Budget Reviews 

I booked a car through booking.com to be collected at the TGV Avignon station in France from 14 June until 28 June 2025.
On arrival at the Budget reception I was greeted by a very pleasant English speaking man who asked me if i wanted to upgrade the booked Peugot 208 manual gear car to automatic. I stated i would be interested but what bould be the price increase, he stated 110 Euro’s. I agreed to this and he proceeded to issue the documents for me to digitally sign. He could not give me a printed copy but said he would e mail it to my hotmail account. Over the two week period i never received the e mail so i could not see what the contract stated or in fact what i had signed in the budget office. On returning the car i was presented with the additional cost of 473 Euros over the original amount I paid via booking.com. I informed the representative that i had not received the e mail he said he had sent me. He tried a further three times on my hotmail account but it did not come through. He then tried on my gmail account which did come through. I explained that i did not agree at the time of collection of the vehicle to this amount as he had not informed me it would be over 400 Euros. The gentlemen in question was not interested in discussing it further.
I have sent a formal written complaint to Budget but it's no surprise that I have not had a reply.
I have examined the Trust Pilot reviews of Budget to which i was shocked at the 90% plus negative comments on overcharging people. For sure I will not use Budget again but will want a written breakdown of additional costs before proceeding with any future car rental irrespective of the company.

I picked up the car at Marseille Airport on 18 July at 23:00 and returned it on 22 July around 22:00. I left the car in designated parking area, returned the keys, removed all personal belongings, and used the restroom. I have video proof timestamped 22:20 showing the car parked at your return location after everything was completed.

Then I received the invoice falsely states that the vehicle was returned at 23:51, which is simply not true. This incorrect timing has resulted in an unjustified extra day charge! That us absolutely nonsense! Don't use this rental company

I have raised a case with the Budapest office due to some extra charges not discussed. This was in April. Due to the lack of response from the BP office, I raised it with the UK customer services 7th May. Received 1 email 9th May, I followed up and then due to the lack of response, had to call again in June. A helpful gentleman assured me he will chase, I am still waiting (25th July) and just called to be told, we are busy and he will come back when he gets to my case. No SLAs in place.

If I could give less I would. We’ve rented a car at Budget, Venice Marco Polo Airport, Italy. It was prepaid so we only had to give a deposit of a bit over 200€. No one accompanied us to the car to take notes. The car had numerous scratches and dents, I took pictures of all sides and angles and thought that’s enough. When we’ve returned the car the agent said he could check the car only in 1-2 hours, not negotiable. We had to head to check-in and naively thought it would be fine.
At the gate I received a notification of a visa deduction of 749€! We’ve called and the agent said she couldn’t see anything and we should call in 24h. We did and they said that there were scratches and dents on the car and they charge us for the damages (we haven’t caused). I’ve sent them my pictures and they replied that they wouldn’t accept pictures made with the phone. Even not with the meta data provided.
Thankfully I paid for full protection insurance on booking.
NEVER AGAIN! Budget found a way to scam people in the ugliest way. I’m sure they do that with many customers and try to charge them for damages they haven’t caused. Not in order to fix the damages (our car had many old old scratches and dents) but to make more and more money. Fraudulent and disgusting.

When we leave the car all is good.

Then as we have left the building, budget send a claim of 296€, a scratch on a mirror.

Since no one looked at the car when we got it and it was extremely dirty when we got it. This scratch was probably already there

Such a bad service, coming up with fault after the Custom has left.

the Budget Committee to enhance financial planning, transparency, and resource management. Our platform offers secure, real-time tools that align with your objectives and can support smarter budget decisions. We’re open to tailoring our approach to fit your structure and priorities, and we look forward to the opportunity to work together.

We received a car that had so many scratches it was unbelievable and when I picked up the car the man said not to worry when I asked for a document with all the scratches. Off my own back I took a video to be safe. Now the man was trying to make us pay eur2.5k+ for a scratch we didn’t even do when we returned the car. Then he said to me, don’t worry, you have Amex they will cover it with insurance (which is not actually true!), just sign - I am sorry that is completely immoral and wrong. In spite of my video evidence, which was taken in a rush in the glaring sun, they are now charging me EUR 2.7k (just under their excess of course) for the damages - totally ridiclous. They dont pick up the phone when you try to call to discuss and took them over a week to respond to my first email. never ever book with budget, clearly trying to make me pay to repair the whole car.

