Budget Car Rental

Reviews

Reviews are sorted by relevance, with the most helpful and insightful feedback listed first for easy reference.

  ttyt
5 days ago
Please save yourself the time and money. First the front desk employees are so rude. We rented a car that broke down in the middle of nowhere. The employee basically said figure it out or pay 2k for a tow. We managed to get back and return the vehicle to which they said the car should ve been checked before renting out but was not. Then we got into a hit and run while we were parked and guaranteed we would not pay because it was not our fault. now they want us to pay 20k in damages for an accident that was caused by someone else. Please just do not rent from Budget.

  jeff
2 months ago
Do not rent with this company!! I had a reservation for 1.5 months, confirmed multiple times and when I arrived at 12:30am and -15 degrees, I was told they have my reservation but did not hold a car for me. They then directed me to Dollar Rental who was the only place that still had cars. I was able to get a 2 wheel drive van for Alaska s frozen roads for $150 more than my reservation. I was told by several locals that they are owned by the same individual and this was a common occurrence and their way of business. This company is a scam!!!! Be warned!Edit: After my review was posted you can see that Budget had someone to comment that they were sorry for the experience and would like to help. I gave them all the info they requested and after careful consideration they remembered that scams only work if you keep the money you scammed someone out of. They decided that they would decline to help in any manner.

  Jasmine Mollison
2 years ago
Just don't. I was told when I booked online that they car would be winterized and that they were not short an car availability due to it being off season. During my week stay the weather was below zero with an average of -20. Which requires your car to be plugged in. The car we received was a Subaru. It had a crack in the windshield and multiple scratches and dent everywhere. When we got to the place we were staying to plug it in, there was no plug. We called Budget and they told us they don't guarantee winterization, if it didnt start in the morning they would tow it. That it was my responsibility to go out and run it for a half hour every four hours of my stay. (Waste of fuel as well as time, didnt offer any compensation for the fuel). We asked for a new car and were told they don't have any and we don't have to worry about it starting.. Waited at say the car had a horrible time starting, called corporate and they said i would have to contact the local budget. (This being the ONLY location in Fairbanks.) After a long argument with Crystal (Manger) and threatening to sue if we got stranded somewhere and the car didnt start with this cold. She finally some how managed to have a car perfectly ready that was winterized. Which had a crack in the windshield and inside damage.Meanwhile if i returned the rental car one day two I would have been charged the Daily Rate which was more expensive then keeping the car for the week.Not to mention, none of the cars on the lot were plugged in, so they will freeze and it will be the renters issue when they pick it up and didn't buy insurance.Also, the cherry on top. When renting with Budget they give you a pamphlet of about 10-15 roads (highways) you are not allowed to drive in (regardless if buying issurance). One includes driving to Denali so if you're planning on doing that. You cannot.Sadly after I already booked with budget, I figured out that there is another rental company (Alaska 4x4) that winterizes and allow you to go anywhere. Will look into them on our next visit.

  Karoll Barrios
a month ago
The company is not clear and we ended up paying double the reservation and the employee was very rude and not helpful, she does not even respond if you say good night/morning the first night did not solve our doubts and we had to return the next day to ask another employee. The car was perfect but I do not recommend the company.

  Brandon Gilbert
a year ago
Rented a Ford Escape SUV with AWD. The lady at the counter in the Fairbanks airport was really nice. She modified our reservation when our arriving flight got changed by the airline. The vehicle ran great, but had no windshield wiper fluid. The snow brush was ragged, but worked. The temperature was too warm to plug in, so never tried that. Also, the rental lot has no gate, and was a little tricky to figure out how to exit the lot in the dark.

  Daniel George
4 years ago
Had a confirmed reservation made more than a month in advance, charged to my credit card, and when I arrived, they had closed early and put a sign out front saying they were out of cars. They had just sent me an email and text confirming my reservation that day. Tried to rent from competitors who wanted $400 more than I had already been charged by Budget. Literally left a bunch of people stranded and didn't bother calling anyone to alert them to the problem, and certainly didn't try to help them obtain cars with another vendor. I can't think of a worse thing to do to loyal customers. I've had good experiences renting from this location at least 3 other times this year, but this experience means I probably won't rent from Budget ever again.

