Budget

I used this Budget twice in 2015. Both times were a great experience, with minimal wait time.

I rented a budget car here and returned at the international airport in Vegas. A lady Clark explained to me that I prepaid and I don’t have to fill up gas at the end but I ended up returning and they tell me I have to go back to gas station so this whole process cost me an extra hour. Do not really believe what they verbally tell you. Read the contract right there because it says something else.

Terrible, rude and charge you ridiculous amount for a 1 day. Messed up my bill and took me 1 week to fix it. They don’t have a actual number, it takes you to their international customer service number. Customer service hotline hours are limited and the reps are incompetent! Ladies and manager at their customer service desk in the garage are rude and obviously hate their jobs. Lines are ridiculous and they make you wait 1 to 2 hours for a reserved rental.

I rented a car as part of a pre-​paid travel package. I was pleasantly surprised by the «free upgrade» I was given when I checked in. Turns out, despite my clear understanding, I was charged for the upgrade. The counter person said he was giving me a free upgrade since I was pre-​paid, and that there would be no extra charge. I guess I signed for the upgrade, but was told the charges were just to show the total itemization, despite being pre-​paid. What I was really signing was the upgrade charges.
I didn’t realize this until I received my credit card bill and called in to Budget, where I got the full explanation. It was partly my fault that I signed without reading more closely, but what upsets me, is that the person at the counter BLATANTLY LIED to me in order to get the upgrade.

I came in on a business trip to Phoenix late at night. They offered me only two options for cars but neglected to tell me they were both upgrades. They also charged me insurance which I didn’t ask for. The billing receipt is so opaque it’s hard to tell what the extra charges were. Later I tried to call the customer service to have charges removed. They refused.

ABSOLUTE WORST CAR COMPANY!!! All their reps were horrible and they over charged my mother 150 dollars for our rental! Never going back if you want a good rental go through Dollar!

Watch out. I rented a car from here and one month later a claims company contacted me for damages that were not caused by me: (a) claims company has different rental agreement number than mine, and (b) claim was made 5 days after I had rented the car. To compound the issue, the claims company is not responsive, Budget Phoenix manager has not responded to my calls and Budget corporate customer service email service punted to aforementioned. Next steps, BBB and other channels…

Do yourself a favor and rent your car elsewhere. We came here on a weekday and there were over 40 customers waiting in line for already reserved cars. Over 2 hour wait. On top of that, when we picked up our van the fuel tank was not full as the told us but only ¾ full. Probably worst car rental experience ever.

Worst ever!!! Waited 2.5 hours to pick up my car… they oversold or something and had 50 people waiting to get cars… Horrendous!!!

Two words: Price gouging. The customer service rep we worked with was horrible, and would not take «no» for an answer… literally. We stood there for 15 minutes arguing about what insurance does and does not cover until we finally gave in, agreeing to pay an additional $ 90 for a 3-​day rental.
With more than a 15% tax rate, NOBODY should rent from this location. Get a taxi to a non-​airport Budget location, or go with another company, period, if cost is important to you.

Worst excuse for customer service I have EVER experienced. Upon arrival, after having prepaid $ 82.91 for a luxury vehicle, I was told that there was a 30 minute wait. There were at least 40 customers milling around. I received number 80 and the ticker was on 60. I called Budget to cancel but was told there would be a $ 50 fee. So I waited, and waited and waited. 70 minutes later my number was called, only to reach the desk and learn that they were out of the car I had reserved. BUT they were kind enough to offer me an upgrade. Not free, but at a discount.
If you are visiting Phoenix, please heed this advice, DO NOT USE BUDGET. Use Thrifty, Dollar, Enterprise or any of the other rentals who had no lines and whose customer service is decent.
Budget should be called LOW BUDGET and they are dead to me.
UPDATE: I did an online survey. A Budget representative contacted me and credited my card with his apologies. This was very nice and good business.

Not a fan of this place. Had reserved a car with a specific time to pick up and I arrive in time and no cars to be had (their sign at the entrance saying cars available). The employee said nothing available even with a larger car than I reserved indicating the cars expected back were not ready. So I wait then am offered a Mustang vs the car I reserved at no aded cost so I said yes to get on the road. Found the car only partially cleaned and when I tried to use the AUX feature with the audio system is would not work.
The employee was not friendly when I expressed disappointlment with my car not being ready saying something to the effect that this is busy season (well this should be no surprise — Phoenix busy in March!)
They get 2 stars vs. one for providing an upgrade.

NEVER AGAIN! 40 min wait for a pre paid car! Avoid at all cost.

Scrappy service. Lines were way to long. Customer service was terrible. They also jacked up my rates at the last minute which really pissed me off. Plus the car was dirty and smelled like it hadn’t ever been cleaned. Definitely one of the worst rental experiences I have ever had. Will never rent from budget again.

Rented a car for a week for $ 220 total, all included. Check in was super fast, lots of agents. Play area for our young infant who was restless from the flight.
The rental car we got was a full size fully loaded Camry with 2400 miles, nearly new. Based on price and experience, I’d almost give this 6 stars.

