If I could leave no stars or minus I would. I reserve a car for the south terminal at YVR only to find no Avis counter. I arrived at the terminal at noon with a 1pm appointment in Tsawwassen. This would be plenty of time if my car was at the terminal. They advertise with the south terminal address but the counter is actually at the main terminal! I took the shuttle which was 25 minutes with traffic to get there. Then the Avis counter is 10 persons deep with only 3 of 7 stations open. I ended up leaving and getting a cab because I was already hopelessly late. Avis you are a crap garbage useless lying company. Never will I use your service, this is inexcusable. Complete false and misleading advertising! read more

Currently waiting 1+ hours for a car that was supposed to be available in 10 minutes. After numerous follow ups with the desk we keep getting told it is 10 minutes away. Last time booking with Avis. read more

We were traveling as a large group and we all had our own rental car and we rented from Avis while the rest of the family rented from Hertz. First thing we noticed is when we went into the Avis rental location at the airport, there was no line! We were greeted right away and taken care of in a timely matter. We had a free upgrade code when we reserved, we originally had a mid-sized car and the upgrade would be to a full-size vehicle, but because they ran out of full-sized vehicles, they let us upgrade to a SUV for free! It was really kind of the staff member who also noticed I was travelling with 2 young kids, she mentioned "It's better for the kids" to have an SUV :) The staff member also was very helpful answering my questions since we were going to be crossing the border in the rental and dropping off in Seattle. She also was very clear in that if you cross any toll bridges in Canada, that we had to let Avis know because they get the bill a month later and you don't pay at the actual bridge itself. This was great to know. Overall had a great and smooth experience with Avis at the YVR airport and would use them again! read more

This line is what I'd expect at a cheap, sketchy car rental company, not Avis. The line stretches on alllllll the way across the entire room, been here an hour and moved only a quarter of the way to the desk. As if they don't know exactly how many people are picking up reserved cars at any given time?! To top it off, SEVERAL empty spots where employees could and should be present helping customers. PATHETIC. read more

Avis - Half of the line. It's worse behind me. - Car Rental Near Me - Richmond, British Columbia

Terrible. Slowest car rental service I have ever experienced and I had pre-rented my car. I could have bought a car faster.

Would give a 0 if possible... slowest line with absolutely no effort to get long line moving... staff just chit chatting

First time getting rental car from avis at yvr airport in mid January. Was good experience till I got my bill in credit card statement. Avis billed me in usd without informing me when I returned the car. About $10 usd difference if they bill me in cad. Called Avis and they said I agreed when they billed me in usd and just hang up the line without saying or doing anything. Now going through the dispute process with my credit card company. Be careful if you are international traveler. read more

I get that everyone's experience can be based on the day, time and who's helping you. Thankfully for me, I've had two great experiences with renting at this location so far. I've gotten help right away and the car I've wanted each time. I travelled in both times for business on a Monday and both times got help from a man named Shon. Shon was very kind, relaxed and remembered me from the previous week, which is always a plus. I truly appreciate the great customer service. read more

They have a line 50+ people deep and they have only two people working the counter!! I travel all the time and this is the worst rental car experience ever!! Thanks for ruining the start to our vacation Avis!! read more

Avis - Already waiting an hour on this line!! - Car Rental Near Me - Richmond, British Columbia

We booked our car with payment upfront in order to receive a discount. When we were looking at modifying our rental to add another driver the price doubled for our rental. When we tried to remove the modification the company said they couldn't honor the original rate and forced us to pay double our original booking. We ended up eating the cancellation fee just to get out of such an unexpectedly expensive cost. Watch out for these guys! They won't try and help you fix your booking! read more

Took 1/12 hours in line to get to the front. Line was crazy with only 3 people working. Then another 30 minutes to have the car brought up to us. Very disappointed!! Will not rent with avis again at Vancouver international airport. The people at the front desk were very nice- they just need to hire more people to handle all of the rentals. read more

