Budget Reviews 

Not received deposit back after 6 weeks abd They dont intend to either. I have asked them several times and they just fob me off. They also said I have a fine and charged an extra 35 euro for sending me a letter. There is no fine. Absolute sharks!!

You are supposed to report damage within 48 hours but it is impossible to call anyone during the weekend , and the phone lines once the office is open keeps you on hold for ages . It makes a stressful event even more stressful. And at palma de Mallorca airport they give you a premium number to call on your contract that does not work from uk phones . Never alike I use budget again . .

Not sure how they still operate. Please read reviews before you book.

So I hired an electric car and put it back in the condition I received it in and was slightly under charge but I paid for it ,and now it’s been over 28 days and no deposit back not happy as I can see by reviews they are not good at returning deposits. Won’t be using them again.

It is truly the worst experience. They charge me extra £178 on the day of pick up. 1 month after I return the car. I found that my card was charged additional £90 out of nowhere. Extremely disappointed.

İngiltere londra battersea budgettan 21-22 mayıs 2026 tarihinde 1günlük araba kiraladım. Sabah 9da aldım akşam 10da bıraktım. Kaza yapmadım tertemiz birşekilde arabayı teslim ettim. 2 gün sonra benim kaza yaptıgımı arabanın kaputunda ve jantında çizik olduğunu belirten bir mail attılar. 301 pound çekiceklerini söylediler. 300 pound depozito ödemiştim. Hepsini çektiler itirazda bulundum geri bile dönmediler. Referans numarasını buraya yazıyorum 1013F96F. mağdurum şikayetçiyim heryere yazacağım bankamdan itiraz talebide açtım. Bunu herkese yapıyolar demekki herkes dikkatli olsun. Dolandırıcı bir firmadır. A9604D00 Buda vaka numaram

As the car that I hired was not ready, I was given a BMW instead. That was good. However the Heathrow Budget car park is very far away from the terminaI so I rushed to return the car to not to miss the plane. Therefore I couldn't top up the fuel. Then I was ripped off. £140 was withdrawn from my card as "refueling fee" for half a depot. So be careful while you are returning your car otherwise Budget will take a huge money from your pocket. Be vigilent, don't be ripped off.

Budget £600 dearer than last year then noticed they took £580 from my bank cost me£25 to get the money back

Bought a bmw he never checked the car window washers not working oil leak no bulb in a fog lamp had to put new tyres on the first day ,and so rude never again

I wanted to add a second named driver to my car rental booking, as it was a long drive from the collection point. I emailed Budget five times and only received one response, which came three days after I had already collected the car. I also called them on four separate occasions prior to collection; each time, I was calling from abroad and was left on hold for over ten minutes without ever getting through to anyone.
Their pre-collection customer service is among the worst I have experienced with any rental company. This was my first time using Budget, having previously been a Europcar customer for eleven years, and I would not recommend Budget to anyone based on this experience. The level of service prior to collection was extremely poor.
The car itself an mg, however, was satisfactory.

Came home to additional charges that cost more than our original price. We were offered additional insurance for €38 that we accepted yet the rental agreement has charged us over £200. Charged an additional day yet we booked it for the amount of days we required. We were told to bring the car back full which we did yet they charged us a fuel up front charge too and a premium location surcharge. None of this was explained and the cost was sold as a holding charge that would be returned. Trying to get anything out of the customer services has been useless and the whole experience has just ruined our holiday. Will NEVER use them again. Absolute con artists

Hired a car for 3 days as it was cheap! Didn't really need one in Sydney but decided to, as the cost was low. That is until they extort additional, unauthorised and unsanctioned fees from the credit card they have on file. Car USB port failed enroute to airport and couldn't find petrol station as I had no Android auto/Nav. Drove around but worried Iwould be late for my flight. Dropped off and agreed 1/4 tank of fuel but when I received the statement they charged a full tank, and also charged for dropping off at the airport, where I collected it from! Credit card company now involved as Booking.com and Budget failed to respond with any valid reasons. I will avoid in the future.

They don't want to give you the car but they'll take your money. I had pre-booked a car from Glasgow airport to return to Manchester Airport. I had paid and at the counter was told because I had scored 'amber' on their internal systems ID check I had to produce two utility bills. The utility bills at our home are all in my partner's name and the Budget representative would not accept bank statements, NHS, HMRC or any other correspondence that clearly show it was my address.
I was given no indication why their system had marked me as amber and there was no common sense prevailing. The system said no so they kept my money and I didn't get a car.
This also happened to the man in front of me who was refused his prebooked and prepaid car because his bank card showed only his first name initial and surname showed on his bank card (a very common thing) rather than his full name.
Their policies are designed to catch you out and are quite frankly discriminatory unless you fit their norm of being the main bill payer of the house. I wonder if it was a man who came up with this policy.

They denied my booking from EXPEDIA In Madrid AIRPORT and offer to buy from them a new booking.
I'm fighting to get my money back and my rights. AVOID this company and rentals in EXPEDIA they don't take any responsability!

I rented a car (for the second time) from Budget/Avis car rental in London Battersea and the sales assistant was wonderful. He was super helpful as I arrived to pick up the car early. He really bent over backwards to make sure I was able to take my car early as I had a long drive ahead. This is my second good experience with this office as I previously used to go to Sixt but they always tried a hard sell, they would do everything possible for me to buy extras and upgrade the car and once I had to pay for a scratch that I did not do. None of this at Budget/Avis. Also super easy for me to drop off my car on my return which was after hours.

