View Full Version : Budget
Hiya,
just wondering if anyone has used budget car hire recently? we usually go with dollar but budget seems to be less expensive at the minute.
i've read a few reviews on here & other sites & they dont seem to get many peoples votes.
not sure whether to take a chance or just stick with dollar.
Lynsey
I've never used Budget I usually go with Alamo but have read several posts on this site were people use Budget and can't remember reading anything negative.
Used them a month ago and they where great. I used the pre-register option you can get from the car hire link above.
This lets you bypass the queue and go straight to the parking lot. Paper work was waiting all I had to do was sign and head for the car.
They were offering an upgrade for free, didn't even have to ask for it, it had already been done. Had a new car that had not even been hired before.
SUMMARY :- Click the link above, pre-register, life will be wonderful.[msnsmile2]
Dave
SteveandJan
18-01-2010, 15:30
We have used Budget on quite a few occasions and never had any problems, we even got a free upgrade once
lafifille
18-01-2010, 21:55
We rented from Budget last summer and they were fine. We had a problem with the car and they delivered another one with no hassle (other than wait for the delivery for 1 hour). We also used Alamo on the same trip and they were great too.
AshleyLodge
18-01-2010, 22:06
We have used Budget a couple of times and they have been fine. Nearly new cars. We always pre-register to avoid the queues
Lynne
We used Budget in October and had no end of trouble with them. They caused us an awful lot of stress at the beginning of our holiday. We would never use them again.
jimiansville
20-01-2010, 13:38
I vist the US 3 or 4 times a year and generally opt for the cheapest quote through UScarhire on this site. I have found all of the hire companies are much the same. I prefer Alamo because you can pick your car from those availabe but wouldn't pay extra to go with Alamo if Budget or Dollar were working out cheaper.
blue nose
22-01-2010, 02:22
Hi, just got back, picked up a great s.u.v. from m.c.o. We used Budgets fast lane, no problems at all.
We had the car for a week, we drove to the keys for 3 days then returned the car to a very small and hard to find office on 17th street Fort lauderdale. After a great cruise, we returned to the Budget office were the problems began:(, this is a very small office in a plaza, they use the car park as there lot, with cars spread out all over the place.There was one assistant at the desk who was trying to do everything herself e.g. dealing with returns, allocations, answering the phone, also having to give directions to the location over the phone, anyway having waited for about half an hour we were allocated a Nissan x-trail, what a shed:( it was filthy and had only a quarter of a tank of fuel,we refused the car and then were given a Nissan murano with a full tank, i have never seen a car in such a bad condition there was oil and mud all over the cream interior, as we were only having the car until the following afternoon we took the car.
On our return to M.C.O. we made our feelings known to the returns lady, she was sympathetic and said she would report the car and advised us to write to Budget. We are are still debating any further action. Use Budget again, probably not.
Katys Grandad
22-01-2010, 05:50
I've had a couple of poor experiences using Budget. Maybe I've just been unlucky but I can't see me using them in the future.
njstringer
27-01-2010, 21:36
We have had no problems with Budget.
Good cars and professional service.
Nigel
We've just returned from Florida and used Budget (cheapest option) through uscarhire for the 3rd time.
Pre registered and picked up the car with no problem.
Got a free upgrade to a very clean, nearly new intermediate!
Extremely pleased with all the functions - including satellite radio!
Returned without any problems.
Would definitely use them again.
letournerie
01-02-2010, 19:17
Hi Christine,
We are going this Saturday. Can you tell me where we need to go to find the Budget kiosk when we get to the car park?
Thanks!
Renee - is that Orlando or Tampa?
letournerie
01-02-2010, 19:52
That is MCO in Orlando Clare.
Can you help?
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by letournerie
Hi Christine,
We are going this Saturday. Can you tell me where we need to go to find the Budget kiosk when we get to the car park?
Thanks!
