Not satisfactory experience. ( pretty sure that this review will go into a void) Cars were overbooked. The online reservations did not match the actual vehicle inventory. I was in line for over an hour to be seen. I rented an intermediate SUV, but they only had large pickup trucks. I took the offer. The check- in staff was professional and friendly given the circumstances. They provided a fuel credit due to the inconvenience. The pickup was too big for my needs. Difficult to maneuver. Many of the features that should be available on a large vehicle were not equipped or programmed, especially the parking technology. My car lacked wrap- around cameras to assist parking, proximity warnings when close to objects, or back up warnings. The back- up camera was imprecise. I had no functional trunk. My drop-off experience was poor. It was Easy to drop off. One agent was friendly and helpful. The other public- facing agents were uncaring or rude. My agent barely spoke to me and didn't ask basic questions about returning the vehicle. Offered no assistance. I also had bad experience with staff in preferred member area. Five minutes after returning car, I realized that I had missing items. The friendly return agent directed me to the desk agent. The desk agent was openly dismissive and rude to me . Suggested that that my reason for checking the car was not important. She was dismissive and didn't want to offer help. This is not an exaggeration. This experience makes me less likely to rent a vehicle from this vendor at that location. read more

It's memorial day weekend I reserved this vehicle more than 2 months ago. I arrived at the counter after about 15 minutes trying to find the location and there is NO CARS AVAILABLE! After 20 minutes they have a Durango but I have to call customer service cancel my original reservation and rebook for the Durango. Per customer service over the phone NO CARS WERE AVAILABLE! And to top it off the young lady working the counter 05/22 at 4pm, was rude and not helpful. Please don't rent from here! read more

Soooo, I'm at Budget Rent A Car. I booked my rental through Southwest Airlines with my flight. I've been sitting at the facility over an hour now because they don't HAVE ANY CARS!!! I was told to come back tomorrow at 6:00am! I've been here since 11:15pm and it is currently 12:40am. Hertz, Dollar, Avis, Budget, Enterprise and Alamo are here but none of them have cars. As a matter of fact there aren't people at the counter only 1 man at the Budget counter. Unbelievable!!!! read more

I rented a car at budget on December 6th when I turned in my car I forgot two brand new Starbucks metal coffee containers in the back seat of the car. I'm so disappointed that my cups weren't found. How could they be lost they were in the car. I hate a thief. read more

My experience started out with Andrei. He was kind and helpful at the rental desk. When I returned my car, Jose checked me in in the garage and directed me to 3 people in the garage office, Brittany, Kim and Marie, who were very friendly and helped me with removing a fuel charge from my bill. They called the manager, Lamar, who took care of the details in a timely fashion and was also very kind and professional. I appreciate how they were able to end my visit to care for my elderly mom on a great note. Thanks all! read more

Be very careful with the promotions like the return via refuel option - it clearly states no worries to stop and refuel, choose now at the current rate of $3.56 a gallon. You know it might be more/less in reality for a gallon of gas if you refuel on your own. You also know refuel on your own is the stated price at the pump. What is not clearly stated by Budget promotion is you will be charged 'another' sales tax and is will be charged for a full tank of the vehicle despite returning at half tank. read more

Can I rate a zero? I approached the Budget counter at which Avis workers were covering. Attendant placed drivers license in scanner backwards and the license was invalidated. I was refused car rental pick up. I asked for the Avis manager, ROLANDO TRUJILLO, and informed him my scan was invalid and could they rescan my valid and current drivers license (that I just used to travel with through TSA), and he said "no I cannot and no you cannot have your car". My wife then politely talked to him and again stated my license was scanned improperly and could they rescan. He refused and became abrupt and extremely condescending, turned around and walked away leaving us stranded. I walked away calmly and sat down in the area for 15 minutes, until I saw a new attendant come off lunch break, then approached them and presented my license. He scanned it correctly. and of course it was validated and I secured my prepaid rental. After I secured my rental, I again asked to see the manager Rolando Trujillo, and he refused to discuss this manner with me and refused all communication or feedback regarding his attitude and despicable customer service. I proceeded to pick up my rental and my wife and I had a pleasant short vacation visiting family. I will never rent from budget in the future and will discourage all of my clients and patients from doing so. Mr Trujillo needs an HR review and feedback toward his approach to customer service. Absolutely disgraceful approach, especially in this era and competitive market. read more

