Budget Reviews 

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

I will never rent with this company again. They have charged me way more than on the invoice. When questioned about this customer service have deliberately avoided addressing that part of my email.
When I returned the car they calculated that I’d driven hundreds of miles when I’d actually only driven about 30.
They have also taken a further payment from my bank account over month after the rental, with no warning or notification of why.
What began as a £250 rental is now way over £450 because they have just taken my money. Do not rent from these cowboys.

Fantastic friendly customer service on collection of the vehicle from Prab at the London Heathrow office 👌☺️ he made us feel so welcome after our flight and nothing was too much trouble. We would definitely use Budget again

Paid in full via Booking.com for a Nisaan Juke at Manchester Airport, they didn't have that car and was given a BMW that was in quite bad condition. Photos and video taken.
Returned the car 2 weeks later, drove into the budget/avis drop off zone, met by one of their team who inspected the car and said all was fine. Took the keys and said an invoice would be emailed to me.
On returning to New Zealand an email was received with excess charges
1. City Tax....there is no city tax for Manchester
2. Upsell to the value of £250...???? no idea what this is.
3. Road Fund License
4. Grand total of extras....$1300 NZ Dollars

To top all this off, I've since received letters and emails saying I have an unauthorized parking charge at Manchester Airport £90.00/$270.00
If payment is not received within 2 days of the letter , further proceedings and court action could be made.

Several emails of complaint, all never responded to and found out they closed the case...

I'm now pursuing a claim with my bank...not sure if this work

All my booking documents specified a €1500 deposit. They denied that at the collection desk, despite me showing them the paperwork where it very clearly said €1500 deposit. They refused to honor the legal paperwork and were charging a €2000 deposit+extra fees (fuel?). They refused to split it between 2 credit cards in my name. Refused my husbands credit card (he was with me giving permission). Refused debit card and refused electronic card (Google wallet but still had cc number etc to copy down for confirmation). We were stuck paying the rediculous €30+ daily charge which on my receipt says €21 so fairly sure I've been overcharged there. Then finding the car was not easy. When we found the car we were very disappointed. Smaller than I had booked. I had booked a VW polo, which I have owned previously so know 3 teens can fit in the back seats, snug but doable. We were given a Toyota yaris which was not comfortable. The interior was worn, an actual hole in the carpeting on driver's floor. Whilst not dirty, it wasn't clean. All in all, awful experience. Worst car hire experience I've had over the past 20 years hiring.

Dishonest time wasters.

Took £300 as a deposit when car picked up. Car returned no disputes.

They won’t release deposit for 6 weeks, called the bank - they confirmed it’s their responsibility.

This morning without any communication they took a further £65 out of my account.

This review goes for Budget (AVIS) in Italy , Naples.
The staff was very friendly and understandable. They offered the best option for my situation as I was left without a car by another company because I didn't have credit card. My card was charged 200 euros deposit as collateral, and was promptly refunded in just three days after I delivered back the car. Thank you.

THEY ARE SCAMMERS at Zagreb airport! After returning the car at 05:30 in the morning in good condition and with a full tank and leaving for my early flight, I found an additional charge of 269 EUR in my bank account. Budget did not send me any notification or invoice or anything like that. After chasing them for more than 7 days via emails and phone calls, they finally sent me a calculation showing that they charged me for a damaged alloy wheel. But the car does not have alloy wheels - only steel wheels with plastic hubcaps!! There are 2 small scratches on the plastic hubcap in the picture, and the picture was taken 2 hours after the additional charges were calculated. I did not even make those scratches - they just swapped the hubcap from the right wheel to the left and said I damaged it! Even if that was true, which it is not, 269 EUR for a scratched plastic hubcap?

