Budget® Reviews
The pick up and drop off sites were no problem at all people were friendly. HOWEVER, thirty minutes into the drive, it started to barely rain and the cab started leaking! As the rain picked up, so did the leaking! I'm not talking a few drips here and there, it was unbearable! My whole back and ass were soaked for the first three hours of the drive. This needs to be fixed right away!
All the people I talked to and worked with were great. The truck was fine. No bells and whistles, but it did what I needed it to do. My biggest problem was with the reservation. I reserved a truck at a pickup center within walking distance to my house. The night before pick up they called to tell me there was no longer a truck available (because the people who had it that day decided to keep it longer) and that it was up to me to find one at another location. Several calls later, I finally got a reservation at another location that was a $60 Uber ride away. Not sure why after paying $1300 I was the one responsible for finding a new truck.
Arrived and found out that they did not have a truck for me despite calling two days before to confirm. I had to scramble and call all the locations in the area to find a truck. The woman at the counter was incredibly rude (and wasn't even there for the first 10 minutes, just a sign saying that she would be back) and all of the customer service agents were unhelpful as well. Would never recommend.
Booked budget truck bc it was a better deal than other companies but the AC wasn’t working in the truck which made for an uncomfortable 14 hour drive. Customer service for budget was helpful and they tried to arrange a repair of the AC but the wait time for the truck to get looked at was 5 hours so we decided to continue our drive without AC. Also the back door wouldn’t latch closed all the way so when we had to drive through two rainstorms, everything within 5 feet of the back of the truck was soaked and covered with debris.
I am only giving a one star because I have to. First I made a reservation for a truck days in advance for 9 am on June 29. I get to the budget rental on E Colonial Drive in Orlando, Fl at 9 am and I didn't get a truck until 10 30 am. I stood in line for an hour and when I was finally helped the lady said I did not have a reservation. When I showed her my confirmation e mail with my confirmation number she shrugged and told me to contact customer service. I said that wouldn't work and she told me if I was going to get mad that I needed to leave. I once again told her no ma'am that is not going to work and she rolled her eyes sighed and said she had a bigger truck I could rent for the same price. I said fine and took the truck. I will never rent from budget again because of the rude service. The lady working the desk at this budget had zero customer service skills and had no idea how to do her job which is why everyone was waiting an hour and a half just to get things rented.
Budget gets a 5-star rating because they were the cheapest company I could find in my area for a 1-way move. The truck didn't get great gas mileage (about 300 miles per tank) but it got the job done. Also, the service at the rental truck office was great and they were very accommodating enough to offer assistance before I went over mileage. Would rent from them again.
Equipment needs to be maintained better. The trailer that I had wouldn't tighten my vehicle down to the trailer as much as I wanted. There was an uncomfortable amount of slack. I wasted way too much time because the first Budget truck that was hooked up to the auto transport didn't light up the lights on the trailer. So they had to grab another Budget truck. Hook up to it, then check the lights again. Also, once I went to drop off the equipment. The desk clerk asked me why didn't I have safety chains connected to my vehicle. When I picked up and left with the truck, no one mentioned any safety chains. So the staff may need more training on how to chain vehicles to the auto transport.
The truck was fine. However, I reserved furniture pads and was informed when I arrived that morning to pick up the truck that none were available. I had to scramble to find enough blankets to cover my furniture because my movers were arriving in less than 1 hour and I had zero notice to make other arrangements. It would have been better to receive a phone call to notify me ahead of time that I needed to buy or rent furniture pads elsewhere. The cost of the truck was very reasonable but the cost of the insurance was exorbitant. Checking in at Prestige Rent-a-car in McKinney, TX was not the smoothest, but drop off (at a different location) was extremely easy and Randy at Eastex Rentals was very accommodating for us.
The price was great, which is why I went with this company overall. When I arrived to pick up my truck, however, it seemed that they don't always have trucks available at the site you reserve, which seems crazy to me. I had reserved a 12' truck to move a lot of large furniture pieces, but they almost gave me a van (not big enough). They ended up giving me a 16' truck without extra charge, which ended up being fine for my job. Just be aware that you may not get what you expect.
I ordered a 26' truck but the manager told me that it was running poorly. I didn't want to end up stranded with a truckload of valuables so I took the smaller 16' truck and made 2 trips instead of one. The manager said he'd take the mileage off but at the end of the day, it seemed that I only saved a few bucks. I would have gladly paid more for a working 26 footer that would have saved me hours of driving.
The truck was reserved months in advance and we were never notified of any problem with a truck being available, however when we arrived at the Budget Truck location in Arlington, VA, they said they did not have any trucks. I took staff 10 mins to just tell me that, and another 20 mins of phone calls for them to locate another truck. We had to drive 20 miles to get a truck in Lorton, VA and 20 miles back to Arlington, VA with only minutes to spare before our moving crew arrived. We were given no discount for the serious disruption to our moving day schedule and the significant distress caused by the situation. The truck at the Lorton, VA location was in very poor condition with a drivers' side door that had evidence of major damage repair and didn't close completely so the entire drive across country there was very loud noise inside the truck cab making it almost impossible to hear each other speak. The truck interior was absolutely disgusting. It smelled like garbage and was crusted with dirt everywhere. There were no signs of anything having been cleaned - particularly concerning given the situation with COVID19. The windshield was so dirty it was hard to see thru it. We had to spend 30 mins scrubbing down the interior of the cab, including cleaning food off of the seats. The truck had 162,000+ miles on it and would frequently completely lose acceleration even on flat highway - as in nothing happening at all with the gas pedal pushed all the way to the floor. 5 hrs from our destination, the engine light came on. There was no manual in the truck and searches on our phones did not provide any explanation, so we simply had to keep driving. We return the truck tomorrow and are assuming we will get zero accommodation for all of the problems we had with this truck rental. Never ever use Budget Truck Rental if you can help it. As it was, we had no choice given we had movers coming and had to vacate the apartment by 4p that day. If you do have to use Budget, I hope you have far better luck than we did.
The truck had 2 check engine lights on the whole trip. The engine consistently overheated and had to drive with the heat on to keep the motor from blowing up. The truck had no power and would only do 60 MPH. The wipers did not work properly and no windshield wash. When I picked the truck up it had 7/8 of a tank. I returned it with more fuel that 7/8. The rental company that I returned to was rude and demanded that I top off the fuel. I did not have the paperwork on me to prove that it had 7/8. The company receiving the truck had the worst customer service that I have ever had to experience. I will never rent a Budget truck or car again in my life.
