Worst rental experience ever. I was overcharged and lied to. I contacted the location directly before my reservation and was told that car seats were included in my fee because I asked for them/reserved them ahead of time. I also specifically asked the type of seat (infant vs child vs booster) and was told that they would have a child seat (not an infant seat) ready for me. Then, when I arrived to pickup my car, I encountered several issues. 1. The car wasn't even there; they had to call another location. I was right on time for my reservation pickup, so I would expect the same from them. 2. There were no car seats in the car, so they had to get those from another location as well. 3. When they brought the seat, it was an infant seat. My son is 2 and half; he cannot fit in an infant seat. 4. They charged me $130 additional for the seats despite the fact that I had verified that that charge was already included. I would have brought my car seat from home and that is why I called to verify in the first place. All in all, I was charged almost double on my credit card when I returned home. No explanation was given and I contacted the company and the online company that I booked through and have gotten nowhere. There are many other rental companies at Dulles. Avoid Budget! read more

The car was fine but the wait for the bus both arriving and departing was looooong especially in the cold

I am giving it one star because that is the minimum. I never leave bad reviews, but thanks to budget I am having to leave this one. I and my friend book an economy car a week in advance for a road trip and came to collect it, only to be told that the best they have is a 12 seater. And that we are supposed to take the 12 passenger car to another location 50 miles away to collect the economy car we have already prepaid. To make matters worse, the representative lied to us that the other centre was open when it clearly wasn't. Anyways we are in a hurry right now and heading over to hertz. I'll explain in detail maybe later. But please, spare yourself the horror read more

Not much to say. This is the worst Budget rental location I have ever been to. The customer service is non-existent. We spent over an hour trying to rent a car with the agent trying to pawn off broken vehicles to us. While we were being assisted another customer came in because the check oil light was on in the car they were given. We were eventually given a car that we found out had a slow leak in the tire. About an hour after leaving we went to fill up the tire and found it only had 7psi!!!!!! After complaining to the night shift manager, the employee that gave us such a hard time a few days earlier asked to speak with the manager in private right in front of us. After returning, the manager said she would send us a coupon and that was all they could do for us. Nothing was ever sent. We spent over $20 filling up the car tire with air over the weekend and all the Budget staff could say was 'nothing'. I have been to dozens of Budget locations around the country, and this is the worst car rental location regardless of vendor that I have ever seen. Even the united rental next door was leagues better. Stay away and go with another company. read more

If you value your life, don't rent from this Budget! UNSAFE CARS!!!! Pros of Renting: You can rent with a debit card. Cons of Renting: They put my life in danger, as well as gave me a car with expired registration. Needless to say, I was unhappy with my rental. On Tuesday, June 30, 2015, I rented a Ford Focus from a Budget Rental Car company located at Dulles International Airport, 23360 Autopilot Dr, Sterling, VA. I am very upset about the service I received from this company. 1. During my trip from Washington, DC to New Jersey, I was pulled over twice by police officers in New Jersey in regards to my taillights. I was given a car that had faulty taillights, and kept turning off at random times. This is obviously a dangerous situation for me on the road at night, and I am upset that Budget would rent a car in poor condition. 2. When I was pulled over a second time by a police officer, I was informed that the registration on the car had expired. In the officer's words, my car rental company had "screwed me over." He noted that even though the car is a rental, I could be the one to receive a citation because I am the one driving the car. I was also told that I should not be driving the car at all, but I was unable to accept that option as it was past 12:00am and I did not have a means of traveling to my final destination at that time without my rental car. 3. After my second time being pulled over, I called the Dulles Airport Rental Car company, due to the fact that I was told it was open 24 hours a day. A voice message stated that the office closed at 7pm. I then called your 24-hour hotline for roadside assistance at 12:11am and again at 12:49am. Due to the fact that I was close to my destination (less than 30 minutes away), I was told to drive there and call back to get a new car. When I arrived at my destination and called the Budget hotline at 2:02am, I was told that Budget would tow my car at my final destination the next morning sometime between 8:00am-8:30am, and that a new car would be delivered to me. 4. At around 8:30am the next day, when I had not had any contact with Budget, I called the 24-hour hotline to find out why I had not received my new car. I was informed that the order had never been filed, and that I would need to wait another two hours before a tow truck could arrive. This was obviously a huge inconvenience for my trip. At this time I filed a complaint. 5. The tow truck arrived at 12:00pm and drove me to the nearest Budget Rental Car company, where I received a new vehicle (Ford Fiesta). The car had scratches on it and a stain on the backseat floor, but I was thankful to finally have a new car. 6. When I returned the car that Sunday (7/5/15), I tried to speak to a manager, but was passed from one person to another. I finally met a manager, explained my situation, and said that I did not believe I should pay full price for the car. Although I received a discount for my trip (NOT A FULL REFUND!!!), this car was unsafe and illegal to drive. I am still upset about the appalling service I received from this business. When I wrote a letter to the corporate headquarters detailing my experience, I was returned a two-sentence response letter (to the wrong mailing address, mind you) saying that they couldn't help me. IF YOU VALUE YOUR SAFETY/YOUR FAMILY'S SAFETY, DO NOT RENT FROM THEM! IT'S NOT WORTH WHATEVER DEAL YOU MIGHT RECEIVE! read more

