Avoid This Place - Total Scam We picked up a rental car that was filthy from the start -- trash, dirt, stains, everything. When we returned it, the owner suddenly claimed we owed extra for "animal hair." We never had a dog in the car. Still, we vacuumed it just to be polite. When we came back, things got scary. The owner rushed out from behind the desk, got inches from my face, and looked like he was about to punch me. He screamed, cursed, and spit while yelling. I've never experienced anything like this from a business. This place is a scam and the owner is aggressive. Do NOT rent here. read more

This location is parking their rentals on the street. They should park them on their lot, which has plenty of room. read more

Budget Car Rental - Budget van - Car Rental Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

The guy before me brought back his car early and they wouldn't even entertain the idea of refunding the unused time, stating he prepaid and he'd be better off keeping the car and he'd be "losing money" if he tried to return it now. They didn't have a car for me when I got there (which you'd never guess from their online inventory, fully stocked with plenty), but turned to offer his to me after he gave up trying to fight paying what ended up being 800 for only using the car 3 days. I needed a car but couldn't make the electric car work since I live in an apartment without charging ports. I contemplated paying the 400 that they were about to charge me for my 3 day rental and figured I'd be better off taking the bus. Can't recommend. read more

From Bereket Atsmegiorgis "I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for the excellent service I received at Budget Silgo Avenue. In particular, Mr. Solomon Gebre Hiwot went above and beyond to ensure my experience was seamless and pleasant. His attention to detail, professionalism, and willingness to assist made all the difference. Thank you for having such dedicated staff members!" Feel free to tailor this message based on your personal experience! Your feedback not only acknowledges Mr. Gebre Hiwot's hard work but also helps reinforce a culture of exceptional customer service within the organization. read more

Is it possible to leave a review lower than one star? Don't waste your time here. Go somewhere else. They don't have cars even when you book online, they blame you for that ('you should planed ahead and booked a month ago") they are incredibly rude & apparently can't run a business. There are lots of car rental places -- go anywhere but here. read more

Today I came to this location to retrieve my BOOKED (meaning scheduled in advanced days prior) trailer. When I came it was not available for me. When they were able to "work it out" and send me to ANOTHER location to get what I asked for, which is also another major inconvenience considering I have to be out of my apartment within a day because my lease ends, the man told me "you are lucky we were able to make this work". No you're lucky I'm a customer here! read more

I made a reservation for a truck due to a relocation move. We got there and was told that no trucks were available although there were lots of trucks on the lot. We were simply told to call Customer Service (CS) with no apology. CS said that this happens all the time with their computer systems; it confirms reservations in error. They offered to help me locate a truck. NO THANK YOU!!! Do not use Budget, this error caused us time and money. read more

Is there a way to give less than a star? I will not recommend anybody to rent a car at this location 619 SIigo Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910. I rented a 12-seater van and the experience made my blood boil over. While the lady who helped me when I picked up the van was nice, I had a rude agent who tried to shake me down. He asked me to clean the car. I asked if the car was clean. He robot-like repeated "dog hear, sand." I never had a dog in my life or in the car. I asked him to show me where and what I should clean. He repeated "dog hair, sand." His colleague advised me to give the agent something so he would clean the car. He refused to point out where he sees any dirt that needs to be cleaned. He also refused to give me his name.   He charged me $450 for cleaning the dog's hair and sand that he could not show me and over my protest. read more

I had a truck booked there....I was moving house. I walked in, nobody was there. I waited 20 minutes past my 2pm check in time, and I decided to look outside. An employee was cleaning a car, and I asked what was going on? He said you will have to wait. 5 minutes later an agent came in, I asked what was happening, and he said, "helping other customers, you just need to wait." No apology, nothing. I did say It would have been nice just to let me know, just to come in, introduce yourself as I didn't even know why the place was left unattended. We then silently went on to the booking. I had my driving license, but not the card I entered on line. He made me feel very uncomfortable, saying I will have to go and get it, I could be committing fraud, he needs it in his hand. By this point, admittedly, I was frustrated, and I did say, "f**k" to myself, and certainly not directed at the agent. He immediately said don't talk like that. Sure, I should not have sworn, but I was frustrated. I asked to speak with the manager. The agent said, "That's me." I asked for his name, he replied, "I don't have to tell you s**t". I then said I couldn't believe the customer service here. He replied, "whatever, you don't like it, don't come here again. I need your card, that's it" I said nothing else, walked 30 mins home to get the credit card, and then 30 back. As soon as I arrived he said, "can't help you, you were rude. I've cancelled your order, please leave." I was amazed. I knew there was no point arguing, so I asked for a confirmation that it was cancelled, and informed him I would be calling corporate. "It's cancelled, get the confirmation from customer service, I don't need to give it you, I've already called corporate myself about you." I managed to frantically arrange a new truck pick up at a different budget, wasted time and and an Uber ride later. I then called customer service and complained. The service agent was surprised, as the order was not cancelled, and they had not been notified, and if I had not called, I would have been charged for a truck I didn't have. Was I at fault for swearing? Absolutely. But working in customer service myself, to say this gentlemen did not empathise or deescalate is an understatement. I also feel making me go back home to get my credit card, then when I return cancel was vindictive. read more

