Budget Reviews 

Long story short: There's a high probability you won't get your car on the collection day, even if you've paid and completed checks ahead of time. If you want to understand why, please keep reading—I had a terrible experience.

I booked a car for 17 days to enjoy the Easter half-term holiday with my family. I also prepaid our accommodation. I've rented cars for years—I'm a Zipcar user for short trips, and for longer trips, I've used Enterprise in the UK, and abroad Sixt, Avis, and Enterprise. I've never faced a problem until now.

On the day of collection at the Battersea branch, ready to leave with my wife, kids, and luggage, I saw a sign stating they perform an address verification check. If the check isn't passed, no car will be provided. I wasn't worried, as I've lived in London since 2016, always updating my address promptly, including my latest move two years ago. My credit file and financed payments are fully up-to-date.

When my turn came, they performed their check using "their system"—which is supposed to verify your name and address. Unexpectedly, mine failed. They attempted multiple surname combinations without success. I asked which database or system they were checking against, and they simply replied, "our system," without further explanation. They then informed me they couldn't give me the car, cancelled my booking, and promised a refund within 1 to 10 days. I was in shock—where could I find another car the same day?

Since I subscribe to Experian, I immediately received alerts showing multiple insurance quotation inquiries linked directly to my current (thus verified) and previous addresses. The checks involved companies like LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Business Insurance Solutions Limited, Liverpool Victoria General Insurance, and Hastings Insurance Services Ltd., leaving visible marks on my credit record.

I showed them these alerts and expressed my frustration clearly. They have every right to manage their cars however they see fit, but my time, money, and family holiday plans are my own. If they're going to decide based on a credit check whether to rent to someone, they must perform this check before taking payment and holding funds for weeks. There are only three reasons someone might take your money without delivering anything: as a gift, an investment, or theft. This clearly wasn't a gift or investment—so it felt like outright theft, especially since they refunded £23 less than the amount I'd paid.

Unsurprisingly, customer service was unavailable on weekends, leaving me stranded and incredibly stressed. Luckily, Zipcar resolved my issue promptly—albeit at double the original cost—and saved our holiday. A helpful representative provided an immediate solution.

Budget/Avis's terms claim they only verify addresses without extensive checks. Clearly, this isn't reliable. To avoid such nasty surprises, my sincere advice is: rent from another company.

Nie mogę się doprosić zwrotu kaucji w wysokości 3,5 tys PLN. Minął ponad miesiąc.

Absolute scam company charging triple my initial fee due returning the car early a few hours early. Hiding the additional costs when returning the car and saying all is in order and to just "sign here" to return the car, while hiding all the other information showing that they are actually going to charge me additional £270. STAY AWAY FROM THIS CROOK COMPANY!!!

Disgusting service from the lady at Budget Heathrow.
Woman traveling alone arriving after hours from a long flight holding dual nationality and dual driving licenses, the lady at the desk demanding utility bills and refusing to honor the booking as I don’t have a utility bill from my mothers address on Uk license and refusing to take the booking on my UAE license, a lovely gentleman named Charles helped me get an Uber by giving me his hotspot as I was in the middle of nowhere and didn’t have any roaming set up on my phone, I then went to enterprise and rented a car in 10 mins. Do not book with this company.

Don't be conned into hiring your car while booking flights through BA. The excess is huge (over£2,500) which you don't realise until you arrive at the budget desk at overseas airport. This is the first thing they upsell after making you feel all happy and getting ready to leave, because they know no one really checks excess. I've hired independently all over, and never met this. After lowering the excess and other hidden fees I've been invoiced for on my return, my car hire has cost more than 2 return flights to Gibralter

J’ai récemment loué un véhicule chez Budget et Avis le 21 février 2025 à la succursale de Cap town . Le service à la succursale était excellent. Après avoir rendu le véhicule, mon expérience a été extrêmement décevante. Bien que le véhicule ait été rendu à temps et en bon état, Le service nous accuse à tord d'avoir endommagé le véhicule !! Ils nous ont prélevé des frais alors que nous n'étions pas responsables !! Si vous envisagez de louer chez eux, je vous suggère de chercher ailleurs pour éviter les tracas. N’approchez pas! une étoile car on ne peut pas mettre zéro !!

I try to extended my car Calling everyday 5-6 times for few days and no one is take the phone call,is looks like them doesn’t have office very flustered …!!!

I wish I had checked the reviews before renting from Budget/Avis. I booked a car as part of a British Airways package and picked it up at Toulouse Airport—only to find it in terrible condition. The car was already full of damage, had dangerously worn-out tires, and reeked of cigarette smoke. When I asked for a replacement, I was told this was the only car available. Thankfully, I recorded a video before leaving the lot.