Waiting for 45 minutes for a car that was supposed to be ready upon arrival. Prepaid, called to confirm...customer service was decent but waiting so long for a car that should be ready to go is not fun! Honestly, probably won't rent from them again. read more

I recently rented a minivan via Priceline from Avis at the Vancouver airport for a family vacation. Initially, we were ticked off as it took the staff 15 minutes plus (seemed like an hour after our long flight to Vancouver) to bring in additional staff to man the booths following an influx of customers. However, once things got started the staff person was very courteous and got us the van in short order. We had got a great deal via Priceline by booking many months in advance. But more importantly, they upgraded us (or so it seemed) to a brand new top of the line Pacifica that more then met our expectations. This greatly helped to make our vacation a big success. Thank you Avis! read more

Rented our vehicle here. A little bit of a walk especially if you have a lot of luggage. The Avis rep had a very heavy Eastern European accent and was hard to communicate with. Asked if my brother could drive also, she said it was no extra charge but he would have to sign some forms. We told the rep that if it costs extra we would not put my brother on the driver list, she assured us there was no extra charge. My brother signed the forms and we received the bill, but it was in French, which was odd b/c we are in British Columbia. The bill had an extra $40 on a separate line, which the Avis rep said that it was normal and just extra taxes. We signed and took our vehicle. During some down time, we found the English version of our bill which showed that the $40 was on the extra driver line. I called Avis Corporate and they refused to refund the $40. When we returned the vehicle to a different location in Vancouver, 757 Hornsby St, the drop off location is closest to the cruise ship terminal, just very small and hard to find. The rep at the 757 Hornsby St location was nice and reversed the $40 misled charge. Still not comforting that Corporate Avis refuses to refund a $40 charge that we were lied to. I know the Avis corporation is hurting monetarily and might be bought out by a competitor, but to not refund money is unbelieveable! read more

Booked a car for pick up at 1am but my flight was 2 hours delayed due to heavy traffic at JFK. Landed and ready to pick up my car but it was already 3am and the counter was closed. I left the airport to get some sleep, called at 11am to check my car status and found out they gave away my car. What's the point of reserving if they're giving away cars? The person on the phone didn't even bother suggesting options, instead he quoted me a car for pick up 2 days later for $850CAD and I only paid $420USD. Called Priceline right after that and they sorted out everything. AVIS you need to step it up if you want to stay in business. read more

It was very close to the arrival terminal of the airport. There was no line, but I still had to wait 10 minutes to be helped. I got over the wait time since the representative who helped me was fast in getting me the car I reserved from Expedia. My card was charged exactly the same amount as the Expedia reservation, which was very convenient. The car was the same size as reserved, but different make. It was vacummed, washed, and had a full tank of gas. The car was basically brand new. Very satisfied. read more

One person at rental desk finally turned into two, but it's been an hour and we are halfway through line. Called customer service and they were polite, but, alas, no other cars anywhere, sorry. Please staff a and resource for peak times. read more

Worst experience ever. First of all , there is always a long line here but only 2 employees serving. Even after you pass through that line and get done with paper work for 45 mins, you will have to wait outside for more 30 mins . because persons on ground are very less and takes long time to get your car to you. the lady working there was with big rude attitude. i don't care though. but the biggest problem occurred when i was returning the car. Although I had made sure i have unlimited millage miles, the person at returning place told me he can not process return because there is excessive mileage (BTW i only traveled about 100 kms in 2 days) and i have to go inside and talk to manager. I was already freaking at that time because i had flight after 2 hours which included checking, in ,security check , visa immigration. I went inside and instead of long line, I directly went to counter and asked for help and that lady again carelessly mentioned that manager busy outside helping other customers so she does not know when he will come and when i said i have urgent issue and i have flight to catch, again carelessly she said then you might miss your flight if you wait for him. so i started grabbing people coming out from their office thinking may be one of them may be able to help.but everyone was damn busy to grab incoming customers, noone cared. and finally i grabbed one person who was luckily manager. now this guy even though being indian sardar, had biggest attitude. first he kept me waited for more 15 mins and then he said oh, someone entered wrong starting mile (900km) so that is why it shows excessive miles here at return (13000km). WTF. now even then the receipt he gave me had more charges, so I had to again show him that he charged me for 1 extra hour and again he corrected blah blah. so basically I wasted 1 hour at avis returning my car which should be done in 10 mins. and i had to rush everywhere and i reached just 10 mins before my plane was taking off . story does not end, after coming to US back, I found they charged me 300$ instead of 130$ on my card now i have to call them all the way to canada and waste my time talking with them. real nightmare ruining my vacation ...... big cheaters... read more

