Truly, the worst rental experience of my entire life. We rented a car and drove it from Santa Barbara to SLO. When we reached our destination, we saw that there was a bump in the well of the tire, which could result in the tire exploding on the road. We called budget and they sent out a tow truck and put the spare on the car, and then we had to drive it to the SLO budget at the airport to exchange it. We got a new car and drove back to the hotel. The next day we saw that none of the tires on the cars had air caps. We also did not drive off-road or hit any speed bumps, but a piece of plastic was dragging on the bottom of the car. We also exchange that car at SLO. Days after this terrible experience I see they've charged me an extra $150 for insurance I did not approve, and a fuel fee because we did not return the malfunctioning cars with a full gas tank. We were more concerned with getting off of the road in these dangerous cars and returning them to the office. I called customer service and they most they would offer me is a 15% discount on the fuel fee and a 50% on the insurance I did not improve. I really think I should get 100% back because the reason we returned the car early without a full fuel tank is because it was dangerous to drive and we wanted to spend as little time on the road with it as possible. Additionally, I did not approve the insurance so I don't know why I need to pay any of it. I cannot recommend anyone use budget. read more

About the worst car rental experience I have ever had. I rented a CAR at Santa Barbara Airport, CA on Oct 14; The flight was on time and NO one was at the rental counter; a minor irritant since I waited for 10 minutes to get service. Had a flat tire on 10/18; Budget helped with TOWING; Promised a replacement at Santa Barbara airport rental location. On 10/20 Been trying to confirm that they have a 'replacement (I have said any car is fine)' ready at Santa Barbara airport, Budget rental location, before I go there in person. Made about six phone calls to Budget Customer care; Spent over 90 minutes waiting on the line and then talking- issues not resolved. They have technical difficulties and the phone lines are sending a message to call back later. I have to go in person to the location, and hope they have a replacement. Avoid this car rental. Such a lousy service. They do not care about customer. Nor do they deserve your business. read more

Awful customer service. I left an item in the car and didn't realize until I'd gone through security. Tried calling, couldn't get through to the local branch. Was told to go to budgetlostandfound.com, but this location isn't listed there. Flight was then cancelled so I went back to the counter, literally 45 mins after dropping off the car. Was told I couldn't go back out to check the car. But they would check first thing and would have an answer for me when I got back to the airport the next morning at 11. Arrived at 11:15 and was told they hadn't had time to look yet. Then he said, "there are a lot of cars that match that description so it can take a while" What?! You know exactly what car I was in, you have the license plate. For reference this is the smallest airport on the planet, with a tiny fleet of cars. So tiny in fact that every time I come here (6x in the last 18mos) they never have the car I reserved even available. The stock is that limited. This is truly unacceptable. I never really had a good experience here, except the first time I ever came. She was lovely. I won't be back. Time to switch to National or Hertz. read more

This was the worst car rental experience I have ever had. Despite having a reservation, there was no car for me upon arrival. Staff failed to connect on a human level, failed to offer an apology, failed to take any responsibility whatsoever. Next, my phone alerted me that an unknown AirTag had been planted in the vehicle. Creepy. Calls to Budget failed to result in any support. I was told twice that a supervisor would call me; none did. I was repeatedly told by Budget employees that it wasn't their problem. In fact, there was not a single person I spoke with who took ownership, and there was actually no way I could find to actually reach a Budget employee who would help. Never. Use. Budget. read more

Was weirded out by nobody being in return lot to return car, but Joseph Mejia at the counter made up for it with incredible service and was incredibly helpful with a return of a car that was far to big for my comfort. Thanks Joseph! read more

Rent your car with one of the other options. We booked a car over a month in advance of our trip. Arrived in Santa Barbara, and stood in line for quite a while, only to find out that what we reserved wasn't available. They gave us a free upgrade, for a car that has not been serviced. When I say not serviced we got a car with a quart tank of gas and someone else's trash still in the door pockets of the car. Not to mention they basically sent you to the lot and let you wander around to find the car they gave you keys for. Returning the car was worse than getting it. You pull into the same lot you got your car from and there's a sign that tells you to put your car in a "budget" marked space, write down your fuel and mileage, don't lock the car, and return your keys to the rental counter. The lot was full, with no space for the car to be returned to. This rental counter needs to get an agent in that parking lot to handle returns so that we don't have to stand in line a second time just to return the car keys. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! This experience made us realize we'll only rent from Enterprise from here forward. read more

