Budget Car Rental Reviews 33

I rented a truck from Budget Trucks located in Campbellfield, Victoria. After completing the payment, I returned the truck without any problems. However, I noticed that they charged two of my accounts, which they are denying. They have only agreed to refund the amount of $400 and not the extra payment of $191.72. I have submitted the necessary documentation to demonstrate the two charges. Based on my experience, I would not recommend using their services for truck rentals, as they tend to deflect responsibility when it comes to refunding money owed to customers, often claiming a lack of recollection regarding the issue.

Date of experience: November 23, 2024

No Cargo Van (or any other budget rental truck) at location that I took an Uber too over an hour away out of state.

Then I call and there are none available in the state of North Carolina or South Carolina within 100 miles after they called each location for me. (So did I while I waited).

My travel plans were ruined which was moving my bedridden mom out of state.

I would never ever consider them for anything.

Date of experience: August 26, 2024

Rented a van from them a few months ago. The van was in terrible condition as far as the exterior was concerned but the price was unbeatable. Paperwork was a bit lengthy but returning the van was easy.

Date of experience: June 12, 2024

I rented a Suburban during July 2023. First of all the truck was dirty and smelled of smoke. The insides had not been cleaned. Beads in the back(chocking hazard for kids) and dirt and smudges everywhere. Most important one of the seat belts did not work. We had seven people including children and only six working seat belts. I was on the phone with customer service for more than an hour prior to leaving for my trip and maybe another hour while driving. Therefore, my trip was delayed by more than an hour because we were trying to get a confirmation on an available replacement. The call center indicated there were no more suburbans. I was then informed I could go to BWI ( more than an hour out of my way during rush hour) for a vehicle that may or may not be there. I could not get the call center to guarantee me a replacement. There was no way to reach BWI to confirm a replacement. The alternative was to drive towards my destination and try to exchange the vehicle. Reportedly no vehicles available. Made it to my destination. However, the vehicle would vibrate if you went over 65mph. Car had an oil leak and had to be exchanged for an expedition. All I can say is…. Frustrating!!!!!

Date of experience: July 12, 2023

AMANDA from SC inventory was absolutely sent down from heaven. I been trying all week to confirm truck reservation and nobody was giving me any answers. I needed a truck and found out 1 hour before my pick up time that the location didnt have it. I Was totally stressed out. She called me and apologized for me not being helped to my satisfaction. She heard my issue and quickly resolved it. It was amazing efficiently she did this when numerous other customer care and inventory couldnt get it fix. Amanda is absolutely a godsend. Budget is very lucky to have her on their team. The rental went fine today and all is well. Thanks to her. So i say thank you Amanda. Good job. God bless and thank you again. You are absolutely, 100% amazing person and the same goes for job that you do. True definition of customer service

Date of experience: June 23, 2023

THE WORST! RACIAL PROFILING! They were looking at me like I was going to steal their raggedy truck and take it to Mexico to get chopped up for parts. Also the beat up truck had mechanical problems it was pulling to one side the whole trip. Glad I made it without breaking down. Never again!

Date of experience: April 16, 2023

This company is complete trash!!! I get a call from Budget not even a day and a half before we're supposed to move from Minnesota to Wisconsin to tell me that the truck I reserved 2 weeks prior isn't available!! What?!? I asked the guy who called me to help me find another truck and he told me to call customer service. Really?! I called customer service and they said all they could do is make a request to the Inventory Manager. Seriously?! The inventory manager named Sergio was beyond unprofessional and insulting and when I asked for his employee number he canceled my reservation without my authorization and pretty much told me to go figure it out. Called numerous times before being connected to a supervisor who justified the actions of the inventory manager!!! Not one person I spoke to even tried to help me with the issue. I was forced to stop working for the day just so I could find another truck rental that cost me a lot more because of last-minute reservations. Disgusting people that work for Budget. Disgusting customer service!!! Disgusting company!!!

Date of experience: April 20, 2023

Simple. Next time you send an email confirming the availability of the truck 48 hours prior to pick up.... to make sure it is available. I called the local Budget truck place to confirm... they stated that there is no coordination between local dealer and online store. So they cancelled my reservation w/o any other option. So now I am stuck w/o a vehicle... I can provide confirmation order number, if Budget is interested as well as the their emails...