I received a bill for $450 on 1/18/25 for a Budget car rental at MDW 12/14/24-12/17/24. We went to my uncleś funeral. Budget claims and backs up with photos of a dirty car- not the one I left after renting. They also state it reeked of smoke. No one smoked in the car during my entire rental. So far I have been on hold 45 min received the photos by email that supposedly back up their claim and then got hung up on by their agent. I have been a fast break member as well as an Avis preferred member for over a decade. I always leave my rental cars pristine. If you rent from Budget/Avis take photos of your car yourself before, and after renting. Get a photo of the person checking you in and out as well. Otherwise DO NOT RENT FROM BUDGET?AVIS at MDW. read more

Rented a car on 7/13/25, nobody at either desk and the only employee around refused to help for over 30 minutes.

Listen to the negative reviews! They're true. I will NEVER go through Budget or Avis again for a car rental at Midway. We literally waited for 2 and 1/2 hours for our car. They are the only two car rental companies that form their lines together. I have never witnessed anything like this. When we finally were next in line, again after 2 and 1/2 hours, someone from the company said they're calling people up as the cars come in. They didn't even have enough cars for everyone! Literally, there were probably another 100 people behind us waiting. Nobody ever apologized, didn't offer anything to drink or a credit. Nothing. They could care less. When we went to the counter, we were told the midsized suv we ordered wasn't available. If we wanted to wait for it, they couldn't tell us how long because we would have to wait until someone actually returned one. If we wanted a car immediately, we'd have to get a 4 door pickup truck because that's literally all they had. Well, we weren't taking a chance of staying any longer so we stupidly chose the pick up due to desperation. What a disaster. A massive pick up truck in down town Chicago! We're absolutely miserable right now driving this to the point where it's ruined our trip. We can't parallel park this damn thing and driving down the narrow roads with cars, people, and bikes everywhere? It's too stressful. We can't go from place to place down here because this thing is impossible to park! It is worth the money going with enterprise or national even if it's double the cost. I will never ever rent at these companies again. DON'T DO IT! read more

Got to the car rental place at about 12:30pm. Had reservations and the wait just to get to the counter was 3 hours long. There were 4 employees total manning the counter, however 2 of them would go on break at the same time. When we finally got to the counter, she directed us to where the vehicle would be parked and stated that it would be ready with keys in it. Got to the parking spot and it wasn't there. We asked one of the employees about it and she told us that they were still servicing it and that it will be in the spot in a few mins. Turns out instead of parking in the spot where we were waiting, they pulled it up to the waiting area and the first lady we encountered at the counter wrote the wrong license plate number. All in all, I recommend going with a different rental company and also to reserve in advance as the other rental companies were out of cars. read more

rental car did not have a full tank of gas, trunk had papers strewn around, slight odor in car. called to complain and told to talk to person a drop off. At drop off i was told to call customer service. I have called 3 times and waited for supervisors call back which never came, in the meantime I was assessed a $450 cleaning fee. Still waiting for the supervisor of the supervisor I finally talked to, to call me back. Save your self the headache and rent from anyone except Budget. Appalling service. read more

Super rude customer service on my return did not know how to explain the extra charges just handed me a brochure and said call customer service we have nothing to do with that, but the lady that I handed the keys to up stairs was very nice and respectful read more

Reviews aren't lying about 100 people in line at 8 am with 1 employee working. Extremely slow process to pick up car 30 min after they open read more

