Wish I would have read the reviews before renting. I've had the WORST experience with budget car rental. 1st rental car- filled with trash & cigarette smell 2nd rental car- needed an alignment & windshield was cracked clear across. 3rd rental car- "bum bit*h" was keyed across the side 4th rental car- an hour on the road I smell burning oil. Check oil and it's 3% oil life. After getting to another budget counter, i was charged an extra $250 for an extra day BUDGET COMPROMISED ME WITH. Never again will I rent from budget! read more

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Terrible place. Over an hour wait with only 2 people working and that also super slow. We had small kids and this was pre- Xmas weekend. I saw so many families with little kids and this was at 10 pm. And to make things worse, some customers kept coming back, saying that their car smelled or that there was actually no car where the desk told them to pick it. Also no one outside to assist. Keep away from this place. read more

Arriving to Detroit airport on a Friday night at 7:45. Ten minutes waiting for a shuttle, then a fifteen minute ride to Budget outlet. Now in line behind AT LEAST 25 other travelers, and Budget has THREE people at the counter. Each transaction is taking soooo long, then we have ppl coming BACK to the counter because their car is incorrect in some way. This is inexcusable customer service, and the last time we rent a Budget car. And yeah, they only got one star because I had to add a star to post the review. read more

Friday night 10pm and they have only 1-3 people working the desk with the line wrapping all the way back to the door. I've faced some longer lines with budget before but this is the absolute worst. It's been an hour and I'm still in line , with my two young kids waiting. Last time I choose Budget! read more

Long line slow service only 2 employees behind the counter waited in line 2 hours They don't care

Arrived at Budget counter at DTW about 11:30 pm. Line for service was about 3 hours wait!!!!! Called Uber. Signed up for Fastbreak but they close at 11pm!! Had similar experiences in Denver with Budget on last 2 trips there. Too few agents and they spend way too much time with each customer. Budget response was first a $10 coupon and then a $40 coupon! Never again read more

Don't ever rent from this location or Budget. Waited 3 1/2 hours to pick up our car and it was beyond horrific. Agents were rude and disrespectful to customers. I rented the car through Costco and have informed Costco that they should cut ties with Budget car rental. Warning to stay away and don't rent from this place unless you have 3 1/2 hours to waste. read more

Bus doesn't come. Three Enterprise buses have come by and Budget is still not here. There is no one to call. Just automated systems that don't help. Wasting my vacation waiting here. read more

**Beware** Beware of "cleaning service" scam when return vehicle before opening. They charged me $450.00 for cleaning service due to smoke smell and ash debris in vehicle. I don't smoke. If look online, this is an apparent scam. Unfortunately, it's a "he said-he said" issue. They provided my with photos and the cleaning receipt . . . documents had many errors and not interior of my vehicle. Be sure to take photos, record, and video interaction when returning, especially, when after-hours. Dirty practices . . . read more

I travel 150,000 miles a year. I am in budget rentals 2 to 3 times a week nationwide. Detroit DTW Budget is absolutely the worst Budget location. after my rental on 2/8/23 I changed to another rental company. Their fastbreak has turned into a joke. The car is never ready. You have to to office. They say you got an upgrade and it's a downgrade I hope they can turn it around but I won't be there to see it. I took my 20 rentals a year somewhere where they appreciate my business and money. read more

Go anywhere else. 45 minute wait for 3 people in front of me. One person working the counter. A line out the door when I left. Car wreaked of weed. Shuttle was good but that's it. read more

Even if your fast break and have already paid for your car, they still make you go to the counter up front. Which has no less than 20 people at a time, and only 2 people working. Horrible, Horrible, Horrible. read more

can confirm. 7 years later (from the first post) they still only have 2 workers at the counter

This is the absolute worst car rental experience I've ever had in my life. We've been standing in this line for over an hour and have barely moved. There's 50+ people waiting and not even two people working at all times- one keeps walking off constantly. AVOID THIS LOCATION AND COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. Whoever is "managing" it should be fired immediately. UPDATE: I didn't post this review until after we left to see how long we ultimately waited. We stood in line for OVER TWO HOURS to get a rental. This is the worst run business I've ever experienced- I will NEVER come back to this location- neither should you if you value your time. read more

Budget - Been waiting in this 50+ person line over an HOUR and have barely moved. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. - Car Rental Near Me - Detroit, Michigan