Obviously I see now that I should have checked out these other reviews before booking here. I usually have no problem with Avis, i've rented from them at least 5 times before at various locations but this one OH MAN! I booked a reservation online at avis.com - FYI apparently they're two different companies.... Yeah ... I put the reservation in my name because all it asked for was the reservation name holder, nothing about the driver. I prepaid and thought i was good to go. When we arrived to pick up the car I said that Brandon was going to be the driver and they said it would be an extra $10 or 15 a day for that because the reservation was in my name. So i said fine and that I would drive, next they wanted to charge me an extra $335 because I was only 24, let's put this in perspective.. This was on February 6th 2014, my 25th birthday was February 12th 2014... apparently in 6 days I would be much more mature but until then they wanted $335 more. Now as i stated earlier, I've rented from Avis plenty of times and literally never been charged the under 25 fee before so I was a little upset when they were trying to charge me this. Next we were like just cancel the reservation and put it into Brandon's name.... oh but it was made with avis.com so they suggested we call avis.com and handle it... NOOOO we're standing in your store you handle it.. what happened to customer service these days good lord! The one lady was so rude it was absolutely ridiculous she told us to call and also that I probably just didn't notice the under 25 charge before... I told her I was pretty sure i'd notice a $335 charge.. liek seriously? Common. Another girl that was helping us, Aimee, was actually very helpful and she called avis.com and tried to handle it for us but was unsuccessful, finally she went to the manager and came up with a solution that they could cancel my reservation, i signed a piece of paper saying I was ransferring it to Brandon and then it was all fixed... Now tell me why this was the last resort and it took at least and hour to come up with this?? I Seriously don't recommend renting from here, although thank you to Aimee who finally got it all fixed and okay for us. But Avis you really need to check out these reviews people have left and get your stuff together.... I saw at least 3 other car rental places at the airport that customers could switch to. read more

Rented a Jeep here. Well it was supposed to be a mid-size but after explaining that we would have it for a month, they offered us a Jeep. I never drove one before, so thought what the hey! Anyway, the Jeep was okay, but the service from the Avis counter was top shelf. Agents were all upbeat and willing to assist. There was no line up so that may have made the difference. The Jeep was cleaned, and gassed. No issues there. I would recommend Avis at YVR for your rental choice. Oh, the BMWs were brand new! Couldn't afford those for a month! Damn read more