Stay away from these thieves.

I am extremely disappointed and frustrated with the completely unacceptable service I have received from Budget.

Over 12 days ago I returned the rental car in perfect condition. The staff member who inspected the vehicle confirmed there was no damage and everything was fine, yet Budget is still holding £300 of my money with absolutely no explanation.

Since then, trying to contact someone has been nearly impossible. When you finally manage to reach someone on the phone, they simply tell you to communicate via email instead of actually helping resolve the issue. This is incredibly frustrating and feels like a deliberate way to avoid dealing with customers.

To make matters worse, I was asked to provide proof that the £300 was taken from my account, which is ridiculous. Budget should already be able to see that they charged my card. Regardless, I still sent them a clear bank statement showing the payment, yet days later the money is still missing from my account and nobody seems to care.

This situation is completely unacceptable. Holding onto a customer’s money like this without any proper explanation or urgency is disgraceful. That £300 is not small change, and the lack of communication and accountability from Budget is shocking.

If this issue is not resolved immediately, I will have no choice but to escalate the matter and pursue legal action to recover my money.

I strongly advise anyone considering renting from Budget to think twice, because based on my experience, once they have your money it becomes extremely difficult to get it back.

Absolutely a despicable company Budget car hire Heathrow Airport.
I asked for basic insurance and wack me with Super Damage Waiver which was £400 they added this Super Theft Protection £79.07 never asked for that… some additional products what ever the heck that is £187.04. Location surcharge £174.42.

See they hide the information until the end and then run through the agreement via a computer screen, they scroll through and tell you where to sign, and that’s it before you can double check anything they have you!!
In my case that’s £1072.00 so over £800 in added charges for 11 days of hire.

I only seriously knew this after I’d signed the agreement, when my wife informed me of the cost from Budget Car hire, back in Canada through our banking app.

Yes it’s on the agreement, but they fold it in half so you see your details and car information.
The price of the agreement is at the back page, it’s all very thought through via the salesperson.

When I went to book it through Westjet, the price of the car was £205 (this all includes 20%VAT).

After find out this price I was literally about to drive back 3 hours to the pick up / drop off point to returned the car and cancel the whole thing, try and deduce this horrendous cost, because when I was collecting the car I mentioned about possibly dropping the car off early by a day or two.
The salesman assured me, that you only get charged for the day you use the car!!

Well that’s a complete and utter lie!!

I found this out by actually going through their terms and conditions, if you return early, for any reason they will still charge you for the day not used in the agreement!

So this company is a con!
It’s not a hire company, it’s a sales person looking after their own pocket!!

This salesman was trying very hard to tell me not to fill up at the petrol station before dropping it off and let them do it!!
This also is a huge con, it would have been another extremely expensive add-on £3:03 per litre.
At the petrol / gas station it was £1:35 per litre.

I honestly hope you go out of business Budget!!
I hope everyone avoids you like the plague!!

So for anyone that is reading this I’d beg you to listen and take note…..
DO NOT USE BUDGET CAR HIRE!! EVER!!
Worst company ever!!
You have been warned!!

As for me, this is my promise to you Budget you will never have my business ever again!
None of my family will ever use you so you have lost their business.
I will personally tell everyone that ever asks me about traveling to the UK from Alberta, and trust me that a lot of people in my line of work!! never to use Budget car hire!!

Without doubt the worst firm I have ever dealt with. I am in discussions with them currently about how they dishonestly added multiple products to my rental - which amounted to $1428 which they charged me. I received no communication on this until I check my credit card statement.

Worst experience with Budget at Belfast Intl. Airport

I have a UK driver's license for one year and booked Budget car for 2 days through Expedia. I arrived from Manchester at 11 PM to the revelation that I need at least 2 years of UK license is required to rent the car. This requirement was not mentioned in the T&Cs which generically mentioned that some areas of the UK might require more UK driving license experience. The Budget representative was unhelpful and we were unable to source help from him, or contact Budget customer support. We also could not request refund as they said that Expedia is yet to release funds.

Had to rent an exorbitantly expensive car at that time of night from airport. Will not recommend at all.

I am extremely disappointed with my recent experience with Budget Rent a Car UK following a rental from London City Airport.
At the point of vehicle collection, the Budget staff member clearly stated that the car already had damage and specifically confirmed that all alloy wheels were already scratched. This was said before I left the forecourt and in the presence of a witness. The rental agreement itself also records existing damage at the start of the hire.

Despite this, after returning the vehicle I was contacted with an allegation of “new damage” and the implication that I would be charged. No detailed or itemised pre-rental inspection report was provided to me at pickup, so I am shocked that Budget believes it can fairly assess or attribute damage without having properly documented the vehicle’s condition beforehand.

I also have contemporaneous video evidence taken at pickup showing the vehicle’s condition, which further supports that the alleged damage was pre-existing.

Being accused of causing damage under these circumstances is both upsetting and unacceptable. I am currently disputing the claim and seeking the return of my deposit.

Based on this experience, I would strongly advise customers to thoroughly document the vehicle at pickup and to be cautious, as Budget’s damage handling process appears unfair and poorly managed.
Rental Agreement: 789087084