three stars for effort and a story that ends well, but if it hadn't, it would barely make 2. so we arrived at O'Hare after a long journey of more than 25h, with an email indicating fully-paid booking of a SUV for our time in the windy and dairy cities of the US of A. a shuttle to the pick-up centre, and we arrived at an old office with just enough air-conditioning to keep the heat at a doze-inducing but not uncomfortable temperature. but one-point-five hours of sitting (pity those who were later than us and didn't get seats) and all we were told was that they had no car for us, and we would have to wait a night before going the next day to hopefully pick up a car. but, I have an Asian mother who certainly represents the best of the Tiger breed, and she negotiated (or battered, depending on which side you're on) until the manager went next door to Hertz and got us a car at their own expense. and I know it was definitely more than we had paid for dollar, which was really quite good value. we definitely weren't the only ones there with this issue - I heard at least two more families with the same issue (what else to do but eavesdrop when there's no wifi), and this was in a space of 4-5hours. after dealing with my mother, the lady at the counter (and it must be said that she and the manager provided decent service in dealing with the mix-up) said "hallelujah, she's leaving!" - and yes, after nearly 5 hours, we finally managed to. read more

Give the deposit back in a timely manner and close out the contract as soon as the car is dropped off.

Chicago Midway Airport. I'll never use Dollar again. 20 minute wait for someone to even show up at the counter. Confirmed reservation, waiting over 30 minutes and counting to get our car... read more

I booked a reservation through triple A's website. Unknowingly triple A reserved a car through dollar rent a car. I did not agree to this, but I went along with it because I was on a trip in Chicago so I needed a rental car. I had agreed to book for a certain price. Upon arrival I was greeted by a gentleman at the dollar counter. He tells me there will be $500 deposit, which is absurd by the way ; other rental agency don't charge nearly enough for a deposit, anyways come to find out I am being charged $900 almost a thousand dollars for one week in a tiny car?! This is ridiculous and when I call to sort this out; the counter in Illinois O'Hare airport is deliberately hanging up my calls! read more

Very confusing that thrift and dollar are the same line. I waited in a line and then got to the counter and they're like no you have to go to another line over there Umm fine. Then I finally got in that one and they're like we don't know when you'll get a car. Mind you this is 45 min after my originally scheduled time. Oh but we can upgrade you for a fee! Are you kidding me??? Absolutely not. Went over to budget and immediately got a car for not much more Never never never will I use these companies read more

Dollar/Thrifty are maintaining their low rating here at O'Hare Rental Center. There were only 2 unapologetic agents for 20-plus customers. The wait time was approx. 1hour 20 minutes. We rented through Hotwire and paid up front, so we were stuck with Dollar. Five Stars for the customers in line who maintained civility & patience. read more

Dollar Rent A Car - The line of people waiting to pick up their Dollar/Thrifty car rental on Thanksgiving. - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

worst experience I have ever had in my life at a car rental place. We arrived to find out they had no vehicles and we were told we would have to wait until six in the morning. When we arrived, it was midnight. We waited two hours to get a vehicle even though we had a reservation. I would never ever rent from them again. The employees were rude and they could care less if they helped or not. read more

Oh boy. Where to begin. Let's just make a list: 1- Waited more than an hour and a half the paperwork for the car. 2- Understaffed though they new a soccer tournament was coming to town. 3- Staff members were walking around with the rental agreements, which was impossible to hear. 4- Once received said paperwork, had to go to the lot to retrieve car. 5- Asked twice about adding an EZ-Pass/Express pass to the car. Was informed that it was included with car. 6- Received bill from Dollar Processing Services for $360 for admin fees for tolls. Called and learned from customer service representative that the Dollar rep should have asked me if I canted to pay $10.99 a day to use service. They did not. 7- Heed other warnings. STAY AWAY. read more