rented here twice. first experience was smooth and worked out well. second one was the WORST rental experience possible. rented a van back in nov. only got a notice for a $191.71 "refueling" charge yesterday?! strange because when i returned the vehicle the inspector checked the fuel reading and noted it was returned "FULL" which i did fuel the van, $45 worth! the needle didn't budge as i drove to to YVR but now they're essentially docking me for not "topping up" a full tank. $191.71 FOR NOT TOPPING UP?! i called their office and was told i need to have "proof" in a gas receipt that i filled up. seriously? i never was told to keep tabs of ALL gas put in the vehicle. they said 52 litres was needed to "FILL UP" . serious? so even though a needle on the gas dash meter says "F" for full, there's 52 litres of EMPTY gas in the tank that simply evaporated from a gas station driving 10 mins away to YVR?! common sense would say a full tank on the meter is a FULL tank. am i supposed to bring some fuel calculating device to measure the tank in the car before during and after returning the vehicle??? funny coz they have inspectors who can spot a hairline scratch on a vehicle as soon as it rolls in their inspection site, can't notice a FULL from EMPTY tank and key in that my return fuel reading is FULL. called up their HQ and they want a receipt for fill up? serious? you could have filled it up w/ $5 at a gas station in whistler and returned it to them as "proof" of receipt of a fill up. what's that gonna prove? unless they were standing next to me as i filled up and the pump 'clicked' at full tank, will i need to instagram my fill ups? facebook posts and selfie pics next to the gas station w/ a FB check in? hashtag the gas station? i read arguments that gas near the airport are too expensive. so naturally some people fill up outside of the airport, then what? go to the petro canada by YVR and "top up" $3 in gas. HERE. here's my proof i filled the tank ((insert receipt for $3)) put this on your checklists before renting from Avis: 1) inspect your vehicle for dings, scratches, chips on windshields Avis will tell you NONE of this beforehand- i learned this from other people in the past, Avis WILL bill people for existing damage to their vehicles. do they repair them? NO. they let these 'damaged' vehicles go out again to other hapless customers unaware that there are hidden dings and scratches that will hit them upon return of the vehicle. 2) keep ALL receipts of gas purchases. take pictures of gas reading before you take the car out, take a photo of the gas reading when you return the vehicle. and apparently in my case, you need to fuel the vehicle topped up (illegally) and it has to be the closest available gas station. i'm gonna assume you should bring a plastic gas canister with you upon return of the vehicle so when you arrive for inspection, you can top of the vehicle in the presence of their inspector. if you're flying at YVR you will probably accosted or taken down by airline security for walking around the airport with gasoline. but a small price to pay to avoid getting overbilled for 'refueling' UPDATE: a couple days after complaining and talking to various facets of AVIS from their main HQ to the YVR branch, they QUICKLY reimbursed the $191.71 'refueling' charge after further review by the manager. i'd give em back a star or two, but i can't imagine how many people probably get duped by this 'gotcha' clause and pay up anyways. lesson learned: take pictures of EVERYTHING keep copies of receipts and fuel up near YVR. have that receipt handy in case they decide to bump you for 'refueling' read more

Beware of this location. I go skiing at Whistler for two weeks and don't need a car while there. I basically only need it for the drive up and the way down. Avis is the only car rental place in Whistler. Picking up the car at this location is nothing great. They try the usual "upgrade" when they don't have the car you reserve. I had reserved a full car but at the counter they suggest I "upgrade" to SUV but when I declined, they were "kind" enough to give me a free upgrade to SUV. Although I find this distasteful and a bit dishonest, I've had this happen to me a various other car rentals. As long as I don't have to pay more and get a better car, it doesn't matter. The reason to beware of this location is they way they handle your car return. Upon return, they will point out minor, insignificant scratches and dings including scratches on wheel. My definition of minor and insignificant is anything less than 5 mm. or 1/8 of an inch. This is NOT their definition. The reason I specifically use 5mm is because that actual size of damage they noted on the rear bumper of the vehicle I return. I was told not to worry that they just had to note the condition of the vehicle upon return. I received notice from their damage recovery office that a repair over $1,000 CAD as they would have to pull the bumper of the vehicle to repair and repaint. After going back and forth with their damage recovery office, was able to have them drop it. I made the mistake of renting from them again. Upon return, pointed out damage to one of the wheel. Again, their damage recovery office contacted me regarding necessary repairs. This time, they were able to "repair" it by buffing it out. But wanted to charge me $75 CAD plus other BS such as admin fee and loss of rental. I settle for $50 CAD just to get it over with. I would not rent for this location again. read more

This review is purely for drop off. It was quick and painless... Gas station right before the parking lot, then follow signs to get to the Avis drop off lot. Get out of car, hand keys to attendant, done. read more

