Budget Car & Truck Rental

Horrible experience. Making a reservation two weeks in advance won’t save you from getting a phone call the day before the scheduled pickup saying that no truck is available for that day. No proposed solution whatsoever. I’m being asked to call Budget Corporate, but after reconnecting for 30 mins to their automated phone system I give up.
Calling U-​Haul and making a reservation for the next day without hassle.
A moving day is a fixed date. You need to be out of your apartment by that day. No exceptions. The one thing you ask from a rental company is reliability, not much more.
Big fail, Budget.
Never again.

BEWARE! a few days ago we requested a larger 16′ truck so we could tow a car back down to so cal along with all our stuff. we got there early one morning and the truck was there but the guy said he wanted to wait another 1hr-1.5hr for his mechanic to check the dolly to make sure it was good, safe, and blah blah. we hadnt used budget before and we were like okay whatever. finally after that, one of the guys there helped us load the car on, he strapped the car’s front tires and told us to check on the car often and make sure everything was secure. when it finally hit the freeway later that night my brother in law who nicely drove the moving truck for us (500miles from no cal to so. cal) called us to let us know one front tire straps was busted. so they had to bring down the car and his wife ended up driving it down, defeating the whole purpose of having a car tow dolly! It finally made sense why the Budget employee wanted to make sure it was «safe» for us by having his mechanic look at it. that budget guy KNEW something was wrong and they STILL gave us an unsafe tow dolly. someone could have been seriously hurt because of that man.
in order to get a refund they instructed us to get someone from roadside assistance to inspect the equipment, if they found it to be faulty budget would grant us our refund and also pay for that roadside service call (or else we would be responsible for that roadside service call and get no refund). They came out and CONFIRMED that strap was indeed faulty as was the other strap was also close to messing up! unbelievable! This was the first and last time we ever deal with Budget. thanks for making moving even more stressful and possibly putting my family and others in danger!

Made a reservation days in advance. They called me the night before and said they didn’t have a truck for me and promised to call me by 7 am the next morning to tell me where I could pick up a truck. They didn’t call. After talking to many people and waiting on hold forever, someone finally told me they were sorry but they had no truck for me. That was four hours after I was suppose to pick up the truck. Couldn’t move that day. They offer no accommodation for the problems and extra expense you incur when they can’t give you a truck you reserve.

Nice enough guys, and they had the truck I reserved waiting for me. It was even a new truck, with less than 1000 miles on it. Only problem — it wasn’t full of gas. For a 57 mile move, I put 13 gallons of gas in it. You can’t tell me that the trucks get 4.8 MPG. I couldn’t even submit a complaint through Budget’s main website, because it’s broken.
Watch out if you go here, make absolutely sure that the gas tank is full before you take off.

Over all this moving stuff is a hassle. And these people make it more of one… HEADACHE

Needed to rent a Car for a trip. Paid for it on line but I am on a tight budget so I went with the Econobox. When I got to the Rental place there was a woman inside berating the clerk because she wasnt happy about the prices and nothing seemed to satisfy her. He went way above and beyond being polite to her when she didnt deserve it. and then when she was done he proceeded to apologise to me for the wait and provided me with the best and friendliest service I have ever received from a rental place. I will be returning to this location any time I need a car (Or Moving truck)

Having been a victim of U-Haul’s misleading pricing strategy and ridiculous add-​on charges, I want to make sure we don’t get ripped off with a rental truck this time. Of course, we stayed far, far away from U-​Haul and decided to give Budget a try.
Picked up our truck on Saturday at 1pm, there was only 1 guy manning the floor and he was super efficient. Instead of making every customer wait 10 mins in line, he was concurrently helping several customers (check in, check out) while maintaining professionalism. We declined the insurance and he didn’t press on. He recommended a truck with lift gate and gosh, did that help!
We got a 16′ moving truck with a daily rate of $ 23.96 and $ 0.79 per mile. The truck was fairly clean. The total bill came up to $ 45, exactly as we have pre-​calculated with mileage. No hidden charges, no surprising add-​ons or taxes, not a dime more than the internet quote. Couldn’t be happier!
Thank you Mr Efficient and Budget Truck Rental at the Santa Clara location.