When Dollar is charging nearly a hundred bucks less than my preferred rental vendor, I'm going to choose Dollar. But that $100 comes with a cost. The cost is a longer wait for the shuttle bus to pick you up, an open lot of cars to choose from (I did get a decent low-mileage Chevy Impala) and then a much longer wait for the shuttle bus to take us back to the airport terminal. When it's only 35 degrees, it's just no fun waiting in their double-wide mobile home trailer. Yep, it's a trailer. The shuttle bus driver was friendly and the gal who checked me out of the lot was friendly and the gal who helped me return my car was also friendly. So it's the nice folks I dealt with and the nice car I got that saved Dollar a one-star review. Next time, I'll stick with my preferred even if it costs more. How much is time and comfort worth? read more

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

Why didn't I check Yelp before I bought that package on Cheap Tickets? The line is out the door and wrapped around the parking lot. And has not moved in 15 minutes. Looks like I will be here at least an hour and a half. This is really not okay. Never. Again. read more

Dollar Rent A Car - The actual line I am currently standing in to rent a car at Dollar. - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Had prepaid for renting a Dollar rental car for Ohare Airport pickup, although the staff was friendly enough, I was not given the opportunity to decline insurance nor was I shown that an insurance cost was being added to my account. No amount was shown on the pinpad as I signed for the car. Very deceptive. Discussed with manager after the rental period as the charge showed up and he said there was nothing he could do. read more

After about 6 hours of PHONE HOLD, Dollar decided to replace disabled car by towing one from very far away, even though they had a location much closer. Now they have CHARGED ME THE TOW cost. They are balking at issuing me a credit. A supervisor was to call me back.....but~~ Off to a bad start when their "EXPRESS CHECK IN" kiosk was closed. Then when car malfunctioned it took from about 5 pm to 11:30 on HOLD. Replacement car did not arrive until about 10am the next day. read more

You will be standing in line 30+ minutes. There will be two people working but one will be standing around telling the other what to do.

I was in a hurry and violated my policy of checking yelp reviews when I buy or rent things. It bit me as usual. I rented a car from Dollar over the internet for my wife who was in Chicago at the O'hare Airport. When she went to pick up the Economy car, that I had specified, they looked at her suitcase and said her suitcase could not possibly fit in that type of car and she needed to upgrade to a Compact car. Her suitcase measured 20"x29"x13". The Economy car is listed on their website as a "Chevy Spark" or similar and shows it will hold 4 people and 2 suitcases. Apparently it is just slightly bigger than a roller skate and only 2 clowns would fit in it and they would need to have mouse sized suitcases. The Compact car is listed on their website as a Nissan Versa Note or similar and shows it will hold 5 people, or 20 clowns, and 3 suitcases. They got us on that one. It's easy to take advantage of a 79 year old woman traveling alone, but they should be ashamed of themselves and what they call a company. Also, my wife forgot to take her GPS out of the car. She told them about it in the parking return area and they took her contact information and said they would check lost and found. I'm sure they laughed and laughed all the way to the pawn shop. Of course they never found it. I gave that recovery a 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance of sucess. Sure, it was possible they would find it. They got us on that one. But that's on us. I wish I could give them less than one star on my review, but you can't give 1/1000th of a star, so their average for hundreds of unsatisfied customers will still be above one star. read more

Had no cars available when I arrived at O'Hara mid afternoon. About 30 of us have been waiting for over an hour AFTER checking in with the desk. Even the agent said they should stop setting themselves at the lowest rate on the Defense Travel Site when they don't have enough cars to fill the reservations. read more

Car rental place has NO CARS! How does a business stay in business when you have a reservation for a car and they tell you they have no cars! Their excuse? "Mother Nature has different plans." What? There was no weather at all. Go to Avis read more

Use Dollar as last resort only. Run away - don't walk. As others have mentioned, long, long wait in line only to be told no cars are available for at least 1 hour. This was Chicago O'Hare location. Asked and paid for toll transponder and it wasn't activated. Imagine what it feels like to back up Chicagoans in an automated toll line for 10 minutes trying to get an attendant so you can pay to get through. Horrible for me and those behind me. I emailed Dollar through their system for help - no reply within 3 days as their website promises. I called Corporate - said they cannot refund and to call local Chicago location. Local Chicago location doesn't answer phone and simply disconnects you. It's no wonder they don't print contact information on your contract or anywhere else. Dollar has botched every single opportunity to make things right for me. Vehicle was "okay". Smelled of having been smoked in (likely was cleaned but smoke smell remained). Reasonably fast checkout once car was available and quick drop off. Staff was friendly. read more

