Budget Car Rental Reviews 5,852

I am done with Budget. The car they originally rents to us had not been cleaned. The streaky film on the interior of the windshield was so bad, lights from oncoming cars became blinding. The car then registered a “Service soon” notice, followed shortly by a “Low oil level” warning. Instead of grieving my sister’s death with my family, I had to deal with exchanging cars back at the airport. The worst, however, was the horrible response of Budget’s customer service representatives. Not only was my phone call transferred hither and yon through multiple overseas departments, the prevailing attitude was “Not my fault, tell someone else.” As a final insult, when I received my statement, it did not include the compensation credit I was offered. I was told I had to call back in two days if I wanted to be compensated. This whole experience was a new low in already bottom-of-the-barrel corporate customer service.

I had a very disappointing experience with Budget Car Rental St. Barths. I made a booking for €275 but I was ultimately charged €1050 without a clear explanation or prior agreement.

I received no response from the company despite sending multiple emails.

Based on this experience, I do not recommend this company!

Very weak customer service! Not accurate at all. We asked to modify the pick up timing. Even though they confirmed it, the car was not ready wheb we arrived!

If I could leave zero stars I would. So I’ve been a regular renter. I rented a car and extended it. Was told by the man on the phone at their main number it was fine. He took my credit card info. Fast forward and I get a very foreign accent call and all I (or my voicemail) can understand is rental vehicle and urgent. I called to no avail so I email. These people reported it to loss prevention, and put me in a do not rent list. The guy never finalized the extension. But instead of calling or emailing me first, they automatically put it through to loss prevention and report it stolen. Then they tell me it’s fine, my rental is still in open/active status. I’m thinking okay thank God. I had surgery scheduled and needed the car. I’m at the hospital and come out late at night to find they towed the car. With our stuff in it. We were stranded at night in a bad area. I missed my surgery and it’s caused us all issues. I can’t get our things back. My bag with my wallet and things, my mom’s medications, my daughters maternity clothes, etc were all still in the car. I’ve called the number they gave me and those people keep saying no one is available to speak to. I’m a week no one is available ??! On top of this they billed me like $2400 which is almost triple my quote (the guy also said I’d get a discount and better rate) and they over drew my credit card and maxed it out. So I have fees there and it will affect my credit. And no one will respond or call me back. I’ve filed a complaint with the better business and next is the attorney general. I just don’t understand why no one reached out first. Not once before they escalated things. And once I’d explained, they told me confusing and differing things. I have that thankfully in email. But even then, they still did what they did. I’m horrified and so stressed out by this. When an employee tells you it’s fine, you trust them to be correct. They’re a representative of the company. If they make a mistake, that’s not the customers fault. This is very bad business practice.

Waited in line for 2 hours for a car I had reserved ahead of time. Once it was finally my turn, they tried to upsell me twice to cars costing $50/day more than the car I reserved. They were forceful regarding the other upsells (GPS, insurance, etc) threatening me that Seattle is the 3rd highest crime rate (nice!). Then I was offered a truck which was available "immediately" suggesting that the car I reserved was not available immediately. When I declined (too hard to park in a busy city), finally the car I reserved was available. This was the worst experience I have ever had at a rental car place!

Terrible Service at Airport Barcelona. Took us 2 hrs to get the car. First, I went to the counter outside where I was told to queue up at the counter inside. There I waited for 45 mins and then the counter closed because the guy was told by his manager to close even through there were still many people in the line. Then I had to queue up again outside where I was before, What a joke!! Had to wait there again for almost 1hr.

Car was Good. Returning the car was drama. Drop off point was very hard to find in Stockholm, when calling the number we received from them no one answered.

Scalped. Terrible experience, booked via British Airways who partner with this awful company.

