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    Budget Car Rental

    1.5 (361 reviews)

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    These two photos clearly show the amount I was initially promised to pay, including taxes, and the final amount I was ultimately charged.
    Igor T.

    I rented a car from the Oakland Airport rental facility and on the way to San Francisco I noticed that the fuel gauge appeared to be malfunctioning. Concerned, I contacted a friend who owns the same model and sent him a photo of the gauge. He confirmed that the tank was likely empty. After driving approximately 20 miles, I stopped at a gas station in San Francisco, refueled the car, and verified that the tank had indeed been empty at the time of pickup. Despite this issue, I returned the car to the San Jose Airport location with a full tank of gas. I submitted a complaint through Budget official website with evidence supporting my claim and requested a refund of $80 for the fuel. However, I was informed that I needed to provide additional clarification regarding the start of my trip. Ultimately, I received only a partial refund of $12.12. I am deeply disappointed by the inadequate resolution and lack of support throughout this process. This experience reflects poorly on your customer service, and I find it unacceptable. Also These two photos clearly show the amount I was initially promised to pay, including taxes, and the final amount I was ultimately charged.

    Windshield wiper
    Alexander E.

    I traditionally choose Enterprise when renting. But Budget had the only availability, and through Costco, the price was outstanding. About $1300 for a minivan, pickup OAK and dropoff SAN, for two weeks. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. As you can see from my photos, the vehicle was poorly maintained. The tires and windshield wipers were pretty much shot. But, that's only the tip of the iceberg. The car suffered from what I believe to be severe transmission issues. Specifically, on at least two separate occasions, the car just stalled out. The first time, as I was pulling into a parking spot at the Midway, the power steering and brakes went out on me. Thanks to my wife's suggestion, I threw the car into park and successfully restarted it, before hitting anything. The next day, the same thing happened again while waiting uphill for a traffic light in Solana Beach. Suffice it to say, I was afraid to drive, and was never more relieved than when I returned the car in San Diego. I reported these issues to a rep named Thaer. In sum, this was an awful experience. Usually, I give bad reviews because something didn't meet my preferences. Here, I'm penalizing Budget for putting my family's life in danger.

    Jennifer J.

    Just had great service with the short haired Indian lady. It was fast and efficient and got my rental car. I was so surprised how fast I got out of there on a Friday afternoon!! The last time I had bad customer service with another lady in our car stunk like weed. When I got my car rental, it was nice to see that there is a post it showing that my car was sanitized. The last time it was not like this at all. :) This visit was awesome and easy! I wish all of my rental experiences was like the one today.

    POV: you've waited 45 minutes after a long flight to get your rental car from Budget, and you still haven't been helped.

    Don't do it. It's Memorial Day weekend and they only had one staff member working multiple brands. The line behind us is even longer. Do not rent here. It's not worth the frustration.

    Infant car seat provided by budget. Dirty not possible to tighten.
    Sabrina R.

    ****DOES NOT GUARANTEE CAR SEATS***** We traveled to OAK to visit family for thanksgiving, of course this is a busy travel day but it doesn't excuse the negligent and frankly unconscionable actions of Budget rental car. I booked the car on Monday morning for Wednesday evening (something like 55 hours in advance) when my sister said she would prefer we rent a car as she had a conflict with her kids activities. So thus we had to drive up to Santa Rosa for the holiday so this is about an hour drive. We also booked two car seats (an infant and toddler seat) through the website - reassured with the "budget guarantee" that car seats would be available if we booked at least 48 hours in advance. I have a baby 6 months and a toddler. We arrive to the oak airport and I send my husband to go get the car so we didn't have to take the kids on the rental car shuttle. The budget people don't warn him at the rental car center that they do not, in fact, have the car seats. They just drive him to the desolate OAK rental lot after paying for the car, showing up with only ONE INFANT SEAT! And honestly it is the worst car seat I've ever seen, dirty with fabric draped over it and it was not possible to tighten it to secure my baby. My husband is pissed after traveling with two little kids on an airplane, and Budget then trapping us into this situation. He had to go to target to purchase car seats. This is on top of a 400 dollar rental car!! The stress of this was immense. I was walking the kids around in circles in baggage claim feeding my toddler Cheetos for dinner since my husband had to go to target now so we could be safe, delaying us by a couple hours when all was said and done. It was around 4 pm when we landed and we didn't leave till around 7. I can't imagine what a family would do if they got in late and target was closed! Just not have car seats for their little kids?!! We called budget and they wouldn't even refund us. This is honestly a harmful company and could kill children if parents decided it was too much work or expense to go buy car seats. I'm looking into how to report them for what is probably an illegal practice. Shame on budget for their dishonest guarantee and for no ensuring the safety of children traveling in their cars.