Part of this review is for this facility and part is for Budget corporate practices. With regard to this facility, I found the rental pick up and drop off process to be pretty slow, despite being a FastBreak member. I did pick up and drop off very early in the morning though. It did not appear that this facility had any FastBreak facilities, just a different line at the rental desk. The facility is dirty and unkempt but the employees were courteous.. As for the Budget corporate practices, I rented a car on a trip to spend the last days with an ailing family member. I originally rented the car for 6 days but was uncertain of the length given my family member's status. I ended up having to call to extend the rental for an additional 5 days due to the situation with my family member. The rate quoted for the additional days was substantially more than the original 6 day rental. After spending about an hour on the phone with a Budget representative, she insisted that there was nothing that could be done to honor the original rate. We asked if we could speak with a manager and the Budget representative said she would do so and put us on hold for about 15 additional minutes. After coming off hold and another 15 minutes with the next representative, they ended up determining that we had actually been somehow been transferred to a AVIS??!! (I assume that Budget and AVIS are somehow related at the corporate level). After realizing this the AVIS representative was rude, completely unhelpful to us and hung up. We called the next day, and after being disconnected by the Budget phone system and spending another 45 minutes on the phone with the Budget representative, not only did they insist that the daily rate for our original rental could not be matched, it had in fact gone up from the rate that was quoted and discussed the day before. Again, they could do nothing to even give us the rate quoted the day before. So in the end, we spent more than 2 hours of phone time trying to simply get a continuation of the rate of our original rental to no avail and the rate actually went up further as we were trying to investigate with the incompetent Budget staff. Needless to say we feel like Budget took advantage of us and our situation and gave very poor and inefficient customer service while doing so. To add insult to injury, we had a flat tire while renting the vehicle. I changed the tire (with a spare that you could only put limited miles on and that looked really awesome) and then called Budget roadside assistance. After about 30 minutes, Budget gave me the option of exchanging the vehicle (45 mins away) or having the tire patched and reimbursing me for the cost. I thought this was fair. I had the tire patched. When I returned the car the representative said that they would not reimburse for the patch and it was my responsibility to fix the flat despite what the roadside assistance staff had told me earlier??!! read more

Slow shuttle, 2-3 other brands shuttles passed and budget failed to arrive for 30mins. Slow service at desk, proper cars not available. Go Elsewhere read more

My worst experience in nearly 30 years of renting cars. From the long waits for buses (both ways) to the condescending attitude of the agent behind the counter, and finally, charging me 4.90 for "fuel service" when I returned the car with a full tank. Never again! read more

Rude people here!! The Indian lady lied about not finding my reservation. When I walked out saying I'm going too call the company. She told the person I was with that she found it...liar liar horrible woman..I waisted an hour of my life.. to this company. I still walked out without a car... I'll take my business somewhere else read more

Extremely long line. Nobody seemed to be working. No air conditioning. Terrible experience. Ends up carrying all 3 of my suitcases out to the street, around the are and to Enterprise next door. Management needs to do something. The last time I was at this Budget location I had a terrible experience as well. read more

This place was awful. Only one restroom working with no toilet tissue or paper towels in it and when I asked I was told sorry but nothing was done about it in the 25 minutes it took to rent our over price damaged dirty car.This place smells bad and looks bad. read more

Avoid this budget at all cost. Slow customer service. Not friendly people, maybe they are overwork and underpay. When you are picking up your car earlier, make sure they dont charge u for an extra full day, ask every line of the charges. Returning of the car was easy. Dropped it off. He printed a receipt. Done. read more

The worst service ever. Keep away from this car rental. They offer one car on the page for a price and give you a lower passenger car. We reserve a 7 passenger Ford explorer and they tried to gave us a 5 passenger edge. They want to charge us more to hace the car we reserved. In addition, the car was not ready for pick up. And when we said we want to cancel they was ok with that. So we cancel and charged us $50 sice we pre paid for our car. So now they have $50 and we have no car. Thank you for nothing. read more

My experience was great with budget. I checked in with no problems and drop off was pretty smooth.