Picked up a minivan in SeaTac and dropped off at Vancouver Airport. Gentleman who processed our return was so nice and friendly. We had 3 kids in tow and car seats to remove. I started to pick up trash from compartments and he kept reminding me that it was not my job. It was theirs and to leave it for them to do. Assured us to take our time and to be sure we gathered our belongings. "Don't worry about the rest." The following morning I got a call from Linda at Avis Lost and Found. I had left my samsung tablet in the car. She was also very nice and assured me she would mail it back safely. Honestly, I have left things like cheap costume earrings in rental cars and never had them returned. Even before being alerted that I left my tablet in Canada my husband and I were so impressed with the level of customer service we got at the return that we discussed just using Avis for all our businees and personal rentals. After my 2 interactions with Linda at Lost and Found, Avis has now gained new loyal customers. read more

Worst line in the world. I've been in line for a few days and I am not sure if they will get to me. Well at least it feels that way. They are super slow and people in line are shouting out of anger and frustration. Only if I knew it would be this horrific before I reserved at this Avis. Corporate do something about the long slow lines. read more

Very long wait and unhelpful, rude employees. I understand if you're short staffed, but don't be rude when customers ask about wait times and seem frustrated with hours of waiting in lines. I would recommend using another rental car service, even if it is a little more expensive. Alamo and national don't seem to have these problems. read more

Booked the rental on Priceline, counter service was quick and easy, price was great. return was smooth. Definitely would rent from this location again. read more

Caution, do not rent hear and if you do, beware! On return of my rental car, the agent checking the car in noted a small scratch on front bumper. You would not notice it unless you got down on hands and knees. I told them it was not done on my rental, I would know if I hit something and car was never left anywhere it could have been damaged. They could care less about my explanation and basically called me a liar. One month later, I got a charge on my credit card for $200. I have called them multiple times, but I seem to be wasting my time and they do not return calls, case closed. If you do rent here, you better allow an extra half hour to completely check car in daylight and refuse anything with the slighest hint of a problem. Most rental cars have a few nicks here and there, this place will want YOU to pay for them if they can get away with it, what a scam. read more

Pick up in Whistler for one way to Vancouver Airport. Had the car for 2.5 hours. Fee was $150 including taxes. I feel totally ripped off. The cars are back and fourth to and from YVR to Whistler. This is nothing shy of a scam. Time Budget or Other rental companies get into Whistler. Car was clean and ready to go, but really in Vancouver i could have rented a car for $35 for 24 hours. Shame on Avis for stealing from guests from all around the world who visit Whistler. . read more

Sherry W was right. My worst experience in over 30 years of car rental. Avis at Vancouver always tried to make you pay for the damage that was caused by someone if you don't buy their expensive Damage Waiver Insurance. My experience was almost identical to that of Sherry. Even I took pictures of the car before driving off the Avis lot and minutes before driving back to return the car. They still managed to find damages to charge us. The writer said "Returning the car was easy and QUICK". What was he talking about? When I returned the car, I expected the usual " easy and QUICK" to catch a flight at the airport. I was so wrong. The guy walked slowly around once. I felt a little odd. Then he did it again with his hand on the car body for support and looked down at the lower part of the car carefully. He found small scratches on the rim of the wheel, so unnoticeable unless you intentionally inspect the wheel at close up. By the time we managed to get the manager to discuss the "damage" , the car was already sent to "Damage Department " to access the damage. The manager in charge was just gone for the day and we could call her the next day. WTF! If it is not a trap, I don't know what is? Read my review to find out how we were able to fight that off from this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g154943-i81-k6543567-Help_with_car_rental_please-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html#49913911 I feel sorry for the other writer Sherry W who has to pay for someone's damage. If I wrote this review earlier, she may have warned. My encounter was a few days before hers , July 2, 2012. I remembered the comment said by the manager at Avis when we confronted her. "If you think we don't treat our customer right, wait until you try Budget..." She was implying Budget was even worse in treating customers. Just STAY AWAY from AVIS. read more