  Akiko Ikeda
a year ago
My so far worst experience with rental cars was with this Budget.We rented a Chevrolet Suburban for 10 days in late March to early April, 2023.When we noticed that the car would slip and get stuck in the snow, we checked the tire, and it was a worn out "all-season" tire. Plus, one of the tires was lacking air. We later returned to the airport desk and checked with the counter, and was told that it was normal in Alaska to wear all season tires, and the air was perfect.This is not true, as we checked over 40 cars parked in the airport to find them all with studless tires. And, the lack of air on one of the tires was pointed out by our Alaskan landlady.They said that there would be no problem, as the highways are all dry. But!! Who would rent an SUV just for drives on dry highways?! We needed to go into the snowy areas, and that's why we rented the SUV.The tires we were supposed to drive on snowy roads were not studless, lacking air, and even worn out!I told them that if we drove a car with this condition in Japan, we certainly would be caught by the police. And they answered, "No problem with Alaskan police."(If this is true, there would be a great problem with the police in Alaska.)I must also point out that the windshield had a crack, which we were not informed when we rented the car. (They even tried to blame the crack on us.)As a compromise, they exchanged the car with another one, which had the same worn out all-season tire. The tires (as seen in the picture) were somewhat "better" than the first one, so we had to accept, but we certainly had a very "thrilling" drive throughout our stay. Thank God nothing serious happened.(Remind you, our driver was from the northern part of Japan and thoroughly experienced in driving in the snow.)Later, I heard that Alaska 4x4 offered similar SUVs with studded snow tires.I must say that Budget has no concern for safety of their customers.

  Jennifer Long
6 months ago
We visited Alaska over Labor Day weekend and when an unexpected flight change occurred, the wonderful employees in Fairbanks was AMAZING! They helped us change our car rental from Anchorage to Fairbanks and took customer service to the next level! They helped us plan stops along the way for a drive to Anchorage all while providing a quick and efficient experience with our car rental. Thank you to the Fairbanks employees and Budget Car Rental!

  shuhan chen
5 months ago
Awful! I was with them last week. they charged me 200$ extra for cleaning fee because I left some bottle of water on the car without notify me. the people name Veveis on the call is very rude. She keeping interrupt you and not let you finish what you want to say.

  Elizabeth Alves
7 months ago
Awful, don t use them. They tried to rent us a Toyota Prius that smelled like it was going to catch on fire or explode at any minute after it was just driven from the rental parking lot to the front of the airport to pick up our luggage. They called a mechanic and told us we had to wait for the mechanic to arrive. Um no! They would not give us another car that was available that happened to be an upgrade to a mid-sized SUV. Since when is a RAV4 a mid-sized SUV? I thought that was a small-sided SUV? At that point we just wanted our money back for the entire hassle and inconvenience. BUT, they REFUSED to give us our money back until we moved the potentially dangerous car back to the rental lot. Um, how is this our problem? It s your car, your problem! I can t believe this local franchise didn t care about the customer s safety and well-being. They were more concerned about returning the potentially dangerous car to the parking lot, God forbid the airport or local police came to chase us away from being double parked in front of the airport. I wish the police would have come so we could have explained the situation and reported that we didn t feel safe driving a lemon/car that could have potentially caught on fire if it was moved back to the parking lot. But we had places to go after flying all day across the country. Since our money was being held hostage after flying across the country all day and we were under a time constraint, we just decided to return the lemon/car to the parking lot so we could take our business elsewhere to another car rental company. What a complete hassle! Lesson learned. Beware of local franchisees (buying local isn t always better in Alaska) and read reviews before you buy. Sheer laziness is not how you run a business! Good riddance!

  Michael Duffield
8 months ago
I was on the phone with the customer service agent for 1:05:02 over a $153.69 overcharge on my car rental. The customer service agent was polite, courteous and enthusiastic in her efforts to resolve my matter. But, she continually had to put me on hold to consult with her lead when she was uncertain about a particular issue. Eventually, the matter was resolved . After checking my bank account, I realized that I was still overcharged by four dollars. Although this is not a significant amount, the point is that the agent failed to accurately resolve my issue.