From checking in and to there is no car in our class then getting a car and has a dirty towel and Cheerios going back in exchanging for a different car going to exit and finding out my paperwork is wrong and doing that twice all while trying to get to a memorial service was horrible when checking out no paperwork could not make sure the car was turned in and accepted properly calling five or six times because they had not transferred the new car into the same budget Reservation and asking for supervisors help nobody called back. It has been a fiasco. Please avoid this rental car location if you can. read more

To be fair, renting the car was fine except the desk person did not tell me that there was not an intermediate vehicle as I requested; I ended up with a full size SUV. I would have appreciated knowing that prior to getting to the vehicle. They got busy and I didn't want to wait in line to ask 1: why wasn't I told, 2: did I pay more for insurance coverage because it's a huge SUV. Otherwise all was fine until return. Waiting 15 minutes for shuttle to pick up at Budget to go to DTW terminal. Then shuttle driver refused to drop off at MacNamara so had to get off at international terminal, wait another 20 minutes for the MacNamara bus to get to the right terminal. Another budget driver told me the other driver "was mistaken" but still wouldn't drive us to the correct terminal. I WILL NOT be using Budget at DTW. read more

Went in to receive a car for a couple of days and left feeling like I was deliberately and malicious ripped off. I initially was trying to rent a car for the whole week but changed my mind once I knew my car would be done at the mechanics sooner than anticipated. At the counter, the lady who helped me and clearly didn't receive higher than a third grade education, tried telling me there was no other options other than a minimum of a "4 day rental" which I contested as it seemed very odd and not very "Budget" friendly. During this conversation, she clearly didn't know what manners are as she gave an attitude toward me showing no respect or regard for my concerns with pricing. Her math skills could be best described or exampled by an infant using counting blocks, unable to comprehend how many days are in the time span Sunday-Tuesday; either that or she was too incompetent to realize what day of the week it was. It seemed to be a clear attempt to take more money from me. Once I received my receipt I was able to identify the clear discrepancies I originally suspected. I waited on hold for nearly an hour with customer service just to talk to someone, who ended up telling me I had to call back in 2 days with a complaint number just to get back what I am owed. This is due to the first lady who "helped" me by stealing my money because of clear intellectual disability. She, again, struggles with basic math and still had the rental plan for 4 days, even with me clearly explaining that I only needed it for 2 and a half. She even had the planned return time correct, so at least she's a good listener. Now I am out almost 150$ because of their blatant stupidity, looking forward to being put on hold again as I patiently wait for my hard earned money that should have never been taken from me. read more

Worst experience ever. 8:30pm-midnight waiting in line, only 2 employees working. We missed a very important family event because of this. This is a warning to anyone who values their time. I've had better experiences at the DMV. read more

Long wait to get to the counter once dropped off by the shuttle. 1 hour 20 minutes, not including the time to do the transaction. My flight was just a little longer. All the people (shuttle bus driver, counter staff, return person) were good, there simply are not enough staff at the counter, though there is plenty of empty stations. This was a Thursday evening in middle of November, so not expected to be a high volume day. read more

1-1/2 hour wait after a 5 hour flight. Only 2 people at the counter. There's a line of people waiting to leave the parking lot after waiting 1-1/2 hours. They seem to have enough staff walking around with 2-way radios but none know how to write up rental cars. Walked across the way to Alimoche and rented 3 cars in less than 1/2 hour. Would never attempt to rent a car from Budget. Budget service at best. Avoid this place if you can. Walk across that way and get in and out and start enjoying your vacation. read more

Budget is not living up to its name because it has no budget to maintain its fleet. Tried to exchange a Nissan Rogue after driving over 400 miles with warning light on saying it was time for oil and filter change. Small airport dealer refused, because it had to be returned to a maintenance supported airport - 2 hours away. Employee said they have been turning them down for 2 years since Budget and Nissan could not agree on a maintenance contract. Some cars have 40,000 miles without having any maintenance. Bottom line, don't buy a used car from Budget or rent one unless they can show it as been maintained. If you don't ask and you have a problem during your rental, you are responsible for returning it to the right airport, even if it breaks down. I am done with Budget!!! read more

One star because so far the car runs. Surprised with CoVid still around that they don't even wipe down a vehicle before they rent it. Absolutely filthy and disgusting. read more

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Do not rent a car here!!!! 2.5 hr wait times. Terrible customer service. Tried to charge more and argue even after I showed a confirmation receipt. Said additional charge was for picking up late as I was waiting in the 2.5 hr line the entire time. Charged my card so many times it got frozen. Gave us a car with expired registration/tags. Difficult to exchange, long wait. Lots of cars on the lot with expired tags. Staff truly does not care. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!! Manager Malcom refuses to come resolve the issue. read more