Car wasn't ready for almost 2 hours after pickup time. I reserved a sedan and got an SUV (I do not like SUV's, I just didn't want to wait even longer). Not using this location again. read more

Walked in at the last possible minute before closing . Amon and Bemi helped us unconditionally. Reservation was for the following day but that didn't matter . We had last minute change of plans and these guys went out of their way to help us . They even upgraded the car for no additional fees . Five stars all the way ! So happy we had these guys to assist us in a time of need . read more

What a mistake it was to "reserve" a truck here. Absolute nightmare. Should have heeded the warnings of everyone else on yelp. Same old story apparently-- we show up, the moving truck we reserved over a week ago is not available, guy behind counter tells me to call customer service (uhh... shouldn't YOU be the one doing the calling and trying to resolve the issue??). I called anyway and honestly it's a 30% chance you get someone on the phone who's actually helpful. What's the point of a reservation if it doesn't reserve jack shit? Honestly It might only be this location that sucks absolute ass. However I'm definitely hesitant to trust any Budget again in the future. Stay FAR FAR AWAY. You're welcome. read more

Please don't make reservations here and go somewhere else. I was planning a trip to go to the beach and wanted to rent a car. We successfully paid and made the booking online. When we went to pick up the car, we noticed tons of (irritated and unhappy) people waiting. A woman and an employee were arguing (which should have been my queue to go), but I stuck around since I had already paid. After 15 minutes of waiting for the employee to stop complaining to other customers about the woman he was arguing with and other random things that he was doing, we finally got to speak with him. The first thing that came out of his mouth was... "There are no cars." We explained that we had a reservation, and again, he stated, "Yeah, if you made a same-day reservation, there are no cars. Everyone here is waiting for a car. You can stay here and wait until closing if you want or go to the airport to pick it up." WTF?!? Why in the world are you saying you have cars available at this location on your website if there are no cars available? If there were no cars available for same-day reservations, we should have at least gotten a courtesy call about the situation so we didn't waste time and money traveling there just not to get a car. Also, the fact that he said we can "go to the airport" to get a car... like, huh? The whole reason we are at this establishment is that we need a car... and now you're suggesting we waste EVEN MORE time and money to go get a car from the airport due to the company's mistake? Ridiculous! read more

This is my first time reserving a car with Budget and this specific Location is GARBAGE. Complete and utter JOKE . The employees here are unprofessional and extremely uneducated. They'll tell you one thing by phone and when you come in person it's a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY. They'll make an excuse for everything. They have so many hidden fees it's insane. Then on top of that they add these ridiculous rules and regulations that make me want to Cackle. I will never in my life Book with budget again because of my experience today. read more

Budget Car Rental - Front - Car Rental Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

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I never leave Yelp reviews, but people should be warned not to go here. The staff are scam artists. You'd be better off giving your credit card information to a random telemarketer. For the good of the neighborhood, I hope this place gets shut down soon. read more

We were in and out in ten minutes; no walking 15 minutes through a sea of cars to get to your rental. We were given a choice of cars to go and see which we liked better. They were helpful, courteous, friendly and efficient. Good job! read more

Beware of hidden fees!!!! I rented a one way SUV from Wilmington, NC to this location. They were negligent in adding fuel charge at the Wilmington location so when I returned the car at this location (which was unnecessary I should have just dropped off the keys), the jerk wanted to charge me $9 per gallon!!!! Are you kidding?! After about 30 minutes of heated conversation with customer service I was able to resolve it. But never again will I rent from this place, ever. read more

I cannot SCREAM enough how effing horrible this place is. I reserved a car for 10:30 AM, and it's currently 1:30. The car I was originally going to get was known to have BRAKE issues, a safety feature and they said it wasn't working correctly!! So the manager went to get another car and the store closes at 2. THIS PLACE IS INFURIATING. How is this run so poorly!!! This place should seriously effing fix itself. I cannot express the frustration. DO NOT EVER COME HERE. Updated a few minutes later the guy who cleans the car ask if this is our car indicating that it's ready but we were never communicated that it was so I ask "is it ready?" He responds " I wouldn't say anything if it wasn't!" Like what the hell. Now your buns ness got people having attitudes and being rude?! Get your crap together, we all have shit to do that's why we scheduled an appointment. DONT EVER EVER EVER EVER COME HERE ITS A LIVING NIGHTMARE. read more

