I stood in line for three and a half hours, starting at 1:00 in the morning, when I tried to pick up the rental for which I had pre-paid. There was absolutely ZERO hustle or competency on behalf of THE SINGLE EMPLOYEE ON DUTY! I was finally given a vehicle that was much bigger than what I paid for, and it was absolutely filthy inside and out. I couldn't see out the rear window, or in the exterior mirrors, and there was wet coffee spilled on the passenger seat. I will NEVER rent a car from Budget again, and will tell everyone I know not to as well. Look at the Yelp reviews for the Dulles Airport Budget. They are scathing, and prove that the horrendous service I paid for is the norm at that location. read more

This location sucksssssssssssssss every time I come here there are maybe 1-2 people working. And it routinely takes 2 hours to get keys for a car you already filled out all the info online for. If you rent from this location be sure to add 1-2 hours to your travel time. read more

I would give this company a zero rating if I could. If you value your life, I strongly recommend not renting from this company. They rented me a car that was unsafe with four bald tires, refused to exchange the car, and left me stranded an hour away from the airport. Please look at other reviews. They all have similar issues with tires. read more

Why would there be only TWO people working at the airport kiosk on one of the busiest holiday weekends?!?!?! Un-frickin-believable!! Not using Budget again. read more

Budget - Ridiculous! - Car Rental Near Me - Sterling, Virginia

I had a surprisingly pleasant and seamless experience believe it or not. Usually when I need to rent a car I cringe just thinking of the time it takes to wait in line, fill out paperwork and trying to look for the car. This wasn't the case this time. There are a few things you need to do before you get the same type of experience. First, if you can either prepay or make sure your credit card is on file and second, MAKE SURE you sign up for Fastbreak. Fastbreak allows you to sign all the paperwork and all the necessary information beforehand. So this is how our experience went. Once we went out the doors from the airport, we crossed the street to get to the Budget pickup area (multiple signs posted). Fortunately for us, the driver was there. We hopped on, the driver asked me if we were Fastbreak members and a few minutes later we were on our way. As we were on our way the driver confirmed with the office and the office provided the space # with my car. Around 5 minutes later we arrived at the entrance gate and we literally passed around 10 cars and the shuttle stopped. We were helped with our luggage and our car was running and waiting for us. The car was clean. We quickly loaded our luggage and we were out the exit within 5 min. There was no need to ever go inside which was great! Overall, this was a great experience and I was also able to get a good price. I would definitely do this again. One additional recommendation. If you happen to decline their insurance make sure you pay with a credit card that has primary coverage for rental cars. There are a lot out there now but to be on the safe side, just call to confirm. read more

I should have stayed with Enterprise. This Budget will ruin your budget. Unpleasant staff, dishonest service. Their total charges will rip you off big time. read more

Whooooooo Chillay, Budget at IAD TRIIIIIIIIIIIED IT, sis. I specifically went with budget because they allow a spouse to drive without additional charges. I prepaid for my rental because it saved me $9 ($71 instead of $80 - cool, every penny counts). We flew red eye and were clearly tired uon arriving to budget. We exchanged polite convo with the woman behind the counter (short AA woman with glasses). I was asked if I wanted any insurance (my insurance covers any car I drive so, no). I quickly signed the screen and we were off. We returned two days later-- the car was fine, no issues at all as we left the facility on the shuttle to the airport. Imagine my surprise when my husband gets an alert of a charge of about $20. I look at the receipt and we were charged a "BSN" fee. I look it up and realize it is code for roadside asst. She added this optional feature without asking. I would have declined it as my insurance comes with it. I think it was EXTREMELY dishonest for her to take advantage of us because we were tired with a toddler and wanted to get on the road. Yes, I should have read everything-- but they should have asked. They essentially added 25% to the price of my rental. Ironically, if anything happened when we had the rental we would have called out own roadside. Thankfully, they took it off with no question when I called CS upon returning to LA. They knew they were tripping. And rental car sis, if you're reading this -- you're TRASH for that and so is whoever trained you to do that type of business. read more

