Budget Car Rental

I rented a car here during my recent trip to Austin, and I normally don't choose Budget but they had the cheapest rates by a lot. I wasn't disappointed. Everything about my rental process, from reserving to picking up to dropping off was quite easy. I rented my car through Costco Travel, which is one of the best-kept secrets if you're a frequent traveler. You can find amazing rates through them if you have a Costco membership, and their system automatically applies the best coupon to your reservation! Use it if you have a membership! My plane landed in Austin early, and it was no problem getting my car. I took the long walk over to the car rental desk and got my car. It was clean, had very few miles, and was in good condition. Even the tank was legitimately full, which I appreciated. I had zero issues with the car during my week-long rental period. Drop-off was an absolute breeze too. Nobody really likes car rental companies and there are very few positive reviews (probably because people don't bother writing a review unless something goes wrong), but Budget is a-okay in my book! I wouldn't hesitate to rent from them again when I'm in the Austin area.

My son (24) rented a vehicle 11:30pm. We returned it the following day at midnight. All we wanted to do was pick up my Grandson that we had not seen in a year! Not only did they charge him for 2 days, plus an additional $100 because he's 24, but they also charged extra for cleaning!! This is how we received the vehicle. Dirty!! Never cleaned before we even got into it!! It also had issues going on with the vehicle. I was nervous the whole way there!! (THAT money came out of my pocket!!) DO NOT EVER rent from this company!!! They are located at the airport and to make matters worse, my son is an airport employee!! I am BIG MAD!!! BUDGET, you should be ashamed of yourself and your customer service agents who automatically assume the young driver is wrong!!! BUDGET shouldn't even be allowed to do business at the airport if they can't even treat the airport employees correctly! Once again, DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY! THEY WILL CHARGE EXTRA & KEEP YOUR MONEY! Yes, I said it!! IG: GodSentRed

We rented a car from this place and of course over the phone we’re told a price but once we went to get the car it was so many more charges so the price was much higher plus we had to give a 200 dollar deposit. We turned the car in on time with a full tank of gas and no problems. We still have no received our 200 dollar deposit back! I would advise you NOT to rent a car from Budget! They aren’t honest or up front. They will rip you off!

Had to wait in line for more than an hour to pick up my rental. Despite a line of 83 people the length of the rental car center, Budget had only one person working the counter at times, sometimes two. We were very late to our destination. I guess you get what you pay for. I inquired at the other car rental agencies to see what they were charging - twice the price for their cars! It shouldn’t be this way! We had this problem at Budget in San Antonio. This will be our last rental with Budget. It’s a hell of a way to start a vacation.

To me budget is trash. I travel the whole country and ALL their employees are just stingy with the cars even when you pay for a bigger vehicle. I will always prefer National car rental because they let you pick whatever you want. Budget is so trashy to me.

NEVER AGAIN! NEVER RENTING FROM BUDGET AGAIN! (RESOLVED READ REVIEW) We reserved a Budget rental car through Costco for a one week trip in Austin area during the first week of Jan 2025. The car wasn’t sparkling clean when we received it. There were bugs on the front grill and windows, black interior showed bits of lint, dust, dry grass, but other than that, relatively clean. We had no issues with vehicle during the trip and returned it the following week. Everything went as expected, until 2 weeks later we received an email from Budget stating the vehicle was returned dirty and we were charged an additional $450 for cleaning! At first, thought it was a scam email, but it's real. Of course, we reached out to Costco to help, but they were very upfront, telling us they probably couldn’t do much since we don’t have any evidence (pictures) from when we returned the car. We asked Costco to get evidence of the damage – type of damage to vehicle. Costco came back with pictures and statement from Budget of "heavy smoke smell" in vehicle! Are you serious? We are LIFE-TIME NON-SMOKERS! There was no one smoking in our vehicle! PICTURES CAN'T show smoke smell – it’s their word vs ours. We lose because we can’t prove otherwise. Costco apologized, but they couldn’t do anything. We didn’t take pictures of the car upon return. I’ve attached the random pictures Budget sent Costco of "the damage." Really? If heavy smoke smell, why no picture of ashtray? Is that supposed to be ash, lint, or dust on the black interior? In the right light, against a black interior, it could just be lint. BEWARE OF BUDGET! They found a loophole and are using it to their advantage by charging customers extra fees! Our weekly car rental price doubled due to the added fees! Expensive lesson learned. TAKE PICTURES AT PICK-UP AND RETURN, GET A SERVICE REP TO SIGN OFF ON CONDITION of vehicle at return, and DON'T EVER RENT FROM BUDGET AGAIN! *Addendum. Budget social media reached out to us and helped to resolve our issue. Budget sent us this email: Thank you for contacting Budget Customer Service regarding the cleaning fee charged on your rental. Charges for cleaning vehicles that are returned in such poor condition that the vehicle must be sent out for detailing, will be charged in proportion to the level of cleaning that is needed. This includes, but is not limited to, vehicles returned with food stains on the seats, dog (or animal) hair that cannot be removed through normal vacuuming of the car, excessive odor, smoke odor, and cigarette burns. We apologize that you were assessed a smoke cleaning fee when neither you or your spouse smoke. We have processed an adjustment in the amount of $450.00 to your Visa credit card. Please allow three to five business days for processing. We are actively working to improve our service levels, and appreciate your feedback. At Budget, our goal is to deliver a safe, dependable, hassle-free rental. This email/letter also came with refund: Thank you for your recent rental with Budget Rent A Car which you returned on 01/06/2025 . Per our recent discussion, we are reversing the charges that we made on your credit/debit card for the Cleaning Service to our vehicle. The amount of reversal is $450.00. Please allow up to 72 hours for the credit to show on your records. We apologize for any difficulties you may have experienced during your rental. We hope you continue to choose Budget Car Rental as your rental car company of choice. If you require additional information, or have any questions, please contact us at 1-866-673-7869. Our dedicated team members will be very happy to assist you. Thank you again for choosing Budget Car Rental. We appreciate your business and look forward to another opportunity to serve your rental needs. AFTERTHOUGHT: We probably won’t ever rent from Budget again. There are just too many other options. Even though they attempted to right their wrong, my opinion, Budget is still not a trustworthy company. Regardless of the rental company we use, we will take photos at pick up and return. Lesson learned!

Shame on me for not listening to these reviews. Had a pre-paid rental at AUS. Arrived at 10:30 pm after a stressful day of canceled and delayed flights. Budget desk is closed (so much for Fast break). Sign directs customers to Avis. That line is a mile long. Maybe 1 or 2 agents working and the line is barely moving. After 30 minutes and moving maybe 15-20 feet, I looked at Enterprise. No one in line. I walked over and got an F150 in 10 minutes. I ended up eating the Budget rental fee. And it was worth it! The funny thing; never heard from Budget, something like "we noticed that you did not pick up your rental car" nothing, nada. How does this location stay in business??? Edit: Budget came through with a full refund. Adjusted stars from one to three.