Budget Rent A Car - Line length at 9 am - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I did hear back from Budget, from an actual person, who said they are evaluating and working on doing better. I appreciate the follow up, where I could have been ignored completely. Hoping they can improve. read more

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE WITH BUDGET. I booked a reservation online for the COUNTRYSIDE location, paid in full with their "pay ahead" feature, and received an email confirmation that my reservation was for the COUNTRYSIDE location. I called Countryside to confirm and to ask what I was required to bring with. I was informed that my reservation was automatically moved to the MIDWAY location because Countryside didn't have any available vehicles. Yet, I never received ANY NOTIFICATION that the location had changed. Can you imagine if I would've paid an Uber to go to that location, only to be told at THAT TIME that my reservation was moved without any notification to me. Then I asked what I needed to bring with me and I was told my drivers license and the card that I paid with. I took an uber to MIDWAY, only to be told they don't accept debit cards at that location and I couldn't rent the vehicle that I already paid for, and I had to take an uber back home and call for a refund. When I call for the refund, I'm told that the COUNTRYSIDE location would've accepted my debit card... you know, the location I reserved in the first place!!!! Now I have to wait 3-10 business days for my refund, I'm out $ I paid for 2 unnecessary uber rides, and no rental car. HORRIBLE SERVICE, BUDGET! ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE read more

Budget Rent A Car - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Absolutely SUCKS!! 40 people in line and 1 very slow agent. Never again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have now spent at least 4 hours trying to resolve this issue. I am so incensed by this entire fraud that I am not giving up. Here is the story. I rented a car from Dec 22nd to Dec 28th 2023 from Midway Airport. This car seats 7 people. You must pull the middle seat forward to climb to the back. So far so good. When I pick the car up it has a significant smell of "air freshener" that is clearly covering something, but I need a 7 seat car and it is Christmas week. I am an optimist and figure the smell will dissipate. By the next morning, when we climb into the car, it smells fully of marijuana. We have to leave as we are on a schedule to drive 5 more hours to Northern Wisconsin, so I do not have the luxury of driving the 90 minutes back to Midway to exchange this car in hope that they have another one - during Christmas week. So we all deal with it, but EVERY time we get back in the car, the smell is disgusting. The weather in Northern Wisconsin is rain - for 5 out of our 6 day trip. The roads are sand and dirt. Although we are careful and do not step on the seats as we get to the back, we do get some dirt and sand on the floor of the car. This is a CAR, not our Living Room. We do our best. This is normal wear and tear. When we return our car to Midway, I tell the attendant that the car smells like pot. She makes a note of this and tells us not to bother telling the people inside. They won't do anything about it. I should call customer service. She gives me a card to look it up. The receipt looks like it is more $ than I thought we agreed to, but I know they keep money back - just in case. I will be patient and wait for it to resolve. At this point I think everyone is honest. When I get home, before I have had a chance to call about the pot smell, I get a letter saying that I am being charged $450 for cleaning fees because the floor had dirt and sand on it. When I call about this, I am sent pictures of dirt and sand. I am told that they rent cars in good condition and expect that they be returned this way - DID I MENTION THIS ENTIRE CAR SMELLS LIKE WEED?????? They take off the $80 overcharge of the fuel pre-charge that I refused upon rental, and I send them the receipt for the fill up that I did at a Shell station 1.2 miles away. Then they say they can take 50% off the cleaning charge. I can fly direct to Midway in Chicago from Savannah and vacuum out this car for less than $450!!! I can have this car detailed three times for less money. I don't think I should be charged anything for a quick vacuum out, but certainly not $450 or even 50% of that. I have spoken with Tristan, Oscar, Mar and Portia. I have been given 3 different numbers to contact and no-one answers or they tell me too bad. Apparently a car with 22,000 miles should have a perfectly clean floor - why don't you give it floor mats??? You are renting it out of Chicago Midway Airport. You guys get snow there. You have a mud-season. No one at the actual counter answers the phone. I just sent this note to customer service as instructed - we will see if I get a response. BTW - rented a car from Budget at Kansas Airport - no problem there. Sincerely disappointed at Midway. read more