I requested and reserved a compact car. However when I arrived they lied to me and said we only have a suburban. I walked through the parking lot in confusion since I could see half the lot filled with the type of cars which I had reserved. I spoke to the staff and they said to call and return in the morning. The next day I called and they had made it impossible to reach the front desk and get an exchange. This I was stuck driving around Washington DC with a Suburban for one week that did not fit in any parking garage or the narrow streets of the city. Not to mention I was not refunded the actual rate since renting large cars is actually cheaper than compact or economy in this environment of increased gas prices. I made the mistake of trying to save 10 or 15 bucks by going with this low tier company, but paid for it and then some. Low tier company, I gave them a shot but realized they are more for desperate people and are a low class company. Will not rent again and advise you not to as well. read more

Short version: This is by far the worst service I got in my life. After I've made a reservation a week before, I can to pick up my convertible. First they say there's no reservation, than they admit they don't have the car. I came with the printed order page and they just keep lying they don't see it. I keep asking what's the problem and they keep lying. In the end they showed me the reservation *they* canceled and I've noticed the price I paid was about $120 less than the price on their computer. I realized they made a mistake and they can't supply the car so I canceled everything and went to take a car on Enterprise. I wouldn't deal with them ever again, I suggest you do the same or expect problems ... read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Sterling, Virginia

The Dulles team were rude at every step. The office and waiting area were filthy. They did not have the car I reserved 2 months prior, wanted $64/day! for insurance, $13/day for second driver (which was supposed to be free) and when I got the car, there was no gas. I went back in and the manager told me to take it behind building and gas it myself! She was demeaning to me in front of a room full of customers waiting in line, asking "what do you expect me to do?" The exit attendant was rude, was not interested in my info regarding scratches and dents, and started yelling at a man in other lane before finishing my checkout. Please and thank you were in none of their vocabularies. Horrible start to vacay. read more

Very disappointed in pretty much everything about this rental. We waited in line for THREE HOURS in IAD to get our car. They did not have the Prius we reserved, they only had a gas guzzling Toyota 4 Runner. Then they charged us for gas, when we returned it full! Awful! read more

Can't rate any lower. Cars are never available when needed. You have to wait until someone else returns it, they clean it and drive it around. Avoid this place at all cost. Uber is better if you don't have any options read more

Budget - No cars left. It's been like this multiple times across multiple trips - Car Rental Near Me - Sterling, Virginia

While the bus ride from the airport was smooth and efficient, and my car was "ready" within 10 minutes of completing the paperwork, the shabby facility and dirty car messed up the experience. The cup holders were lined with sticky residue, the control panel was splattered with the same, there were 3 bird poops on the freshly "washed" exterior, and the windows were somewhat smeared. Similar standards of hygiene were observed in the front desk area as well. The price was the best offered in the area; so while this may be an instance of getting what you pay for, Budget can and should be doing much better. read more

Just imagine this - you have less than a hour left before your flight leave, you are in a hurry and just want to return the rental car ASAP, you need to hop on the Budget rental car shuttle to get to the IAD Main Terminal (takes about 10 ~ 15 minutes), and then next thing you know the car inspector meticulously took his time to inspect my car. He asked for my paperwork and the entire process took at least 5+ minutes. I never had this issue with Alamo because they just scan the bar code and everything is ready in less than 5 minutes - no paperwork, nothing. On a brighter side, our shuttle driver was VERY friendly and drove as fast as he could. Again shout out to our shuttle driver - absolutely amazing. read more

There are at least 40 people in line. Haven't moved in over 20 mins. No vehicles available but will stop line progress to bring someone up that didn't have a reservation and waste time giving them a vehicle in front of people with reservations. There are families in here with tired kids but let's help the unprepared businessman. One person behind the counter for Budget. The other is working another company. read more

Always a line there never seem to be enough staff working. And, in addition, this site is supposed to be open 24/7, however, this is not true. Try calling their 703 number which is usually forwarded to a call center which is out of state. They don't always service vehicles before renting them: windshield wiper fluid low, tire pressure low and warning lights on when vehicle(s) picked up. read more

I can't give ZERO star in this location because yelp doesn't give me the option. DO NOT GO TO THIS LOCATION!!! There were only one worker! we waited for over an hour behind this family that doesn't speak English. No translator, no movement in the line for OVER AN HOUR!!! Someone do something!!! Budget can't find a Spanish speaking translator? Update: finally our turn. As it turned out, it wasn't the non speaking family that caused the slow movement. It was the Budget "computer" system. Despite having a reservation for a car, it took us about 30 minutes at the counter to finally get a key!! read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Sterling, Virginia