Seems customers are on both end of the spectrum. Those who reserve a truck and got one compared to those who reserved a truck and didn’t get one. I am in the latter. Reserved it. Confirmed it by calling the place. and low and behold on the day off… NO F_​in truck.
Apparently it is customary to Budget to overbook trucks. I do not see how this is good business since they asked for credit cards on their website and have strict guidelines for cancellations.
Second, when you called customer services… they will find one in the next 2 hours honor the price you locked it in. but it could be 5 –30 miles away… and guess what… you’re liable for the mileage… GREAT customer service (sarcasm).
Let’s just say Budget = cheap. Cheap = bad service.

Some things to beware of:
* Reservations do not guarantee availability
* There’s a shortage of 10′ moving trucks here
* There’s no key drop box here anymore, due to it having been vandalized in the past
I booked a 10′ moving truck well in advance, and the system confirmed my 12:00 pickup time. I called the day before my moving day to make sure that the truck would be ready, and the agent told me that my pickup time had been kicked back to 1:00 because that’s when somebody else would be returning the truck. So Budget can modify my pickup time and not inform me? If I hadn’t called, I would not have known about the change.
On moving day I called again, and lo and behold, the 10′ truck wasn’t available because it had broken down. From the sound of things, that was the only 10′ truck this location has. I had to go with the next size, 16′, which costs the same but is over the weight limit for what my insurance company covers liability for (whereas the 10′ truck is under the weight limit). I had to purchase supplemental insurance from Budget for $ 20, as the agent «did not have the power» to give it to me for free, even though it wasn’t my fault that I needed it.
I also asked for some furniture blankets, and the agent told me they didn’t have any on hand. I found that strange for a moving company and asked what happens to people who reserves them in advance. He gave a sheepish smile and replied, «Just because somebody reserves it doesn’t mean we have it». «Just like the 10′ truck,» I bemoaned.
The larger truck actually was a blessing in disguise, because I was able to fit all my stuff into a single trip instead of two. But I was not impressed with Budget’s reservation system. How can they allow people to reserve things but not guarantee availability, and why do they think it’s acceptable to modify a person’s reservation without notifying them? The only reason this place gets more than one star is because the two different agents who helped me (one on the phone and one in person) were very nice and helpful as much as they could be. Unfortunately, they just didn’t have the power to do anything beyond their normal duties.

Avoid! very unprofessional. When I complained about a problem I was told «we didn’t force you rent from us.» For a car rental, they will charge you an extra day if you show up 10 – 15 mins late when returning. They dont warn you of this earlier. So, if you do rent make sure of the time before which you need to return your car/​truck. I’d rather stick with their next door neighbors for car rentals.

Never again. Moving day is stressful enough, but to make your reservation a week in advance, and then show up the day of your move and have the truck rental place tell you that they don’t have the truck you rented — or any truck even remotely close to the one you rented — is unacceptable. Especially when they had all of my contact info, and could have easily called to warn me so I could make alternative arrangements instead of finding out when I’m there to get my truck on the day of my move. Not to mention how unconcerned the guy working the desk was. He suggested I wait while he call the guy who was supposed to return a truck I could use but hadn’t shown up yet. Um, I’m sorry — you can’t wait around for an hour or so for some guy who may or may not show up on the day you are moving all of your things from one city to another. I told him I had to leave and find a place that had a truck ready for me right now, and he said I would not be charged a cancellation fee since it was their screw up. So, guess who got charged a $ 50 cancellation fee? I called customer service immediately when I saw the pending charge, and to their benefit they did not hassle me, and told me they would credit my account within 5 – 7 business days. Let’s hope they don’t fail me there.
I ended up leaving and going a few blocks down to U-​Haul, who — despite telling me (half-​jokingly) that no truck rental places actually gives a shit about customers when I told them about my experience at Budget, and how the guy seemed to not care — provided me with EXCELLENT customer service, and had me out the door with everything I needed for my move within 15 minutes — ON THE SPOT.
Please, do yourself a favor — if you are doing a move on your own, use U-​haul — they are more prepared for moving. It seems like moving is just a side gig for Budget, who mainly does car rentals, and they definitely have not mastered the moving market yet.