Got to the counter with my prepaid reservation. The clerk told me they had no cars and it would be at least a two hour wait. There was a waiting room full of people waiting for cars that they didn't have at the facility. Why would they continue to sell cars they don't have? I asked to speak to a manager about getting a refund since the rental place next door had plenty of cars available and dollar had broken our agreement. The clerk refused to help, turned his back on me and proceeded to use his cell phone like a child. Very unprofessional and this should be considered stealing since they took my money and never produced a vehicle. Never again. Fox rental all the way. read more

Dollar Rent A Car - This is the clerk pouting like a child on his cell phone after he refused to get the manager. - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

After a long flight during a pandemic, the representatives of the Dollar Rent A Car definitely don't care about their customers well being. We went to the booth at O'Hare International Airport, and the representative behind the counter wasn't even wearing a mask. Hard to believe... When we got our car and had our last check point before leaving the airport, the representative in the garage was RUDE... We were being very nice and wishing her a Happy Easter and she "bit our head off" with her rudeness.. The team at Dollar Rent A Car need to give their team a refresher course on professionalism and customer service. We are definitely done with them the next time we visit Chicago.. read more

My wife & kids gifted me an all expense paid trip to Chicago for Father's Day. They booked me a rental car through dollar. I called a week before my departure to ensure we had everything squared away and double check their policy for use of a debit card. The agent failed to tell me that I needed to pass a credit check to which I found out after arriving at the location and having to stand in line for almost 2.5 hours with no explanation given. Several managers/supervisors were up front just clicking keys on a keyboard while their line was the longest in the rental car pick up building. It was so bad a new employee showed up for work and they started training her which made the line even longer. When I finally got to the counter I handed the lady my license, and debit card along with proof of my return flight ticket as per the agent I spoke with over the phone. She ran a credit check to which I failed and then tells me that I can't have a car because I failed the credit check. The moment I said nobody informed me of this she handed me the receipt which stated my credit score was 160 points higher than I thought it was which made it a 690. The counter person dismissed me with no alternative and when I tried to ask for a refund of my money I was politely informed that since it was booked through third party I have to go through them. I called CheapTickets and they stated they dollar would have to approve the refund which they doubt they will since I was supposed to cancel the reservation 2 hours before hand. I used to be a frequent renter with dollar years ago and I never had to go through this much bs to get a vehicle I know things changed but damn how could you just leave someone stranded in a whole city that they haven't been to in 20 years. However I will say that I will never recommend Dollar Rent a Car or any of it's affiliated car rental spots to anyone. As a veteran of the US Military you don't treat people like that. Completely unprofessional and very disrespectful and disgusting might I say. I hope this review makes it to somebody with a brain that can at least get my damn money back. read more

omg, do not rent from dollar- they suck.. i had a reservations on hold for 2months at midway airport chicago when i arrive, they tell me its a 4 hour wait for an auto- they said they were waiting on cars to be returned and nothing was avail. the girls at the counter were nasty and just didnt care never heard of such a thing - what was the point in making a reservaiton if i have to wait... so i walked right over to budget and got a car in two seconds and no wait.--- read more

For the second time, I was way overcharged for my rental. The first time I thought is was a fluke, now I am fighting to get back a $500 overcharge as they showed I had the car 3 days longer than I did. I have never seen this by any other car rental agency. I'll never use them again. Also, the car had a fleet plate on it. I was not aware that you had to enter the "FP" for fleet plate. I received 2 Chicago parking tickets even though I paid for parking through the application because they could not register the plate to the vehicle. Another $140.00, and none of my calls to management were returned. read more