Worst locations possible, employees are not doing their job, just sitting inside doing nothing while there is a line of minimum 30 people. very unprofessional. Don't come here will complain to budget themselves as well. read more

If I could rate them a 0, I would. We arrived at Budget Midway Airport over an hour ago and will be in line for at least another hour. People have been waiting over three hours in the same line. They have one person working at the checkin desk. If you go upstairs to the fast break desk, there are three people sitting up there doing nothing. They will not help; they will not come downstairs to help check people in. It's the most ridiculous system I've ever seen, and we will never rent from Budget again. In addition to the long wait, the employees could not be more rude when we inquired for their assistance even to my daughter. THE WORST PART OF ALL THIS IS THAT THEY OFFER A SERVICE TO PREREGISTER BEFORE ARRIVAL....BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO WAIT IN LINE! read more

Budget Rent A Car - 3 hour line at Budget. No lines at any other car rental company. - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Horrible is all I can say. I've tried this twice while visiting Chicago and it has just gotten worse. Service is terrible. We waited for 30 minutes for a car to be brought to us that we were continually told 5 more minutes. It's being cleaned. And as I am writing this, we are still waiting. read more

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If I could give zero stars to Budget I would. This is the worst car rental experience we have ever had. What terrible customer service. The website is ridiculous and the cars that are listed as options aren't available. Despite there being literally hundreds of cars in the lot we were told there was nothing available. What is the point of making a reservation? No one in person or over the phone could help us make what should have been an easy change to our reservation. What a joke. I'm so angry and now I unable to get where I need to go. This is horrible and I will tell everyone I know NEVER to use Budget. read more

I rented a SUV Nissan pathfinder from budget car rental on the 3rd of September 2021 for a family trip to Memphis Tennessee. I returned the vehicle on the on the 5th of September 2021. Before l dropped the vehicle l told the attendee that l have no time to vacuum the vehicle or else l will be late dropping the vehicle. The staff told me it is okay. The vehicle was in clean shape but about two weeks later l got a letter from budget saying that the vehicle was smelling with cigarette smoke and mud all around the seats and floor. I don't smoke neither is my wife and my children are under the age of twelve. I never came in contact or near anybody body that smoke on this trip. Budget charged my credit $458.00 to clean the vehicle, this was claimed in the letter l got. I was angry because this was a false claim by budget, l called the phone number on the letter but nobody picked up my call even though l left my phone number nobody returned my call. This is highway robbery by a failing company under the management of AVIS car rental. People stay away from BUDGET CAR Rental. . read more

Budget Rent A Car - Angry customer. - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Our vehicle pickup at Budget Midway was horrible at every turn. We waited over an hour in line because despite having a reservation, Budget Midway did not have any cars. The manager offered no real explanation for this and no assurances that the issue was being addressed. When we were finally assigned a car, the agent double booked the car - someone was already inside it! Then we were booked in a car that didn't exist. By the time we finally left Budget Midway, we had been there for 2.5 hours and missed a wedding welcome event we had hoped to attend. After this experience, I'll never rent with Budget or Avis again. read more

When arrive no rental cars available at Budget and Avis. When 100s of people with reservations

There are currently over 60 people in line, and a single employee behind the counter. There is another employee directing foot traffic, who has now moved half of the line over to the Avis line, essentially have of them cut in front of everyone who has been waiting for almost an hour. No one has even verbally addressed the crowd to acknowledge the long lines, or apologized for the wait. Budget - You sold all your cars to make a quick buck, fired all your employees during the pandemic, and now you can't service any of your customers with bare minimum satisfaction. There is no process, no organization, no customer service or even simple human decency. I am never renting budget again. read more