My review is under Avis, though they are the same business in the same location. The woman behind the desk is unbelievably rude and spits at customers. read more

Worst car return experience EVER! Booked and SUV, tried to tell us a small crossover WAS an SUV.....bathroom was disgusting! My husband travels a lot and we will never use them again. read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Sterling, Virginia

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Not surprising to see a 1.5 star average. Have been a loyal AVIS/Budget customer for years now but the most recent experience did not leave a lot to be desired. For years I have had to travel for business and pleasure and my wife would set up the rental for me in advance. Each time I would pick up the rental once I landed. For some reason in the most recent trip to D.C. I was refused a vehicle. I was told it was "policy" that the person who reserved it had to be the one to physically pick it up. Makes sense except the last 10+ times this was not the case. I inquired with the rep and was told 'just because they made a mistake in the past' doesn't mean they will make that mistake that day. I called the 800 number and had a customer service rep on the phone who on speaker phone confirmed it was the policy but that the gentleman could simply change it and that it was at their 'discretion'. Now if the gentleman decided not to extend this courtesy I would understand that but instead he insisted their own customer service rep was incorrect and that they would not make a 'mistake'. Ultimately I was able to secure a rental there, on that day but was then told the rates were now different and charged me $150 more. Not the experience I expected. I filled out a survey and Syed Ali (Operations Manager) responded to my survey by doubling down on the 'mistake' and 'policy'. All in all it left a bad taste and the experience was a negative one. read more

Sometimes they may be the cheapest rental at Dulles Airport. Rented a car here for a 3 day business trip. The online registration was easy and they were able to accomodate a last minute change to my reservation. This facility is a little run down. The lobby had one working door that was both the entrance and exit. No places to sit inside but there are benches outside and a small metal picnic table (not good during 80 degree summer heat). The Staff Member assisting me with my pick-up was friendly and answered all my questions. The car I received looked in good condition but glad I checked the car before i rolled off the lot. There were many paint chips and scratches on the car (approx. 20). I documented all the scratches on the check-out form I was provided when I picked up the car. I would hae returned the car for a better one but was on a time schedule and needed to get rolling. Return was fairly easy. Roll up to the line and the attendant gave you a receipt. Good place to get a rental if you are on a "Budget" for travel. read more

I waited 45 minutes in the cold after landing for the Budget shuttle to take me to the rental facility, while other rental service busses came and went two and three times. Upon arrival to rental facility, two people worked at a snail speed behind the counter. I waited in line for over an hour & a half before getting my vehicle. Returning the car, again they only have one shuttle so I had to wait for over 30 minutes to catch the shuttle to the airport. Terrible service for travelers. I travel weekly & would highly recommend National or Enterprise. This is one of the slowest Budget facilities but I have experienced similar things at other Budgets. It must be an internal training issue. Other rental services give far better customer service. read more

I was the only person in line and waited for nearly an hour when the two people at the counter were already in the car rental process when i arrived. The employees were extremely friendly to the two male customers who were at the counter when I got there but were not friendly to me. My attendant barely spoke to me and was unable to effectively communicate the location of the rental car on the lot. I was traveling with a toddler and car seat and literally had to walk the entire parking lot in 90+ degree weather while carrying a car seat and toddler to find the car. In fact I had to go back to the counter to ask again for the location of the car. While the employees accompanied the two male customers, one of whom was traveling alone to their cars when completing the rental, I found it odd they did not accompany me especially since I had a child and car seat in tow. I asked an employee who was outside for help locating the vehicle and he also gave me misinformation. He pointed in the wrong direction and watched as i walked the entire lot again without helping. Upon returning my car, the attendant was quite sarcastic and actually chastised and admonished me for the way I responded to a poorly worded question because I did not understand what he was asking. His tone was aggressive despite my professional tone and demeanor. I am a communication expert (PhD) so I typically do not have trouble communicating or comprehending instructions. Overall I was satisfied with the car and dissatisfied with the service at the rental counter and return lane. read more