The agent at this location needs to be properly trained on how to provide good customer service. During my brief interaction with him, he was very rude and dismissive. I arrived 5 minutes after 2 pm on Saturday and was not aware when making my reservation through a 3rd party website that they closed at 2. When I arrived I noticed the store front door was locked but there were about 3 people inside. So I went to the garage to see if I could find the agent.  I waited a couple minutes and the mechanic told me he would be right with me so I waited in the cold in front of the office storefront. A few minutes later the agent walks into the office looks directly at me through the glass and proceeds towards his desk. I knocked on the window then he finally opens the door to tell me they are closed and his system won't allow him to rent out anymore cars. I told him I already had a reservation to which he replied there were no more cars available at his location and I should try a nearby DC location ( I forgot which one). He did not check his system or call them to make sure they had a car he just wanted to shoo me away.  I then left and called the location he mentioned and they told me they also had a shortage of vehicles. I asked him why the other guy would tell me to try them and he said the proper thing for him to have done was double check in the system before referring me to them. Thankfully after thinking about this later in the day and Googling locations that open late I called the airport Budget and was able to transfer my reservation there but of course I had to pay more in Lyft fees since it's farther away from my home. Overall aside from the airport saving my day this was a horrible experience and I've been renting Budget cars for years with no issues. They should have at least put up a sign stating there were no more cars available to rent if that were truly the case. Also they should reach out to customers with reservations if they no longer have cars available so we don't waste our time. read more

Rented a minivan for 8 from Reagan National airport in DC. It was bad enough that I had to pay a mini-fortune for the van (over $1,000), but they had to add insult to injury by sending me a letter saying they were going to charge me an extra $125 because there was "excessive interior dirt - sand on the vehicle." First, I was not at the beach so I don't know how there could have been "excessive sand." Second, never in my life have I heard that a vehicle has to be vacuumed before turning it in. I called and they reversed the charge, but the fact that they even attempted such a thing needs to be made known. read more

Do not come to this location, horrible experience. I made a reservation to pick up a car. We pre paid and completed pre heck and I checked all the requirements on their location website that they do take debit card from major visa or Mastercard (which it was). Only for when it came to pick up the car they told us they did not accept debit only credit cards and that essentially it's not their problem. Which was incorrect according to the type of car and it was a normal debit card not prepaid. We paid the 300 deposit so it did not make sense that they refused to take the card but at the time of the online reservation it stated the card was accepted They refused to refund the money they told us we had to call .which I made sure to. Do since Avis will charge a 150 no show fee if you cancel within 24hours. The person I spoke to seem to be in a rush while I was trying to gather the confirmation number of the reservation stating they can only be on hold for 2minutes.they stated our refund will come back to card in 3-10 business day. Which is upsetting because we are going into a holiday weekend for which we need the car for. Also they did the same thing to another customer at the time we had this problem read more

Stay away from this location!! I reserved a small moving truck to pickup today, but there were zero trucks when I showed up this morning. The bad thing is that I was not the only one who reserved a truck, and was sadly surprised this morning. There were a few other customers who walked away unsatisfied. Luckily Uhaul was available in a shopping center about 10 minutes away, or I would have been screwed. read more

I needed a one-way rental and it seemed like everyone and their mama was trying to rent a vehicle that day because this place was the third place I tried that morning. The other two were out of cars and thought they would have something by that afternoon, but I needed a vehicle that morning and that wouldn't do. This budget is a bit of a ways from downtown silver spring but you can still get to it fairly easily on foot and by bus. It is tiny but actually has a small lot of cars and NO CUSTOMER PARKING. For goodness sake, don't park on the driveway! When I was trying to pull out of the lot with my rental someone tried to park right behind me. It does get very crowded in the shop quickly, and there's limited seating so if it's a busy day (like when I came in) be prepared to stand. And this location always seems to be severely understaffed, manned by one lone worker slaving away behind one desk and two computers. The guy moves fast, can juggle pretty well, and is a multi-tasking rock star but that still doesn't change the fact that the business, especially during the busy summer months, needs more bodies behind the desk. read more

Super convenient rental location. Staff is always super friendly. I rent from here at least once a month and always have a good experience. If it's crowded, you'll be in there for a while, but they do their best to accommodate everyone within reason. read more

