Cancel

Open app

Search

Budget Rent A Car

1.4 (830 reviews)
Open Open 24 hours

Budget Rent A Car Car Rental Photos

You might also consider

Recommended Reviews - Budget Rent A Car

Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
Yelp app icon
Browse more easily on the app
Review Feed Illustration

Reviews With Photos

Bill O.

WOW had to wait in the longest line I've ever seen in all my travels for well over an hour. Meanwhile all the other rental counters in the mall were empty. When we got to the counter, I mentioned to the guy, but I've never had to wait so long and asked if there was anything special going on in town, he just tried to tell me that that's fairly normal and they are busy there. Again, looking at the other counters that were visible, they were the only ones backed up. We finally got our vehicle and noticed inside where the armrest were and a few other areas, it was a bit dirty, but not anything we couldn't handle, just less than we expected. The vehicle was full of fuel and performed as expected. The picture and description on the reservation was for a Ford Explorer sized vehicle, we ended up with a Kia SUV. Probably not what we would have picked to be an unfamiliar with it, but it did everything we needed it to do. While I am sure we will rent through budget again as I travel frequently, if I'm back in Phoenix, I may go with a different company because of this experience.

Angry fast break members who still have to wait in line
Tad H.

Fast break is a joke. The validation desk in the parking lot-- that signs direct you to from the main counter-- is closed Meanwhile there are about 75 pissed off people budget offered cars to-- many fast break members who didn't magically receive a code this time. Even though we called the reservations center and confirmed that fast break was active and we could head directly to parking deck in order to avoid this same situation. I would have paid more for better service but now we are stuck. Thanks Budget Phoenix sky Harbor for nothing. Book with another firm even if you have to pay $50-100 more. It's not worth the hassle and poor customer service.

2 hour line and the line went out almost to the doors into the facility.
Nicolette C.

I reserved a car months ago with insurance. They snuck in their own insurance when we checked out so we double paid for insurance. So beware and try to read the tiny screen of charges! When we arrived there was a 2 hour wait. They didn't have the car we reserved so we were offered a "free upgrade". We ordered a Tesla and got a Toyota Prius. We're a family of 5 with a toddler. The car was so crammed for us and smelled like cat pee, and car was dirty. The screen in the car would go out randomly when we were driving.

After waiting for 1.5 hours
AJ S.

I had never rented a car personally, but have been in the company of people who have rented cars for our trips before at enterprise and where their pick ups were 30 min tops. The wait time was absolutely horrifying and dreadful. We landed at 10:20pm (earlier than expected). I had set my pick up time to 11pm, but I was like no big deal since we still had to take the airport train from our terminal to the car rental center. We'd never been to this part of the airport before so we made a wrong stop- no big deal since we were super early anyway. Once we got to the center, the line was SO long. We were so surprised that that many people were picking up a car so late into the night! There were 5 people working with 40-50 people waiting in line, granted there were groups together or couples, but a lot of the groups weren't standing in line but sitting on benches waiting. It was 2am by the time we finally got our slip letting us know where our car was parked. THREE HOURS WAIT TIME! There were still a good amount of people landing and trying to get in line to pick up their car but were turned away since they closed at midnight and the employees were all working overtime. There was no map for the garage, so it took us a hot minute to even locate the car in the garage. And the people who were turned away had to go down there to wait in line to pick up a car. It was about 30 degrees out at this time and the line was also just as long. Terrible system. They need more cars, more employees working to make this a smoother process. They employees were even saying that this is nothing new and they are usually on overtime because of how backed up it gets. Horrible. I will never be using budget again.

Ro W.

They were out of cars when I got there. I reserved my vehicle in June which was a sports car. Since they didnt have any vehicles my only two options were a mid-size or full-size vehicle with no options of a credit. So they gave me a Malibu. I opened the door and was smacked in the face by a smoke smell. I went to the desk downstairs to let them know. She then switched me to an Equinox but someone was already in it and was getting ready to pull off. I went back to let them know and was put into a Jeep Cherokee. I was on the phone with customer service the entire time and she was super nice along with the people downstairs.

Bird Poop when we picked up meaning it was clean, the windows were awful and also not clean.
Alana H.

Once again another awful experience!!!! We show up with fastbreak and are supposed to have a car ready as soon as we arrive. We walk down to Zone 3 and the whole lot is empty. Then they proceed to tell us we have to wait in an extremely long line to see if we're able to get one. After waiting for so long we had to turn around and book a flight back home because we weren't going to make it to where we were going. What a waste of a day, spent $1000 on the flight and $100 on the rental for the day. NEVER WILL BE USING BUDGET AGAIN!

A lot of pissed off people
Tinky R.

Four people at 11:30pm at night- pathetic The wait is at least 3 hours. People are tired and this company doesn't care I deserve it! I did not read yelp

Long lines!

See all

4 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1
Photo of Ron Q.
2637
910
9798

7 months ago

Helpful 10
Thanks 1
Love this 3
Oh no 2

6 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Tad H.
58
301
48

3 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

7 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of AJ S.
4999
316
384

1 year ago

Helpful 21
Thanks 5
Love this 11
Oh no 8
Photo of D H.
0
1
0

7 days ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Ro W.
48
629
2055

9 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

6 months ago

Long lines, poor directions and they had us switch cars three times. Definitely won't use this service again.