When I picked up the car the garantee I had to submit was triple the amount compared to my booking confirmation, I have not been handed over the contract at car pick up (it was only submitted to me after 3 reminders after the contract has been terminated) and....shortly after I had delivered the car i has informed by EM that I sh have caused a damage. Which was defintely not true. On top they have deduted a higher amount from my credit card than they have told me. I have protested , an answer is pending since over a week. Unfortunatelly I m forced to take legal action now.

I have rented my car from Budget travel at Birmingham airport many times with never any issues, that was until today. I picked up a VW Polo on a wet dull Saturday morning around 8am, guy behind counter said car was new with no damage but as usual I did a quick check off the outside of car although with it raining, being quite dark and with beads of water in the car it was hard to tell but it looked damage free. It was just myself using the car and I returned it this morning back this morning around 4.30am happy I'd have my £300 deposit back in my account within a few days. At 6.26am Budget emailed me saying they were charging me for damage to what seems to be an edging around the drivers milage screen. The few times I drove the car over the weekend I can honestly say I never saw this and I can 100% say it did not happen while I had the car, so it looks like because I didn't inspect this car with a fine tooth comb I'm being charged for the smallest of damage someone else caused that whoever had been inspecting the car last time failed to see. They're charging me £300 for something I knew absolutely nothing about and definitely did not do.. This is without doubt the last £300 they'll ever be getting off me.

I booked a flight through BudgetAir via Skyscanner, but unfortunately had to cancel. BudgetAir confirmed my cancellation and approved my refund, stating that it would be processed within 10 working days. It has now been over 2 months, and I am still waiting.

I’ve followed up multiple times, but all I get is the same copy-paste response: “Please wait a little longer.” There’s no real update, no urgency, and no accountability. This level of customer service is unacceptable.

At this point, it feels like a scam. I’ve had to contact my bank to initiate a chargeback, and I’m reporting this to consumer protection agencies.

Avoid BudgetAir if you value your money and peace of mind. Once they take your payment, it seems like you’re on your own.

I have been a preferred member for 15 years and was treated superbly in the past at other locations but at Birmingham UK, the way I was treated was worse than any of the terrible rental reviews on review sites.
After 10+ rentals this year, Budget complained about the mileage I had done on one of their supposedly "unlimited mileage" MG HS Cars. They then found a few small scuff marks on the bumper and charged me £428 and did not refund my deposit or reimburse me £350.00 for the Budget swap car I booked but they cancelled on me. I begged them to let me keep the car for 2 more hours for an interview I had to attend and they refused so I was late for my interview. all they said was, go rent from another company after having ripped me off for £1200.00 in charges and holds. I had to get an Uber taxi to attend the interview. I will never rent from Avis Budget again after this. trying to speak to Avis is nearly impossible, and I don't know if any of the charges are holds waiting to be released in a month or two if I keep chasing them. I used icarhire insurance so I was reimbursed for all of the damage claims but not the cancellation and overcharges that Avis Birmingham jacked up the 2-week extension agreed-upon fees.

I rented a car a few days back, i just got at London Victoria, they do not have the car and are not even apologising about it, asked me to call the call centre but the waiting time is 1h. Both Mariana Camet and Emmanuel Koduah, are being extremely rude and non professional - they seem very used to this situation. A total scam. I will report it with consumer protection services

Despite our flight being less than two hours to Geneva, we then endured an hour long wait for our pre-booked car. As always, this was because the agents take forever to try and sell you shit you don't need. It's DEEPLY irritating and inconsiderate, especially when there were only two agents to serve a queue of about 30 people. Halfway through our 60 minute wait, a guy turned up - apparently the boss - but didn't see fit to stag on a terminal and help his colleagues out and speed up the process for their customers, many of whom had even longer waits. AVOID BUDGET!

I recently rented a car from Budget at Orlando International Airport, and my experience was nothing short of frustrating and disappointing.

