Book Budget car hires in Los Angeles

Return after hours worst experience ever

Cons: I specifically told them if there was after hour drop off. In fact my contract states that I will be dropping off the vehicle at 1730 South Broadway Santa Maria, CA 93545 at 11:00pm. When I get to that location there is a sign at the door that says return to Santa Maria airport. We drive to the airport there is no drop box for me to leave the keys. So I live the car with the contract on the windshield but I have to take the keys. Next day when I get up after coming from a long flight from Europe and still drive 3hrs to get home I go to the airport to drop the keys and get told that I have to pay for an extra day because I didn't drop the keys. I said there is no drop box they said right we close at 10pm and there is nothing we can do for you. That is just wrong and unethical first off I verified with the employee who represents their company in the LAX facility that I can indeed return the car after ours on the address provided (he said yes). What I get out of this is that there is no customer service whatsoever Budget is just trying to get people in and out the door what a shame. Right now I'm calling there service department and of course they are all busy. I'm very disappointed and will probably never rent from them again.

Cons: Employees

Misinformation and long wait

Cons: We called ahead and asked about renting car seats and were told it’d be $14 each for the entire rental. After landing in LAX and waiting an hour in the budget line we were told that it’d be $14/day for our nine day rental. I called budget and was told it’d be $70 each for the entire rental, and when I talked to the representative about how we’re being told different numbers he said there was nothing he could do about it and hung up. The people at budget gave us one car seat for fee and charged us full price for the other - $126. If we would have known how much of a hassle Budget was going to be we would have brought our own car seats and used another service.

There were 58 reservations ahead of me in line

Cons: When I arrived at the LAX Budget rental location, I was number 222 and they were on 164. The poor person manning the stand to give out the numbers said this was a common occurrence with Budget in the summer. The place was mobbed, with at least 100 people trying to find shade in which to wait. It was hot. After a 45 minute wait, with at least 25 reservations still ahead of me, I canceled mine, reserved with Enterprise from a city location, and caught a Lyft. Budget needs more employees.

Cons: The shuttles never came, no one answered their phone.

Pros: Good value for money

Cons: Pickup at Lax was terrible. Took way to long for the vehicle. The car was dirty