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 8
Thanks 4
Love this 6
Oh no 3
Photo of Karli H.
4
38
110

6 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Tyler W.
78
63
21

3 months ago

Wasn't even open. They make you wait in a long line of another company. Awful service. Do not recommend.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0
Photo of Adam A.
0
83
15

5 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

2 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Tinky R.
7
648
22

2 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

8 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

7 months ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

7 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

7 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Lexi L.
490
47
5

9 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

8 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Ted L.
0
18
0

5 months ago

Kia Niro scam. This is an electric car, of course you don't know until you get to counter, now you have to pay for the upgrade.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of C U.
0
21
0

6 months ago

2 hr wait. Why does one worker walk back and forth to use another computer? Just move stations! Last time using Budget in Phoenix.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Mary B.
243
309
2149

3 years ago

Helpful 4
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

Page 1 of 21

Budget Rent A Car Reviews in Other Languages

Ask the Community - Budget Rent A Car

Review Highlights - Budget Rent A Car

. I headed to the Budget counter carless and stuck at the PHX airport at 10pm

Mentioned in 13 reviews

Read more highlights

You might also consider

National Car Rental

National Car Rental

4.2(517 reviews)
0.2 mi

National Car Rental provided outstanding service. I accidentally left my wallet behind, and the…read moreteam went above and beyond to make sure it was safely returned to me. Their communication was clear, professional, and reassuring throughout the process. It is rare to experience that level of care and accountability, and I truly appreciate the effort they put in to help resolve the situation. I would absolutely rent from this location again and highly recommend them to anyone looking for dependable service and honest, helpful staff.

Based on my Yelp photos, I've rented here a couple of times and I have to say, for an experience…read morethat can usually be very painful (renting a car, that is), the team at National Car Rental at PHX do a great job. Most recently, I rented a car for a week and after taking the train to the rental car center, I was able to skip the desk and head straight to the Emerald Aisle to pick any available car. I would highly recommend setting up an account with National and taking advantage of this.... being able to skip a line at the counter is a blessing. In any event, we went to the aisle, picked out our car and were off after a brief stop at the gate to check everything. Return was also quick and painless. Josh did a thorough inspection of the car, which we returned with a full tank and in pristine shape, and we were on our way in no time. It's amazing how frictionless the experience can be, as opposed to how awful other companies (I'm looking at you Hertz) can make it. I highly recommend National.

Photos
National Car Rental
National Car Rental - Filling up the voyager we rented

Filling up the voyager we rented

National Car Rental - We got lucky and scored a rav4 hybrid

See all

We got lucky and scored a rav4 hybrid

Hertz Rent A Car - Lots of stations but nobody to attend!

Hertz Rent A Car

1.9(1.1k reviews)
0.0 mi

This hertz is located right in the airport. I'm a gold member and really don't see any perks to it…read more Not even a courtesy fee waived for being 45 mins late on dropping my car off which is fine. They do add an additional 29 dollars to your total rental. Also it's 18 bucks to simply rent from the airport. You can check in on the app and it will direct you to your vehicle. They have a directory which will clarify which area to pick a car. Honestly they were all the same whether gold or not. You pick a car and drive out. Upon exit they ask for your driver license and give you your rental contract. Dropping off was easy as well they simply instruct you to leave the keys and a receipt will be emailed. Don't forget to take a pic of mileage and gas just in case. Car was clean and decline the fuel through the app it's much cheaper at gas stations.

Super Chaotic! One location closed on us even with reservation. No clear instructions no clear…read moredirection. Getting someone on the phone is impossible!!!!!! I spent 2 hours making sure my husband didn't have to spend a night in Arizona due to communication issues. If your first timer on car rental don't use them! We were first timers and we were stressed! During this experience I was able to get Experian on the phone immediately and tried to help me even though I wasn't renting with them! Just take that into consideration when choosing who to rent with!

Photos
Hertz Rent A Car - Mercedes EQB 250+

Mercedes EQB 250+

Hertz Rent A Car - Short line for Gold Members at Hertz

Short line for Gold Members at Hertz

Hertz Rent A Car

See all

Thrifty Car Rental - Bulge in 100 degree heat

Thrifty Car Rental

1.5(663 reviews)
0.0 mi

I booked the rental online and got several notifications in the days ahead to check in and skip the…read moreline but after trying with all of my different credit cards it wouldn't process the transaction and would just tell me I need to go to customer service. So I arrived at the customer service desk and waited in the very long line. Just to get to the desk and the employee to tell me its because my birthdate was missing... If I recall it is supposed to pick up my birthday from my driver's license that scanned in.. soo not real sure how that would be my problem.. Anyways the employee was great and friendly even despite the heavy workload.

Like many other reviewers that have been bamboozled the efficiency of Thrifty Car Rental is…read moreinexplicable. Understaffed at America's friendliest airport and one of the busiest counters, is downright disrespectful & unethical. THE APP to sign in may or may not work even if you arrive an hour prior to your reservation. THE GREED. Everybody is taking advantage of the consumer!! See the image. It's 10:05 p.m Single employee. I'm number 42 in line and their are two dozen more behind me. But hey, instead of corporate hiring more staff for the late night shift, they will charge the consumer $27.99 to skip the counter. Seriously? So now I have to work two additional hours of overtime to not waste time in a line that should be fully staffed?! The corporate greed is unpalatable. Oh, and if they weren't being slick, full disclosure such as " This location is under staffed. Wait times can exceed 1+hour we have a skip the counterfee for $27.99 which may or may not work. Even when we textex you 24 hours in advance to check in that does not mean that you will be cleared by the time you arrive." Then the consumer can make their own decisions. Transparency on their website is a farce. Literally, be forewarned

Photos
Thrifty Car Rental - Nice wipers

Nice wipers

Thrifty Car Rental
Thrifty Car Rental

See all

Budget Rent A Car - carrental - Updated May 2026

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...