Absolutely ridiculous! Huge line to check in - even longer line to be given a car. This is the absolute worst car rental experience we have ever had! read more

This location will rent you a car that is not road worthy. Had MAINTENANCE REQUIRED dash lights as well as RED Exclamation Marks even before I drove it off the lot. Check out receipt was noted to have issues as soon as I rented it. This vehicle should have never been issued to a paying customer. I have reached out to BUDGET regarding this only to be sent a generic form letter response of "so sorry". Went to the COMPLAINT ESCALATION website and still have received no response. They do NOT care if the put you in an unsafe vehicle....BEWARE! read more

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There is a long line with 1 person working the counter. DO NOT RENT FROM BUDGET. they know how many people rented cars and for what time their pick up is so should staff appropriately. They don't care about your time read more

Was super nervous after reading these reviews, but we had a great experience at budget car rental. We arrived mid-day on a Wednesday, there was no line at pick-up. The car we rented was extremely clean, had low mileage, and a full tank of gas. The car ran great our whole trip, and drop off was easy. Would use again. read more

Do not ever rent from budget. I rented a gas car to go see my dying grandmother and the hospital instead, they gave me an electric car that was not charged and I spent a good chunk of time trying to resolve issues with the electric car, including getting it charged for five hours. the people were very unhelpful and it was a very stressful situation read more

Wow, I should have looked at the reviews first. I thought a National company would be OK and booked this rental through Expedia for a recent long weekend in Michigan. Boy was I wrong! I flew into Detroit from and took the shuttle to the airport facility. There was a pretty long line, but the lady who handled my rental was excellent and I got my car, in about an hour. Towards the end of my wait a gentleman came out, apologized, said something about a problem with the computer and gave out bottled water. The people after me weren't so lucky, there were well over 100 on line when I left, they were out in the parking lot as they couldn't even fit in the office. I met a woman on the way back who had spent about 3 hours online that day. I took my car to out hotel and had no issues. The next morning however, it wouldn't start. I was pretty dismayed to call the Roadside assistance number and be on hold over 30 minutes. After finally getting a person, I spent another 24 minutes on the phone explaining what happened. She sent a tow truck. When the tow truck arrived about an hour later, he jump-started the car. He didn't check the battery (he told me he had no way to check it). He told me if I drove it a while, it would probably charge. I drove the car and later that afternoon needed another jump start from one of the people I was visiting but was able to get back to my hotel. In the morning, the car would not start again. I called the Roadside assistance number at 7 am and again, had to hold for over 30 minutes before I got a person. They sent another tow truck. He got there at about 11 am and told me he was supposed to pick the car up and drive over an hour to Grand Rapids, drop it off, get another car, drive it another hour back to me. The tow truck driver was terrific. He took the car and promised to do his best to bring another car back, leave the key at the front desk of my hotel and call me with complete information. Which he did at about 3pm in the afternoon. This was the second day I didn't have my rental car to use! The car he left, performed as it should have and I had no further problems. I dropped the car off in the morning of July 29th at the airport in Detroit. I spoke to a nice lady at the desk, Patty. When I asked what they could do for me, she got her supervisor Samia. The two of them agreed I shouldn't be charged ANYTHING for the rental as it was a disaster and would have ruined my short weekend vacation (if I let it). Although I don't travel a lot, I do rent a car a few times a year. This was by far the worst rental car experience I've ever had. The lack of care shown by the Roadside Assistance people (they just didn't care what happened to me, and it was very obvious). Having to hold 30 minutes or more each time I called? What kind of national company can't afford to do better than that. I still have NOT seen the credit for this on my credit card statement. I certainly hope that what they told me when I dropped the car off is true, but it's hard to tell with a company that's so poorly run. I certainly will NEVER use Budget again. read more

My wife and I rented a car from this Budget location on Sept. 6-8rh. We made sure the car was returned in the same or better shape as the day we rented it. When we returned the car there was a long line of cars and a few inspectors. The gave us a ok and passed us upon the return. Today, 9/23/2023 we received a letter charging us $125.00 for excessive soilage. This is a robbery!!! Liars, Liars, Liars. Zero rating. read more

absolutely the worst car rental spirits I have ever had and I'm getting ready to retire. I travel often and this was an absolute fiasco. Would recommend not using them or Avis, which owns budget. I'm calling Southwest Airlines to recommend a delete them from their preferred providers for awards points. the service was terrible. The staff did not know what they were doing. There was only one guy that could help the other ones get through one rental and 20 minutes. I literally waited three hours for a car read more