Date of experience: February 25, 2023

I was trying to rent a 26' truck from three different Budget locations in NJ (Bayonne, Lyndhurst and Matawan). The Bayonne one didn’t have any trucks EVEN though I placed a reservation in advance. The one in Lyndhurst, where I was sent by the Bayonne employee on the same day, told me I was on a DO-NOT-RENT list. After sending 2 hrs on the phone with budget and after I was already at home in a different state, the company rep told me it was a Budget's mistake and if I still needed a truck, I could go back (drive 1 hr one way) and rent one. Ridiculous! Of course, I didn’t return to that pathetic "establishment". In two days, I gave them the last chance and went to their Matawan location. The rusty truck that they had for me was about 20 years old with cracked windshield, bare tires and extremely worn out in general. It is simply dangerous to ride in it. I am now seeking reimbursement for my wasted time and money I spent on workers, who were waiting for me at home to help load the truck.

Date of experience: February 01, 2023

Worst truck rental experience in my life!
First didn't actually have truck I rented. No calls emails or texts. I show up - no truck. They send me to another location that has the truck. Took 2 hours to "move" reservation. Call customer service 2 hour wait for someone who can make decision. I reserved and paid for truck for 2 days, Budget changes it to one day and then charges me for an extra day. Then after dozens of calls refuses to fix their mistake. Also truck was a POC.

Date of experience: June 27, 2022

Provided me with a nice clean car with full tank, reasonable customer service. After I returned the car - with a full tank, having been run through the car wash and vacuumed, so that it was in the same condition as I received it - the company refused to refund the full amount of the hire deposit I paid. Not impressed.

Date of experience: August 08, 2022

Miserable experience. The call center is just as bad. Like make your day and week worse kind of bad. After this cluster I ended up going with Enterprise and was surprised at how much easier it could be.

Date of experience: March 08, 2022

The car was not cleaned before it was rented to my family. In the current times with Covid, this is unacceptable!
Also, no one at the lot upon taking deliver of vehicle. I had to inspect the mini van myself, walk back to the airport terminal, with my cell phone of the pictures taken, front end damage, multiple dings, marks, scratches that I may have been held responsible for. In contacting Budget on the phone, 2 times, over 40 minutes on hold, could not wait for a live person. Delayed my vacation. Was told by manager and counter representative that some form of a credit will be issued onto my credit card, (5 days so far and nothing) I have requested to be contacted by Budget, to be continued , but I will be updating online reviews where ever I can. As of now, I will not do business with this company again.

Date of experience: August 18, 2021

This is for Budget truck rental do yourself a favor and a headache and stay FAR AWAY from renting a truck from this company I made reservations ahead of time to rent a truck going one-way. I'm moving out of state and since I put in notice I have to have all my stuff out on a certain date. Days went by I'm thinking everything was going smoothly I'm already to go they (emailed me) saying they don't have they checked inventory and they don't have anything available for me...WHATTTT????? Who does that? Now since it's so last minute im out of luck because there are no other truck available or any other movers because it's so last minute. These people have me in a very BAD POSITION ! Now im screwed and there's nothing know one can do about they don't even care. They should keep up with there inventory before they let there employees make reservations. This is ridiculous I never been so disappointed and upset in all my life!! Do yourself a favor don't end up like me look elsewhere for a truck all you'll get here is your time wasted

Date of experience: July 30, 2021

Horrible customer service. You can't add an additional driver after the contract has been opened. Something came up in the middle of the move and we needed to add another driver but couldn't do it. It's against their policy. Ridiculous.

Date of experience: July 27, 2021

The worst customer service ever! 1st off, I get to the location for my rental and they hand me a questionnaire full of insurance coverage questions that there is no way any one would know the answers to. Since I was on a time constraint as most people are, I had no way to answer these questions. So, they gave me no choice but to pay for their $60 insurance. When I get the truck, it was missing its front end and was absolutely filthy inside! The customer service is even worse than the truck was. When I told them of the problems they were rude and snarky. They are only concerned with their bottom line, not making customers happy. Hell! It wouldn't have even taken that much to make me happy, just not giving me a broken down truck and doubling the cost of rental once I'm actually at the pick-up place. They did not seem too bothered at the fact that I was given this junk truck to use and forced insurance upon when it was already practically falling apart. I sent in pictures and they offered me a measly $5 refund! I just seems like a great deal until you actually get there. Spend the extra money which will only end up being a few dollars more and go with U-haul or literally any other truck service! Trust me!

