Negative stars. This review is specifically for Dollar Car Rental company. On my last day of the car rental, I hear a weird noise & pull into a gas station. The front driver wheel falls off the car (Refer to pictures). I was just about to pull onto the freeway onramp and if this happened then, I could've died or gotten severely hurt and caused a major pile up. There was no accident or incident. A complete mechanical failure. They send a claim a few weeks later asking for payment of $2900. When I disputed it, they said it's not a mechanical failure when there is damage to the fender. I have video and photo of the fender without a scratch. WTF?! PSA: Do not rent with Dollar, Thrifty, or Hertz. They do not maintain their cars and they will try to stick you with the bill. read more

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Dishonest. Stealthy. Duplicitous. That sums up my experience with Dollar Car Rental. They double charged me for my rental and slipped in extra costs I never agreed to. When I tried to resolve it, their customer service was unhelpful and dismissive. It's clear this company operates with shady practices, prioritizing squeezing extra money out of customers over transparency or integrity. I've rented cars all over the world and have never had an experience this bad. If you value honesty and fair dealing, look elsewhere. Dollar Car Rental cannot be trusted. read more

If I could give negative stars, I would. They charged me over $1,000 after I returned my rental. I was told a receipt would be emailed to me, and I have still yet to receive it over a month later. I also never received a copy of the agreement. The lady at the front desk was VERY rude. I should have gotten her name, but I can describe her. I called their customer service to inquire about these charges and they wouldn't tell me what they were for. On top of that, the customer service rep hung up on me. I was told where I can download a copy of my receipt online, but they don't recognize any of the information I input such as my drivers license and even the CREDIT CARD NUMBER THEY CHARGED this over $1,000 fee too. It makes no sense. They are very unprofessional. I will NEVER rent a car from them again and I suggest choosing another company when you need a vehicle. read more

Please give these reviews some deep thought before choosing to proceed with this company! My dad had reserved a car online about a week and a half in advance. When he went to review his booking two days prior to our reservation, he noticed they completely butchered his name and worried they would not give him the car as this was not the name on his ID of course. It took him 4 hours (during his workday) of being on the phone to finally reach someone who would be able to change the name. There is no direct line to the airport location so getting in touch with someone is nearly impossible. When we went to pickup the car, they gave us the smallest car which really upset us because we were traveling 16 hours with luggage which is why we reserved a large SUV. They responded to this by saying they just didn't have any available. Not to mention, the gas tank was completely empty. By the time we noticed this, it was too late to turn around and go to the airport so I decided to call the number provided. Let me tell you -- this company, by a landslide, has the WORST customer service I have ever experienced. There truly are not enough words to describe how frustrating it was to even get ahold of someone to speak to. At this point, I was concerned about our safety on this long journey should something happen to the car or to us, there was absolutely no getting in touch with these people. For example: -When I asked one lady for the direct number to the SBA location, she said the info was on their website and that I could look it up. I told her that 1. I had already tried this and had no luck, and 2. I was now driving and was unable to access the internet to lookup the info which is why I called. To which she responded-- we can't give out that information but you can find it on the website. This was just a conversation that went in circles until she hung up on me. - I was told by 1 rep, when I finally requested to speak with a manager, that the manager was "in a meeting" and to call back in an hour. He only told me this after 30 min of being on the phone with him as he kept asking me what the problem was over and over again and me continuously repeating the problem to him. -I called back an hour later, the manager was still "in a meeting" so this next rep took my phone number and said the manager would call me back. It's been 9 days since I was told I'd get a call back...must be a really intense meeting... Bottom line: this company doesn't even deserve a single star. I hope they read their reviews and do better because there's truly no way to personally get through to them read more

Worst car rental I have ever experienced and I travel a lot. I was told they didn't have the car I reserved and they gave me another one but was also told none of the prices would change. Come to find out they did charge me more in the end, when I called customer service they were no help at all and very rude. Even the man next to me was upset they gave him a car with a quarter tank and expected him to bring it back full. Don't use dollar car rental. So unprofessional and I will never use them again! read more

Santa barbara dollar car rental is the worst car rental, they don't even deserved a star. The staff assigned last april 8 was very rude and unprofessional. He seems to be like he doesn't like his job. Very impolite, read more

This is a Hertz / Dollar rental counter in the SBA airport. The agent on duty after hours must be new or just not great at assessing priorities because he chose to answer the phone and go move cars as a result of that call while customers queued at the counter for 5 or 10 minutes. The couple behind me were pretty angry and gave him a sound F-bombing but he got back behind the counter without blinking and started renting cars. Same couple said the normal business hour service is great and they've been renting from this same location for the last 25 years. Must have been an off day with one agent to service the phones and the counter until midnight. Don't envy the guy his job but I will make sure I rent during regular hours next time. Beware. read more

Reserved midsize car months in advance. Reconfirmed arrival date with this combined Hertz/Dollar counter at the exact location picking up from. No cars for any of the customers. 6 families with no way to leave the airport just from our flight. More disappointed people thereafter. No we had to wait for other renters to return without knowing when any returns would come in. Forget this place unless you like being stranded. read more

Not sure if it's a scam or just bad service. They charged me a $400 smoking fee because they found evidence of smoking at drop-off time. They showed me the trace amounts of ashes in the cup holder and it was too subtle for me to notice when I got the car and it didn't smell like smoke when I got in. I don't know how I could've caught this. I only had the car for 2 hours (driving to LAX) and haven't smoked a cigarette in my life. There are other reports of this in the reviews. I realize guilty parties would use this defense. They said they didn't have pictures of the cupholder from before I rented the car. It appears this will be difficult to fight. read more

Made reservation 2 months in advance. Told to wait 45-1 hour. That was an hour ago. Now told at least an hour. Their incompetence is burning my weekend get away. I am pissed off, read more

