Budget Rent A Car

Good car for a fair price but some cons: Unprofessional staff, lazy (girl behind counter at airport doing homework) overcharge you for their errors, and car was completely filthy when we picked it up, when we were told it would be cleaned. Picture dried up food on floor, gravel and sand, dog hair, sticky soda residue in cup holders, plus kids hand prints all over windows. Not to mention a nasty cigarette odor. Also, front tire was low, so we had to put air in the tire. We were also told to pick the car up at a certain time and it still wasn’t available until 2 hrs later.

Well, it is a car rental, and I did get a good car for a fair price, but there are some major customer service issues at this location. The car I rented was:
Not full of gas, about 3 gallons low.
Reeked of cigarettes.
Carpets weren’t clean.
Had a soiled baby wipe in center console with some redish-​brownish stain on it.
Rear seat drink holders had sticky cola like substance spilled in them.
The counter staffer was not at his post, a person from another car rental company had to text him. When it was time to get the car, it was pouring rain and hail… No ride, umbrella, help was offered, just a «go through the fence and find the car in the parking lot.»

Totally professional and easy experience. We took the train from LA to San Luis Obispo; we had made our reservation for a car and arranged in advance through the Budget airport office (Alondra was super helpful on phone) for someone from the downtown location to pick us up at the station to take us to the downtown rental lot if we called when we arrived by train. The budget lot is ¾ miles distant from SLO train station. All went according to plan. James from the downtown office — absolutely helpful and professional — picked us up at the train station ten minutes after we called, drove us back to the Budget lot for the paperwork and car, and we were off on our vacation within minutes. Car (Toyota) worked perfectly. Experience could not have been easier. Note: when the attendant at the downtown office is out in the lot or making a pickup — the downtown office phone may not be answered so if in a jam just call the airport location.
Second note: if you are returning car to the airport (as we did since the downtown Budget lot is not open on Sundays) and if you are unfamiliar with the area leave extra time! The tiny signs for all car rental returns (Hertz, Avis, Budget) both approaching and at the SLO airport leave MUCH to be desired — took us three tries to find where to return the car! A taxi sped us back to the SLO Amtrak station, we made it just in time.
Thanks again to the team at San Luis Obispo Budget Car Rental.

I rented a car from the downtown office while my GF and I were touring the area for a few days. I reserved the car online and everything was fine. On my way down on the train we were delayed and were coming in several hours late. I called the downtown office and told them what was going on. It looked like I was going to get in soon after they were scheduled to close for the day. The plan was to transfer my reservation to the airport office that was open later.
They called me back several times to check on the timing. When it became pretty clear that I would be getting in too late I started talking to the AP location. When I got in the AP location sent out someone to pick us up and when he got there it turned out there was still someone working late at the downtown office so he took us there and we picked up the car.
Since I was dropping off the car on a Sunday and the downtown office was closed I dropped it off at the AP office. Dropping off the car was easy and they gave us a ride back to the train station. The only thing that could have made it better would be if there was a sign in the drop off lot pointing to where the office was in the terminal.
Everyone was super helpful and went out of their way to take care of us. I will be renting a car from them again when I am in the area.

If you do rent from them, make sure you leave nothing behind. It will never be found again.
GPS was left in glove compartment, called next day before the car was re-​rented, and it is gone. Car was moved by staff from SMX where it was returned to SLO.
Not a lot of choices in these small airports, but be aware all the same.