Budget® Reviews
On the plus side, the truck was available on short notice. However, the alignment was out very bad and I was using the truck to move from California to Georgia and that is a long trip to make with the alignment off. The cab of the truck was extremely load to the point of having to yell so the person in there with you could hear you. Also, the back of the truck leaked which caused damage to some of my belongings. It was nothing that the company that loaded it did. The truck just has gaps in the metal that let rain come in and soak some things including electronics. I doubt I will use Budget again.
The truck ran well and the furniture pads worked out well, but when I arrived Saturday morning there was no one at the office. The woman that ran the place was 10 minutes late and then told me that they didn't have a reservation for me (believe me, I triple checked my date, time and location before booking so I knew I had a truck rented that day). I dropped the truck off on Sunday when the office was closed and it really was not clear what should be done with the truck (where to park, etc.) Also, the key box said that I should have been given an envelope to report the mileage - I was not. I'm happy I got a truck and it worked, but the customer service left a little to be desired.
We secured our budget truck online a month in advance and received email confirmation with a follow up confirmation 48-hours prior. When we arrived at our designated pickup location promptly at 9am, we were notified by another customer (after waiting for 15 minutes) that the shop was closed and no one would be coming in that day. Needless to say, this really messed up our plans as we were on a time crunch. We drove 40 minutes there and back to an alternate location where we were, fortunately, able to rent a truck on the spot. This was a serious inconvenience to an already stressful day.
Do not use Budget in Lincolnwood, IL. Reserved a truck with them in advance, showed up to pick up our truck and was told they didn't have a truck for us. The feeble worker at the desk told us they had tried to call us at a phone number that was one digit off from our actual number, despite the fact we entered the correct phone number on our reservation. He then refused to help us find another truck or even call Budget customer service to help us. AVOID, unless you want to get stuck without a truck on moving day.
Reserved a 12' truck and at 10:20 pm the night before got a text saying they didn't have one available. They gave us a 16' truck which, although sounds like an upgrade, was not what I wanted. They basically said, "too bad, you want it or don't you." Turns out a nearby rental place had a 12' truck so why didn't they trade? It's the local place that wasn't good. The truck itself was fine.
Budget @ I 45 in Houston had an incredibly nice lady that worked the desk...however the location is very understaffed. It took almost 45 minutes for the rental to be released and some others waited just as long for a rental car. She is a rockstar, and they need to provide her with more resources. The truck was decent, it was a little dirtier than what i would expect, but it got the job done! The 16 footer was a little small for us. The drop off was interesting, the company actually solicited me to buy gas at their location via Text Message, which is entrepreneurial, but seems to circumvent Budget's fueling policies.
The truck definitely had some wear on it. It was groaning badly in the turns, the suspension could not hold up to the weight that it was carrying. Overall it was more expensive than it should be. The extra insurance is always a scam and far more expensive than it should be but you know they'll screw you if there is even the slightest damage to their truck so I bought it anyway.