Watch out. I had a four hour rental. They could not generate a receipt. Receiving agent said my rental agreement wasn't in his system. An emailed receipt included a $15.99 fuel charge. I fueled the car at the Sonoco station next to their location. My VISA card indicates a charge $200 over my agreement value. They place a hold on my account that should be removed in five days. My billing cycle ends during that period. Calling their toll free number makes you listen to all their categories and not the one you need to correct a billing error. One good word, the hold time was lengthy, so they recorded the number from which I was calling and returned the call. Understanding them on the telephone was also a challenge. read more

Stay away!!! Incredibly long wait made worse by having only half of the booths staffed. Theb they constantly serve only arriving "fastpass" members, while the main line is literally out the door. read more

Big scam with the EZPass and the GPS systems. They will try to sneak it in the contract and you end up with charges you don't expect. Even after I specified I DO NOT want these extra options, I still ended up with bill for tolls, and I was told by Budget it is my fault that I did not turn the EZPass crap off. It is a one big scam to rip people off. I paid all the tolls basically twice, the crooks at those booths took my cash, after they saw the EZ Pass went through, so basically ended up paying twice for all the tolls! Pay attention everybody. Crooks everywhere read more

Wow...I should have paid the extra money and gobe to my usual Enterprise...everything started at the Terminal: 1- 3 Enterprise, 2 Dollar/Thrifty, 2 Avis shuttles showed up before a single Budget shuttle showed up (10 minute wait on a SATURDAY MORNING AT 715!!) 2 - Been standing in the libe, there are 2 people in front of me who were here when the shuttle arrived!! At least 5 more people in line behind me...AND 1 PERSON WORKING THE COUNTER - on a Saturday morning of a holiday weekend!! WTF??!! All I can advise u is pay the extra money and go to Enterprise or National...Budget is, well, budget, ghetto, time-wasting and TERRIBLE!! read more

Flew in on a Tuesday night got to the rental by 7 they were out of the compact car I had reserved so ended up with a midsize which was harder to park around the city the next 8 days of our stay. The receptionist seemed put off, every rental she would do up the paperwork then disappear to the garage to get a vehicle to bring around. Strange. The Subaru was so filthy on the exterior you literally could not see out the back windows! We had to go back in and wait to get the one attendant to have the guy in the garage do a quick wash off. We were given a drawing of tHe car to mark any dents dings and scratches that were there. Unfortunately we missed a slight ding in the front passenger wheel well due to the poor lighting on the lot. Hopefully this crummy place doesn't try to ding us for the dent! I wished I had rented with one of the other outfits.... read more

To encapsulate my review up front: Terrible staff and experience, won't be coming back. I made a reservation with them over a week in advance, and since arriving at Dulles, you could tell that you were in for a ride. First off - their shuttles don't go to the rental car shuttle area, they go to some other spot (even their website says this - see screenshot), which had me waiting awhile until I saw the shuttle finally drive by and I had to flag it down. When you arrive at the rental facility, you know it's only going to get worse. You walk into the building and there's already a line of people and the people behind the counter are taking their sweet time and are trying to find out why you're in Washington DC. As I'm waiting in line, I start to hear the same thing - your car isn't ready. When I did get to the counter, it was the same thing - your car isn't ready, despite having reservations and a time at which I'd be picking up yet. After I finally get checked out at the counter, I join the group of other people who were waiting for their cars. Slowly some cars show up, others did not - and it was easy to tell that they were just hosing the cars down and not really clean them, as they wanted to flip them as fast as possible. On my packet that they gave me, it said I had a silver Hyundai, and the first car they tried to give me was a blue Honda. After finally getting the employee to understand this, he disappeared for a bit and then unfortunately finally came around with the correct car. I say unfortunately as the rental they had assigned to me had scratches and scuffs all over - and not the small kind that they'd ignore (see photos). Naturally I bring this up to the employee who brought the car, and he said that security would be the ones who annotate the damage, and that's when the whole thing became ridiculous. It made sense that you'd fill out the damage at security, as the paperwork that they give you has no spot for marking down damage and the like, so when I pull up the security booth and tell the man in it that I'd like to fill out one of the damage forms, the man becomes ridiculous. He responded back with "No, not my job." I then repeated back what the employee had told me, and he got bent out of shape stating that I was supposed to do that before I came to security and just write it in the blank spaces on the contract. I asked for my contract back so I can fill it in and told him that I'd just pull over to the side and fill it out, and that's when the man just became petty. He said "No, you'll fill it out here." and then handed me back the paperwork, got out of his boot and went to the other cars behind me, making a scene that I was holding people up. You could tell that the guy was being childish, because after I had filled it out, I was watching him work on the other cars as he'd look up at my car and then keep going to others, and finally came back over after he felt like it. But it was a good thing that I did bother to fill out the paperwork, as when I did return it, the employees there immediately noticed all of the scratches and scrapes on the vehicle and I could tell that they were excited to charge me for it. So yeah, avoid this place like the plague. read more