  Karen Best
2 years ago
I picked up a Toyota Camry in Fairbanks March 22-25. I've lived in Alaska and knew what to expect for ANY vehicle to operate safely in this environment, I felt confident that using a rental agency that rented vehicles in the state of alaska, would ensure that all of their vehicles had a cold weather package and met certain safety criteria for traveling on Alaska roads. Upon picking up the Toyota Camry I noticed there was a cold weather extension cord thrown in the backseat. However after I got to our hotel and went to plug the car in I noticed there was no heater block plug on the car. I immediately called the airport Budget rental counter and she informed me that none of their vehicles have a cold weather package on them. So this car has inferior antifreeze which will make the engine subject to freezing at night; no way to plug it in to keep the engine warm at night there again subjecting it to extreme colds and damage; and upon driving it to the apartment up at uaf for my daughter and I to inspect, the property manager promptly noticed that the tires were not the right tires for the area, as in they were not studded, or have an aggressive tread for the packed snow and very ICY changing road conditions. These tires were more a radial tire not even worthy of mud and snow much less Alaskan snow and ice.I took this vehicle to Chena Hot Springs, which I figured would be mostly packed snow and ice, not usually a problem to drive on if you have an adequate vehicle with mud and snow tires or properly studded tires, however I can't count the number of times I got sideways in this vehicle and stuck...doing 15 mph. Inferior equipment made a normal 60 to 90 minute drive turn into a four hour extreme frozen Hell and put me and my daughters life in jeopardy trying to get back to our hotel in this vehicle.I am currently appealing to budget for a refund. They have no business renting vehicles in Alaska, that THEY admit, do NOT have a cold weather package. This car needs to be sent back to the lower 48.

  Arpit Mehta
7 months ago
Really bad, they operate separately from the corporate budget. The rules are different for them. For starters, we lost our mini van rental even though the flight number was part of the reservation. I called budget to change the reservation time and they said the van will be held for 24 hours. 24 hours was not honored by the budget car rental when we reached there.We were not told that we will be charged 20cents per mile which was no where mentioned when I did the booking.

  Katherine Hu
a year ago
I had the worst car rental experience here. They just want to sell things at a higher price and the people there are very irresponsible and do not notify customers any important change to the reservation.I reserved the SUV really early and locked in at a good price. But when I arrived theperson at the counter downgraded my plan to a small car without any notification when I signed the contract. I do not know that until I got the key to unlock the car. I had to go back to ask her to change back and she used the reason of age restrictions to prevent me from renting SUV. I have never faced that restriction before at any places. Then I asked her to have my friend who passed the age limit to rent the SUV. She canceled my reservation and rent us the car at a much higher rate She said it is considered as a different contract and refused to even rent us the small car back because the moment she canceled my order the only small car was booked I asked around for all other opened car rental company and they all said they did not have cars available I felt being treated unfairly and disrespected Don t rent car at this place. They can easily change your reservation without your permission and give as little information as possible to hide important information from customers.

  Pooja Choudhary
a year ago
We got really dirty car. Agent was horrible and super rude. She told us she cannot get it cleaned and if we have problem we can return the car.

  Eric Collier
a year ago
Here's a reason for the two star review, This Budget is owned by a third party who doesn't honor Budget's rewards program. You will not know this until you are at the counter, none of the rental websites discuss this when booking the vehicle. As far as normal business practices, they are on par for what you would expect of a car rental store front.

  Linda M
a year ago
Disappointed in this so called Budget Rental Car agency at the Fairbanks airport. When asked if they wanted my budget number, they said they were not affiliated with Budget Corporate and I would not be able to get points for this 2 wk rental. Also, when I returned car, it took them 3 times via follow-up phone call to send me a final copy of the paid invoice balance. And each time, the person on the phone acted like they could only give me seconds worth of their time and this is definitely not the right way to treat your customer. All travel agencies or online car rental sites should advertise that this Budget car rental is "An independent Budget System Licensee".Who knows what this really means if something happens to you regarding the car rental. Will it mean Budget company has relieved itself of all legal responsibilities and its the franchise owner and LLC that you have to deal with vs the large reputable Budget corporate. Use another car rental agency. Be AWARE

