Avis Rent-A-Car

FORGET!!! PREFER AN ANOTHER RENTCAR
At the beginning, all seems OK but when you’ll retry the car the probleme are going to begin.
Be carefull, READ THE AGREEMENT before to sign it. AFTER IT WILL BE TO LATE.

After riding around DC with Über, I needed a car to get to NJ, so I just too Über to this nearby Avis location. Everything was fine at this location. It took longer to get the paperwork done than usual at an airport location, but what the heck. They pull the rental car out of the parking garage and park it right next to the office. They go over the exterior of the car with you for dents just like at Enterprise. Funny, Avis doesn’t do that with me when I rent at an airport. Airport locations must be too busy.

Did not have car ready 40 minutes after scheduled pickup. Refused to offer us the available cars for the same rate, as they were in a different class. The lady who worked this desk was beyond miserable. I left and went to the next kiosk to get a car that actually turned out cheaper. Way to take care of your customers and really hire «A players» Avis.

Looks like I’m not the only one to have problems with this location.
Here’s my story:
Me and the boys wanted to go out sailing on the Chesapeake. Decided we would rent a convertible for the day to get us out there in style. We arrived at Avis early in the morning, and they had our Mustang convertible waiting on the curb outside. That sure was a great way to be greeted! The car looked beautiful.
So I go inside, and give my credit card and drivers license so I could pick up the keys and get driving. I decided to purchase insurance on it at the counter. I mentioned I was going to return it the same day, but then the employee (who is mentioned in other posts, but I won’t name) then said I can return it tomorrow for no extra cost. Sounds awesome!
After a pleasant day of driving and sailing, I returned it the next day and was charged for 2-​days despite what I was told. Also, was charged double for the insurance. I then asked if I could keep the car for the rest of the day since I was being charged for it anyway. NOPE. Not allowed to since I already «checked it back in».
I was lied to, and then not even allowed to use the car that I was charged for a second day.
I’m about to email management now and will report back. I doubt I will ever use Avis again though.

I have both returned a car to the Budget office here, as well as picked up a car from Avis. Both times I was assisted by Darren, who had a brusque, and ill-​tempered attitude while helping us, and other customers. Before coming here, I also had to call this office a couple of times with questions about holiday street closures. It was hard to get anybody on the phone, requiring anywhere from 5 – 10 calls before I could get a person to pick up. When they finally answered (and I suspect it was Darren after hearing his voice in person), his attitude was again the same short manner. Avis and Budget need to seriously take a closer look at the customer service at this office.

Had reserved a car for noon pickup on a recent Sat. Arrived to find a lobby full of people who had been waiting hours to pick up their car, literally 3 hours. I waited 2 hours before getting a car, but the worst part was the attitude of the agents there who couldn’t be bothered to explain what was going on, and had all sorts of excuses about it was graduation weekend, ran out of cars, blah blah. I had to practically beg to be put on a waiting list so that they knew what order people had come in to wait. The service here is HORRIBLE. Their attitude is beyond belief. I only come here because it’s in the city and I can walk here from my apt. when I have to rent a car. Oh, and I also noticed on my bank statement that they overcharged me too. SO now I have to try and get someone on the phone to make that right, but I’m not holding out hope on actually getting ahold of anyone. I keep calling the number and it rings and rings and then goes silent.

Still awful. I was in a predicament and decided to give this location one more chance. I ordered a compact car because the spaces in my building only accommodate small cars. I was given a full size car because they were «out of compacts», despite my being a preferred member who made a reservation well in advance. I actually called corporate to express my frustrations with this location and let them know why my usage with Avis would be tapering off. They didn’t really seem all that concerned.

Absolutely negative experience. They charged me optional fees without explaination and my consent. Additionally they held USD200 instead of 130 on my credit card, again without explaination. Employees have curt ways and are not very willing to help.
I strongly recommend to not rent a car here.

Dear Mr. Lee Fletcher,
thank you for managing the worse rent a car place I have ever used in my entire life. Thank you for charging me for your stupid insurance without my permission. Thank you for being so rude to me on the phone when I tried to explain that your Jacqueline did not mention that the insurance is charged PER DAY!
Thank you.
From now on every time I rent from Rent-​a-​Car or Enterprise, I will say to myself «thank god its not Avis!» and will go happily about my day.
PS — Corporate must have thought I wasn’t so crazy because they refunded me all of the money back ;-)

Couldn’t quite bring myself to give this location the worst possible rating, because the clerk was courteous and I was actually able to rent a car. However the convertible that I PREPAID for was not available. How hard can it be to honor a reservation where you KNOW the customer will show up???
The only reason I’m not totally pissed is that the weather was 10 degrees cooler than forecasted when making the reservation, so the convertible was no longer very attractive.
So with that, Avis on M Street has broken its streak of 17 consecutive 1-​star reviews. :)

This was probably the worst rental experience of my life. There’s literally no one that works here that remotely cares about customer service. We reserved a car ahead of time and when we arrived we were greeted by a guy who was clearly having a bad day. He proceeds to tell us that the ONLY car available is a minivan even though we reserved a mid size car… then he checks the next two people in while we wait and I see each of them drive off in mid size cars. Then we finally get the van and realize it’s got a half full tank. So we ask if they pump gas because I’m responsible and we wait another 45 minutes while other customers are arguing with him and finally someone comes over to fill it up. Do yourself a favor and never come here. People like this shouldn’t be in business.