If I could give zero stars, I would. We prepaid for a rental car and have been held hostage in line 1 1/2 hours with only 2 employees working the counter, with a line that went outside the rental counter. We flew into DTW for a wedding and only have the weekend. Shame on you Budget for not respecting your customer's time. Loyalty is gone - never again, Budget. What a frustrating and disappointing experience. read more

The LAST thing you want to do after getting off a long flight is to wait in a horrendous line for a rental car. Thus, when we got to Budget today and walked into the building to discover we were number 19 in line ... well, let's just say it sure takes the wind out of your vacations sails (oops, I jumbled my transportation references, but you get the point). Waiting sucks. Unfortunately, in Detroit's off-site rental car set up, you can't just walk down to the next counter. Ugh! After finally renting our roller skate of a ride, we had the pleasure of waiting outside (with a dozen other folks) for at least 40 minutes while they had to detail and wash a car for us. Yep, had to wait while they washed a car--excuse me, what is the point of a reservation?????? Oh, and just learned that they cracked the windshield on our car while washing it, so now we get to wait for them to wash another car! (I've had to edit and update this review 4 times already--just when I think that things cannot get worse ... they do). In total, we waited over 90 minutes before we were off the lot. In fairness, though not sure if it was because of the delay or the cracked windshield, we got upgraded from a Ford Focus to a GMC Acadia. Either way, thank you for that upgrade, Damon (Ops manager). Unfortunately, by that point they were in such a hurry to get the Acadia clean that when they drove it through the car wash they failed to put up the back windows so our backseat passenger experienced a super wet seat for about the first hour of our drive. (You really just cannot make this stuff up.) My original 2-star review just got downgraded. I travel roughly 20x/year and this, hands down, was the worst customer service experience I have EVER had with a rental car company. read more

Absolutely horrible another company that wasted my time while visiting this confusing state. Do not rent a vehicle from ANYWHERE BUT THE AIRPORT YOU ARE WAISTING YOUR TIME UNLESS YOU ARE FROM THIS BACKWARDS STATE!!! Of course the ladies who run this operation do not tell you this, they keep having you come back, making you pay their holding fee (but I have USAA so I don't). Just avoid the scammers and rent at the airport!! read more

This was the fastest rental car experience we have ever had. Everyone from our shuttle driver to the counter agent was so positive.

Budget shuttle service from Detroit airport to car lot, dropped the ball, we waited about an hour for any shuttle to arrive, and only after I stopped an Avis bus, and they radioed dispatch, did any shuttle arrive. All other car companies had multiple busses, not budget. The phone number to budget at airport was not answered, just automated menu, even tried emergency roadside assistance, and they did not answer either. When we finally got to Budget counter, 10 customers were in line waiting, so another hour went by. Not a pleasant experience for an AARP prepaid customer. 2 hours of poor customer service, then a 2 hour drive to Cleveland at 11 PM at night. We will remember Budgets role in this, when we book again. read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Detroit, Michigan

Worst car rental place EVER. Over two hour wait with only two people at the desk. I will never rent from Budget again. At one time they were my favorite. Now it's Enterprise! Don't rent from here. Takes almost 20 min to rent a car for each person in line! It's a train wreak! read more

Just WOW. The line is out the door and there is ONE register open for each agency. 2 total. Buckleup buttercup because we're going to be here for hours... with 6 kids, including 2 toddlers read more

Budget - Line winds around and around and then goes out the door - Car Rental Near Me - Detroit, Michigan

The front desk agent Keke Porter provided exceptional customer service in assisting me in retrieving my wallet! Thank you Keke!

Wow, I just received a cleaning fee of $125 dollars after a Jeep rental. THANK GOD I took pictures of the interior (as well as the exterior and bald tires). The interior was FILTHY, otherwise I'd have only taken pics of the outside like usual. I'll be appealing this with photo documentation, adding to all these negative reviews, and submitting a formal complaint. I waited an hour and a half to pick up a car I reserved online. What's the point of reserving? How does a company stay in business with hundreds of negative reviews. They obviously don't care about their customers. I just hung up after 30 minutes on hold to clear up this issue. Will never use Budget again. TAKE PICTURES BEFORE YOU DRIVE AWAY OR GET MANAGER TO SIGN OFF. read more