I made a reservation for a sunday in order to move from Takoma Park into DC. However, when I showed up to the location, there were a number of people ahead of me in line and the one person who was working was explaining to another customer that they didn't have her 16 ft truck available because they gave it to someone who had a reservation for a 10 ft truck and that they didn't have any of those either. Apparently the one truck they had left was a 24ft truck. Reading the other reviews, it is clear that they have no sense of inventory management or customer service. I left the budget office and immediately went to the huge UHaul location in Takoma Park. Within a half an hour, I had a truck, even though I had not made a reservation. I made the move during the day and was able to drop the truck off after hours. I had previously noticed that the Budget location said "no after hours drop offs" on their door, even though you can make a reservation online for an after-hour drop. This would have been the end of it had I not noticed a $50 "No Show" charge on my credit card. I called customer service and they took it off, but it is ridiculous that I had to do so. I don't know why I went with budget in the first place. read more

We're moving from Petworth to Friendship Heights, and this was the second time my wife and I rented a truck from this outfit to complete the move. Last time everything was fine, although there was a lot of pressure from Budget to buy the additional insurance - understandable from their perspective. However, this time they chiseled me out of twenty bucks. I rented the truck last Friday night from the Sligo Ave budget, drove it to Petworth, and parked it in front of my house overnight. In the morning I filled it up with stuff, drove it to Friendship Heights to unload, then drove packing materials etc from there to the Ft. Totten Waste transfer station, then back to Budget to drop off. They presented me with my bill, which was $74.79. I think hmm. I remember it being about fifty bucks last time I did this same thing, I'll double check when I get home. I go home and google map my specific point-to-point route. it was 23.3 miles exactly. I look at my bill - they claim I drove 48 miles. That can't be. I call the Budget people at Sligo and ask them to check their logs - there must be some mistake. They say no, the truck went 48 miles. A call to the Budget home office and that's no help either. I check my receipt from the gas station where I refilled the tank - $12.87 or about 3.4 gallons. Divide that out and according to budget, my truck performed a magical 14 mpg through stop-and-go traffic, but wait! the Budget site says that truck gets 6 - 10 mpg, consistent with the 23.3 mile, 7 mpg trip that I actually did. Bottom line, they cheated me out of twenty bucks and wouldn't own up to it. Judging from some of the other Yelp reviews here, if you're going to use this location, don't trust them any further than you can throw them. read more

The only service these people should provide is a funeral, though even then they'll screw you. I'm being charged nearly $900 for car damage that 1) they *supposedly* noted when I came to pick up the car and had nothing to do with, and 2) they conveniently found to a part of the car not visible on the outside, and two months after it was rented. When I told the customer care rep, a huge bitch named Michelle, that it was ludicrous that I was being charged damages to the car I had nothing to do with and they couldn't even prove I caused, she said simply, 'Well you can't prove you didn't.' Seriously??! The burden of proof's on the customer, how the fuck is this even legal?? I'm currently waiting for the results of the insurance claim I filed yesterday--oh yeah! I'd even paid for rental insurance!--and if this doesn't get fixed, I'll probably sue. Never, ever, EVER use this location or company. As other people have said, they absolutely are thieves, cheats, and liars. Budget is NOT your friend, the people at this location are NOT your friend, and if there's any loophole they can find to stick a working person with an out-of-nowhere bill for damages, they absolutely will. I hope genuinely that these people burn in hell, because they know they screwed me over. STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS. One star only bc it's the only way to warn you guys. read more

They sneak in charges!! They seem very professional and courteous but they slipped in many things I declined and being in a rush I didn't double check so it falls on me but I don't appreciate being deceived. read more

Poor service, incredibly slow. Waited almost an hour from my car to be ready, with no one ahead of me and plenty of cars in the lot.I will never return to this branch. read more

Are no stars a possible rating? Dysfunctional refined. For the 3rd day in a row I've had a truck reserved at this location and they haven't had one. This isn't the first time I've had issues with this location, but this is by far my biggest grievance. It's not even the first/end of the month! There also seems to be an ongoing issue with the employees. Either they need more help to keep from being frazzled or they need retraining in client relations and multi-taking. Heck, maybe both. I could write more about the scene caused by a local business person or the fact that two other people had truck reservations that were there while I was trying to resolve my issues. read more