Achtung hier wird man abgezockt !!!!!
Gebucht wurde über Check 24 .
Fahrer 1 und Fahrer 2 bezahlt mit Kreditkarte des Fahrer 2 , ohne Probleme bei Check 24!!!
Abholung nur mit Kreditkarte des Fahrer 1 möglich dieser besitzt keine also MUSS man für 4 Tage 160€ Versicherung bezahlen und 350€ mit Ec hinterlegen !!!
Das Mietauto kommt somit auf 227€ für 4 Tage und da kommen noch 18€ fürs reinigen DAZU
ich denke somit ist alles gesagt
Keine Einsicht von Check 24 für diese Mehrkosten , von BUDGET noch weniger
Werde nun rechtliche Schritte einleiten.

Pessima não devolvem seu dinheiro

Avoid avoid avoid!! Rented a car in Orlando. Soon as I flew home all these payments started coming out of my credit card account!! Even from a country in US that I hadn’t visited! They are extremely difficult to get hold of when you ring them, even cutting the call off after waiting 40 minutes to talk to someone! Credit card have blocked them after informing me they stored my card details, and even more payments are due to come out! Started a dispute claim against them, so hopefully I’ll get my money back.

I asked to pick up the taxi from the airport. They then told me I had to get a minibus to get the car. What a joke of a company.

Like MANY other customers i'm left feeling ripped off.
Deposit was taken and NOT returned.
Was rudely told its standard and it may take up to a month for them to return the money.
Staff advised me that this is a known regular occurrence and problem with Budget but I still wasn't advised at the time or rental... and still haven't received my money back!
Would NEVER advise anybody to use BUDGET as they effectively steal money.
Would advise using a different company with customer service and care for the customer.

Wow did not realise Budget are so poor throughout the world!Reading the reviews it looks like Budget in Dubai Airport like to withhold deposits for no reasons. I have found out for myself and have sent an e-mail asking for my money back. This is fraud. Although the rental itself went smoothly I cannot accept that a company as big as Budget would stoop this low. I notice that the office in Dubai has responded to most reviews asking people for their details and they would look into it, has anybody had their deposits refunded after they supposedly look into it? I am planning to go to Dubai regularly and was going to use Budget as my preferred rental company but unless they deal with this immediately it will NOT be the case.
Does not seem that anybody at Budget really cares about all the reviews.

If there was a zero rating they would get it.

Hired a car for 4 weeks, dropped it off at Heathrow fully fueled up. Car was accepted back with nil issues.

Few days later massive debit from them against my credit card. Nil explanation at all. Numerous attempts to ask what's happened all met with no response at all.

So basically they just took money with no reason which is basically theft.

Do not use Budget UK if you want money taken and zero response.

Don't book with them. They scammed me about the excess on the website. I booked through budget.co.uk and the website mentioned excess of 4,000ISK, when I booked it got changed to 400,000ISK... when i called, it got changed again to 360,000ISK. Got transferred multiple times to different people and no one wanted to assist me or rectify their mistake. I couldn't even submit a complaint because I haven't used their service yet and I WON'T!

I had a very disappointing experience with Avis Budget UK at Bristol Airport in September 2025.

I returned my rental car (MG3 Hybrid, reg. LB74GXU) at 16:00, well within opening hours, but no staff were available to check the car. I was told to drop the keys in a box, which meant there was no joint inspection.

A few days later, Avis Budget accused me of damaging the front left door and sent me a bill for £478.21 (including “downtime” and admin fees). I completely reject this. The car was in perfect condition when I left it, and I have video evidence taken at the time showing no damage at all.

Despite this, Avis Budget refuses to accept the video, demanding metadata photos instead — even though their own failure to staff the desk forced me into a drop-box return. To me, this is unreasonable and unfair:
• Video is actually stronger evidence than a single static photo.
• I’ve never even been shown proof of the supposed damage.
• The burden of proof should not be on the customer, especially when the company doesn’t provide a handover.

This experience has left me frustrated and feeling misled. I would strongly caution anyone renting from Avis Budget at Bristol Airport: if you’re forced to use the drop-box system, you risk being billed for damage you didn’t cause.

Yep, its just as bad as everyone is saying. What a big mistake it was using these guys, I mean they are literally called "budget". just go with a serious company. Damn. We got scammed by £200 for extending one day, the last 4 days were £80. They also quoted us £60 and then charged £200. Scam

I made a booking for a 2 day hire car from Birmingham Airport.