Slowest service in the world. 4 people at the front desk all staring intently at their screens. I haven't moved in line for 20mins. Can it really be that hard? read more

I've come through here a ton since I'm from the area. I recently signed up with Fast Break, no cost and my car is ready when I get there. No waiting, and really easy. Today specially, the woman at the counter was super helpful when I returned the car. Rates are also pretty decent. Tho it's my preferred rental company, I always check prices. Budget is usually cheapest. But I like this location and appreciate their helpful and friendly attitudes. read more

So after seeing the overall rating of this place my experience is not surprising. The people at the Dulles Airport location seem like they do not want to be there. I should have just paid the extra money and went with the usual Enterprise rental. The guy I worked with when I picked up the vehicle was rude and gave a lot of attitude when I brought up the fact that I rented a full size pick up truck and they only had small pick up trucks. He called me "picky" but I got over it because its no big deal. I rent a lot of cars throughout the year mainly through Enterprise and for this time I gave Budget a chance. I will not be using Budget again. The prices shown are not the actual price, I was given the incorrect vehicle then what I prepaid for and was told that there was nothing that could be done because it was prepaid. So I had to get a smaller vehicle and pay the same rate which I find insane. Enterprise will usually give me a bigger or more luxury vehicle if they made a mistake by not having the reserved vehicle. Not impressed by Budget and like it was previously mentioned Budget will not be getting my business again. read more

I would have to add to the chorus. Avoid this place. Poor customer service. Poor everything. It is hard to believe that this office is affiliated with a national chain . AVOID read more

Pretty much the worst car renting experience ever. Budget has always been good but when we got here the line was over an hour long. Yes a girl did stay to help but when she decided to leave she left the guy all alone. Thus making the line move even slower. Way understaffed at an hour that a flight lands nightly. Absolutely rediculous. Will defently never go back to budget rental car in IAD again. read more

Rude, unhelpful staff. Scratched up cars. Uh, nope! When we returned our car we were told to move it to the "return" area that wasn't clearly marked. Then after we pulled in, this guy with a gray beard and a shitty attitude yells at us that we are parked in the wrong direction. I got sick on the trip so I had a fever and was all tired and gross, plus we were in a hurry to get to the terminal so I looked at him and said "Seriously?". He copped a major attitude at that point and said "Look at all the other cars on the lot-look at which way they're pointed". I was just annoyed that they could not have turned it around themselves...husband was pissed and cursing under his breath. So we turned it around, guy inspected it and then said OK here is your receipt...and made no effort to walk over and hand it to me. I had to go get it from him. I hope he catches my flu and I told my husband to use Enterprise next time. Byeeeeeeee! read more

Inadequate staffing! 6:15 am morning pick-up was very slow with only one person on duty and many people in line. My reserved vehicle was not available and I had to accept a larger vehicle that used more gas and was harder to maneuver/park. At 9 pm no one was on duty at the return lane for check-in. Finally we went into the office which again had only one worker dealing with a long line of people trying to get cars. A poor rental experience. read more

My mother and father rented a car at the Budget in Stratford, CT. They drove to Herdom, VA for my fathers Navy Reunion. After arriving, they noticed an egg side bubble on the side of the passanger side tire. After many calls back and forth to Budget, Corprate told them to brin the car to this location to swap it. Here is what my mothe said about the experience... " I thought we did have a solution for switching cars. I called the Budget 800 # and I was told that the Budget location at 1057 Elden St on Herndon, VA but when we got there the woman behind the counter was the nastiest person with zero customer service skills. She said that all the cars in her lot were rented and she didn't have a car to give me. She would not work with me at all. Budget obviously doesn't care about the people that represent them because the only thing I was told when I expressed my concern about this person was "I'm sorry that you were treated that way" . We will see what tomorrow brings in my battle with Budget to get this car swapped out!" Absolulty disgusting how they were treated read more