After 2 horrible experiences with U-​Haul I decided to go with Budget for this move. They did have my reservation (something U-​Haul couldn’t seem to manage despite me always calling multiple times to confirm), but while I was waiting to pick up the truck one of the sketchy guys at the counter read off a credit card number to someone on the phone. I sure hope they aren’t doing this with my credit card info.
Then the 10 footer I ordered was having brake problems and they upgraded me to a 16 footer, acting like they were doing me a favor. I’m moving only enough furniture to fit in a tiny San Francisco apt, I don’t need 6 extra feet and now I have to pay more for gas. They tried to convince me the gas mileage would be exactly the same bc its «only fiberglass». Apparently fiberglass is weightless? And now I have to maneuver 6 extra feet while driving in San Francisco. Thanks. I talked them into giving me some discounts, but I will definitely never return to that location and will be calling corporate to let them know how the employees are treating credit card information.

I know with the options of car rental companies out there I could have rented from anyone. I rented out of the El Camino Budget because it was open on Sunday @ 1p.m. Received excellent service and was out with an Impala at a reasonable rate. They offered drop off (and yes they will pick up as well).
I usually rent from the other rental company (the green) but I think we should try other local rental companies as well. Competition sure is good for me…

This was the first time I rented a car from this location. Used Orbitz to book for 4 days. When I got there, it was a long wait only one guy attending the customers and answering the phone at the same time. Then he ignored the quote from orbtiz and quoted me way more than orbitz price, prints out and hands me over the paperwork to sign. I reviewed the quote and had to remind him to use the orbitz quote, he reluctantly agreed. But he still did not accept the insurance/​coverage quote from orbitz and charged be higher rate. I returned the car on time and to our disbelief they charged my card to clean up the car: $ 30.
Honestly, they are running a mom/​pop shop there. I will never go back there again.

Sorry guys. I was so pissed at U-​Haul that I only took the time to write a scathing review for them.
Budget Truck Rental was fabulous. The truck was big, affordable, in great condition, and ran well. I didn’t get charged for unnecessary things and I was in/​out pretty fast. Return was fine without any hassle. Budget R.A.T. is my preferred truck rental service.

I rented a 10′ truck here a couple of weekends ago when I moved to my new apartment.
The service was fine and the overall process was cheap and smooth. Really, that’s the most important part of renting a truck, the ease of the transaction.
The truck itself was alright. I have no idea how there was standing water on wood in the back corner, but whatever. I just didn’t put anything that could be damaged by water in that small spot.
If you need to rent a truck, go to Budget.

Such a great experience with excellent customer service. They were able to answer my questions ahead of time and followed up with my reservation. I had Umesh Pudasisni assist me with paperwork.
I rented the largest they had a 24′ one way. I was very impressed with the selection and will use Budget again. No hidden costs.
Returning the vehicle to another location could have learned better customer service pointers from Umesh.
The Santa Clara location gets 6 stars if there were more to give.

Granted, when you rent a truck you just go in, pick up keys, and drive away. But this office had wonderful customer service. And after experiencing some less than friendly customer service at other moving I had called a couple times earlier in the week with questions, and they happily answered everything. Confirmation was cheerful. At the office, they clearly explained options, but didn’t push me to get extra things I didn’t want. The truck was there and ready for us to pick up. I’ve had other truck rental experiences where trucks weren’t available even though a reservation had been confirmed.
Kudos to this office for great customer service.

These guys are good, or I should say this location and the staff is. I got the feeling he’s the owner’s son, and that may help explain some of the great quality of service perhaps.
The young fellow working there (i’ll find his name later and put it in here), was professional, helpful and friendly, which is rare in the rental and moving industries I’ve found, no attitudes, no trying to swindle you kinda feeling. He was quick too, they’re good at what they do, and he seems to know you’re busy (yes, we’re moving) so they try get you taken care of and out the door quickly.
I rented a 16′ truck for $ 35.99, reserved it online (at their link above), then came into the store. Its a long narrow lot so slow down to make the right turn in, park anywhere and walk into that white portable office towards the back of the lot.
I also bought 10 moving boxes, and he gave me a 10% discount for 10 (ask and you’ll get it).
Trucks work fine, I drove perhaps 20 miles and refilled the gas myself, there’s a Valero like 50 yards down El Camino on the right at Pomeroy, all went smooth~~.