Budget® Reviews
The Budget Rental process online is straightforward and easy enough. I picked up my vehicle at the Citadel Mall location. The rental process on-site occurred without incident. While the customer service interaction was certainly nothing worthy of praise, the truck itself drives and rides very nicely and super comfortable seats. I was also impressed by the rearview mirror reverse video vision that facilitates maneuvering the truck. The price of insurance is quite high in my opinion. Truck = $20/day. Insurance nearly $70. :/
The truck which was provided by budget was very dirty and not in good condition. It seemed the truck had not gone through proper maintenance. Apart from the driving and cleanliness, we had booked 16ft truck which is sufficient to move 2b2b apartment. The trailer of the truck we in good shape, with some store bought straps every item stayed in place and was not much hassle during transport.
I received a last minute email that my truck would not be available for 4 hours and they did nothing to help me find another truck. I had paid help arriving and no truck to put things in. I had to call Budget and get the ball moving on another truck which that particular person was very, very helpful. We wound up being over two hours behind schedule once we picked up the truck and they had NO hand truck available even though I paid for one. Very frustrating and made the move so much harder.
Unprofessional organization and bad planning. I booked 2 months in advance, but was still left dangling at the last minute leaving me to run around town because of bad coordination on the part of budget even though I confirmed 24 hours in advance. I move a lot and have never had such an unprofessional experience.
The gentleman assisting me was incredibly helpful. The truck was prepared and ready before I arrived. When I realized that it would be too small for the job, I promptly requested an upgrade. The location was fantastic and accommodated my request, truly saving the day. Returning the truck went smoothly without any issues, and the staff at the location were exceptionally friendly
The truck cost came in $200 more expensive than quoted when I picked up the truck. I reserved a car hauling trailer for the back of the truck weeks in advance. 2 days before my move Budget called and told me there are no car trailers on the entire west coast and that Im out of luck. They offered no discount or anything to remedy the situation, just told me to go figure it out. 16' truck basically fits a 1 bedroom apartment, was very difficult to pack our 2 bed in this size even though it advertised it to comfortably fit this.
I cannot explain to you the trouble they have caused me. The locations are managed poorly. You may or may not get what you reserved (even if you called to confirm the day before). The locations tell you one thing then customer service another. Nothing was clean and the truck rode horribly. It was the cheaper option but it was NOT worth it. You get what you pay for. Cheap, poorly run, innacurate, mishmash chaos.
Went to get truck and trailer, signed everything and checked setup, but lights didn’t work. Because we already signed, the office said I had to call roadside assistance and wait a couple hours even though I hadn’t left yet. Finally got them to give me a much older truck, which had a check engine light lit due to an overdue oil change. Also, right rear tire on the trailer was nearly bald. When I went to load the car hauler the ratchet straps on the trailer were rusty and took me 30 minutes to get them freed up. On the drive from Charlotte to Dallas, we had to pull over on the shoulder in Atlanta as one of the ramps came unlocked and began to slide out. In Birmingham AL, the right rear tire on the trailer blew up, damaging the trailer fender but thankfully not our car. Had to pull off the highway in a bad part of town and try to get Budget Roadside Support. Multiple calls and tickets for support as Budget claims 24/7 roadside support and I paid $69.95 for Roadside Safety Net. No tire could be found as the trailer had mismatched tires. Three had been 225 75 R15 but one was 205 75 R15. One ticket was cancelled without our knowledge or notification, the other never had a follow up. In the end we had no help so after waiting 3 hours we had to find and pay for our own used tire to be installed while also unloading our car and limping along. We never heard back from Budget Roadside nor Goodyear on either ticket. When we returned the truck and trailer the Budget office tried to charge us for fender that tired explosion damaged.
I did not find out until a couple of days before my move that the business where I reserved a truck was closing down and did not have a truck for me. They finally found one an hour away. We had to pick it up at the new location and drive it back to my home which made it late in the afternoon before we could start loading. The man at the new location was very helpful and got us going in a new truck. My driver drove the empty truck back to the dealer after unloading.
The truck was in reasonably good shape and easy to drive. There are a couple of raised areas in the bed of the truck that made it harder to load and it was taking up valuable space. We can't figure out how to turn the light on in the back interior of the truck. There was no loading ramp on this truck. Because it was a small load it was not that big of an issue but I was not aware that there would not be a ramp! The cost of the truck included collision coverage. This was a 10 X 15 storage unit that was not full.