BEWARE! Make sure to read those screens before you sign off and double check the printed copy before leaving. We recently had a reservation for 4 days at Dulles for a rental car while visiting DC. The shuttle person was nice who drove us from the main terminal and helped load the bags. However, the driver who drove us back to the terminal after the rental did not assist some elderly passengers trying to lug their baggage aboard. Fortunately I was able to assist. The rental process was quick as we were the only ones there and we were able to leave easily. However, we specifically told the guy at the counter we did not need the damage waiver. But unfortunately when signing those screens with the tiny print it was showed that we accepted this coverage for the tune of $140 more to our rental which pretty much doubled the price. And unfortunately since we did not catch this until after we got back home there was nothing that we could do. Even called Budget customer service. I am not sure if this was deliberate or just a language barrier problem which is why you need to read the screens you sign and the printout you receive and make sure on the right hand column next to LOSS DAMAGE WAIVER it says declined (unless of course you want it) even if you are sure you said no. Other then that, the car was clean...and pretty new. read more

We had a great service rental return at Dulles Airport from Bobby. We had a question regarding the pre-paid fuel. Bobby went out of his way to make sure we got a prompt answer, including walking with us to the service desk and ensuring we were taken care of. Bobby was enthusiastic, friendly and made sure we were happy with Budget, making a great start to our trip. You have an excellent employee in Bobby who represents Budget well, thanks Bobby! read more

Scam alert. Never smoked in my life, these guys billed me 150.00 for my rental smelling of smoke. They said nothing when I dropped it gave me receipt that said nothing. Then an email bill shows up with this misc fee. Trying to pull fast one bad business shame on them. Thanks for proving why I like enterprise...and they will pick you up. Do not rent here. Even tried call company giving them opportunity to do the right thing and fix there mistake. read more

I'm moving to a new city, we decided that we'd rent a minivan through budget because most of our stuff fit into one minivan anyway. We made a reservation a few weeks ago, tomorrow is our moving day. Today we received a call, 6 hours prior to our pick up, canceling our reservation because they "didn't have inventory." What the hell am I supposed to do? What is the purpose of running a customer oriented business if you think you can decide for the customer? You "don't have any inventory," the reservation was made. Meaning, it is YOUR responsibility to meet YOUR end of the god damn deal. You had time to secure the van, yet your ignorance and unprofessionalism got in the way. They also tried to sell us on a smaller vehicle. Who books a minivan without purpose?! Do. Not. Use. This. Service. read more

After having made a reservation over the phone for an economy size car for $63.58 per day, went to pick up the car, declined all additional add ons. Was specifically asked if would like an upgrade - declined the upgrade - pointing to the confirmation number and amount to be charged saying - I want to stick with our original reservation. Signed for the car and left to drive out of state for a family emergency. Upon returning the vehicle, was surprised that the upgrade had been added at a daily upgrade rate of $20, plus paying an additional $12.42 per day for the upgraded vehicle itself. Also received a $10 late fee even though a call was made to extend the rental by 10 hours. So for a "great" deal of $63 a day car rental plus gas up fee of $37.14 plus tax of 21% - ended up being $225. When complained to a "supervisor" she said if our employee made an error I will speak with her but I can't take the fees off because you accepted and drove the car. Was told by the same supervisor that she has spoken with the employee and she "reviewed the contract before asking for a signature". I guess declining the upgrade and assuming it would not be included is a ridiculous expectation. Will not be renting from Budget again. Would rather pay full price elsewhere than be lied to and mistreated. Please insist on full transparency and slow, concise explanation of charges - line by line. read more

If I could leave no Stars I would.. my boyfriend and I reserved a car online and Pre paid. I called and asked several times if we could reserve with a debit card and the main Budget number said yes. When we arrived to pick up the card we come to find out that on airport property is the only place that does not accept debit cards. Since we were traveling without credit cards we weren't able to rent a car. It was late traveling with twin 7 year olds. We had to get a room for the night because all other Budget car places were closed. The staff at was rude & unhelpful read more

Our minivan experienced problems prior to our road trip. We decided to stop by Budget at IAD and pick up a minivan to use for our trip. We were served by Feddie, the sales associate. Mind you, we were there with three small children, Freddie told us that he could not accept our credit card, and when my wife professionally asked why he told her not to speak with him in her tone of voice. I spoke up and supported my wife. He turned to me and said the same thing. In my professional career of 20 years, most of which have been spent in client facing customer care scenarios, I have never had anyone speak with me in his tone of voice. Needless to say, we gathered the three children and proceeded to give our business to Hertz instead. We also filed a formal complaint against Freddie as his behavior was very questionable. read more

Great experience here! I arrived at 7:30 am on a Friday so that may be why. But Freddie at the counter was great. He got my fastbreak account squared away he was quick and efficient and friendly! I was pleasantly surprised to have a positive car rental experience. Keep up the good work! read more