If you want to rent a car and have a debit card, good Luck because they wont let you. They DENIED me because I had a DEBIT CARD... On 08/25 I waited about 45mins in line of the midway Budget to be told that they don't take debit cards. The only time that they will allow you to use a debit card is if you have a flight... THAT'S FUCKING BULLSHIT!! I rented from them for a total of 3 days because my car was in the shop and that I needed a car to go to work and at the end I couldn't even go to work because the front desk denied my debit card because I didn't have a flight. I missed work because of that. The worst part, I asked her why they don't take debit cards and she wasn't even able to answer me. THANK YOU VERY MUCH BUDGET, I'LL REMEMBER THAT. WORST COMPANY!!!! read more

Horrible experience- do yourself a favor and choose ANY OTHER RENTAL AGENCY. Waited an hour and a half in line. for a reservation. With a tired, hungry toddler. When I asked the staff ("Miss My") what happened today, she snapped at me that her coworkers were irresponsible and didnt show up and that if I didn't like it, I could wait for the next available staff. I wish what I had done was gone to any of the other available desks- EVERY one of them except for Budget/Avis had reasonable wait times. read more

Friday evening,August 11, I went to the Budget car rental counter at Midway Airport where I had a reservation for an intermediate SUV. I (as well as others in line) were told that the only vehicle available was a pickup truck. Being a family with 3 children, this was not a viable option nor acceptable. The agent said I could wait for an hour or so to see if another car became available. I said to the agent that in the past, in such situations, I would be upgraded to another vehicle. She said they had minivans but they were reserved for others. Budget had given away our reservation but wouldn't do the same in this instance. When I persisted, suddenly a Nissan Sentra became available which I accepted even though it was a downgrade. When we went to the assigned parking space, it turned out to be a Chevy Blazer parked there. By the way, there were many cars and SUV's sitting in parking spaces in the Avis/Budget lot. I went back and contacted an agent on the parking level who checked. She told me that the first agent had incorrectly assigned the space and car. She then gave us a Camry. At the gate, there was another problem. They had a wrong name listed. We finally got out of the rental area but then received an email that I was being charged more for the rental than my original reservation. One incompetence after another. Corporate needs to be aware of these problems encountered by us and others that night and should make amends for the aggravation and costs incurred. Otherwise, my family will have to think twice before reserving with Avis/ Budget in the future. read more

Fraud charges**workers stealing your items you leave behind***Had a rental here, left my wallet, next thing I know is one of their workers who clean out the cars, stole my wallet I reported missing, and used my debit and credit cards. Was never "found". Careful what you leave behind, they're workers that report you lost items, are snakes and will use your stuff you leave behind. They also give away the cars 30 min after you drop it off. So whatever you left behind it's bygones to your things. They even called the person who had it after me and they didn't see it in there. My card was also used after the car was already taken, at the midway rental location so it confirmed that it was a worker there. read more

We returned bout rental car with a FULL tank of gas and the woman who received our car said "so we need to charge you for the gas". We explained to her that the tank is full but for some strange reason she had such a bad attitude and walked away. She emailed us a receipt and they charged around $100 extra for fuel. Now we're calling Budget and it gets routed to an international office with a rep who is asking us the customer who was erroneously charged to fill out a request form?!!! Tried calling the local Budget office front desk but they do not pick up. Now we need to take a shuttle back to Budget rental car to explain this in person since nobody is helping! Worst experience ever. Never again. read more

Car was not clean; found a lost shoe in the car. Also, declined option for gas and filled the tank prior to returning but still got charged over $100 for a fee claiming tank was not full. Luckily, I kept a receipt . Suspect, this is a common practice at this Facility. Will never use Budget again !!!! read more

Expect long waits This off property rental serves both Avis and Budget. Oddly, they have two queue lines. One for Avis and one for Budget. The agents took turns pulling from alternate lines. We were in line for about 40 minutes waiting to get a car. Given it was Friday evening, we expected a little more staff in customer service. All the other rental companies were open and available. I will rent another brand next time. read more