I’ve generally rented through Avis since I believe in loyalty programs and felt they were one of the better ones. Yet on my recent experience at their M-​street location right in Washington D.C. I kept thinking «is this really how they treat their loyal customers?»
It started off well with a fairly nice and personable agent who gave me my keys and confirmed that I reserved a intermediate sized car. Yet when I went up the ramp to get my car, I found a full-​sized vehicle and was given a gruff response when I went back to ask for an intermediate. I rented an intermediate for a reason and didn’t want something large. I was told «well, that’s all we got and you have to take it since you are one-​way.» Finally after ten minutes I was told they didn’t have any intermediate sized vehicles even though I clearly saw five of them in the lot as I went to the car.
Fine. I’ll deal. Yet having the garage attendant yell at me as I went to check the vehicle and being told go downstairs and do it. Yet when I get downstairs, the same attendant accosts me as I am inspecting and being told to «get the hell out of the way.» Really?
When I found damage, I was told it wasn’t a big deal and they crossed it off my carbon copy report. What happens when I insist that it was damage I want documented? I get yelled at and told «I said it isn’t a big deal.» I finally asked for the manager to come and resolve, only to be told there wasn’t one. I finally prevailed and finally got on my way.
The selection of cars is ridiculous. The service with attitude is at the point of insulting and degrading. The only thing it has going for it is the location. Yet, I just have to tell you. Go somewhere else. Pay $ 100 more a day for another vehicle at another company because it was downright awful.
No sugar coating here.

Don’t come here! This place is horrible. I wish I had read the reviews before I reserved here. The customer service is horrible. I was an hour late for my pickup. They tripled the price and said they couldn’t do anything about it. And I’m a Preferred member. Imagine how they treat «regular» customers? I had a great experience with Zipcar. I think I’m done with Avis!

If I would have known what we were in for, I would have paid the taxi fare to go back to the airport and rent a car from there. We were staying in a hotel nearby, and decided to rent a car from this location. The service was terrible. We had a reservation, showed up on time, and It took us an hour to get our car. It was filthy. We rented a luxury model, and were astonished at the condition of the vehicle. There was literally a handful of dirt (yes, soil) dumped into the driver’s door pocket. I was wearing shorts and a t-​shirt and didn’t want to sit on the passenger seat.
I would defintely not recommend this rental location to anyone. They need to get their act together.

If you want a cheap rental, then yes — this is your place. Priceline always gets you a decent deal through Budget.
That being said, the customer service is a joke. Just as it’s sure you’ll get a good deal through Priceline. You’re just as sure to get slow undependable service. Come with patience. Enjoy.

UGH. I have to add to the long line of horrible reviews if not to warn against coming here. I only write reviews for really GOOD and really BAD rental experiences.
The only good thing is that it’s located in the city, but after going through their frustrating process, I would STAY AWAY! Attitude is rude to the point of insulting. I never had this issue with any other rental car locations, but I actually yelled at them because they were so condescending.
Also, their car selection is really limited and are older cars. I would DEFINITELY recommend going to the airport locations for a better selection.
Too many things to hate about this place — the most of which is their customer service which is non-​existent.

This review is is for all locations – what a shady company with a policy akin to a mugger shaking you down in a dark alley!
What a terrible company! Beware of them shaking you down with the fee for a full tank of gas. Avis designs the fee schedule so they restrict where you can fill up your rental if you do not opt for the «full tank of gas» option. This basically forces an additional 40 – 50 dollar fee on you. The worst part is that they claim it is to ensure that people don’t bring the car back with slightly less than a full tank. Nice business model – accuse all of your customers of being dishonest. I could see charging you the amount it takes to fill up the tank for the gas you use but these scam artist only give you a use it or lose it option. In my case it was 44 dollars for a quarter tank of gas. Avis can go straight to hell as far as I’m concerned.

My wife was assured by corporate that there would be no extra charge for our son to be an additional driver. This store insisted on a $ 13/​day additional charge for that, and would not budge. Despite being Avis Preferred customers, they had my wife do a damage inspection on the car. When she asked which car it was, they said that they didn’t know, and that she had to ask the manager. He pointed it out as a car parked in the dark. When she asked, he did move it to a more lighted area. Not run well.

I booked a car on Expedia and was quoted $ 25 per day. Avis wound up charging me $ 34 per day. They also charged me for insurance that I didn’t ask for. When I raised it with the woman at the counter when I returned the car and got the charges printed, she told me that she couldn’t do anything about it and that I’d have to follow up with the manager. And I can’t get ahold of him. So I wound up paying double what I should have paid.
And this is on top of the fact that the walk-​around to check for damage was entirely up to me. I’ve never seen this before. Every other time I’ve rented a car from any other company, an employee does a walk-​around with me so that there’s an agreement as to what existing damage there is on the car. I’ll never return.

Reserve online before you come, there are some great deals.
About what I expect for a car company. We got a good deal online, and only made the reservation about 30 minutes before we went to get the car.
We were in and out in about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, they did have time to clean our rental, but it wasn’t too bad. The also had to upgrade us from economy car to full size as that was what they had. We only used the car for the day.
When we returned the car they just asked if we got gas, they didn’t make us provide a receipt (although we had one, and I recommend keeping one just incase).