Budget – Car Rental Reviews

by SOS Magazine

If could give a zero rating I would. I prepaid for a car rental with this company for my quick trip to NY and thought that all was well. When I got to the airport location and went to pickup the car then they are telling me that I need a credit card so that they can hold a total of $250. I had one credit card on me at the time that didn’t have enough funds in it to cover cover the charges, my debit card that I use all the time had way more than enough to cover the charges they wanted to hold. Instead of using the debit card because the credit card didn’t have enough cash in it they straight out said that they can’t give me the vehicle, leaving me stranded at JFK airport. When I asked about a refund for the the car I had prepaid for I was told to call customer care and I would be refunded so I did. It’s been days now and I still can’t get back my money from this company. I will never be renting from them again and I will strongly encourage everyone to please be careful with them when renting a car especially when paying in advance. Ohh! and the other thing, they also run your credit which means that your credit score will take a hit, they had run my twice so I got a double hit on my score. What a price to pay and still no vehicle and was left stranded. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY you’ve been warned.

by Bi[ce]sh

this app is by far the worst rental car company available. They will ask you to submit the deposit for your entire trip/contract upfront but then ask you to do your contract all over at the rental facility. They will then add optional charges and update the contract telling you that your original credit card used to book the reservation is needed again to receive the car. They will tell you not to worry, this is a deposit and you will get your money back. This is FALSE, they have updated your pre-agreed contract with bogus optional charges, they will then ask you to sign to approve receiving the car on the credit card kiosk screen. Do not do this. Do not use this app. They will at the end of your contract then refuse to remove the deposit because the optional charges were "agreed" to when you received the vehicle. Regardless of the original booking agreement. They will charge you to put gas in your rental even if you return it full. this app IS A SCAM AND APPEARS CHEAPER BECAUSE OF FALSE ADVERTISING AND DUPLICATE CHARGES ADDED AFTER THE ORIGINAL BOOKING AGREEMENT.

by Rabdoss

DO NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO USE this app, (or Avis, they’re owned by the same people) THERES A REASON THEYRE CHEAP, BECAUSE THEY SWINDLE YOU OUT OF YOUR MONEY

Absolutely atrocious. I PREPAID for a vehicle online to have transportation at 11am to get to Orlando by 3pm this location calls me at 10am (for the record, they open at 8am) to tell me the don’t have a SINGLE vehicle available for me to pick up today, nor do ANY of their locations. Wasted 4 hours of my day researching car rental companies to end up using this app, Not only did they not give me a vehicle or transfer me to a nearby location, THEY SAID THE MANAGER WAS DRIVING AROUND LOOKING FOR A VEHICLE. What was he gonna do? Tow the car back to their location for me??? They don’t know about phones...? Worst service and company I have ever dealt with in my life, save yourself a headache, use enterprise, hertz, or walk for God’s sake, ANYTHING BUT this app.

Not to mention they said “their systems aren’t in correlation with their app.” Well I used their website too, and I was able to proceed to checkout though they had NOTHING available. Just save yourself time, and a headache

by Beamer Mike

This review is for the this app (and Avis) phone app. Every time I try to use the this app or Avis app to book a reservation Budget charges my card but doesn’t book the reservation. Then the money has to wait to go back on the card. There’s been times where I thought my info was incorrect and I tried three different times completing my reservation and it charged me three times. With the advancement of technology in 2020 this is unacceptable as this has been an issue for years now. I know since 2018. Just get rid of Budget (or fix it) and your company would see more satisfied customers and LESS transaction fees from the credit card companies for reservations not even being made. Stop... think about it.

by Bob044

February-March 2021: reserved rental car in October, the price was high but needed to be sure a car was available for our family vacation. Picked up the car after a lengthy delay (even though I have been in the perfected customer rating); waited over 45 m invites. Car was dirty, smelly..had been smoked in, windows so dirty I had to clean them to drive out of parking. Gas tank was NOT filled. When I talked to the agent about these things, I got a “that’s all there is...take it or leave it”. What a crappy attitude. Called customer service that afternoon and was told I could get another car...if one was available - and they had no idea did if one would be available - ....and only after I’d paid a towing company to take my defective car back to the airport. Of course...we were over 2 hours from the airport...so this option was not available. OVERALL - do not rent from this app...do not expect any services and a crappy car if you do even get one....basically...stay away!