Date of experience: May 31, 2021

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE experience. I spoke to a customer service rep and 10 minutes into the call he just faded away and crickets....I called back and got somebody else where I had to start all over from scratch but this person had such a strong accent and spoke so quietly I had to hang up and get a THIRD person. This time they were able to book my reservation. Five days before my move the owner of the auto garage where Budget keeps their trucks called to tell me that nobody will be there that Saturday the weekend of Memorial Day. Now I had to scramble where I was able to book a ENTERPRISE TRUCK. AVOID BUDGET!! They are not reliable, professional, or thorough on the details.

Date of experience: May 25, 2021

Arrived at counter to get vehicle and the line was very long at 11pm at night. All other rental companies were not busy at all. Long wait and Budget must've been the cheapest because that's where literally everyone was to rent a car. Car was nice. Then when it came time to return the car the line was extremely long again and had to park it way out in the lot along with everyone else. Then charged another $50 for something they didn't send or explain what the charge was for and no receipt was given.

Date of experience: March 21, 2021

Worse experience for our Budget Truck Rental booking from Costco- DO NOT USE Costco online services and Budget Truck.

--> We booked Budget Truck Rental with pickup at 4:00PM from '10220 Palm River Rd ,Tampa, FL, 33619'. This address also showing 'EMBASSY SUITES BY HILTON '.
-->There was very small sign board for Budget which is not easily visible. Specially when you look for Budget truck or U-Haul Truck, you do not expect some truck rental location inside such hotel. So we passed the address and took some time to reach exact location. Possibly 10 min late then pickup time of 4:00PM. When we reached, we show rental office is inside hotel. And when we reached, office was closed. And Hotel receptionist informed they just left couple of minute before.
We were totally lost what is going on. We tried to call all possible number to connect with Budget from reservation confirmation page. Even we tried calling number which was posted on door. But some number was even not working or going on voice message etc. and customer service from Budget's answer was, "this is Costco booking and we do not have such booking. Contact Costco".
We tried calling Costco and we did not got any support to get hold of Budget truck rental. Even they hang-up phone instead of transferring to manager or supervisor.
Somehow one person could got our reservation. And he told, if office is closing at 4pm, he can not do anything.
finally we took help from local Costco warehouse manager, they ware trying to help us but Budget and online Costco travel was not helpful to them either.
After 2-3 hours of our struggle, we finally came to home and booked U-Haul in night for Saturday pick-up at 10:00AM. I am very impressed with U-Haul, they called 9:45am on Saturday that our truck is not available at our choice location but they will arrange as soon as possible. And they provided confirmation for 2:30PM pickup. And they even texted earlier that truck is ready and we can pick up earlier.
When we were talking, some customer service people were acting like we are speaking some Greek language. This time we felt they are doing purposely to give hard time.
During all such calls, some customer service person even cancelled our reservation instead of getting truck from other location or asking same location to give truck early in the morning.
Somehow we got truck and reached to destination to pick-up our stuff. We stayed overnight whatever hotel we got near destination. So in morning half we can load our stuff in truck. You know, how you get last minute hotel booking etc.

Date of experience: March 07, 2021

Absolutely horrendous experience. I rented a 26’ truck for a cross-country move, and both doors failed to completely close. The passenger side door, where my 7 yr old was seated, swung open on a left-hand turn. Luckily he was buckled in, but this truck was an extreme safety hazard. After getting our 2000 square ft house loaded into the truck, the “check transmission” light came on, and we weren’t about to cross-load our entire house on to another truck.

I ordered a car dolly to tow a car, and was “upgraded” free of charge to a car hauler. They parked the 26’ truck and trailer across the street in another parking lot and left me to check all of it by myself. Obviously I had to wait to get home to check the brake lights on the trailer with my son, which did not work. The wiring harness was severed, so I had to fix that myself, and even then, only one brake light worked. During the drive across the country, one of the ratchet straps for the tires continued to unwind by itself, leaving my car unsecured for stretches at a time.

I called and documented all of these issues with customer service, to which I was told they couldn’t do much until the order was closed. I called back 1/4/21 to talk about the issues since I have returned the truck, and was hung up on 3 times by customer service, and then left on hold to talk to a supervisor for 4 hours. I finally hung up and called back immediately, and customer service is closed. They left me on hold and then closed for the day.

From a military family and several military friends that have moved extensively, this is by far the worst experience we’ve ever had and the worst customer service we’ve encountered.

Date of experience: January 05, 2021