When I returned the car, the staff didn’t even inspect it—they were too busy on the phone. Days later, I discovered an unauthorized €783,35 charge on my credit card. After multiple frustrating attempts to reach customer service, I finally managed to download the invoice—only to realize I was being charged for the very same damage the car had when I picked it up!

Despite having video proof, Budget/Avis has done nothing to resolve this issue. Their customer service is appalling—long wait times, empty promises, and no accountability. Save yourself the stress and money—rent from ANY other company!

Absolutely shocking service! We rented car through a deal with British Airways and received a massive bill for damages after a few days. Only got details disclosed after we contacted them as they didn't even have the decency of letting us know, and in our first call the lady said no damages were reported... now suddenly there's plenty!!!! When we got the car the list of damages was extensive, and we made a video that shows all of them but Budget refuses to accept this format and is making things difficult simply because they want to. Do not recommend using them, and if you're already stuck with them, make sure that you don't settle for a poorly maintained car trusting they won't charge you for what was already there. Take photos with time stamp, and make sure you cross check every single dent before signing any agreement with them.

DO NOT USE BUDGET!!!
Worst car hire experience I’ve ever had! Budget car hire took £758 off my credit card without permission or explanation.
I’m now struggling to get hold of them to explain where these charges have come from. ABSOLUTE SCAM ARTISTS.

I've used Budget twice in the last two months, booking through British Airways alongside a flight. The first time (Mexico), they charged me for insurance for which I'd already paid. The second time (France), they charged me for petrol when I returned the car full. Both times I got an apology and a refund after I complained, but I won't use Budget / Avis ever again.

Booked a car via Holidayautos claiming a deposit of 200 USD . Later the receipt said 331 USD and they still haven’t cleared it after 3 weeks. A really shitty company!
Book with someone else. You will be scammed by these!!!

I recently hired a Renault Easpace. It was less than £300 for a week. Good value. I came to collect and told I had to have either snow chains or winter tyres. Chains were €15 per day, so £105 per week and Snow tyres are €50 per day or €350 per week. If you buy new chains, they cost €80 and snow tyres cost €260. What a total rip off. To make matters worse, we struggled for an hour in a snow storm trying to fit them only to find they were the wrong size and were broken. When we returned them and complained the Budget rep said 'Oh yea, someone else said that' and they put them in the bin.

Definitely not budget snow chains!

Complained about this so called company to bvrla who are meant to regulate the car hire companies , surprisingly my complaint was rejected, what did I expect as who pays for bvrla us the car hire company, what a joke ,don't use budget, lies, thieves and cheats all backed up by bvrla

After 3 attempts at Tampa Airport finally got a car with satellite navigation. After we returned the car we received an e receipt charging us an additional £451. I have filled out forms, written numerous emails & waited on hold for hours. Received one email back saying they are keeping the money. When I asked them to justify the figure, have never received a reason.

Budget charged my husband twice for car rental at Orlando International Airport. My husband got delayed at Manchesetr Airport so went out the next day and got charged again. Budget said it was beccause the rates changed from when we first booked the car on the 4th Oct and this was now the 7th Oct. On the 4th October we paid £498.86 then when he went to pick the car up on the 7th Oct we were charged £449.88. HOW. They are so unhelpful and they don't always get back to you. I have to keep getting in touch with them and once I spent 1 hr 40 mins on the phone waiting in line before they answered. My husband passed away on the 14th Dec after a short illness and he was furious about this at the time so I will fight his case no matter what I have to do. People out there DO NOT USE BUDGET RENTAL please please please

MINUS 10 stars (but of course cant put this is unfortunately) - AVOID, AVOID, AVOID, these are scammers/fraudsters and totally incompetent with no idea how to liase with themselves let alone customers!!!