    RENTERS BEWARE. 
  Returned this car in June and was issued a $450 cleaning fee.

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    Very bad as they charge you a lot for less. Even though highly priced, they charge you for even for an extra hour.

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    I am a member with Budget & got a good car & the lovely woman at the desk was helpful, kind & efficient. No complaints.

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    At OAK BUDGET, about 40 people in line and no one at the counter the past ten minutes.

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    Page 1 of 10

    Budget Car Rental Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Budget Car Rental

    Iooking for the email I'd of the manager of Budget rental car at Oakland international airport?

    I don't have it...I ended up calling the Customer Service line and even escalated it to the Corporate Office

    I need pick up car 1am are they open or have shuttle?

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    Review Highlights - Budget Car Rental

    From the time we parked the car to the time we were on the shuttle to the terminal was less than five minutes!

    Mentioned in 4 reviews

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    Alamo Rent A Car

    Alamo Rent A Car

    3.3(299 reviews)
    0.0 mi

    Had a great experience with Alamo at the Oakland airport especially by a wonderful employee by the…read morename of Kayla E. We had accidentally left our car seats at baggage claim and needed to pick them up and she allowed us to use a rental car seat to keep our child safe while we went back to airport to grab them. Child safety is of utmost importance and so is customer service and I greatly appreciate what she did for me and my family. Thank you so much Kayla E!

    **Unacceptable Customer Service at Oakland Airport Location**…read more **Location: ** Alamo, 7600 Earhart Rd, Oakland, CA 94621 | Phone: (833) 659-1913 I booked a 3-day rental through Expedia for pickup at 11:00 PM on 6/18/2026. When I arrived, my card was declined for the minivan I wanted. The first agent--a guy--simply said "you can't use two credit cards" and walked away--he didn't offer a single alternative or solution despite knowing I urgently needed a car for my Joshua Tree trip. So, I had to find my own solution. I located a cheaper full-size Jeep Wrangler and went back to the counter with a new reservation. This is where the real problem started. Agent Kayla never properly processed my new Jeep reservation. She continued processing the minivan instead, which is why my card kept being declined. When I checked my card balance, I had more than enough money for the Jeep rental. I went back to her and showed her--my card clearly had sufficient funds. She then asked, "Did you have another reservation?" I said yes, under my husband's name, but I told her **multiple times** that my new reservation was for the **Jeep, not the minivan**. She wasn't paying attention. She never switched the reservation in the system. This wasn't a card issue--it was her failure to properly process my booking. We spent nearly 2 hours troubleshooting a problem that shouldn't have existed if she had simply listened and done her job correctly. She was dismissive, abrupt, and never once apologized for wasting our time. **Why this was so frustrating: ** Alamo's policy requires one card for the rental + $400 deposit hold. I understand the reason--they need to secure the deposit. But here's what made it inexcusable: I had a Capital One debit card with $5,000 available. Both agents rejected it outright without explanation. **Alamo's own policy says debit cards ARE accepted at airport locations** if you provide your return flight itinerary--but neither agent explained this nor asked if I had my flight confirmation. They just said "no" and refused to help problem-solve. Money is money. $5,000 is more than enough to cover a rental and deposit. Their inflexibility was unnecessary and unhelpful. **The core issues: ** - First agent refused to help find alternatives - Both agents rejected available debit card funds without explaining actual policy - Kayla failed to properly process the Jeep reservation despite being told multiple times - Poor attention to detail and lack of basic listening skills - Unprofessional, dismissive attitudes from both staff members - Nearly 2 hours wasted with my two younger children, arriving home to Bay Point at almost 2 AM If you work in customer service, you have one job: listen to customers and help them. These staff members failed at both. People deserve better, especially at major airport locations. Do better, or step aside for someone who will. These people had 0 manners and they are both adult! ~Ella

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    Thrifty Car Rental - Chaos

    Thrifty Car Rental

    1.6(185 reviews)
    0.0 mi

    5 star service anytime I'm in town. I don't even go through any other companies. Obi goes above and…read morebeyond for his customers!! making it extremely easy and always helping find the best deals and rental options. From my experience, thrifty/dollar always seem to have a solid selection of cars to choose from as well.

    Going to avoid renting a car at the Oakland airport Thrifty if I can. Each experience is worse than…read morethe previous. This time, we booked a car a couple hours before pickup (2 pm). Checked in at the counter, and after running my credit card, they informed me that there weren't any cars available, that it'd hopefully be 60-90 minutes ("or longer"). We were planning on driving to LA, so the delay was pretty significant for us. (ended up hittingt lots of Friday traffic and arrived in LA much later than we'd hoped). Irritating that Thrifty would accept the booking for 2 pm when it didn't have an available car. And I wasn't informed at the counter until the transaction was completed. And no attempt was made to find another car via Hertz, upgrade, etc. And the agent at check in was unintelligible, disinterested, and couldn't care less. (The other agent who gave us the keys 90 min later was much more customer service oriented, briefly apologizing for the wait). While waiting, I called customer service who supposedly booked an available car through Hertz. But at the Hertz counter, the agent shrugged and said she didn't have a car available, either. Thanks, Thrifty

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    Thrifty Car Rental - Upon return, they scanned the car 1.5 hours late, which resulted in a second charge.

