If you use Budget/Avis after reading this you get what you deserve. The following is 100% true and accurate. I reserved a full size SUV (Ford Explorer or Similar size) a month in advance. I arrived to pick up my rental and was told that they only have a KIA Sorento available. A KIA Sorento is nowhere near the size of a Ford Explorer. I told the attendant that I reserved and paid for a larger SUV and I really needed the cargo room for my trip. He told me that was the largest SUV he had at the moment and offered no apology or solution. He had the "take it or leave it" attitude so I had no choice but to take what I was given since we were hitting the road within a few hours. The KIA was pretty new and in good shape, with only about 24,000 miles. However, as I expected, I could not fit my family of four and all of our luggage in the Sorento, so we left some things behind.
The vehicle was dirty inside and out. I really didn't care about the exterior but it would have been nice to be given a clean car. I got the car home and had to clean all the windows and the interior before packing up for our trip. I then noticed that the gas tank was 100 miles below full which ticked me off a bit. My family and I drove the KIA to Florida and within two days the check engine light came on. We called Budget and we were told to bring the car to the Budget on Kirkman Road in Orlando (Holiday Inn) on Monday morning and they would have a vehicle for us. We arrived first thing in morning and we were the second customer in line. We were told that they had "no cars" and would be turning people away. One of the workers was questioning why we were even at this location because there were several other Budget locations near our hotel. We explained that we were directed here by customer service and he seemed annoyed. He then wrote down three other Budget rental phone numbers in the area and handed us the phone numbers. My wife asked him if he was going to call to see if someone else had a vehicle for us and he said "I have customers waiting". Wait... What? Aren't we customers? Unreal! We left and proceeded to call the other locations and eventually found a vehicle about 15 minutes away.
I explained this entire situation when we returned the vehicle the following week (March 24th) and the "worker" at the S. Chapel St (Newark) didn't care one bit. He said he was "at the mercy of fleet" and there was nothing he could do to guarantee a customer would get the car or truck they reserved and paid for. Why would you EVER say this to a customer?
When I told him all of the other problems I mentioned above, he said "sorry... I need to go check your mileage" and walked away. The customer service is beyond horrible so please do yourself a favor and rent somewhere else!
I really hope someone from Budget monitors these reviews.