I saw all the negative ratings here, and I thought I'd post a positive review for balance's sake since it appears that only the negative experiences have attracted reviews. I've rented from this location about 20 times in the past year or so, and I've found the service to be courteous, reasonably prompt, and meeting my needs. I've been impressed by how thorough the pre-departure damage checks have been. Maybe it's because I'm a regular customer with relatively straightforward rental requests (e.g., no one-way rentals, large vehicles, etc.), but I've never had any real problems. (The only problem involved toll charges that I thought I'd avoided, but that was with the Budget 800 number, not with this local office.) Sorry to read about other people's bad experiences, but I've had only positive ones. Saying that 'I'm a fan" (4 stars) is probably more accurate, but I've given them five stars because they've delivered what they've promised for me, and that's about as good as it gets in the rental car business IME. read more

Great local car rental place. Quality well taken care of vehicles that you would find at any airport location. I will admit that since I always rent from the airport, I was skeptical and didn't think the vehicle I needed would be available. I also thought I would be waiting in a long line forever. I called a month or so before reserving online and was told that the owner has two locations and if the vehicle that is reserved isn't on the lot it is driven over the day before. So I booked. I arrived at 8 am and after a short wait for the rental to be cleaned, I was on my way 30 minutes later. I booked a Premium SUV, Yukon XL. The vehicle was clean inside and out. The staff is friendly and pretty attentive. I will definitely rent at this location without hesitation in the future. read more

We rented a truck in December of 2015 for a move, five miles away. Hidden costs were discovered once I got to the Budget office, which by the way was very short-staffed (one person doing reservations/getting trucks and another doing whatever), very shabby and had multiple people in line waiting. It was freezing on the day we were moving and lo and behold when we were ready to take the truck back, it DIDN'T START. The battery was not working. We waited two hours for one of the company's tow truck contractors to come help us. We sat in the freezing truck waiting. This speaks volumes about their maintenance and care of their vehicles. Trust that I asked for a refund but could only receive a partial one. I do not like this place, the staff, and did not enjoy the experience. Please take your business elsewhere; this is not a professionally run Budget. read more

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS LOCATION! Believe what the other reviews say. The guys who work there lied to my face and cheated me. He asked if I want insurance coverage and I said "no." He said "ok," then quickly checked boxes and had me sign the contract. The next day I called to learn what the total charge was m, and lo and behold they charged me $27 for insurance coverage. I told them this was a mistake, and they told me I was the one who was wrong, that I elected coverage, and that I signed the contract. Do not go here! You will get ripped off! read more

The good: I reserved a 12 foot truck but they had a 16 foot truck instead when I arrived to pick it up. It was convenient having extra space to spare. The bad: When getting gas in North Carolina, the gas pump wouldn't work. Thinking it was a problem with the pump, I went to another gas station across the street. The truck still wouldn't pump gas so I called roadside assistance. A mechanic called soon after saying he was at least 90 minutes away, though he eventually found someone else closer. When the mechanic got there he found that there was a a valve in the fuel line that there was to prevent people from stealing gas, but it was also preventing me from pumping gas. This resulted in an over two hour delay in my trip. read more

I rented from here for my move. It's location to my new apt. is ideal. The service is terrible. One of the employees hit my car with a rental and scraped the paint. I was not in the car but watched it happen. He tried to tell me that he had not hit my car even though there was paint swapped between the two. I received no offer of compensation I'm any way. I'm glad my business with them was finished on that day. read more

I returned a truck here that I had picked up in Massachusetts. Reading the reviews here had made me nervous, but everything went just fine. There was plenty of space in the parking lot to park my car, there was no wait for service. I checked out easily and with no problems. While I was there another person was returning a vehicle and complaining that he was being charged for milage although he had expected unlimited milage. I don't think the problem was the fault of the employees at this location, but the man at the desk could have been more helpful than he was. Explaining what had happened and helping him figure out who to contact probably would have done more good than yelling at the customer. read more

If I could give this 0 stars, I would. The most unorganized service I've ever experienced, no exaggeration. We reserved a truck 2 weeks in advance from 9am-3pm. We got there to pick up the truck at 9, and they had no trucks available... our apartment unit only allowed a certain time frame to use the moving garage, so that threw us off and we had to reserve a truck from another company for another day. read more

I wish we could do ZERO stars. I booked a van for Memorial Day on the Budget website in order to complete a move between College Park and Bethesda. I showed up to find the office closed. No signs, not even one to acknowledge the holiday, just closed. Budget 800# scrambled to find me something small in the area for the same rate and threw in some free miles to compensate for the distance, but it delayed my move 2-3 hours and ran it into the peak heat of the day. read more

I have been renting from this location for a very very long time. I have never had a bad experience here renting primarily economy to full size vehicles. If you are looking to rent SUV's or Trucks, I wouldn't recommend this location, per se, as being your chief source of option. The staff are friendly and professional. Don't get caught up in the ambiance of the location. It is there to rent you a vehicle, not make you feel like you are flying first class to Dubai or something. read more