Needed a booster seat on the day, after waiting nearly an hour to be served at Malta Luqa we were given the dusty booster seat. When I enquired I was told it was 2 euros a day, my wife says she recalls hearing 3. In any case for a 8 day stay €96 is a lot more than €3 a day. Lied to and gouged. BA should be embarrassed to resell avis/budget's product. The most frustrating thing is having no legs to stand on because after a stressful collection in which I missed lunch with family, I saw no paperwork or signed off any paperwork only a shock bill at the end.

We rented a 12 passenger van a month in advance and prepaid for the rental. We were set to pick up the van on Saturday 6/23 at the Loveland, Ohio location. On the way to pick up an agent from Loveland called to inform us that the airport never sent them a van and then gave us customer services number so that WE could call and figure something out. Personally, I feel like the agent at the store should have figured something out instead of putting it all on us. We called CS and started to explain our issue and the call disconnected. We called again, the agent told us that Montgomery had a van we could pick up. We decided to call Montgomery before driving and she informed us that she did not have a van and the call ended. We tried to reach customer service again and again the call disconnected while we were explaining the issue. While my husband was on the phone with customer service I received a call from Montgomery stating that Eastgate has a van that we could pick up and we could head that way now. Upon arrival they tried to tell us that the van would cost $200 more than we had already paid due to tax differences at the different locations. We refused to pay anymore than we had already paid since this was not an issue that we caused and we were inconvenienced by the whole thing. In the end we got the van we needed but the headache of the whole thing was not worth when they had a months notice that the van was needed. I do want to give kudos to the woman at the Montgomery location who actually helped to solve the issue even though she was not involved at all.

It all started last year, is preparation of a driving holiday in Spain in April/May 2026. I looked around and found a great deal for a Seat Ibiza, manual, for around 500euros for 4 weeks. This was before the US decided to cause an oil crisis. After this conflict started, I reassessed this car and decided to go for an electric car, an Opel Mokka, with a stated 270 klm range, for about 700 euros. Budget Car Rentals were great to deal with. They cancelled my Seat, (full refund) and I hired the Opel. Everything was set, flights, accommodation, and car hire. So in mid April, I arrive at the airport, make my way to the Budget kiosk, and the friendly staffer asks, "where are you going, and how many klms do you estimate"...I said about 4000klms, driving south the spain's Andalucia, Jaen, Malaga, Almeria, up the east coast, then back inland to the north, Basque country, San Sebastian, Pamploma, Bilbao, then back to Madrid. He says to me.....the charging infrastructure is far from complete, especially on the secondary roads I intended to travel. I said, "But I checked with Grok, and it said it would be fine" He says, no, the charging will be difficult to find, and you don't want to be spending hours charging on a slow charger......but you can have the Mokka if you want to risk it.
He was so totally correct!
Instead, I got upsold to a BMW 218d Gran Tourer ...over 900 euros......Best move ever!
Car was an absolute dream, fast, smooth, all the bells and whistles, and frugal in the diesel.
During our trip, I kept an eye open for chargers......what chargers!!?, And during our accommodation stays, there was a lack of chargers too, AirBnB and Hotels (hotels were charging 20 euros a day just for parking!!
In any case, despite the increased rental, I saved so much time and angst on looking for a charger and than waiting, it was worth the extra dosh....easily.
Thank you Budget Car Rentals in Madrid, and especially for the young staffer who set me straight with a great recommendation.

By far the worst car rental experience!!!
The representative, the location and reservation from beginning to end. Ended up canceling my reservation due to not having the car available. Worst service by “jack”. Careless, rude and unprofessional. He didn’t bother to inform us that there’s no car available, didn’t bother to find another car. After 40 minutes waiting he offered to cancel or go to a different location to maybe get a car at our own expense and risk!!!

This happened despite of calls made prior to the reservation date and still no car available and no effort was made by the representative to get a car for us!!!

Strongly suggest to think twice before making a car reservation with Budget rent a car!!!

Budget has overcharged me on several rentals over the years. They claim I didn't put in enough gas when I( actually overflow the gas in the tank and have to verify my receipt. If they're overcharging everyone $18.99 for gas on most cars, they are making money off of consumers and I resent it. They make me verify the information, taking at least 20 minutes of my time and then refund the money.