Dropped off a rental here, and I'm giving 1 star primarily based on the shuttle driver. A traveler in another group had a small box of fried green peas snack with her and the lid popped open so a bit spilled onto the surface where luggage is put. She promptly scooped the peas back into the box and brushed off the area. No one likes spilled food, but it was really no big deal - however, the driver was explicitly exasperated and said "you didn't spill any, did you?" then gave the girl an annoyed look when their group exited the bus. Instead of letting it go after that, he kept going on and on about the peas while taking the rest of us to our terminals. Statements that were not amusing and came off as possibly racist. It was a very uncomfortable few minutes for me. That shuttle ride experience left a bad taste in my mouth and I will not be booking with Dollar again. read more

What a circus act... 3 people who don't know anything about using computers, customer service, or management. What a JOKE. 45 minute wait and 1 person gets helped every 10 minutes. If you value your tie, your sanity, your respect, stay the hell away from this crap shoot. Never again read more

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

I made a reservation through Expedia for a weekend golf trip in Chicago. I reserved a Compact SUV (per the website Nissan Rogue or similar). I arrived at the O'hare Airport location and waited in line for 30 minutes. When I got to the desk, I was given a Kia Soul. The agent at the desk, who was not friendly, stated the Kia was a compact SUV. When I inquired about a mid-size car (something with trunk room that can hold golf clubs) I was told the wait on a car was at least 1 hour. Begrudgingly, I accepted the vehicle and had to put my clubs in the backseat because there is no trunk space. The whole purpose in renting an SUV was to transport myself and several friends around the city for golf. Unfortunately, we had to make other plans to transport 3 sets of golf clubs. Here's the kicker......I called Dollar after the rental was complete. The customer service folks confirmed that a Kia Soul is NOT in their Compact SUV class. That vehicle is in fact considered an Intermediate (Ford Focus size). They referred me to Expedia who in turn sent me back to Dollar. I called the customer service number twice. The first time, I used the "call me back" option. No call back. The second time, the agent basically told me that because I got a good deal, they wouldn't issue a refund. I tweeted at Dollar and received what I believed to be automated responses promising an investigation. Guess what?? No response. Steer clear of this company! read more

What a scam!!! I rented a car and return it and the Dollar person notice a piece of plastic had often off by the light. I had not hit anything or found any missing piece. No problem I told him what happen and nothing happened. Six weeks later I get a call saying that I needed to pay $426 for the repair. The rep said they also found something wrong with the wheel well? He explained using my insurance would only save $50 since the car repairs were $300 and the loss of service and service were $126. PLEASE DON'T USE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS TO CUSTOMERS. read more

I am sitting here stuck at the rental facility at ohare. My flight didn't arrive until 12:10 am. I noticed that the rental company closed at 12. I called a couple weeks ahead of time. The agent said no problem that she would notify my reservation and that I could go straight in and get my car. My name is on the board for a 12:30 pickup but a car was not assigned to me. Now I am stuck here until 6am with my family who is tired and hungry. There is no emergency number to call,no agents answering phones nothing. I just want to cry. read more

Hidden charges! beware. Pay the extra for enterprise. Much better business practice. they also said we owed them money for things we did not agree to read more

Great, helpful service and friendly counter person. Other one-star guy . . . you wanted someone to read the contract to you? Idiot, ask a question! I picked up a car here last Friday, and while the location is inconvenient if you're not coming in on a plane, the rate is unbeatable. After I got my car, and drove off, something was wrong. The car sounded awful, something was wrong. It was a Subaru with "auto shift" or some nonsense. People. There are manual trans (which I infinitely prefer) and there are auto trans cars. These inbetween hybrids . . . what are they for idiots that want to play with their stick in the car yet lack the cojones to actually learn to drive a manual? Please. This is not a diss on Dollar, merely a poke at stupid car companies. I brought the car back, and it was determined that I wasn't doing the stupid "auto shift" thing right. The same helpful counter person explained what I was doing wrong without making me feel like more of a dumbass. Thanks, helpful counter person. :-) I'll use Dollar again. read more