Received a 16' Box Truck with a Car Hauler. I made this reservation 3 months prior to pick-up and contacted the Budget Truck location in Longmont Colorado at least 5 times prior to the pick-up date as well as 48hrs prior to confirm that a safe, inspected truck and Trailer would be provided. None of this occured!!! Day of pick-up total confusion at Budget in Longmont CO. I questioned the safety inspection of the truck and trailer since the truck "gas" had over 172,000 miles on it and the trailer/c ar hauler seemed to have a questionable tire. I was assured by the customer service person "Kimberly" everything was checked out and good for the 1500 mile road trip. Once truck was loaded and car on Hauler we noticed that the tires were all low and one very low. I needed to find air on a Memorial Day weekend and fill all. All were 40lbs low!!! This tribe failure occured thought out the 3 day trip where I needed to fill the tires every 1-2hours until one tire on the car hauler blew out at 9pm on a very dark highway in the middle of nowhere! I was advised by Budget Truck Rental Emergency service to drive on the rim of the wheel the 40 miles needed to get to my hotel. With the rim shooting flams driving 25 mph with massive big rig trucks flying by not comforting. At the hotel I called Budget Truck Rental Emergency Service again to confirm a repair which I was informed it would be the following morning. Next day 7am I called Budget Truck Rental Emergency Service to confirm the repair was still occurring at which time I was informed NO it has been canceled!!! Budget Truck Rental Emergency Service proceeded to find another 3rd party service to repair the Car Trailer, which they did. But this company has no tires available for my needs. I had ben informed that Tractor Suppy 3 miles away had the tire and wheel in stock which I explained to the service company. They sated they could not buy a tire on my behaklf and want me to walk there buy the tire and roll it back at which time they could install it. REALLY! I proceeded with extreme caution and no other option to give my CC# to this unknown person who was able to make the purchase and arrive with the new tire and rim. As this was occurring the service person realized how poor the other tires were on the other side of the trailer and rotated the better of the two bad tires so the majority of the weight would rest on the better tire. In doing this the service person noticed the rims of both tires were damaged and bent on the interior of the wheel. Reason why the air would not stay!!! This nightmare continued even 1 - 2 hour of refilling tires for 2 more days. In addition we encountered a severe rain storm which lasted for 3 hours where the rain came into the cab of the truck on both driver and passenger side through where the cab and box of the truck meet. Both myself and daughter were soaked from the rain for the 3 hours. Contacted budget about all of this and the best they were willing to offer was 25% of the entire bill. My advise the name says it al lBUDGET, look elsewhere if you can and if you must use Budget, GOOD LUCK!!!
Tony was honest and very helpful. As an FYI even though you’ve made a reservation with Budget well in advance that doesn’t guarantee you a truck however, Tony stayed on top of the situation and carefully monitored the incoming and outgoing reservations to ensure our truck was available and ready for pickup as scheduled. We so much appreciate his efforts he was very very helpful!
I ordered a 12’ truck was given a 16’ truck which was okay. The interior of the truck was filthy. I cleaned it a bit just so I could feel comfortable. The person who rented the truck was clueless about the operation. i asked for help with Bluetooth for my phone he said it did.t have it but it did. I was not able to adjust the mirrors and he was not help. I drove with poorly adjusted mirrors. Budget is usually a good company my experience with this truck which i rented in Phoenix for a trip to Salt Lake City. I rented before and this truck was NOT UP TO PAR.
The roof over the cab had an area that was "smeared" with some sort of roof sealant. During my cross country move I drove in rain for 2 1/2 days. Water was coming in and running down my back. Had to buy and wear a raincoat. Very uncomfortable and distracting, which could have been a safety issue. I had to call a Budget corporate# to report after returning the truck to the dealer. The agent said I should have reported to my Roadside Assistance Policy?? They offered a refund of $113, but I pushed for more. I really don't believe I should of had to pay for such a piece of junk!
I would have given five stars...but the gentleman who was at the pick-up location seemed to be upselling an elderly woman. Her booking ended up being another (approximate) $20 PER DAY. I did not like that. He must have picked up on that because when it was my turn, he did not ask me about adding insurance and instead handed me declination form. The allowed miles were perfect. I had to make a stop out of the way and did not have to pay for any overage on the mileage. Dropping off the truck at the Glendale location was quick and easy. Very friendly staff there.
The cab interior of the 16' truck was a bit spartan but the seats were comfortable enough. The floor, though , got hot over the long drive (18 hrs. over 2 days). It is not a "quiet" ride like they advertise in print on the side of the truck. And, if you are short like I am (5' tall), getting in and out of the truck was not easy. What was unsatisfactory was the truck pick up process in Norfolk. It required 2 trips to Budget to finalize the reservation that I had made online (long story) and on the 2nd trip, I spent an hour waiting in line. Never having rented a truck before, I was surprised that a lock was not offered for purchase/rental like furniture pads are.
The truck was filthy full of ashes, trash peppers all over and the wheel was so dirty it fell sticky. Absolutely revolting no one cleaned that truck in months. Also a light was not working and I was stopped by the police and given a ticket. I guess I have to consider myself lucky the engine held out and it had breake function