This is a review of Dollar Car Rental (the company) and not necessarily the SBA agents. I rent from Dollar at SBA twice a month (read: I give a lot of $ to this company). This time, despite having a reservation, they rented out my car to someone else. "We have no cars", the agent informed me with a blank stare. I then needed to pay a $100 Lyft fee and was unable to get to work today (additional lost wages). When I called Dollar today, the agent was ill-equipped to deal with the situation and hung up on me. When I called back, I was put on hold for 19 minutes. NEVER AGAIN, DOLLAR. read more

It's tough not to love a rental car agency who has a desk in one of the world's most quaint and charming airports. Especially when there's no queue, and the cars are beep-able range from the counter itself. But here's what pushed me over the edge into fandom: my sales agent was not pushy whatsoever. He didn't try to up-sell my car. He didn't try to get me to pre-pay for gas. He didn't ask me, guilt me, shame me into buying insurance. Or GPS. Or satellite radio. Or any of the normal questions you have to arm yourself with "no, no, no" like you're going into battle before walking up to the counter. In fact, it was so quick and painless I almost asked about some of those options myself, because for once my interest was piqued. Funny, that... Returning was just as easy. And I didn't walk away with a receipt that would give a roll of toilet paper a complex. Just a nice, normal-sized, wallet-fitting piece of paper. Nicely done Dollar of Santa Barbara Airport, I'm a fan. read more

Worst Customer service on the planet, never rent from them. They upcharge and overcharge, very bad business, beware. read more

On a recent happy visit to Santa Barbara, CA, for our daughters wedding, we rented from Dollar. We had the best agent assistance given. Please give a great shout-out to Gabriel and Jason. They both were instrumental in giving the best directions, assisting us on the kind of car to rent while there as well as how to operate the car since the gears for drive, reverse and park were under the radio - not in the traditional places in a car. If back in the area again, we would definitely rent with them again. Bruce & Marilyn Arnold Gallatin, TN read more

I had been renting from dollar for 2 years for trips to and from Los Angeles, issues I managed, like wonky unexpected charges. This last time, unbelievable! I was charged a $300 fee for smoke damage, and I'm a NON-SMOKER! Nobody was in the car but me and a sibling who also doesn't smoke. The car smelled of smoke when I rented it. The manager refused to reverse the charge. I went through my credit card company and hopefully the will go to bat for me. read more

i can't give it 0 stars but i would. beware!!! they will rent a car for pickup after 6 p.m. on their website, but will not be there to give you the car. they will screw you. and when you get to santa barbara airport there are no other car rental locations. read more

My daughter reserved a car for pick up after work on December 24 so we could go out of town and be with family for Christmas. Dollar said they'd be open until 7pm that evening. We arrived at the airport to pick up our reserved car at 5:40 and the rental desk was completely shut down!!! We called customer service and were told that the desk was not supposed to shut down early and MIGHT be open at 7am Christmas morning. A family member had to drive 2 hours to come get us. If Dollar's agents would have called and told us they were closing early that day, we would have made arrangements to pick up the car early. What a terrible blow Dollar Car Rental gave us on Christmas Eve during an already difficult year!! AND, they have not refunded our money like they said they would. read more

I honestly had no issues with the Dollar Car Rental in Santa Barbara. I was actually really nervous about it since I read reviews about Dollar Rental before my pickup (and this was my first time using them). The share a counter with Hertz so there was always someone there to help me. The only negative I would say is that their cars are older. My car had 33,000 miles at pickup but all of the buttons were sticky (i.e. you had to really use some elbow grease to change the radio station or change the air flow). read more

Wow be careful of this scam of a company. My boyfriend and I took our first ever vacation here to Santa Barbara and rented a car from Dollar to take advantage of the hiking and beaches. I paid for the car ahead of time and then my boyfriend paid the deposit and was listed as the driver because he was over 25. Well almost a week goes by and the deposit is not only held but another $100 is taken out???? So trying to call about that was almost impossible I sat on the phone for 45 minutes just on hold to have an extremely rude associate tell me that she can't tell me any details about the rental I paid for because my boyfriend was listed as the driver. So the next day he calls for another 45 minutes and finds out we were charged for smoking in the car because there were ashes found on the ground.....what??? Then everyone on the phone tells us to call the front desk to find out what the exact problem was, but the front desk apparently doesn't have a direct line and NOBODY knows the extension. They have no pictures of these "ashes" and there's nothing in the contract that says you can't go to multiple beaches, bonfires, hiking in woods and don't you think there's going to be residue on our shoes? If you rent from this company I suggest you vacuum the car yourself or they will be sure to take your money since that's all they care about. I will never be using dollar again and neither will all my well traveled friends. read more

I rented a car at SBA Airport from Dollar rental. I declined and did not want additional insurance but they still charged my credit card $66 insurance fee. My agreement shows that I declined it. I was very displeased with Dollar rental. Stay away.. read more

I recently rented a car while I was in town for work and to visit family. I had a change of plans and needed to return the car early due. Hennessy was the absolute best. On top of the return being the easiest ever, he helped me with a refund and was beyond helpful, friendly and professional. I'd highly recommend dollar to anyone flying into Santa Barbara. Great service and great cars. read more

DO NOT USE THIS AGENCY!!! They will quote one rate and charge another when you return the car (at least at the Houston location). Dishonest, incompetent, and rude employees and company. read more

Booked car online. They didn't have it, or anything comparable, when I got to the counter. Seems like it would have been easy enough to call me in advance to let me know, but that didn't happen. read more

Had to change my rating from 5 star to 2 star when I checked my credit card statement and had a $26 fee charged to my account that didn't show up on the receipt. read more