Car rental companies are probably the most challenged service rated on Yelp. For the most part they take a beating so if I receive decent service I feel obligated to speak up. I reserved a car online because it's tough to navigate NoVa without a car. Catch the shuttle from the front of the IAD terminal. The front deskers question whether you are a FastBreak customer when you get to the rental center. No waiting for more than a few minutes when I visited. Just be sure and check the rate when you walk away from the desk. I got charged for one more day than I had reserved but the girl who helped me didn't hesitate to correct it. No issues with the car they gave me and the return process was equally easy and hassle-free. read more

WARNING! Do not rent cars here!! This is my first time booking with budget through Costco Travel and the quote I got with Costco was not amount Budget is charging me. We picked up our van and drove to NY which is 4 hours away and the service oil light came on. We extended an extra day and it says to call to get a quote. I called and spoke to an actual representative who gave me a quote which I accepted! When I went to return the van they charged my card an extra $150 on top of the extension quote they gave me. I went in to ask why and the lady had no reasonable or justifiable explanation on why the charges are the way they are. She was talking about a coupon didn't accept and I said I didn't use a coupon and she said its the Costco coupon. I said I booked it though Costco so why are you guys doing business with Costco if you're not honoring their prices they give people. She said "I don't know what to tell you!" I walked out and called customer service, they were the worse he didn't help me and all he did was repeat the charges to me when I asked him to explain WHY THE CHARGES ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE COSTCO QUOTE! he couldn't explain to me and cut me off!! This place is the first and last time I will ever do business with this place! read more

It's after midnight. Waited 35 minutes for a shuttle from the airport. Been in line now at least 30 more minutes. 6 people still ahead of us and everyone seems to be taking at least 10 minutes to check in. Got excited when a third agent joined us. Got less excited when one left. Down to two agents again. Not worth the savings. Been on a plane all day. Not a good start to our holiday. read more

Another one star review for this location. Because of the nice weather I left my brand new jacket at the backseat when the Rapid Return Agent took over my car. The next day I called and mailed them but they claimed it was not in the car. Roger L. Kyle is a bad manager to let his employees steal and lie. Budget Avis main office also did nothing, after spending thousands of dollars on rental fees they cannot even reimburse my $130 jacket? Rental number 237239516, car number: 55510895. I will never forget this. read more

I rented a car for a week that I paid via Priceline. 2 days after getting the car, I was charged $330 and there was also a $230 hold. Somehow, my contract was mistakenly closed and my card was charged for someone else's vehicle. I have yet to see a refund and trying to get an answer from any of the Budget staff is impossible - worst customer service ever. read more

I am complaining about the $16.75 convenience fee that I was charged to use Budget's E-ZPASS device to pay a $4.30 toll charge. While I realize Budget covered themselves legally by adding the charge to their contract, I believe it is in their best interest to verbally communicate an astronomical charge like this. If I had I known I would be charged $16.75 for the privilege of using the device, I would have gladly inconvenienced myself by paying with a credit card. Too bad for Budget, I won't rent a car from them again, and I will gladly share my experience with anyone who will listen. read more

scam, be aware....eventhought we denied the insurance at pickup, because we have a great car insurance, ..upon returning the car, we found out that they went ahead and added it to our car rental... driving our car rental from $127.00 to $225 for a 3 days rental..when we complained they said well you were covered for the three days... and regardless of all our history with them, with never taking insurace, they just charged us..... so..... eventhough you refuse insurance, check your reciept at time of pick up, apparently they are in the habit of adding it on anyway, if you notice it, they apologize and remove it, if not, you are charged for it!!!! it is unfortunate that they have to resort to this..... we will do our best never to use budget again, their customer service sucks!!!! unless we they are our only choice, and then, we will make sure and look they don't tack on charges, we did not ask, before we drive off the lot!!!!!!! i hope there will be a class action suit brought up against them... not right they are ripping people off!!!! read more

This location deserves zero stars. We arrived in the middle of the night but this place was its own special twilight zone. Their computers didn't work, they didn't have the car I reserved (and needed with 3 adults, 2 babies, carseats, tons of luggage), tried to upsell me, gave me a smaller black car in a parking lot with the lights out in the middle of the night! I did see white scrapes and marked them on the sheet, the attendant was blase so I called the next day, she assured me it would be fine, then CALLED THE POLICE when I brought it back. The police did nothing because I did nothing - but now I've got a fraudulent bill for damages ALREADY MARKED AT PICKUP. You have been warned, people. read more

Is there lower than 1 star... This is it. Read the reviews, it is like people that work here are inconvenienced by customers.

Long lines on weekends! If you need to be somewhere or catch a flight don't use this rental agency. They only have two people working the counter and cars are not available for rental on time. Waited over an hour in line. read more