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My car smells of vomit and chemicals used to cover vomit smell. It was also filthy, I had to clean the windows to even drive it and remove an a half drank drink from the covered center console. My co-worker was offered a lower level car than he reserved at the same price. This location is a mess. read more

PAY A LITTLE MORE AND GO ELSE WAY! NOT WORTH THE AGGRAVATION! Like the rest of the yelp reviews. All the cars are filthy inside and outside and when asked to get a clean car, they conveniently say there are no other cars or wait for one to be clean....even when you booked your car at a certain time.... they want to shove the dirty car down your throat. "Take it or leave it attitude" BEWARE OF TOLL CHARGES EVEN WHEN YOU USE YOUR OWN EZPASS. CHECK DOCS BEFORE YOU LEAVE. I picked up my car at 9:08 am for 2-day rental and my agreement says return is 8am.... it should be 48 hours after pick up but they decided to put whatever time they took to sort out the cars...... just bad management. The odometer reading was different than the rental agreement, like 500 miles different... JUST TOO MUCH HASSLE! STAY AWAY!!! AWFUL SERVICE AND THEY DON'T CARE. read more

BUDGET SUCKS!! We had a reservation for a car at the Dulles Airport location. We got there at 11:30pm and we were told there were NO Cars available and they were sold out. There were about 10 people in line who had reservations too. There is NO excuse for not have cars, when people have reservations. I will NEVER EVER Rent from Budget again. read more

ILLEGAL AND SHADY BUSINESS Our cars license plates literally were registered to another car. After getting interrogated by the police and then driving around on what looked like stolen plates, Budget refused to do anything about it. Do not rent a car here. read more

Shuttle takes forever to come while all the other companies came by 2-3 times. They won't even turn on the AC in their shuttles. It's hot and humid yet no AC. They also don't have AC inside the office. They clerk tried to scam my elderly dad by adding their insurance. Luckily we caught it. Beware. read more

Horrible and a scam! $34/day turned into $71! If you do anything extra, extend a day or add a driver the rate goes to the maximum they can charge you when you turn it in! And they dont care. Freddy at customer service is condescending when he says that is how they make money. He even admitted it is a trick and that i shoould know better as a business traveller. read more

Ridiculous!!!!! There are TWO people working to service at least 30-40 people. Next time I will pay for quicker service because this is ridiculous!!!! They knew they had reservations and they did NOTHING to provide better service read more

Got picked up by a bus. Then was asked to unload to another bus. This is just bad business I would have picked Hertz or Avis... but my mistake. First time here and shocked read more

Do not drop your car off here. The shuttle does not run regularly and you will wait at least 30 minutes for a pick-up to get back to the terminal. Not worth it. read more

* I do not recommend renting from this Budget. * I was very apprehensive about giving a 1-star review. Then, I re-sorted the results by date, saw the quantity of recent horrible customer experiences, and now I'm angry. The last, but worst, part first: They overcharged me by $175.88 on a rental from Washington, DC. The instant receipt I received actually had the proper total, but I only discovered the fraud by reviewing my credit card statement. My first impression of Budget: Walked in, she pulled up my info, changed my car type without asking, then insisted it was an upgrade (it wasn't). Then, she walkie-talkied for someone to get my car. She had to repeat this 4 times until someone answered. Then, she argued with car getter. Then, she sent me to the empty space where she said my car was. Then, 15 more minutes went by until they found a car and cleaned it. read more

DO NOT EVER RENT FROM HERE! This was by far the absolute worse experience with customer service I have ever encountered, I have never been so disrespected and humiliated in my life.. DO NOT EVER RENT FROM HERE the manager James was so awful he refused to give his last name because of his horrendous customer service. I was in tears after I left it was that bad. I still can't believe this.. read more