Budget Car Rental Reviews

I attempted to rent a twenty-six foot truck from three different Budget locations in New Jersey. The first location said they didn't have any trucks available even though I had made a reservation beforehand. They sent me to the second location, where staff informed me I was on their do-not-rent list. After spending two hours on the phone with someone who eventually said it was their mistake, they suggested I drive back an hour each way to rent a vehicle. Obviously, I didn't go back to that ridiculous place. I gave them one final chance at the third location a couple days later. The truck they had was ancient, maybe twenty years old, with a smashed windshield, worn out tires, and overall terrible condition. It was genuinely unsafe to drive. I'm now seeking payment back for my time and the money I spent getting workers ready at home to help me load the truck.

The vehicle I got was clean and had a full tank, and the customer service was acceptable. After I brought it back in the exact same condition as I received it, with a full tank and fresh wash, the company refused to give back my entire rental deposit. Very disappointed.

Had a miserable experience. Their call center is just as bad. The kind of bad that makes your whole day and week worse. After dealing with that mess, I ended up going with Enterprise and was shocked at how much easier the process could be.

The rental vehicle wasn't cleaned before my family received it. Given everything going on with Covid, that's not acceptable. Plus, there was nobody at the lot to check the vehicle with me. I had to look over the minivan myself, walk back into the terminal with photos on my phone showing front end damage, dings, marks, and scratches that I could've been held responsible for. When I contacted Budget by phone twice, I spent over forty minutes on hold without reaching anyone. This delayed my vacation. The manager and counter staff said some kind of credit would appear on my card, but it's been five days and nothing. I asked to be contacted by them to discuss further and said I'd update online reviews everywhere. Right now, I'm done doing business with this company.

Absolutely terrible customer service! When I got to the location, they gave me a form asking about insurance coverage options that nobody could reasonably answer. Since I was on a tight schedule, I had no choice but to pay their sixty dollar insurance. When I saw the truck, the front end was smashed up and the inside was filthy. The staff was incredibly rude and dismissive when I pointed out the damage. They only care about making money, not keeping customers happy. For what it cost to fix the situation, they could've easily kept me satisfied. I returned the truck and they later offered me five dollars as a refund for submitting pictures of the damage. The whole setup seems great until you actually show up. Just spend a few extra dollars and go with U-Haul or basically anyone else.

Absolutely terrible. I spoke with a customer service rep who suddenly vanished after ten minutes into our conversation. When I called back, I got someone different and had to start completely over. This new person had such a thick accent and spoke so quietly that I couldn't hear them, so I had to hang up and try a third time. Finally, the third rep was able to book my reservation. Five days before I was supposed to pick up the truck for my move, the owner of the garage where Budget stores their trucks called to tell me nobody would be there that Saturday over Memorial Day weekend. I had to quickly book an Enterprise truck instead. Don't go with Budget. They're unreliable, unprofessional, and careless with details.

When I arrived at the counter at eleven in the evening, the line was incredibly long. Every other rental company had plenty of availability, but Budget seemed to be where everyone went because they're the cheapest option. The vehicle turned out fine, but picking it up took forever. When I returned it, the line was equally long and all the cars were parked way out in the back lot. They charged an additional fifty dollars without providing any explanation or receipt about what it was for.

Had an absolutely terrible experience. Try U-Haul, Penske, or literally anybody else. I rented a twenty-six foot truck for a cross-country move and both doors wouldn't close completely. The passenger door where my seven year old was sitting swung open during a left turn. Thankfully he was buckled in, but that truck was a serious safety hazard. After we got our whole house loaded, the transmission warning light came on, and there was no way we were moving everything to another truck. I had ordered a car dolly but they gave me a car hauler for free instead. They parked the truck and trailer across the street and left me to check everything myself. When I got home, I had to check the brake lights on the trailer with my son and they didn't work. The wiring was cut, so I had to fix it myself and even then just one brake light worked. During the drive across the country, one of the tie-down straps kept coming loose on its own, leaving the car unsecured multiple times. I documented all these problems with their customer service, and they basically said they couldn't help until the rental was closed. When I called back to follow up, the conversation got cut off.

This company has the worst customer service. Nobody wants to be responsible or do their job. I rented a truck in Orlando to drive to Tennessee. The transmission failed in South Carolina at ten-thirty in the morning. I called the emergency number on my contract and had a hard time reaching a person. They said they'd send someone in twenty to thirty minutes. Thirty minutes later they called back saying they'd send another truck instead plus a professional moving crew to transfer my belongings. They said it would take sixty to ninety minutes. Two hours went by and I called back. They gave me a three hour estimate. I waited five hours total for the new truck to arrive, and there was no moving team. They showed up a half hour later looking rough. They started throwing my stuff from one truck to the other and broke things. I had to yell at them multiple times. Then the two of them broke out fighting in the back of the truck while they were in the middle of transferring my belongings. I called the police and Budget. When I finally got through to Budget, they said if I wanted them to stop moving my stuff, that was my problem.

I'm not shocked this place has completely negative reviews, and they apparently don't care. I don't even know where to start. I rented a van from their Melbourne location to move house. They said a four hundred dollar bond would be held and returned within ten business days. Instead, they took over five hundred dollars as the bond plus the rental fee on the day I rented. The bond came back the next day, which made me think everything was finished. Then a week later, they charged my account without warning, putting me into overdraft. I called the office to discuss and got a guy named Steven. He was extremely rude, wouldn't let me talk, yelled over me, and then actually hung up on me! I called back and Steven answered again, admitted he hung up on me, then continued being rude and argumentative. This is how they represent their company to customers? I tried submitting feedback through their website but the form doesn't work. The admin office called me afterward with a different email address to send feedback to.