Terrible experience.

Customer service when you have concerns is the worst I’ve ever experienced. You create a ticket and then nothing happens . Don’t hire from them or the Avis group which they’re part of.

Reviewed 12 months ago

Rented a Toyota Yaris Cross at Christchurch.

Was charged 3500NZD for a tiny dent caused by a strong wind that opened the driver’s door while exiting the car. Budget did not explain why they would charge that much. Opened a dispute with them. Always the same answer. Misc charges On top of it my rental had been paid before at Rentals.com. Budget regards this payment as a voucher. They then charge another amount for a rental that for le was totally paid. Never again with Budget. A real rip off.

Reviewed almost 2 years ago

It is a shame there is no zero star.

Exactly what others have said, filled car with fuel before returning and was charged $128 for petrol. Budget do not send an invoice. You have to print one or ring and ask for one to be sent. I am waiting on receipts from fuel stations at the moment.

Reviewed about 2 years ago

I pick up the car at Hamilton airport.

Windscreen dirty which difficult with sun. Returned with full tank. However next day I was charged for refueling of car. Lodged a query but not getting anyway. My advise.. don’t go with this company

Reviewed about 2 years ago

Obtained a quote (in writing).

Paid up front. Picked up car, no problem. Returned car on time, clean and tidy, tank completely full. No problems. Returned home, (Australia), some days later, Budget charged my credit card an additional $150. I contacted them multiple times, 'best' answer I could get from them was the insurance cost more per day that I was quoted. How does a company do that AFTER the vehicle is returned? Is this a one-off instance? NO! Read the Google Reviews. It's happening all too frequently. Budget - Auckland International Airport does this frequently. DON'T USE THEM.

Reviewed 10 months ago and experienced in November 2022

Tried to change a booking 2 days out by extending it by another day (earlier).

Tried online (wouldn't work), called the Auckland Airport branch (number on Google didn't work) and then made 3 calls to the 'helpline' to sort. Was told repeatedly that they would get in contact with the local branch and would get back to me. Didn't and then finally after 2 days and my 3rd call, couldn't find a car, then charged me the maximum cancellation fee as it was within 24 hours of the original pickup. It would have been a smaller cancellation fee, but the time ran out as they never got back to me. Incompetent service. Will never use Budget Rent a Car again.

Reviewed over 1 year ago

It is a shame there is no zero star.

Exactly what others have said, filled car with fuel before returning and was charged $128 for petrol. Budget do not send an invoice. You have to print one or ring and ask for one to be sent. I am waiting on receipts from fuel stations at the moment.

Reviewed about 2 years ago

Hamilton budget rental.

Charged for fuel even though I filled up car. Just put charge on visa, no correspondence, no heads up. Not budget . Bad customer service

Reviewed about 2 years ago

This is not for a particular branch but the phone customer service is horrible.

The operators are clearly international and trying to change a booking through broken language was a 45 minute affair.

Reviewed about 2 years ago

Such a disappointment!

Not only are the prices a lot higher than the quoted prices, but the service was terrible!

We arrived at the Auckland airport to find that both the hire office and the customer service phone lines were closed, despite all websites and emails from Budget suggesting they were open at that specific time. This meant we were stuck at the airport with no car late at night with two small children - cold, tired and uncomfortable.

Thankfully, we managed to organize an Uber to our accommodation- which was an unexpected cost we hadn't planned for.

When we returned the next morning, after several attempts to call the office, there was no apology from the customer service team nor any recognition that the lack of communication (from them about our ordeal) or the fact that the office had beeen closed was any responsibility of theirs. Instead they patronized us by explaining that they had moved their service that night to a separate service desk at another terminal and had left a sign on the closed/locked door to inform us. My husband and I are both adamant that no such sign existed.

We will not be using Budget again

Reviewed over 2 years ago

Rented their car in Queenstown and we took a photo when we dropped the car off (no staff there) and afterwards they insisted we had damaged their car, even though our photos don't match their photos.

They then took money out of our credit card while the issue is STILL IN DISPUTE, legal actions will be taken if this is not resolved.

Reviewed almost 4 years ago

We hired a car from Budget rental car in Petone, Wellington.

DO NOT HIRE FROM THEM. They are anything but budget in their high costs. Not only that, they add extra costs you have not been told about. We were quoted over 500 dollars originally. Over 600 was taken from our account. Then they tried to charge us for a chip in windscreen that had been done by a previous person. Then a few days later took money out for a scratch. We felt tricked by them, from being asked to sign a small screen you could hardly see to being charged hidden costs such as gst that turned out to be extra to the quoted cost.

Reviewed about 5 years ago