by Trapper1515

If I could give 0 stars I would I started on a good note with this company but am ending on a terrible note . I had to make a reservation for a car which I did the lady on the phone “this app employee” was having difficulty she says processing the reservation at the end , she gave me a fake fast break # and I called my credit card company this “employee” charged my card not 1 not 2 times but 7 times that’s right 7 authorizations on my card . So I call to complain and get it fixed escalate to a supervisor, who promises I have a reservation and will pay with the prepaid amount well it takes 10- 30 days to get your money or credit back on your card says my credit card company now I’m stuck with a flight and no rental car and a maxed out card Thank you this app for screwing up the impossible! Stay away from this company I’m posting this on social media and blasting on all my platforms this app did me dirty

by Gz178

I regret I didn’t listen to the reviewers here before renting a car from this app last week in spring break. That is a horrible experience in my life. I had never had any problems renting a car in the whole wide world before that. Pickup location is at 49th street Manhattan, NY. The staff Maria didn’t honor the price I prepaid on this app website, even though I showed her the receipt; she wanted add extra; and then gave me a empty tank car(8 miles left showing on the gauge), said you either go find a gas station yourself or upgrade to a 7 seat SUV. I ended up turning around on the unfamiliar busy Manhattan street finding a gas station myself. At DCA airport Washington D.C., the drop off location, all rental car companies have signs but this app/Avis. I had to be turning and turning around to find its secret spot. After coming back home, I found unauthorized credit card charges from this app. What a nightmare I had!

by NinaTunes

Budget does not work properly. I attempted to book through Budget , instead of with Priceline as I’ve always done. BIG MISTAKE! Very disappointed! Once I set my preferences and went to check out, I received an error message saying, “your reservation is cancelled. Your card can not be verified”. I thought. “No big deal, I’ll just go book with Priceline.” Well it is a big deal. I looked at my account and $264 is pending. The money is still pending, almost 2 weeks later. If my card couldn’t be verified, HOW is my money still pending??? I’ve been in constant contact with this app for almost 2 weeks, and my money has yet t he returned. The customer service I’ve received during this fiasco as been TERRIBLE. I’ve been given many different excuses. I’ve been told my money would be returned by now. STILL Nothing! DO NOT DOWNLOAD!!! THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

by SasveldMa

We downloaded Budget to try and do the fastbreak pickup to shorten the line at pickup so we did all of the downloading and information entering before going to the airport.

When we arrived at the airport we went to the fastbreak pickup only to be turned away because we “don’t have a fastbreak account” even though in Budget we have our membership labeled as “fastbreak # [account number.” When I said this to the attendant he was dismissive and said we did not really have a fastbreak account. Doesn’t make any sense.

We wasted a bunch of time trying to find this fastbreak spot and then ended up having to go back to the original this app pickup anyway. Don’t mind standing in line if that’s what it takes but don’t promise a customer something and then fail to deliver. Never using this app again.

by Mosthonestreview

I never take the time or felt the need to write one of these but this is the worst experience I have ever had with a rental company. I am active duty military and travel frequently and I have never had issues like I have had with this app. I had a long term rental for over 4 months and because this app failed to properly add my rewards number I am unable to get credit. I was on hold with customer service for over 2 hours and when they finally answered they were unable to provide any type of decent customer service. They said they are unable to fix there mistake and that they can’t fix closed contracts even if it was there fault. I am very disappointed that this app was unable to fix or compensate me for there mistake. I am very unhappy with the experience and will voice my opinion to avoid renting from this app in the future.

by NautiJohnson

The this app customer service department seems to be unapproachable. When you’re trying to login and your credentials are messed up they give you a phone number to call and when you call that number there is no option to get customer service. Only options to rent a car or truck.

