Budget – Car Rental 4+

You’d think that the Budget app would be more user-friendly but it’s clunky and requires more UX testing to make it worthwhile to use. The buttons you press are not intuitive, nor benefits such as Budget deals are non-searchable through the app. It is great that you can now view/modify existing reservations...finally! I travel frequently and have been a Fastbreak customer for at least 15 years, and renting a car on the fly for business should be a 3-click operation, but NO, using the Budget app will take at least 30 minutes+! Pls make your app more user-friendly: (1) offer prepaid option when viewing/modifying existing reservation (currently you must start a new res to see prepaid options), (2) change the text color of the tabs (this is not vision accessible for people w poor vision and it’s hard to see if using a smartphone’s small screen) (3) enable more than 1 credit card t/b saved to your account when using the app (4) enable saving your airline travel rewards number to be saved within your account, so that it automatically applies instead of having to enter this info with each new reservation.

If could give a zero rating I would. I prepaid for a car rental with this company for my quick trip to NY and thought that all was well. When I got to the airport location and went to pickup the car then they are telling me that I need a credit card so that they can hold a total of $250. I had one credit card on me at the time that didn’t have enough funds in it to cover cover the charges, my debit card that I use all the time had way more than enough to cover the charges they wanted to hold. Instead of using the debit card because the credit card didn’t have enough cash in it they straight out said that they can’t give me the vehicle, leaving me stranded at JFK airport. When I asked about a refund for the the car I had prepaid for I was told to call customer care and I would be refunded so I did. It’s been days now and I still can’t get back my money from this company. I will never be renting from them again and I will strongly encourage everyone to please be careful with them when renting a car especially when paying in advance. Ohh! and the other thing, they also run your credit which means that your credit score will take a hit, they had run my twice so I got a double hit on my score. What a price to pay and still no vehicle and was left stranded. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY you’ve been warned.

The Budget people have been nice and accommodating. I usually get a free upgrade (e.g. Volvo XC 90, Chrysler 300) because they are out of midsize . One time we arrived in Minneapolis with no airport reservation because every rental company was already sold out. Rather than go downtown, where we already had a Budget reservation, we pretended we thought the reservation was at the airport. The staff scoured their facility and found a Mustang GT convertible that needed cleaning inside and out. Twenty minutes later we drove away in a virtually brand new hotrod, looking as good as when it left the factory. We payed $250 all in for the day we had it, but we were very happy to not have to go downtown with our luggage.

Don’t get me wrong. I would use any airport located company to save $10 per day. However, I enrolled in “Budget Fast Track” and have not found better prices on midsize cars since.