, also after contacting them about this they have said we didn't pay a deposit and we should contact our bank yet the money has already left the bank and what can the bank do if a deposit wasn't taken and isn't showing as pending still.
Used a smaller car hire company previously in Fuerteventura and never had this problem or any undisclosed fees. The price we saw and booked was the price we paid.
We will never use AVIS again and will recommend anyone and everyone to avoid this company.

I had a very frustrating experience with Avis in Geneva.

I rented a car for a ski trip and paid extra for a ski rack, only to find when I arrived that it wasn’t compatible with the vehicle provided. Despite this, I was still charged. I was told at the desk to contact customer service after the rental to arrange a refund.

Two months later, after multiple emails, I had still received no response. I eventually managed to get through to someone on the phone, who assured me the refund would be processed the next day. It wasn’t.

I’m now in the position of having to chase this again, wasting even more of my time.

The same issue happened with a child seat I had cancelled in advance but was still charged for.

Overall, this has been an extremely poor customer service experience — disorganised, unresponsive, and time-consuming to resolve. I would not recommend.

I am writing this to express my extreme disappointment with the damage department at Budget/Avis following my rental of a Kia K4 (LG26HCH) at Edinburgh Airport.
Upon return, I was issued an "Estimation des réparations" (File image_fab922.png) for £288.26 for a minor scratch on an alloy rim. I am contesting this for two major reasons:
• Incorrect Classification: Budget has categorized this scratch in the "26-50mm" bracket to justify a higher repair cost. However, technical analysis of my photos (image_fac444.jpg), using the tire’s sidewall ratio (Kumho 205/55 R16) as a scale, clearly shows the scratch is under 25mm.
• Normal Wear & Tear: According to industry standards (BVRLA), a scratch under 25mm on a rim is considered "Standard Wear and Tear" and should not be billed as a damage repair.
• Excessive Fees: The bill includes £76.30 for "loss of use" and £39.60 in administrative fees for a cosmetic blemish that doesn't prevent the car from being rented.
I have sent a formal contestation email with photographic evidence to fr.damageservices but I have received no response while the 14-day deadline for automatic charging approaches.
I expect Avis/Budget to review the evidence in my file, recognize the sizing error, and cancel this unfair charge immediately.

I like the website but sometime it is difficult to use