Budget Car Rental Reviews

Parked my vehicle in Nambour and when I came back, a witness saw a Budget truck side-swipe my car. The witness followed the truck driver for a while until he stopped to check his vehicle for damage. I called Budget and they said they'd contact me but never did, no matter how many times I tried reaching them. I expected some help, but the manager's attitude was incredibly arrogant. I filed a police report but still nothing from them. Based on the number of complaints I've read about this company, all they care about is money, not service.

I rented a Budget truck to move from New York to Florida. Picked it up on March the sixth at a location in Elmira. A rude woman told us not to come back to her desk and to stay in the front. The guy who did the paperwork was fine. However, my friend was going to drive the truck, so we asked if he needed my driver's license. He said no. We went out to look at the truck and my friend noticed a soft tire. The guy said it was just the way it was sitting and didn't even look in the cab. A soda can must have been left inside because it exploded all over the windshield, seats, and door. My friend's wife cleaned it up. They don't bother cleaning those trucks when they're returned. We loaded on the seventh and left on the eighth in the morning. Before we even got to the highway, the front tire blew. We waited three hours for repair. When we finally got to Florida and returned it at a location in Inverness, we mentioned our complaints. The person said if we'd been in a serious accident, I would have been responsible for everything because the Elmira location never took my driver information. They don't inspect or clean those trucks when they get returned.

I had a discount code from my workplace program that turned out to be invalid. I tried calling customer service as the website said they'd be available until eleven at night, but that was completely false.

I called their truck rental service and the person I spoke with was incredibly incompetent. He couldn't even understand basic English, even when I spoke slowly and clearly. Their service offerings are also really limited compared to other truck rental places. Budget, you need to get your act together. Hire people who actually understand English and have basic problem-solving skills. It was so aggravating. Definitely not worth using.

The guy at the airport handling truck insurance was incredibly rude. We decided not to buy his insurance, probably because he wasn't getting a commission, and he became extremely hostile. Unfortunately we didn't get his name, but he was an Asian man with a beard and glasses. I just wanted to warn people to prepare themselves because we weren't ready for such a bad start to our day. Thank you.

Showed up at the location for a cargo van only to find out they didn't have any. Took an Uber over an hour away out of state for nothing. Called the company and learned they had zero cargo rental trucks available anywhere in North Carolina or South Carolina within a hundred mile radius after they supposedly checked with each location. My moving plans fell apart completely since I was relocating my mom who's bedridden out of state. I would never trust them with any rental again.

Rented a van from them several months ago. It looked pretty beat up on the outside, but the price was really hard to beat. The paperwork was longer than I would've liked, but giving the van back was straightforward.

Rented a Suburban during July two thousand twenty-three. First, the vehicle was filthy and smelled like cigarettes. The inside hadn't been cleaned. There were beads in the back that were a choking hazard for the kids plus dirt and smudges everywhere. Most importantly, one of the seat belts didn't work. We had seven people total including children but only six working seat belts. I spent more than an hour on the phone with customer service before leaving and another hour while driving. My trip was delayed by more than an hour because we were trying to confirm a replacement vehicle. They said they had no more of that model available. I was told I could drive to another location more than an hour away during rush hour to get a vehicle that might not even be there. They wouldn't guarantee a replacement. I couldn't reach that location to confirm. The alternative was to drive toward my destination and try exchanging it there. They said no vehicles were available. We made it to our destination but the vehicle would shake if you drove over sixty-five miles per hour. It had an oil leak so we had to exchange it for an Expedition. What else can I say besides frustrated.

Amanda from their South Carolina inventory team was absolutely amazing. I spent all week trying to get my truck reservation confirmed with no answers from anyone. I found out just an hour before pickup that the location didn't have my truck and I was really stressed. She contacted me, apologized for not getting help earlier, and quickly fixed everything. She was incredibly efficient when other customer service and inventory people couldn't get it done. Budget is really fortunate to have her. Everything went smoothly with my rental. Thank you Amanda. You did an absolutely fantastic job. God bless you. You're 100 percent amazing at what you do and that's what real customer service looks like.

This company is complete garbage! Budget called me less than a day and a half before my planned move from Minnesota to Wisconsin to say the truck I reserved two weeks earlier wasn't available. Are you serious? I asked the guy to help me find another option and he told me to contact customer service. Really? Customer service said they could only submit a request to their Inventory Manager. Seriously? The Inventory Manager Sergio was incredibly unprofessional and rude, and when I asked for his employee number, he canceled my reservation without permission and basically told me to figure it out myself. I called back multiple times and eventually got a supervisor who defended what Sergio did. Nobody even attempted to help with the problem. I had to stop working that day to find another rental truck at a much higher price because it was last minute. The people working there are terrible. Their customer service is terrible. The whole company is terrible.