  georgiana hickey
a year ago
We are a family of five, with 3 special needs children. We moved to Fairbanks this January and had reservations with enterprise rentals that had been scheduled, and called to check on multiple times just to land after a 12 hour flight from the east coast to find out that we would be considered residents and not able to rent a suv to get to our new home. We had no one to call to pick us up and stuck at the airport with tons of luggage and completely drained both physically and emotionally. We checked with a couple other rental places just to get the same response. After a final try, we approached the ladies at the budget counter and were not only treated with complete professionalism, but one thing many companies miss and that is the compassion and understanding. The manager Vevesi Agae and the customer service agent Rita Tuinei not only helped us with a rental, they helped restore our faith in humanity with their overwhelming compassion and commitment to true customer service.

  Mirtha Mesa
2 years ago
Worst car rental experience ever! My plane arrived at 1:30 am to Fairbanks and by then they were already closed. It was the only car rental company that was closed in there. I took a taxi to my hotel with the hopes of coming back in the morning to pick up my rental. When I arrived in the morning, the lady wasn t even at the counter. Apparently she had stepped out for a few minutes. When I finally got to speak with her she said my reservation was canceled because I didn t pick up my car the night before and I clearly told her that I was there but they were already closed. She started asking a crazy amount of questions to reserve the car again and adding fees and charges when I had already paid for insurance and everything else. Another 3 people came out and told me if I didn t like they fees I could just go to a different company that was around, they didn t even accept Visa car. They wanted a credit card not a debit card. I had to end up cancelling the entire thing again because they were impossible to speak with. I went to Dollar/Thrifty and I was able to rent the car without any issues! They accepted visa card, they didn t ask me for so many questions. DO NOT RENT A CAR WITH THIS COMPANY! Go to any other company! I still can t understand why the process was so difficult with them!!! VERY DISAPPOINTED

  Jennifer Campbell
a year ago
DO NOT RENT HERE! TOTALLY DISHONEST!! We rented a car, and upon returning it, nobody was at the desk, so we took a picture and dropped the key. Got a collections notice in the mail that we owed over $3000 for damage to the car. The picture they had showed the car in a different spot than where we left it with 3 more miles on the odometer. The damage was in a spot that unfortunately was not in our picture. We had to pay it. NEVER RENT HERE!

 
6 months ago
They re really kind and cheerful! Even though I had to call towing and pay the fee for the car stuck in snow by myself, I think they tried to help me.

  Vikki Bancroft
2 years ago
AVOID AVOID AVOID! We rented from this place in September, about 3K for a week. It was dirty, scratched and had chips in the windshield- we were told there were no other cars so we took it. Halfway thru the trip, the windshield cracked across the whole view area ( we were on a main Hwy, nothing hit the windshield). We immediately called Budget and we re told to just keep it if it was drivable. OK. When we returned it in Anchorage we told the check in girl what happened and she said don t worry about it . We wanted something in writing but she just turned around and said it was no problem. A month later we re told by our insurance that they filed a claim for the damaged windshield ( including two days they were unable to rent it while it was being fixed). Hope all the future business they lost was worth it. AND the car was 3/4 full when we picked it up so they told us to return it the same way - then also charged us for not returning it full. AGAIN- THEY ARE CROOKS!

  Samantha Pak
8 months ago
Terrible service and bad customer experience overall. We do not recommend anyone renting suvs from this business!!! This business operates without integrity and refuses to consider any relevant customer feedback! We recommend you rent at another car rental and not here.

  Paul Son
2 years ago
I had a great experience, we arrived to the Fairbanks airport to get our beautiful SUV, the lady attending by night was so nice and very helpful and we did not take that long to get our keys and ready to go. The car drop-off was so easy too. We had any inconvenient with this rental company.

  Kati B
2 years ago
The check in and check out process were quick and smooth. The car was in good condition except for that we found other customers contracts inside the glove box with their names and birthdays. The ID numbers were partially shown, so it may not be a huge issue. If Budget could clean inside of the car better, unintentional disclosure of customers personal information could be avoided.