AVOID AT ALL COST - Scams Operating here READ carefully before you sign the contract. Hidden fees, mandatory insurance (which is absolutely incorrect). Hidden upgrade charges. I just returned a car. They wanted to charge me $2466.00, when the original quote was $1700. After 45 mins arguing with the staff (Manager was too busy to see me, coward), they deducted $150. "Oh, thank you mr thief". They wouldn't go to my original quote, telling me all sorts of pre-written fairy tales, about me being foreigner, the car being a Super Mega Luxury edition so therefor other rules and charges apply, etc.... Absolute waste of time. All I did was call customer service, explain what had happened, and bingo, Money back into my account. I'm never using this company again, ever. I suggest you all do the same. Hope this whole team gets replaced ASAP. read more

What a SCAM!! We originally wanted to rent from Advantage but the line was SO long and not moving so we got out of line and went to the Dollar which had nobody in line. NOW I KNOW WHY!! They said they would match our quote from Advantage, which they might have but my husband went from a midsize that I picked to an SUV that he wanted. After our week of using the car, which was a really nice car by the way, I asked him how much they charged us for the car. When he said it nearly doubled I went berserk. Looking at the bill I saw that they charged us $9.99 a gallon for the less than a quarter of a tank of gas. Then all the TAXES!! OMG!! CONCESSION FEE RECOVERY $68.55 ???CNTY SURCHG $23.64 CUSTOMER FACILITY CHARGE42.00?? 15.600% ON TAXABLE TTL OF $727.52 WAS $113.49 ??? TOTAL BILL FOR 7 DAYS WAS $864.00 !!! I WISH I HAD READ THE YELP FIRST. :=( SUSAN S. read more

DO NOT GO TO Dollar Car Rental. They are scammers. Their employees tell you not to worry about the toll roads then they wait 2 months for them to over charge you on the rates. This company is unethical and has no morals. With much disappointment, Chrystal read more

Horrible, got to O'Hare airport and they didn't have a car for our reservation. Will not do business with this company. Would not recommend. To bad I cant go lower than one star read more

Avoid if at all possible. Scammers. Seriously, I could go into all the details...but just suffice it to say, if you have a choice...go with ANY other rental car company. This is far below budget, we're talking bare bones of economy vehicles and service to match. Our shuttle driver was terrifying (in terms of safety), and then once we did arrive (alive, thank God)...they just didn't seem to have a car (SUV) we'd reserved weeks in advance nor could they honor my pre-paid reservation for some technicality I am still unclear on...but did offer to give me an Altima (not an SUV) for $400. For 4 days. Declined, try again Dollar. Also, it's housed in a mobile home shack of sorts and everyone working there seems barely competent. They are capitalizing on many foreign travelers (I could tell while waiting in line) and it's not just unethical, its slimy. Then they ordered us a cab (since, I had no car!) that cost $45 back to our house (normal taxi is $25). Awesome. All around. Now I get to fight with the booking agent to get my prepaid money back. And they wouldn't even do me the service of printing me out some sort of documentation saying that they were out of my requested vehicle. "just no way to do that." Liars. Holler for a Dollar? Hell no. Rebooked at Hertz for $16/day or $85 for the same period of time. Seriously. Skip this place. Forever. And ever. read more

I reserved a car at this location with Expedia. When I arrived to pick up the car, I was rudely informed that my price per day will be almost 2 times higher due to a mandatory liability insurance. About 1--2 months since the conclusion of the rental, my credit card was charged almost $100 for highway tolls that I paid myself. There were no unpaid tolls to charge me for. The shuttle to the rental car location is infrequent compared to other rental car companies at O'Hare airport. This was definitely the worst car rental experience I ever had. Normally, quotes include all mandatory fees, and I was never charged for tolls that were already paid by me. read more