Not an especially good experience with Budget at the Chicago Midway Airport. I have used Budget in many other cities and nearly always had good experiences, so I am concluding that this poor experience is due to the Budget employees in Chicago. They act like that are giving the car for free, their customer service is horrible!!!!! I don't think I will ever be willing to even think about renting a car with Budget. read more

Yvette! You are a sweet heart! Thank you for helping us with price comparisons between Avis and Budget and for compact vs. economy and for adding Sam's club discount on top of all that! She gaves us several tips and pointers that we should return our car about 2 hours before our flight. Complimentary shuttle to and from the airport is included. Tip: Rush hour is 2-6pm on Fridays! Avoid these times and you will not miss your flight! read more

The worst experience i ever gotten. I reserved my vehicle at this location n paid for it only because it was the only one that had vehicles available. Keep in mind in order for me to get here i had to use an uber spent $30 to get there n only for the front desk lady to tell me that i needed a credit card to hold funds for $250 in order to get my rental. Im like why if you guys already took my money and paid for it. According to them its a policy rule. Dumb rule. So in other words i had to spend another $30 to go back home on a uber call customer service n get my money back. Never again!!! Stay away from this place n this company. read more

I was overcharged 300 dollars on my credit card after the return of the rental vehicle. I spoke with a phone budget representative and he explained that I agreed upon extra insurance with the front desk. The front desk told me that I am paying 400 dollars. The whole total was suppose to be 400. She told me 50 dollars of it was for the insurance. That is what I agreed upon with her. I was feeling a bit rushed with her but SHE had told me after asking multiple times that I'm paying 400 dollars total that any other amount was supposed to be a hold charge which would be returned after the rental is returned. I'm very furious with the outcome of this and it is unbelievable that I'm being charged extra for something I did not agree upon. She did not explain that there would be such additional charges during the signatures. She told me 400 dollars would be my total.  The vehicle came back in the way it was returned. I vacuumed the inside before it's return and filled up the tank as I was supposed to. STAY AWAY from this rental service they are bad for business! read more

Can a car rental place get rockstar status? Yes, yes they can and this place is one notch from it. I use Budget almost exclusively now because of their empathy for travelers like myself. However, the lady at the counter wasn't too friendly. They usually give me a choice of 3 cars but this time the lady just said "Your car is waiting upstairs." Ok, I get it. You want to usher people through even though I was the only one at the counter! The experience dropping off the car made me smile. Whoever the girl was that checked my car in did so with a welcoming attitude. We talked about Chicago and food. For a split second I wanted to hang around and chat but I had a plane to catch. As I was taking a picture of my receipt (for work), another attendant asked if I needed help. I smiled and said I was just doing this for work so I don't get yelled at when I do my expenses. haha! We had a quick laugh too and off I went to the shuttle. Not all places are the same but Budget seems to have the most continuity across the brand. They may not be the cheapest each time but they are consistent and that's what I look for. I'll spend a little extra money so I don't have to go through the hassle of getting a bump on the log. Thanks Budget! read more

Need to do a much better job getting clients out of lines and into a car. 6 car rentals in front of me takes an hour. Is not what I want to do after a long day of travel. This long process of up selling wastes everyone's time. Had I not paid in advance I would have walked over to the other rental car company's where there was no line. We would have been there longer if the Avis people didn't help out and expedite the process .. read more

Budget Rent A Car - 8 car rentals at Midway airport. Budget is backed up with customer s - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I waited 45 mins in a line, only to be told to move up to the 3rd floor to wait in an even longer line, with no regard or respect to my own time. Whether staffing or otherwise, better communication, especially with customers patiently waiting without complaint, is necessary. You've lost this customer - I went to National, rented on the spot, received a free upgrade, and enjoyed fantastic customer service. read more