TL;DR: Thought I was getting an awesome complimentary upgrade at pickup; asked what the charges on the receipt meant at drop-​off, was assured that they meant nothing; few days later get charged double what the original rental agreement was for.
The cars are nice, but they have terrible, unethical, business practices and do not deserve any business.
Full story:
At first, I thought I was having a good experience. I pre-​paid with a USAA membership discount and got a great rate! I showed up, line wasn’t too long, everything was good! Asked if there was any chance at an upgrade– guy considers it, looks at the screen, and asks if I want a Mustang or a BMW, I end up with a mustang GT and the guy apologizes that it isn’t a new model– I really thought I was getting exceptional customer service. Their fleet is filled with really nice cars, including a ton of Mustangs so I really didn’t think the upgrade was unique. Guy just says click through the agreements and all that I say cool, take my keys and go!
Return day the car gets checked in and I get my reciept; a line says additional charges — $ 134, (my original rental agreement was $ 110) — I ask the guy what that means and he says it means nothing since I already paid for my rental during reservation— sounds great! I get on my flight back home.
4 days later: Another charge for $ 134 shows up on my statement– I call budget and they say I agreed to being charged more for the upgrade– apparently this was on one of those screens the guy had me tap through quickly. At this point I was completely shocked that I was SCAMMED like this. There was no mention whatsoever of additional charges, and its not like the guy presented options like hey this level of upgrade will be X $ and this one will be Y $! If I wanted to pay double the price of my rental I would have done it when I pre-​paid! This was my first time renting from Budget, I normally rent from Enterprise and the times that they can’t give me a complimentary upgrade they notify me verbally of the extra costs of the upgrade! Truly disgusting business practices.
Afterwards: Customer service line says they can’t do anything but I should talk to a local manager. Local managers didn’t return my call, but an associate said they will get back to me soon.
I plan on updating this when I hear back from them, but I am definitely not confident that the outcome will be positive.
EDIT: ³⁄₁₉ — NO RESPONSE FROM THE COMPANY OR LOCATION — unfortunately what I expected from these crooks

Basically, I ordered an intermediate size car (Dodge Avenger or similar) and was given a Chevy Cruze. A Dodge Avenger is classified as a mid-​size car by Dodge and the Chevy Cruze is classified as a compact size dar by Chevy. If I had wanted a compact car I would have rented a compact car and paid somewhat less. But no I wanted something larger and ordered a Dodge Avenger equivalent.
I called customer service to complain about the vehicle size and they explained that they are classified into the same size even though they are not. They were not at all apologetic and were 100% unwilling to help me get a replacement vehicle.
In the end I paid Budget extra to screw me over and give a compact car for more money because of Budget’s «creative» vehicle classification system.

Awful. We rented a car and, when we got to the counter, there was an hour+ wait just to do the paper work. There must have been 40 people mulling around waiting for their number to be called. We left, went to another rental agency and had a car with in 10 minutes. Did it cost more? Yes, however my vacation is very short, and I did not want to spend 2 hours of it at Budget. Never again.

We went to Sedona on our honeymoon and rented a car from Phoenix. I got a priceline deal for the our rental car which said it included tax. When we arrived at the counter we were told the tax was not included, fine. They tried extremely hard to upsell us on a car, but we declined and asked for what we had reserved, a compact… she said there was one car of that class left… Well good! we reserved that size, right? I went to call priceline to ask what kind of raggedy situation they had gotten us in. Meanwhile, Paisley, our rep, also told my husband that «we HAD to insure the car» after we declined any sort of coverage. She basically made him feel like he could not leave without buying that insurance. We should not have signed the agreement but it was really late and we just wanted to leave and we were made to feel like we had to.
We ended up spending about $ 300 on priceline and then almost $ 400 on insurance (that we didn’t need) and extra taxes at the counter. I called budget’s customer service… the rep said that I should have pointed out that it was optional to THE EMPLOYEES at the counter. I’m sorry? am I getting an hourly wage? She would not refund my money or give me credit towards a future rental.
USE ENTERPRISE OR ANY OTHER CAR RENTAL SERVICE!!!
The actual car was fine but everything else was the worst ever!

Here’s what you need to know. The name of the company is Budget. If you get a smoking deal on Priceline or any other website, you’re going to have to wait. Sure you could go over to Dollar or National where there is no line but you’ll be paying almost 3xs what you would with Budget.
That said, my husband & I booked a car through priceline. For 8 days we got an economy car for under $ 200. That included taxes, fees and all that jazz. When we got to the rental car facility there was a bit of a line. We waited in line for about 45 minutes. They did have a Budget employee that was monitoring the line and answering any questions people had.
We got to the counter and had our car within 5 minutes. Sure the guy tried to upsell us on a Mustang but after we told him we weren’t interested he dropped it. I didn’t feel any pressure to add anything else. Originally they were going to give us a Kia Soul. Ugh the hamster car! The guy helped us out though. We ended up with a 2 door Altima with no additional cost.
Drop off with the car was quick. We were upstairs waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport within 10 minutes of getting to the facility.