Went here because the cars seemed a bit cheaper. What they should tell you is that you're saving money, but paying for it in shotty customer service, and employees who are obnoxious and rude. First off, this place is in a trailer that looks 10 years old. It's filthy and small. It's also all the way in the back of the air port, you have to literally drive through every other car rental place before getting here. I thought the best was saved for last? I dealt with a lady named Cindi when picking up my car. She did everything under the sun to get me to upgrade, or buy this or that. Everytime I said no thanks, she gave me an attitude and made a snide remark. When leaving, she told me "Be careful with the car, don't mess it up or anything because you didn't pay for our coverage." The car wasn't bad. It's a brand new Toyota Yaris, which is small but enough for our 3 day stay. I'm dropping off the car today. I'm sure I'll have a fun story to update this review with once I drop it off. Next time, I might just pay the extra $10 a day at another company if I don't have to deal with that BS again... read more

SLOWWWW service. Do NOT book here if you're in a rush to get to a meeting or catch a flight. We stood in line for about 30 minutes with 2 people in front of us (and 3 already being helped at the counter). This was my first time booking a rental car with AAdvantage miles, which (I thought) would get me a free car. I guess that was too good to be true, because they charged me a $25/day underage fee (fine, but I don't think you're allowed to do that to a prepaid reservation). They also charged me a 40% tax on the retail rate. I ended up paying over $100 for 2 days of rental. WHAT? I almost cried. Lesson learned, and read the fine print (even if it's not there). /end sarcasm. read more

I really wished I read the reviews before booking here. I always had decent experience with the DCA location-- and I walk in to the rental with a woman arguing she had refused insurance and she still got charged for it. Lines are running long, I look at the clock since I have a 5 hr drive ahead of me (contrary to the rental shuttle driver claiming it was only a 2.5 hr drive - yay the start to misinformation). Sp my german bf and I used kayak.de to book the trip (under my name) due to better rates and coverage, and he unfortunately ended up not being able to join -- so I show up with a voucher in my name in hand and they refused to honor my voucher because I didn't have an international license (since I was from the US). So, if my bf was there, they would have honored it??! She couldn't produce the policy for it, and said I would need to contact the website I got it from and essentially threatened that I probably couldn't get one from them anyways since they are booked full but if I did, I would have to get it at today's going rates (hello? I just came in with a reservation so why can't I get that car?). German time would be midnight, and on a Sunday, definitely no service. So I get the sad looking dinged up car, and just hoping that I that my return won't be equally horrific. So I pay the going rate, which is 2.5x more than what I originally PAID for my voucher (so I'm essentially paying TWICE) and hoping dollar will end up honoring my voucher- if not, its the last time I deal with them, and will make sure others know of my experience. On the way out, I told the gatekeeper how terrible the front desk ladies were, and he said "yeah, I heard that from other [customers] before". Isn't that a sign something needs to be done about it! Dollar was always my go to rental company, for both personal and business trips, and after this experience, probably will think twice. read more

I hate to give poor reviews (check out my reviews, I think you'll see that I've only given positive reviews from over 200 reviews). In this case, I have to say something. I booked with Dollar last week and arrived at O'Hare last night at 8 pm. I made it to the Rental Car Shuttle location just before 8:30 pm. I saw all other car company shuttles come and go multiple times (Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, Budget, Advantage, Alamo, Ace, National...) but no Dollar shuttle. So after waiting 20 minutes, I called Dollar. The Dollar rep contacted the local O'Hare office and told me that it would be just another 5 minutes. I waited for another 20 minutes and called Dollar again. This time, they weren't able to contact the local office. She said that the line just rings and rings. Unbelievable! At this point it was past 9:15 pm and there were several other people waiting for the Dollar shuttle and we finally had to give up, take the next (competitor) shuttle, which turned out to be Avis, head over to Avis and rent from them. By the time I was at Avis it was past 9:30 and had to be very late for my 9:30 business dinner, which I should've been able to get to with plenty of time to spare. Very disappointing experience and they better refund the $346.65 I pre-paid to rent a car for 2 days in Chicago. read more

The worst experience I have ever had was in the Texas DFW airport. The manager name was Nikki. I felt like I was in a friend fight. She was so unprofessional and rude. I was told I could have a number to make a complaint -I had to email. I've never heard of that. No worries I emailed every one including the BBB. Much like the BBB report no one has responded but they have a lot of bad reviews. This is on me. read more