When you reach out to their customer service department via email it takes them five days to get back to you. When you asked them to MERGE your accounts because somehow a duplicate account has been created, they send you an email eight days later telling you they DELETED your duplicate account but they don’t tell you which account they actually deleted out of the two and they don’t confirm that they merged any of the points accruals.

by JBKITUNEID

Tried using Budget to confirm what time the rental car was due back and all Budget had listed was the car type and features. With other rental car companies, I am able to see every detail of the rental agreement. The this app app only gave me details and features about the car itself but nothing with a date/time pick up and drop off. When I tried to select view/modify/cancel Budget would completely crash. Also, I always get the rental car insurance because I do not own a car..... I live in a major city so I do not have my own car insurance, hence the rental car company insurance. Most other major companies have the “proof of insurance” card snap shot available through their app as well if needed. Budget is only good for making a reservation but not much else. Giving 2 stars is being generous.

by TrineyGurl

Current rental Missing. App need Update to show real-time info. IIApp dies not show current rental details, like when I picked ip the car and when it is due back; nir does it show the picture of the car I have. Details ONLY shows the make and model of car with old - not updated rental info. That is the same info from the email. So if I get pulled iver by the police I would have no way if sshowing I dod not steal this car because as a FastBreak I have mo paper contrace, so I have nothing , nonproof of rental, no proof of insurance, This is a problem that this app IT needs to fix ASSP. This is

by MrsBriteside

Budget is very helpful yet the service itself has declined terribly.
Aside for the additional coupons that have been sent out to my house after my recent rentals it’s been sweet and sorrow.
My last two rentals were dirty (with other peoples belongings and trash left in the vehicle) after I was told it was clean.
It’s just sad to see customer care decline after years of a loyalty business relationship. I have stuck with this app (enjoying Fastbreak) and it’s really bad when a group of employees and bad customers take a system and run it down until things are created that inconvenience both the organization and consumers.

by Eileenk29

I rent frequently for work and therefore have my corporate AMEX attached to my profile. I just went to rent for personal use. There was no way in Budget or on the website to add a secondary card. Many modern web and app experiences allow a user to have multiple cards and then when starting a reservation they are promoted if they are booking for personal or business and then default to this card. I had to call customer service and have them manually add my personal card. When I gave my personal card they wouldn’t take it becomes it’s attached to my husbands this app profile so I had to give a different card than the first which is our main one. We are making it under me bc I am the one picking up the car.

by Reihau

You’d think that the this app app would be more user-friendly but it’s clunky and requires more UX testing to make it worthwhile to use. The buttons you press are not intuitive, nor benefits such as this app deals are non-searchable through Budget . It is great that you can now view/modify existing reservations...finally! I travel frequently and have been a Fastbreak customer for at least 15 years, and renting a car on the fly for business should be a 3-click operation, but NO, using the this app app will take at least 30 minutes+! Pls make your app more user-friendly: (1) offer prepaid option when viewing/modifying existing reservation (currently you must start a new res to see prepaid options), (2) change the text color of the tabs (this is not vision accessible for people w poor vision and it’s hard to see if using a smartphone’s small screen) (3) enable more than 1 credit card t/b saved to your account when using Budget (4) enable saving your airline travel rewards number to be saved within your account, so that it automatically applies instead of having to enter this info with each new reservation.

by Ivanzbenz

Budget gets me a bit frustrated when I choose all my options only to have them tell me nothing is available then I need to choose them again to get the same message. Would like it if there was a list of available cars/dates... that would make it much more user friendly. The people at my local this app branch are the best though!

by A120

The only reason to rent with this app are the decent prices and FastBreak. Budget woks fine but functionality is limited. Where is the option to extend an existing rental? Why can’t I store more than 1 credit card on my account? The option to have a guaranteed make/model (especially with fastbreak) would be great for customers who want a guarantee of what they’ll be driving. If more functionality is added to Budget , customers will be spared having to call the lackluster call center, where calls for even simple things rarely take less than 30 minutes and result in frustration. It would be in the company’s best interest to allow Budget to do more so that call centers are not so bogged down.

by Hi Surfer

Very simple and easy to use. The only glitch was trying to find out what credit card I had listed in my account. After I went through all the steps of the reservation, I wanted to check which credit card I had listed in my account before I pressed the reserve button but couldn’t figure out a way to access my account so I had to cancel the process, go back to the home page, check my account and restart the reservation process. But I was able to find all my account info easily, I re-did my reservation and everything worked out fine.

by CindyWex

I travel to Oakland, CA (airport) nearly every week. I have made friends with Keisha who works at this app at the airport. Traveling can be difficult sometimes- leaving family, delayed flights, tired bodies- but seeing Keisha each visit makes me feel joyful! It’s feels like she looks out for me and when she sees me coming, she greets me with her wonderful smile! The car she supplies is always in perfect condition and my “fast track” makes my check out so smooth!