  Jeremiah Conley
3 years ago
I took my wife on a once in a lifetime vacation here to Alaska to see the northern lights. We had the car for one day. When we hopped in to catch the lights last night, the car won't start. Lights come on, starter just clicks. After several calls back and forth, they finally agree to pay for the tow. (After asking us to find someone to jump us, then considering making us pay for the tow.) We then had to find our own ride back to the airport to get another car. Compensation? One day discounted off our total. Great, considering we missed the lights with no chance of seeing them again while here, and missed our plans for the next morning due to waiting for someone to come get the car, only to be told the car previously had issues and then put us in the same type of car claiming they didn t have more. (Though there s several in the parking lot). A $35 refund and a promise not to charge us to fill the car back up (thanks, considering we can't fill it up anyways), is all we get for a ruined trip. Worst. Experience. Ever.

  Michael Cobb
4 years ago
I was in Alaska working the many wildland fires in the state this year. Pick-up was quick and easy from the counter when I arrived. I ended up staying a week longer than my reservation and it was a quick and easy phone call to extend my rental. The best part was after I returned the car. It was before the counter was open and I was unable to change the charges from my personal credit card to my fire department debt card. When I called to make the changes I was greeted by Sierra. She was very polite and professional and quickly made the change for me.

  Alan Zhao
2 years ago
This rental location is beyond absurd.1) They told me that they are NOT budget, but rather a private company uses budget name. And they won't honor regular budget specials/fastbreak status.2) Unprofessional and greedy management. Reservation is a joke, and their priority/waiting list (whether you get a car if they oversold) is based off how much customer pays. If you booked early and paid at a lower fare, No Car For You...3) The worst part is probably how they manage the reservations. After a year of rental car shortage, all other companies at FAI have planned ahead and scaled back available reservations. Only this greedy location kept reservations wide open knowing they have oversold. I was there in mid-Sep of 2021, they had oversold more than 15 reservations at that evening. By the time I left airport around 11PM, there were about 20 ppl (including 2 families with little kids) stranded without a car. The cold blooded staffs at the courter did absolutely nothing.If you ever need to rent a car at Fairbanks, try to stay away from this place, or at least have a plan B.

  Tom Flora
2 years ago
I rented a car for two months from this budget car rental service located at the airport. One morning prior to class I went outside to start the vehicle to warm it up as it was late February/ early March and still well below zero. I notice the rear view mirror hanging by its power cord and called the rental place. They told me to swing by and write a report and swapped me out vehicles presumably so they could glue the mirror back on in their heated garage. Over a month later I was sent a bill for $4500 in damages and an itemized list of repairs to fix the mirror.These repairs included: removing and replacing the windshield, removing and repairing the headliner, weather strips on the exterior, the battery, the wiring harness, applying a clear coat of paint, removing and replacing the sunroof and it s weather stripping, removing and replacing the interior pillars on both sides, removing and repairing the bumper and radar sensors, sheet metal repair , the list goes on.On top of that the mechanic wrote on his statement I had called to admit to significant damages to the interior of the vehicle. I have asked for a copy of this phone call as all calls are preceded with the statement they are recorded for quality assurance purposes and have yet to be given a copy of the recording after several weeks.Please be wary of this outfit, without signing up for their extra insurance coverage I opened myself up to their predatory billing practice. For perspective too I was staying on Broadmoor avenue a three minute drive from their lot, and on the same road as their garage. The school I attended is the Kornfiend training center and is on Dale road a further five minutes down that same road. There was no off-roading or wear and tear put on the vehicle, and it was never more than five miles from the vehicle lot on the maintained roads in the city.

  Celia Mullins
2 years ago
Researved 5 vehicles a month in advance for a business trip. When my clients arrived not only were 26 people stranded without ANY of the five vehicles they were told that this Budget location is not Budget and doesn t work with corporate and we booked through corporate Even standing there with 5 printed out confirmation sheets from booking through the 1-800 number they got no where and were turned away and were not given any vehicles. I called the 1-800 number and they told me that they always have this problem at this location (it would have been nice to know that when I booked). Mikayla at the counter was extremely rude and unprofessional and just kept saying over and over we are not Budget . If that s the case maybe they should take down their big Orange sign and change their name. Now we have 26 people stranded with no vehicles.