I had car insurance with them last year (2023/24) at the time I took the insurance I notified them I did NOT want auto renewal - I also switched off auto renewal on my account on their website - latter part of last year while still insured with them I had an accident and the car was warded a total loss - 2 months later when the policy would have become due, they reinsured the extinct vehicle, which bear in mind they had made extinct, so they insure this extinct vehicle and try and take the premium from my bank account (which they were not supposed to keep the details, but clearly did) luckily the funds did not go, tand this brought to my attention they were trying to take money!, untill this point I had not been notified of any renewal premium, why would I? the vehciel was extinct, made extinct by Budget (crap) they then tried to take the money again adding charges, no matter how many times i reiterated that I had opted out (many times) of auto renewal, excepting at one point where they finally realised I did not want the policy and spoke about cancelling it, they asked me to send proof of who the vehicle was insured with and because its non existant obviously was not insured anywhere else, and because of this they would not cancel the policy, they then totally ignored all my communication which was par for the course as it was also a nightmare trying to reach them about the accident - myself and many other people, including their underwriters had tried contacting them on the phone numbers provided for accident line and customer services (obvioucsly false), when I put in complaint their reason for not upholding said complaint was that their phones did not ring at that time - errr - derrrr - or course they wont ring if they are not working!!! anyways after this they tried another couple of times to take money from my account for the non existant policy , adding charges along the way, eventually they decided to cancel the non existant policy and put on yet more charges, they passed to their credit control who has today told me that the debt will stand untill someone from customer services (a robot just repeating previous statements and not listening to what I am saying, which I cant get through to), tells them otherwise - anyway I have had enough going round in circles, making no headway with these deliquants and I wish to see them in court and I wish for them to go out of business asap - they are totally fraud oriented and need to clear my name and pay me compensaiotn for the hassle and anxiety they are causing!!! I am putting this negative feedback on social media and I hope people listen up and DO NOT use budget, they may be cheaper but they are totally fraudulent/scammers

We rented a car from the 20 12 24 to the 23.12.24 at Edinburgh airport. We returned the car on the 23.12.24 at 4am as agreed. Due to the time there was noone at the car rental centre so the car was parked in a budget space and the keys left in the drop box as instructed. On the 24th we get a bill for £136 saying we dropped the car off late, that it was returned on the 24.12.24 at 3.10am. We boarded EZY309 6.10am flight to stansted on the 23.12.24 and landed in England at 7.10 am on the 23.12.24. I have our boarding passes, timed footage of us arriving on CCTV at out house and I can get a statement from the car park at stansted proofing we collected out car on the 23.12.24. THIS IS FRAUD! They have completely made up a drop-off date and geld back £136 of our deposit. I can't get through via telephone and I have had no response via email. I have emailed all the details of our flight etc. We even walked through the car rental centre on the morning of the 23.12.24. I have sent you our description and the time so I am sure you can find us on cctv. You will see us entering the car park on said date. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY THEY ARE THIEVES AND FRAUDSTERS!!! I will keep calling and emailing, I will not let this go.

BUDGET MEDELIN COLOMBIA /główny wynajmujący RENTALCARS.COM
nie dostałem samochodu na lotnisku w punkcie Buget w Bogocie , czekałem 2,5 h i rozmawiałem z pracownikiem , informacja oficjalna od pracownika jest taka ze - rezerwacja "została anulowana "- napewno nie przezemnie, następnym krokiem miałem kontaktować się z infolinia do której na miejscu telefonu nie dostałem - po tej informacji pracownik opuścił stanowisko pracy i gdzieś zniknął ;-) . Gdy dojechałem do hotelu dzwoniłe min 8x na infolinie w Manchesterze rozmawiałem za każdym razem z innym pracownikiem , 4x podczas ustalania konkretów zerwało mi połączenie lub druga strona się rozłączyła , dostałem zapewnienie z infolini ze podejmą interwencję i wrócą do mnie z informacja zwrotna , nikt nie oddzwonił a na maile tez nikt nie odpowiedział - do dnia dzisiejszego nie mam samochodu ani pieniędzy . według mnie znając sytuację na miejscu gdzie inne wypożyczalnie na lotnisku nie miały samochodu to - moja wypożyczalnia porostu sprzedała moj samochód za większe pieniądze niż które ja zarezerwowałem . jak można tak postępować z ludźmi ?Ta firma jest niepowaznym podmiotem . Pieniędzy nie oddali , kosztów nie pokryli . Ta sytuacja rozwaliła planu planów wakacyjnych . Nie rekomenduje wspołpracy z firma BUDGET i Rentalcar.com - która była głównym operatorem !. Omijajcie szeroki lukiem te firmy !!!

Firma podchodzi nieuczciwie do klientów. Wynajmowałem samochód w Funchal. Kiedy przyszło do kaucji okazało się ,że moja karta kredytowa właśnie u nich i tylko u nich nie działa. poproszono mnie o kartę debetową i z niej ściągnięto kaucję której mimo ,że samochód oddałem bez żadnych uwag do dzisiaj nie otrzymałem. Okazało się ,że jeśli ściągają z karty debetowej mają na zwrot 28 dni a środków nie blokują tylko sobie przesyłają na własne konto a potem przelewają z powrotem i nie dają gwarancji zwrotu takiej samej kwoty ze względu na różnice kursowe. Można sobie wyobrazić jakie kwoty od klientów mrożą w skali ich globalnej działalności mając te środki oprocentowane na koncie.