This review is not just for Budget at the Santa Barbara airport, but the company as a whole. It started at the Santa Barbara Airport with a rude clerk. I was greeted with, "Yeah, what?" after standing in line for almost 45 minutes. I was supposed to get a Camry or equivalent, but instead I got a Prius. He also didn't ask me if I wanted insurance, or if I wanted to pre-pay the gas on return, which i found odd. The bad experience continued when I got to the car. The car was dirty, inside and out. There was visible damage to the vehicle as well. When I opened the door to get in, two fast food wrappers fell put, one of which still had food inside. The inside of the car smelled musty, like ammonia. When I went back to say something, the clerk was gone, and. After waiting for ten minutes, the clerk at the enterprise desk told me he was "on break" and she didn't know when he would return. I took the car at that point, with the intention of stopping at the Budget in Santa Maria to deal with it there, because I was behind schedule. I drove with the windows down, because the smell was almost overwhelming. Half way to my destination, the TPMS came on to notify me that the front right tire was at 20psi! When I stopped to check the air pressure, I couldn't find any puncture, but I did notice that none of the tires have valve caps. When I got to my hotel, I called customer service, who instructed me to take the car to any Budget location, and they would give me a new one. Both of the locations in Santa Maria "didn't have any cars", which was clearly a lie, since the lots were full, and "couldn't help me without instructions from roadside assistance". They were also rude. read more

We were recently in Santa Barbara for a memorial service . When we picked up our SUV, the young woman behind the counter was very friendly and cordial. I'd never driven an electric car and found that our SUV was a hybrid. After a few unsuccessful attempts to start the car or drive it, I went back to the counter where the same woman denied that it was an electric vehicle. When she accompanied us to the SUV, she realized it was a hybrid and showed us how to use it. But it was raining and rain was coming into the car from somewhere above the rearview mirror. We didn't know how to stop this from happening so we returned the car the next day. The man who was behind the counter seemed to be in a bad mood. I asked him why that was and he said he had six incoming flights that day. I told him what our problem was and that we wanted to exchange vehicles. He said he either couldn't or wouldn't (I don't remember which) do that so we turned in the SUV, went two counters to the right and picked up a better SUV from Avis. For many years I've automatically gone to Budget because I had good experiences with them. Unfortunately I didn't read the Yelp reviews of this particular Budget office. From now on I'm an Avis customer. read more

Came in to rent a car at the Santa Barbara Airport location for our 7-year anniversary weekend in Joshua Tree. We booked a compact car through Expedia as we are on a budget (no pun intended). When I arrived on Thursday night 2/27/20, i spoke to a super professional employee named Doug. His service was the best I ever saw from a car rental representative. He helped me upgrade within my budget and we had an amazing weekend. It's because of employees like Doug that we will keep coming back to Budget regardless of deals from other companies. In fact, I just booked another vehicle for me this weekend (: Thanks again! read more

Budget Rent A Car System - Best upgrade ever!!! - Car Rental Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

I used to rent cars for a living, but when I went out to get my vehicle I was disappointed with the cleanliness. McDonald's wrappers, coke cans, and trash everywhere. Unknown substance on the hood. I spent 20 minutes cleaning the vehicle and filling it up prior to my trip. You guys can do better. read more

Budget Rent A Car System - Dirty - Car Rental Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

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Booked a reservation 2-3 weeks in advance for a trip to Northern CA and they never have the vehicle selection you paid for. The staff stated they only had electric vehicles or 1 pick up truck. The young lady stated that these were my only options so, I took the truck as I'm not familiar with electric vehicles. Upon arrival the truck had low tire pressure so, I did not feel comfortable driving it for this trip for preventative purposes. I went back to the front desk and the lady then gave me a Chevy Malibu after they stated they had no smaller vehicles. I drove 20 minutes out when the alert of an oil change is needed immediately with 0% oil left and 0 miles left to drive. So, I drove back and they provided me with another Chevy Malibu and was not apologetic was not provided with any other resolution. Then they provided me with another Chevy Malibu and I drove this vehicle which was fine no issues except for a constant noise coming from the speaker when you drove in the freeway . I dropped off the vehicle and the gentleman at the front desk was rude , no eye contact, blunt , and seemed unhappy. I shared my concerns of what had happened and all he would say was call customer service I have nothing to do with the issues. Which I then asked do you not have record of the maintenance and he stated that's the technician jobs not mine and to contact customer service and handed my my receipt and said next to assist the next person in line . Also, they charged me for a fuel charge when I filled the tank CHECK YOUR VEHICLE AND RECEIPTS!! read more