Even though we are preferred members, we were kicked out of the preferred line so that a clerk could go on break. When another preferred member returned to that line, he was helped instead. We have been waiting over an hour on Christmas Eve with clerks disappearing left and right with a huge line of customers waiting to pick up cars. This is the busiest time of the year please staff appropriately! Also, when the clerks are finally taking people on, they are wasting so much time by pitching upgrade sales and bonuses. This is Christmas Eve, travellers just want to get into their cars to see their families, book and move cars quickly! Do not book with this company if you need to be anywhere in 24 hours. read more

If I could, I'd give zero stars. Pick up was smooth. Drop off was HORRIBLE. At drop off Alastair S. checked me in and went over the vehicle in absurd detail noticing a 1-2 inch scratch on the driver side door and tiny bumper scratch that was DEFINITELY present when we picked up the vehicle. Rental cars often have these types of minor scratches on them and of course, paid no heed upon picking up. NEVER AGAIN. If you rent from this location, go over your vehicle and mark EVERY POSSIBLE LITTLE scratch. Absurd. read more

The absolute worst rental car experience ever. Long lines, long waits, rude staff and then they charged 2,500 to my credit card by mistake. What a clusters f.... read more

I had a great experience at this Avis at Vancouver Airport. I was upgraded for free to a very nice brand new car. When I returned the car, the GPS led me to the wrong place- my only complaint- and I was rushed to catch our flight. I forgot my tote bag in the car and an Avis employee rushed it up to me in the terminal. I also forgot 4 unscratched scratch and win lottery tickets I had received for my birthday costing $10 each. I figured it was my own fault and should have had my head screwed on tighter that night. I was happily surprised when I received all the lottery tickets in the mail! I didn't expect such honesty or service when it was my own fault for forgetting them in the rental car. I scratched the tickets and actually won small amounts on 2 of them. I would definitely rent from this Avis again. read more

My flight got in after midnight, so its late. There is a couple getting help from a guy working there. There is also a female there who doesn't even look up at me, tired to get her attention to no avail. I wait and wait and wait some more. After 30 minutes of the guy helping the couple, he tells me to go to the lady. Like WTF!! She could have helped me 30 minutes ago cause she wasn't doing a damn thing when I got there!! Terrible customer service. I was also the ONLY person there. When I went to return the car, one guy was SUPER nice, the other was a complete douche. This place does get two stars cause when I reserved the car the gentleman was super nice on the phone. You can do A LOT better avis! read more

Shon, Nithin and TJ were extremely helpful for us traveling from Texas. After 12 hours of flying we were very tired and they were very patient with us. They gave us great traveling advice and were able to accommodate us booking the same day. We strongly recommend this AVIS location and were very grateful for their help! read more

YVR location. They helped us out of a bind after a horrible experience with Budget YVR. -Prices were really good, got within $15 of Budget's price on the total bill, plus we were given a better car. -Very friendly, and hassle free experience. read more

Manager always not in office, agent bad service! I fill up full tank at Bridgeport Rd door to airport, from gas station to airport about 2km, agent say I miss 6L gas, no way, 6L means 50km, no body tell me on site or call me later, just charge my card 33 dollars, that's unfair read more

The guys are the counter were very nice. However, I got there an hour or so earlier than my pickup time. I asked if it would be a problem and they informed me "not a problem," and gave me my car. I later see a charge on my credit card for an extra $34 for the extra hour that I had the car. I called customer service with Avis and told them that they did not inform me of the extra charge. Instead, they made it sound like it was not a problem, and then went ahead and charged me without letting me know. Customer service did nothing about it. Even when I told the guy that they should inform their front desk guys to provide all the information before saying "not a problem," he was like "yeah sure." Terrible corporate phone customer service. read more

This place loves to scam you so watch out. I returned my car and they charged me $70 for gas even though I filled it up before I returned the vehicle. The vehicle that I was assigned as also absolute garbage. The tires were terrible and one of them I had to fill up with air each day. The car when I went in was absolutely dirty as well it's like they didn't even clean it up after the last person returned it. read more