I arrived at the Budget office on time. I was asked if I wanted to upgrade from an ID3 to an Alfa for £20. I declined. The guy (big build, glasses) then said he could discount it to £14. I accepted. However, I noticed that I had been charged £19.54 (a whopping 40% increase). I queried this & was told that there was a currency transaction charge. I explained that I had been quoted £14 and had paid using a sterling card. I said there should be no conversion charge.

The guy then stated that the extra was due to taxes being added. I asked why I hadn’t been quoted the total amount at the outset. The guy was getting quite bolshy at this stage when I said that his actions, & contradictory explanations, were unnecessarily underhand - 40% is a very high percentage surcharge to keep hidden from the customer.

Another guy then came over. I assumed he was the manager. He said, if I didn’t want to take the Alfa, the £19.54 would be refunded when I returned the ID3. I insisted it being refunded immediately. Eventually, after an eternity, he relented.

I said that we could have avoided all this hassle if his colleague had been honest and upfront about the charges. He told me I didn’t need to keep repeating this. I said I did because I hadn't been given a satisfactory answer.

Eventually I got the keys. I checked the existing damage. I noticed there were extensive scuffs on the front alloy, plus a bulging tyre, that weren’t listed. I took a picture & went back to the office. The ‘manager’ said he would need to see the car. I duly brought the car to the office and waited. He didn’t come out so I went and stood in the office. The guy ignored my presence. Then a female employee asked if I needed help. I said I was waiting for the car to be inspected. She went out & the ‘manager’ followed suit. I showed him the damage & said I was reluctant to take the car with a bulging tyre. He said he couldn’t let me take the car in that condition anyway. I asked why the bulge wasn’t picked up before trying to give it to a customer. He replied that sometimes these things happen when the car is parked up and another customer bangs a door against the wheel. I just looked at him incredulously. The scuff and bulge were certainly not caused by a door hitting it.

Back into the office then to get me another car. I explained to them that, due to the delay, I was now going to be late for an appointment. No apology was forthcoming though. I was then given the key to an Alfa (ironically, the one that I was going to ‘upgrade’ to).

I went to the car & noticed there was no charging cable so, again, walked back to the office. Another guy looked in the car and couldn’t find a cable either. After another wait, the first guy that I had spoken to went to get a cable from another Alfa. Before leaving I spoke to the ‘manager'. Turns out he wasn’t the manager. He said his name was something like Billou.

At last, after 1 ½ hours, I eventually got on the road.

I know that £5.54 is a small amount but it was more to do with the way the whole situation was handled. Why not just be upfront and honest when you give a price for an upgrade to a customer? Why also give dubious reasons for the added charge? Why aren’t cars inspected before making them available for rental? Why is existing damage not listed? Why is a car, with a potentially dangerous fault, being offered to customers? Why is an electric car being given to a customer minus a charging cable?

When I brought the car back, I went into the office. The guy that I spoke to first the previous day said for me just to give him the key & I would be sent a receipt by email. I said I wanted someone to come & inspect the vehicle. Billou said he would inspect it. He checked the car, said all was good & that a receipt would be emailed. When I received the email there was no receipt attached. I had to email Budget to request it.

I decided, before writing this review to convey the experience to Budget customer service via email.

Ten days later I received a cut & pasted reply that didn't address any of the issues raised. Instead it just repeated that global programmes are in place to improve customer experiences. It also had the receipt attached.

All in all, a very frustrating & unpleasant experience. Not to mention being late for my appointment as a result. It also crossed my mind that maybe race was a factor for the way I was treated.

Just in case staff at the Budget office dispute or deny any of the above, it was all recorded.

They hid extra fees in my agreement and told me it was a refundable deposit. Never once did I agree to extra fees but they’ve been added as a way of keeping my money. Customer service don’t care either. Avoid like the plague. I’d rather walk than use these jokers again.