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Wow you would think with sixteen second star ratings Budget would make changes to their policies and staff. The employees are rude and when our plane arrived they didn't honor our reservations. They didn't have a car. I will never forget this horrible budget experience. I'll rent from other car rental places and use ride share in the future. You can't trust budget. read more

Budget Rent A Car System - Awful customer service - Car Rental Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

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Pickup was a breeze at the Santa Barbara Airport, and the CSR was very friendly and helpful. The car was as described and in good condition. However, the return was a different matter. The lot to return the car was full and in complete mayhem. The attendant was friendly and doing his best to keep up with the chaos, but it did take a bit of time for us to be guided to a parking spot to return our rental car. The worst part, though, was that a day later, I received an extra charge for allegedly being a half-gallon of gas short. The invoice stated the tank was at 15.7 capacity when we picked it up, and was returned at 15.2 capacity at drop-off. My husband filled the tank to the brim less than 2 miles from the airport so this was absurd! That car gets better mileage than to use up 1/2 tank of gas in two miles. I can't even imagine it taking up that much during the time we were idling and waiting to return it. Plus, even if it was short only 1/4 tank, it's pretty petty to charge for that. I've never experienced this at any other car rental facility -ever. What was initially a "5 star" experience, became a "3 star" because we felt nickeled and dimed all for an alleged shortfall of a 1/2 gallon gas. read more

Steve was great to work with. He got me into a really nice car. He knows the area really well, and gave me a lot of tips on what to see and do, places to eat. Super knowledgeable and pleasant person to deal with. I will definitely rent from Budget and Steve again. read more

I am wondering how making a reservation is an advantage. There wasn't a car available for my reservation category, of course they had a luxury vehicle and forced me to pay an additional $20 per day. I have NEVER had this happen before. Then, the attitude was horrible, and he gave me keys and pushed me out the door. Absolutely no looking over the vehicle or instructions. He said the car was cleaned, apparently they don't pick up used napkins or clean windows/mirrors. read more

I Called the Goleta office. I got a recording saying the office was busy, and no one was available. I was supposed to be transferred to the worldwide rental office. Never transferred. Phone hung up. This happened twice. read more

Reserved vehicle for Wednesday pick up at SBA and a drop off at SMX on Friday. This review is for my pick up at SBA. I was able walk up to the counter and Doug quickly assisted me. I had made my reservation for the cheapest vehicle available but Doug asked if I'd like the step up for just dollars a day. I did and it was a Hyundai Elantra sedan 4 door. Almost new. Awesome ride and great on the gas mileage. Doug was great in his service and communication. Checking out the vehicle was made simple per Doug. I have rented vehicles many times and due to Doug's awesome professionalism and commitment to excellent service, I will rent more often from Budget. Thank you Mr Doug!!! Car ran smooth and was easy to handle. Dropped off key in lock box at SMX before time. Thanks Again!! read more

My flight was delayed getting me in 30 minutes late. I called to let them know and check my options. They never picked up. I was transferred to the global reservations line and they never picked up. I was hung up on five times. When we got to Santa Barbara, the office was closed. Avis left keys for their reservations. I travel every month and budget has consistently stunk. I give up. Don't rent from them. Zero customer service and they don't care about customers. If they had answered their phone I would have known their posted hours were wrong and I would have changed my reservation. I'm trapped an hour from my destination with no alternatives but $420 Uber ride. read more

We flew in from out of state to drop our son off at college for his freshman year. We had a lot of baggage, so when Steve offered an upgrade to an SUV, my husband gratefully accepted it. Turns out they charged us $20 a day for every day of our two week rental. This fee was never discussed. There were a number of other charges so our final bill was more than twice what we prepaid. The receipt did not detail any of these changes so we were unaware when we dropped the car off. When the additional charges posted on our credit card, I only was able to find out the the break down of charges by calling the Budget reservation 800 number. I was unable to get the charges reversed. If you do rent from here, be very careful about your charges. It felt to us like a deliberate attempt to hide what they are actually billing. read more