I rented a car through the United Airlines website and selected Budget because the total rental cost was quoted at approximately $243. When I arrived at the rental counter, the Budget representative told me I could add insurance for about $40. That sounded reasonable, so I agreed and signed the paperwork.

A few days later, I checked my credit card statement and discovered I had been charged $733. Nearly $500 of that amount was for insurance and additional charges that were never clearly explained to me. Had I known the insurance would cost hundreds of dollars instead of around $40, I never would have agreed to it.

I immediately called the rental office to dispute the charges and explain that I felt I had been misled. I was told there was nothing they could do until I returned the vehicle, at which point I could try to dispute the charges.

This experience has been extremely frustrating. I feel the pricing and insurance options were presented in a misleading and underhanded way, and I was not given a clear understanding of what I was actually agreeing to pay. As a result, I will never rent from Budget again and would strongly caution others to carefully review every charge before signing anything.

On May 31, 2026, at the Budget counter at Miami International Airport, we had an extremely disappointing experience with an employee named Valentina.

We politely questioned whether the LIS insurance was truly mandatory, since our reservation already included basic protection coverage and we did not want to purchase any additional products or services.

Instead of explaining the policy professionally, Valentina became visibly irritated, acted sarcastically toward us because we were foreigners, laughed at us during the conversation, tore up our reservation paperwork in front of us, and stated that she was cancelling our reservation.

At no point were we disrespectful, rude, or aggressive. We were simply trying to understand the insurance requirements before signing the contract and explaining that we had already paid for the basic insurance included in our reservation.

The situation caused us unnecessary stress, embarrassment, and humiliation after a long international trip late at night. We ultimately had to rent a vehicle from another company (Sixt), where we were treated professionally and respectfully without any pressure for additional insurance products.

We understand that employees must follow company policies, but the behavior, attitude, and treatment we received were completely unacceptable and unprofessional.

We request that this incident be formally reviewed.

If there is a way I could give zero star I would. The customer service is extremely appalling. My partner and I booked a car online at Buffalo just for us to be told upon arrival that the car reserved isn’t available from the most rude staff we've ever met. Hope the management gets to survey how its staff treat customers. If you wish to know exactly the staff concern, today’s date is May 30th time 7:30pm

I rented a vehicle with Budget using Priceline. When I returned the vehicle an hour before the due date, they charged me for additional fees. They treated Priceline's price as a voucher rather than a price guarantee. I called Budget to rectify the error and got the round around. I have called my credit card company to place a hold on the charge, and will dispute the matter as far as it goes. They are simply SHADY.

Waiting in line at the airport counter for a prepaid vehicle for an hour and a half… and counting. Only 1 employee after an hour and then she “had to go on a break” so spot in line was lost to go upstairs.

40 euros to hire the car for a week. All very reasonable then got a ‘surcharge’ for 70 euros plus VAT for taking the hire car to Hvar. At no point was it mentioned when collecting the car. It’s a scam! There’s no way it has cost Budget this amount to increase their insurance to cover ferry crossings. Absolute joke. Avoid, Avoid, Avoid

I was charged a cleaning fee - for basically no reason - be prepared for an unexpected fee - for no reason at all - with absolutely no recourse on how to resolve except pay them - you will spend hours on hold to discuss, if you try and send an email no response. I'm just sorry i can't attach the pictures so you can see how ridiculous this is

I rented a full size car from Dallas love field. Long story short, We got the vehicle and had to return it back next morning. There were issues with it. They exchanged it and the counter person was nice, he said all we have is SUV'S I'll give it no charge. Upon return I filled it up with gas. I got the final bill there was fuel surcharge plus an upgrade charge. I called and had to argue about the charges, they refunded my fuel charge which was around $3.00, but they want refund my upgrade charge, I'm still waiting.