[/quote]
I apologise, but have only just seen this! A bit late now, but for anyone else wondering, the kiosk for Budget is up the escalator in the car park.
me and my family used budget October 2009 always used Dollar but decided to try someone new this was the worst thing we did
the car we had booked wasnt avaliable we had just flown in from San francisco it was 12.30 am and we were tired they offered another car and we paid for the upgrade they knew the size of our family and how many cases we had
we did find the car but it was to small again we went back and again we paid for an upgrade to something that had all the extra's we didnt want or need but this was all that was avaliable
I asked about how to make a complaint they said I needed to contact the Main office which I did but they found in favour of the company Suprise Suprise
I was told that if I was unhappy I should of refused the rental and used someone else so much for customer service
and yes you have guessed I will never use budget again ever even if I cant get anyone else I will use taxi's or buses
Was this a car rental through USCarHire as you have made another posting stating how pleased (as we all are) with USCarHire service. I take it the above tale of woe was a booking you made yourself with Budget?
westonmac
20-02-2010, 18:55
i for one would never use budget ever again
I used them last January it was just me and I had ordered the smallest cheapest car which they did not have and gave me a nearly new Toyota Prius for the week and without any pushing of extra insurance or trying to get me to upgrade.
We hired via US Car Hire from Budget a mid size 4x4 SUV for 3 weeks over Christmas / New Year from Atlanta. If I may say so, the car pick up was the only smooth part of the 3 hours it took us to get through immigration, customs and yet another check where your luggage is taken off you etc.
We had a choice of 4 cars, had a RAV4 which is slightly smaller than my CRV that our daughters are used to driving. Great car, took all the luggage, and absolutely no problems whatsoever. My eldest hired a small car for her 2 week stay (overlapped with us by a week) and we were also on the hire so we could use whichever car necessary (DH disappears to play golf!), and great little car, everyone polite, no probs etc. We also used Budget in Miami year before and had a Luxury then, again no problems whatsoever apart from the very rude coach driver who was demanding tips from everyone, amazingly enough after he had not helped anyone on or off the coach with their luggage, and talked all the time to a friend who was on the coach with him no-one was very forthcoming!
Just booked my mini van from car hire, i filled out the required info that car hire needed but was unsure if there was suppose to be a place to fill in for our additional driver?
This is our first time thru car hire and was simple, easy and price was over half of what alamo was going to charge if i reserved directly thru them.
Lesley S
21-02-2010, 21:42
With the pre registration booking that allows you to go to the booth, are you able to do this for the 2 drivers or can it only be the main driver, how do you go about adding the 2nd driver or have you got to queue for this option. Are you able to add the 2nd person at a local Budget office.
chrizzy100
26-02-2010, 01:02
Do you have an e-mail address ...we had some info given to us yesterday when we picked up our car which I'd like to ask about but not on the forum in case the guy was talking out his bum..
He did tell us that we could not use the Ins cover given by you because we had US Licenses but the rental is sold as fully paid for and usable by us so can you clear this up..
We are also not sure yet if he tried to pull a fast one on petrol we have gold cover which we told him had a full tank as part of the deal...but looking on my copy here there is a change of $96 ..and petrol is on there along with what looks like other fees
now I've used you before with no trouble..so I wondered if anything had changed in the last few months...
I take it the request for an email address was directed at USCarHire - you can always write to:- info@uscarhire.co.uk
chrizzy100
26-02-2010, 08:31
Thanks Claire ..will try that...feel like hell right now ...it always happens when I'm away...lol
letournerie
28-02-2010, 02:43
We rented 7 seater minivan with Budget through us carhire. Arrived on 6 Feb, went to fast track and got a fantastic Dodge Grand Caravan with 5000 miles on it.
Returned the car yesterday and balance was 0,00. Service is fine, car great and no problems at all. Would book with them again.
Unfortunately, or not, all flights out via NY were cancelled so we have 3 extra days in Orlando. Went back to cr rental and went for the shortest line: National. Again, great car, Chevrolet Town & Country.
US Carhire will get our next booking too!
We used Budget a couple of years ago and about three months after the hire our credit card was debited by Budget for a parking fine (or something similar). The 'incident' occurred in Fort Lauderdale (or somewhere close by). At the time we were over 200 miles away, staying at our villa and had a supermarket check out bill for about 20 minutes after the 'incident'.
It went back and forth for about three months until we threw the towel in, deciding that life is too short to keep chasing it