I rented a car thru Costco Travel and was charged 50% more than quoted. I suspect the middle aged man that issued the contract to me modified the price because I refused an upgrade and also declined the purchase of gas in advance. Shame on Budget and this employee. I've notified the credit card company of this unapproved over charge and refuse to rent from Budget at SBA again. read more

TAKEAWAY: Beware of hidden fees and the guy buttering you up to upgrade your car. Worst experience with a car rental. Cirillo is the sweaty mess I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with. He's also probably the guy everyone here is complaining about. He acts like he's on your side, and you'll walk out with a rental many times more expensive than your reservation. Almost ended up paying THREE times my original reservation. He acted like my car wasn't available, but when I told him I'll wait- oh look, whaddya know, there's a car available. He's the guy they all warn you about when dealing with car rentals. Good luck. read more

After dealing with a vehicle that was not running properly at the Haley street location the car received at this location had windshield wipers that did not work and it was raining!! After calling in to request a replacement vehicle be placed on hold I was told that was not possible just come out and you will get what you get! After calling roadside service amazing that the operator was able to call this location and have a vehicle put on hold as a replacement!! Extremely poor customer service will never use Budget/Avis again! read more

Not professional, not communicative, not incompetent. There were three people working at the counter today but they never picked up my calls, and I had to physically show up for something I could have simply done over a phone call. read more

After a weekend in Santa Barbara, I elected to skip the train ride back to San Diego and drive back home. I prepaid a reservation through budget.com on a economy class vehicle and arrived at the small airport kiosk. The reservation agent quickly checked me in on a one way trip, and I asked to see if they had any hybrid vehicles available for upgrade. They did, and I was almost on my way out. Good thing I read the verbage prior to signing, as the agent slipped in the optional LDW/collision/etc as part of the bill without me fully knowing. I was a bit annoyed by it, and then promptly declined the additional coverage. The Toyota Prius that was provided to me worked fine. It was a bit dirty inside (needed vacuuming), but we were in a time crunch and needed to go. I do not know if I would use this exact rental spot in the future, since I almost paid extra that I did not want to purchase. Sneaky tactics. Moving along. read more

The WORST customer service I've ever seen. They refuse to answer their phone and instead forward you to the national number, which keeps you on hold for a half hour then tells you to call the local office. I called the office 14 times in a row and finally got an answer, when I told them my problem they hung up on me and have not answered since. I'm sure you can rent a car here without too much trouble, but if you need customer service for any reason you are completely screwed. Will never rent here again, or from any budget or avis in general. read more

I rant a car for going to big bear but big storms block all the highways I came back I call budget they told me since The problem was the weather and a storm we were going to return the money to you and go ahead and return the car after that I did that they never give me my money back they are very unprofessional read more

booking 4 day 12-12pm I went around 10:30. She told me time to pick up was 12pm I said ok I will come back at 12 she said its ok. you can get it now. didn't said anything else I returned car around 12pm because my train time was 12:40. she didn't said anything too after I look my bill she changed me 5 day included full Insurance. I call her she said because I picked up at 10:30 I have to return the same time. I told her you didnt tell me. She said everyone know about that. I said i didnt she should told me. she said she will return money it will take about a week after a week nothing I called again a guy picked up the phone. told me she is on vacation only him working and know nothing I should wait longer now a month..... read more

If I could give 0 stars I would do so. My daughter is over the weight limit for an infant car seat, which is why we asked for a toddler seat. Their online policy specifically states if it's a corporate location they guarantee a car seat if you place the rental within 48 hours. This is a corporate location. We placed ours several months in advance. The car seat is not only too small for my daughter, but it's completely cheap and not what they described on their website. Now we have to go buy a new car seat instead of having the convenience of one included with our vehicle. This is a matter of safety for my daughter and I'm very disappointed. The employee that "helped" us was also very rude and didn't even offer to help install it after it also says that they have experts who help install it. I wouldn't recommend this Budget location at all and will never use it again as a car service. read more

Well the name speaks to their service level and attention to detail. You get what you pay for and sometimes it works out and other times it's a hassle. Had issues regarding a misquote of price so really read the agreement and confirm changes are correct. Likely they will have issues so look twice, I didn't and I lost out. read more

when we got home we noticed another charge on our credit card for more than our original pre-paid amount. When I called they said we agreed to the additional insurance. We had declined that charge at the counter as well as on our original contract. Since I had already shredded our contract and didn't have proof that we waived it they would not refund us for the additional insurance that they added on. This is NOT OK and we will NEVER rent from them EVER again. read more