Keisha is the type of person you’d dream of buying a trip and surprising her with it because you appreciate her so much! Someday I will! (when I win the lottery).

Thank you Keisha!!!

by Tej_MA

I could have given a zero rating but it wouldn’t allow me to. I have done the reservation for the car and driving all the way 40 miles to the location I was told they had no cars available and they simply said sorry. When I immediately opened through application and website to my surprise they still were accepting reservations, I called the customer service and they were so rude they finally said THE RESERVATIONS DO NOT GUARANTEE CARS, RATHER THEY ONLY GUARANTEE THE RATE. I also asked them why are you accepting the reservations through website when you couldn’t provide a car, to this their reply was SORRY WE WOULD HONOR YOUR RATE FOR THE NEXT DAY.
Total disaster
Total trip plan ruin.

by Team401

They have good service and very good prices but they have the worst cars compare to hertz and enterprise but you get what you pay for...
Everytime i rent with them they always have a problem.. my recent problem was that i returned the car full of gas and they charge me as if i didn’t put gas in the car and i noticed 2 days later when they send me the e-receipt and they charged me $75 dollars and now they want proof of receipt of the gas and i don’t have it, i sent them my bank statement that reflects the transaction that proof that i purchased the gas and they dont care, so they are not going to refund my money.

by Hdhdhehsheheh

So for over three weeks my app won’t allow me to make a reservation, it tells me it is temp unavailable try again later. This is on two separate phones, installed multiple times, logged out logged in. Different locations and times. However I can go to the website and reserve it no issue then it appears on my app as an upcoming rental.
Today I spend 45 minutes on the phone, transferred 8 times and told to call 5 different numbers. In the end I gave up. No one could help me or even tell me who to call. Just send me to the next person. Insanity

by Ash.e.h1

After rental car return, my card showed a $2,100 charge from the company, even though I payed all up front and did not have any scratches or dings upon return. The company said we drove 8,000 miles even though we knew we barely drove 200 miles. They charged 25 cents each mile they perceived we went over from the 150 allotted in one day. Luckily, I still had the receipts given that show the starting and ending mileage. THEY typed in the starting mileage in wrong & charged us and did not care to double check numbers. A week later, they then charged us $285 dollars for a rental fee....which, as stated earlier, we already paid upfront. Careless company when dealing with customers money.

by Busy_Bbadd

The this app app has some issues. The last few times I have tried to reserve a car through Budget it always tell me there is an issue and that I will have to call customer service in order to reserve a car. It’s an inconvenience to call because when you have to wait at the least 15-20 minutes to speak with a rep. Then once you get someone on the line it is a huge language barrier which then takes another 35-40 minutes just to get an understanding before you can reserve the vehicle. Please fix Budget .

by Bookmiss

I’ve used this app for over a year now an and there have been good rentals and bad ones. Mostly due to the fact Corp doesn’t care about how you’re treated. People are traveling more so money is coming in due to availability not customer service.
The price may be a little higher than others but for the most part the branches are ok. There are a few out there you have to be wary of. If you arrive at night. They will find a scratch you missed an Bill you and the next 25 people for it.
There are some who could care less about your problem or loss. They just keep your lost item
Buyer beware.

by Gsdfjkj

this app is wonderful I just think they can value their customers a little more and show a little more appreciation but besides that they are wonderful I’ve been using them for a long time

by N E Equine Dental

My company has rented from this app for the past three years. I have rented both for business and leisure, as have other employees. We have used other companies but have found that none have come close to the professionalism, the inventory and satellite locations that this app has. But the best aspect that we enjoy about this app rental are their rates. No one comes close!! Compare and you will find the same to be true.

by Lpspeck

Just downloaded Budget after joining this app’s Fastbreak. Logged in quickly and easily. My existing reservation was already in there. So far so good. I guess if it can’t load my Fastbreak card into Apple wallet I’ll be disappointed but I honestly haven’t tried yet... we’ll see how it goes but looks and works good for now.