    Upon return, they scanned the car 1.5 hours late, which resulted in a second charge.

    Thrifty Car Rental - Thrifty car rental

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    Oakland International Airport - Rental Car Center - Return here

    Oakland International Airport - Rental Car Center

    2.6(176 reviews)
    0.0 mi

    4+ Really convenient rental car center associated with the Oakland Airport…read more There's a convenient shuttle that goes between this rental car center and the airport. It's not huge, so it's pretty easy to find which car rental company that you were looking for. Recently, I was working in the area and had to use this place a few times. I had no issues it's clean and there's a nice bathroom that you can use as well.

    I always rent from this airport rental and its always worked out well as far as car rentals go…read more However this last experience I would give 10 stars if I could! We dropped off the rental as usual but once we got home I realized I left my backpack with my wallet and other personal belongings in the rental. I rushed back to where we dropped the car off and asked one of the attendants ( an older and amazing African American gentleman) if they saw my backpack. I gave him my rental slip and he said the rental was most likely in another area so he told me he'd check on the vehicle and would be back in a few minutes. I was panicking the whole time thinking Id have to cancel my cards, get a new dl, and replace everything I had in my bag. But shortly after the gentleman returned and had my backpack with everything still inside!!! I was unfortunately in so much shock that I forgot to ask his name. Im so grateful for the amazing service and experience we had today. Thank you for the great service and to the amazing gentleman that retrieved my bag! You're an angel and I hope you get the raise you deserve! I will gladly continue renting from here!

    Photos
    Oakland International Airport - Rental Car Center
    Oakland International Airport - Rental Car Center
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    Shuttle to the terminals

    Dollar Car Rental - Don't use Dollar. Waited a hour in line.  Very short staff. But getting to know the people around us.

    Dollar Car Rental

    1.8(220 reviews)
    0.1 mi

    One of the cheaper options or at least one of the brands that provide consistently affordable…read moreoptions as compared with the others. I was recently working in the area for over a month. When looking for different options, Dollar consistently was one of the more affordable options. The cars were always clean and relatively new if not really new. Since I was pretty used to renting cars and knew what I needed, I handled all the decisions and booking upfront. Once I got to the counter, the transaction experience is pretty straightforward.

    DO NOT USE DOLLAR/Hertz…read more Show quoted text Dear Jayler L., I am still unable to secure the correct replacement vehicle. Despite being referred to Dollar, Hertz, and the Sonoma County Airport, I have yet to reach a resolution. Each time I call, I am told I am contacting the wrong department and am redirected elsewhere. This has been an incredibly frustrating experience. Please provide a direct solution or the specific contact information for someone who can finalize this vehicle swap immediately. Best regards, Michael Show quoted text Best regards, Michael On Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 5:49 PM Michael wrote: Dear Jayler L., I am still unable to secure the correct replacement vehicle. Despite being referred to Dollar, Hertz, and the Sonoma County Airport, I have yet to reach a resolution. Each time I call, I am told I am contacting the wrong department and am redirected elsewhere. This has been an incredibly frustrating experience. Please provide a direct solution or the specific contact information for someone who can finalize this vehicle swap immediately. Best regards, Michael On Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 4:45 PM Michael wrote: Dear Jayler L., I am in an unfamiliar area and do not have easy access to look up contact information online. Please provide the specific phone number for Emergency Roadside Service so I can call someone directly to secure the replacement vehicle I need. Best regards, Michael On Fri, Apr 10, 2026, 12:08 PM customerservice@dtag.com customerservice@dtag.com wrote: Dear Michael Kolosey, I hope this email finds you well. I appreciate the opportunity to review your concerns. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience and frustration this situation has caused and understand the urgency, especially given the time you've already spent attempting to resolve this. To ensure you are directed to the nearest available rental location with an appropriate replacement vehicle, please contact Emergency Roadside Service directly. They have real-time visibility into nearby locations and vehicle availability and can coordinate a swap at the closest possible location to you, including near Petaluma, California, if inventory permits. Emergency roadside service will be able to guide you immediately and help minimize any further delay. Thank you for your patience, and I sincerely apologize for the disruption to your plans. We appreciate your business with Dollar. Yours sincerely, Jayler L. Dollar Customer Services www.dollar.com

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    Budget Car Rental - carrental - Updated September 2026

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