I live and work in Santa Barbara and one of my employees rented a car in Burbank and because of mudslides is unable to return the car to Burbank. The employee lives in Sacramento and will be driving the car back to Sacramento and dropping it off there. The fact that your company is going to charge us an additional $300 because of a disaster is incredibly upsetting. Dad is taking advantage, even though they are your standard policy's, have your customers. My company will no longer be usingYour services. You should be ashamed of yourselves. read more

Just to get a human being on the f**king phone is impossible. When you do finally speak to someone you have to go through endless questions before you can even make a reservation and if you're lucky and the dumb call doesn't disconnect after spending 20 minutes to go through the questions you're told the car you want is unavailable. Get it together guys. Fix your customer service. It sucks. read more

Budget car rental change policies are terrible. My flight was cancelled and changed by the air line. I would be arriving at my destination one day later. I tried adjusting my rental and remove one day of rental and they charged me 86$. It cost me more money to have less days of rental. read more

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! Requested a full size SUV, they selected a glorified mini van. I went back to the counter as this was not what I envisioned. Both employees, I assume one was probably a manager, stated that was all they had. There was a suburban in the lot, which is what I wanted and thought I had rented. They made NO EFFORT to address my concern or work with me to ensure I was happy with my experience. I was so unhappy that I called the corporate office to complain and that call was dropped before I ever spoke with a live person. This is not our first problem with budget, it will be our last. We will not be using budget again. Save yourself some grief and rent with another company. read more

We love Santa Barbara Airport and how close in proximity the car rental agencies are to the terminal...However this was an interesting experience for us. The line was very long to pick up our rental, which was expected. This is a Budget/Avis car rental counter, it seemed like the two companies were operating as one, not separate. It took about 30 minutes for them to help five people before us. The attendant really didn't not know what he was doing unfortunately, and overcharged us about $100 on our bill! We had to dispute this and he said when we return the car to try and get our money back. Seriously?? Anyway, the car selections were okay for a Standard SUV, they only had 2 choices for us! And we came an hour early and waited until our time of pickup to select our car. Our car was the only positive aspect of this rental, it was very new, clean, and efficient for our trip. When we returned the car, the rental agent (he was different than the attendant when we picked the car up), was very apologetic about our overages and dismissed them from our bill. Also, we tried calling the counter on the phone to see if we could return our car early and something is very wrong with their phone connection. It's very distant and hard to hear, the person at the counter hung up three times because we could not hear him. Anyways, it's a car rental company, and all of this is to be expected. I'm not loyal to one car company over the other, but all in all, we had an okay experience with Budget Rental Car at Santa Barbara airport. read more

I have rented from Budget/ Avis on multiple occasions and because I normally pick them up early I usually have the pleasure of working with Molly. Molly is an amazing employee who goes over and above to make sure the rental process is easy and smooth. If renting a car but you haven't made a reservation chose Budget/ Avis all their staff are great and very easy to work with but I personally want to give Molly 5 stars for always going out of her way to make sure the rental process is smooth and easy. Quick story I had rented a car from them for a week drove it to SF and back to SB and couldn't find my sunglasses which I've owned for a really long time and are pretty expensive because they are prescription. I told Molly that I had realized I lost my sunglasses after returning the vehicle 2 days earlier luckily that vehicle was still on the lot and even though they are always very busy she didn't forget to go check the vehicle to see if the glasses were in there. In my opinion that was huge and a big deal because the counter is always very busy but she didn't forget to check the vehicle for my glasses before releasing it to another traveler. So again thank you Budget/ Avis for your great rental service and thank you for hiring Molly because she is an amazing representative of your company... for Molly, thank you for everything.... and thanks again for finding my glasses read more

So pleased with my rental experience at Budget in Santa Barbara Airport. I'm a flight attendant and my transmission just went out in my personal car. In a panicked state of mind I chose Budget due to my previous good experience there. Steve was the Agent and in a very calming way he very quickly had me on my way in a car that suited my needs and was very fairly priced. He found my Fast break number fore and wrote it down so I would always have it. I've rented many cars in my life and this was by far the most exceptional experience ever thanks to Steve's help. read more