Despite clearly stating I wanted to pay for tolls as I used them, I was unknowingly signed up for a daily toll package totaling over $158 — even though I didn’t pass through any tolls. This charge was added after the vehicle was returned, without proper explanation or breakdown. When I challenged it, I received conflicting responses: first they said it was a toll package, then claimed it was a cleaning fee, which makes absolutely no sense.

I have rented in Florida before and have never had an issue paying tolls individually. This situation feels misleading and dishonest, especially since multiple attempts to contact customer service were met with delayed or no responses, and Trip.com (who I booked through) is also struggling to get a clear answer.

After seeing many similar complaints online about this location, I now realise this isn’t an isolated issue.

Avoid Budget Orlando at all costs — unclear charges, no accountability, and poor customer service. I won’t be using them again.

Anbefales IKKE!!!
Ingen som gikk over bilen verken ved henting eller avlevering.
1 time etter jeg hadde levert bilen trakk de 686,83 euro fra min konto.
La ved et bilde av en felg som var skarpt opp.
Heldigvis hadde vi filmet hele bilen, så jeg sendt inn og tenkte dette ordner seg lett.
Neida,
Først så må de ha bildene i pdf- hver gang du svarer/sender kundeservice en mail så få du et automatisk svar tilbake og de svarer aldri i samme tråd.
Etter at jeg hadde sendt over pdf for 2 gang fikk jeg plutselig ikke svar.
Purrer og sender over pdf igjen- da får jeg til svar: ser her at min kollega har bedt om metadata- om jeg har fått den forespørselen så har den druknet i alle autosvarene.
Ber Budget om kopi av denne mailen samt dokumentasjon på at skaden ikke var på bobilen før vi hentet den- igjen ingen svar.
Jeg fikk laget metadata og sendt over med en tydelig tekst
Da fikk jeg etter 2 uker til svar at jeg blir krediter.
Enda ikke fått pengen så , avventer med den jubelen.
Det virker for meg som de går inn for og lure deg, og overlesse deg med mye automatikk så det blir meget utfordrende og holde orden på kommunikasjon.
OBS FELGER ER IKKE INKL I FORSKRINGEN

Car wasn't ready when I went to pickup as they were "really busy". Returned the car without staying for the inspection as they were "really busy". Stupid me. Got a £400 bill the next day as there was apparently a scratch on the rear driver's bumper. It's the first I knew of it. No pictures included. Wrote a week ago asking for evidence and no response. The number provided in their email doesn't work. What a c**p company. Wish I'd read these pages before selecting them.
Ref: 19350163GB0

Ein schon vorhandener Schaden wurde unterhalb des Autos von uns übersehen, die Dame die bei Rückgabe kontrollierte schaute auf ihr Tablet und ging zielstrebig auf den Schaden zu. Da wir kein Foto hatten mussten wir 400 Euro für einen kleinen Kratzer bezahlen. Der Schaden war unserer Meinung nach vorher bereits bekannt. Abzocke

Pick up was a nightmare. The damage was not recorded accurately. I had to video and photograph the car and then it was changed eventually. Drop off was easy and painless. No damage recorded and I was assured I would be refunded my £300 deposit. Still waiting!! Not a pleasure and I cannot recommend Budget.

Beware this devious, scamming company that practices legalised theft (Perugia Airport, Italy in this case). We declined their insurance and offer for buying the whole tank of fuel as usual and this was initialled on the agreement. However, the "additional service" (apparently breakdown cover, which was never mentioned or discussed) also listed in the price breakdown was taken post-hire without my consent and the customer "care" team claim it was requested, a simple lie. I'm filing a fraud claim with my credit card company.

Shocking and absolutely disgusting! Stay well away from this company.

On arrival at Dublin Airport everything seemed to be running smoothly...until I look down in the drivers foot well and to my shock there are pills on the floor.

After trying to contact customer service, who didn't seem interested or bothered by my concerns. I was told to write an email and wait!

Nobody has contacted me since and have now been charged twice for my car rental!

I had young children travelling with me, I dread to think what could have happened if they had found this and not me.