I had a terrible experience here, I had booked the car via Costco Travel and showed up on December 26 and there were no cars in the lot, I then followed up with the store manager and he mentioned that he needed to cancel more reservations across the list. I then asked for a confirmation email that the order had to be canceled and never received it. I also tried to contact their store but kept getting their call center. I would not recommend going here, if you are booking a car, do it at the airport. read more

Just turned in 12' truck rental, drove from Missoula (May 22, 2025). There are new owners now and the person I spoke with, Tim, is super nice and friendly. I was quite wary given previous reviews, but Tim was helpful with my questions and when I mentioned previous customer reviews being pretty bad, he said that they, as new owners, are really trying to turn this around. I highly recommend this place based on my experience here! read more

Extraordinary Service!!!! I followed GPS to the wrong location and ended up on a closed road surrounded by homeless. It was not safe at all. When in arrived at this location, the correct Budget location, the staff was over friendly and extremely helpful. He escorted me to gas station so I wasn't alone, and switched out my rental car super fast! He gave me a choice of what I wanted so I could be comfortable. All rental cars aren't perfect, they'll never be, hundreds of different people drive them. But when the service is exceptional, And staff is smiling, it leaves a lasting impression. Thanks to you all for your hard work. I'll for sure use you again. read more

Just reiterating all the other reviews about how awful this place is. They were very nice when I picked up the car, but when I came to return it they wanted to charge me a cleaning fee for pet hair, even though there was never a pet in the vehicle while I had it. Because they were so friendly at the beginning (and because I didn't read these reviews!) I wasn't careful enough about documenting the few pet hairs that were in the car when I got it. Don't make that mistake--they're trying to take advantage of people, and they're rude about it. If you can go anywhere else, do! If you can't, take pictures of everything and be wary. read more

I had a very pleasant experience renting from the Budget car rental at Milvia and Kittredge in Berkeley. The car was new and clean, and the staff (possibly the managers, apparently husband and wife) could not have been more polite. The waiting room was clean and nicely appointed and the bathroom was spotless. read more

Buyer beware! On January 5, 2023 at around 11am, I had the most shocking and traumatic experience trying to return a vehicle to Budget located at 2000 Kittridge St, Berkeley CA. After noticing a service engine light, I called the Budget corporate customer service line who then advised that I turn the vehicle in to the closest location which was the Budget on Kittridge street. When I entered the facility, I encountered a male employee behind the counter wearing a Budget uniform . He was not wearing a name badge and declined to provide his name. He appeared to be of Indian descent, 50-60 years old, dark hair and speaks with an accent. I explained the situation and how I was instructed to return the vehicle at this location. This male employee appeared annoyed almost immediately and yelled at me stating that this location was independently operated and that I would incur a one way drop off fee. He later accused me of not filling up the tank which he soon discovered was not the truth as once he took the time to read the rental agreement. Given that he appeared very volatile and I was alone with him, I felt very uncomfortable and threatened by his language and posture toward me. I tried to diffuse the situation by suggesting that he either read the notes that were provided in the system or to call the corporate office for clarity. This seemed to anger him more and he replied that it was not his responsibility to do so. He then forcibly shoved the keys back across the counter at me and yelled at me to get out!! At this point I am dumb-founded and quite frankly scared as there were no witnesses present. I then ask him to stop talking/yelling at me as I agreed to make the call. He then leaves me unattended and goes to an adjacent room out of view for the next 30 mins as I wait on hold to speak to a manager. Upon speaking with the manager, it was confirmed that everything I told him was the truth. The manager ask to speak to him but he refused to get on the line. I was then advised by the manager to leave the keys and the vehicle and to leave the office immediately. I happily obliged and will never return. I do not recommend that any person, male or female, subject themselves to this type of treatment. It was disgraceful and whomever this unnamed male is, he should be ashamed of himself and should not be unleashed on the public. Notice that i did not refer to him as a man. If you are management of this location, you should strongly reconsider having this person represent your business. read more

WORST rental car service EVER! Please DO NOT rent a car from this branch! Their computers have some serious technical problems. You have to wait for the paperwork like forever, even though you are the only customer. The agents do not appeared apologetic for any technical problem at all. They are shockingly rude to customers. They unreasonably asked us to drive to another branch just for adding a driver. That's ridiculous. After waiting for 25 mins, we left, and they shouted at us, saying that it's not their fault, but the computers' fault. What a joke! The next day, my phone got a lot of advertisement phone calls and messages, which never happened before. I am pretty sure that the agent of this branch illegally leaked my personal information for revenge. read more

Let's say the ending was the guy who runs the place calling me a "bastard" and telling me "to get the fuck out of here". This enough should be to discourage anyone from renting after he tried to charge me $50 for cleaning because he thought car was extremely dirty after we spent 7 days traveling in it. I carefully picked all 20 pet hairs that were on the floor and asked him whether him starting a fight and calling names is worth $50. read more

Budget Rent A Car System - This is what they were trying to charge me $50 for. - Car Rental Near Me - Berkeley, California

See all

Tried to charge me $25 for gas because he said the tank was not "full enough". I explained that I filled the tank immediately before arriving and that as much gas as the tank would allow was in the car. He continued to try to strong arm me by saying that the tank was not full!? I showed him the receipt from the gas station and he said he would "let me get away with it this time". Get away with what? The tank was as full as physically possible. Reading other reviews it seems like this location has serious issues. This is not the way to run a business, by bullying your customers. What a racket. I wonder if they try this hustle whenever they think they can get away with it? There will be no "next time"! Why rent from here when there are many many other car share and rental options. read more

The only thing shiftier than a rental car is this co-branded Avis/Budget franchisee. Arrived at the 7:30 am opening time to pick up the car I reserved online for $70/weekend. The printed contract stated $130. When asked about the discrepancy the owner said 'it's $60 for the extra 30 minutes beyond three days'. Huh? By now it's 7:40 am. Turns out the following Monday is a holiday and they don't open until 8 am. Since I "can't return (the car) until 8 am, it's an extra $60 'late fee'". OK-I'll wait 20 minutes, rent the car today at 8:00 am and thus stay within the three day window. "Too late," he quips, "the transaction is complete and your credit card's been charged!" When I challenged his lack of a signed rental agreement he countered "all I can do now is void your existing reservation and book a new one" -at a substantially higher price. No thanks. As I walked out he magically gained the ability to credit my previously 'unchangeable' 7:30 am "transaction" $60-but only after I returned the car, and (naturally) with nothing confirmed in writing. Righhhht. Read the other Yelp reviews for how these shady undocumented future 'promises' have played out. I can only imagine the return damage inspection. Walked across the street, hopped in a Gig-car, drove where I needed to go and conveniently "returned" it right in front of my own house. No slight-of-contract shenanigans, trumped-up damages or belligerent business owners necessary-and with the fuel included Gig turned out to be cheaper! Hmm. I wonder which business model will prevail. read more

I used this place once. Never again. The car smelled of smoke. I asked for a replacement vehicle and got nadda. The hazard light on the way back showed that the tire pressure was low. There was no car manual in the glove compartment, but my friend knew what the light meant as he has that car. We found marijuana buds and an empty day after pill in the glove compartment as I was looking for the car manual. I couldn't make this stuff up. Terrible! read more

Horrible and life threatening. I wish I was exaggerating but no, they lied to us and gave us a front wheel drive car when we explicitly asked for all wheel drive. They even charged us extra and the key even said all wheel drive. We went up into the snowy mountains of Lake Tahoe under the impression that we would be safe, that is until we started to slide down the hills. We couldn't control the car and we could have seriously gotten hurt or hurt someone else. If we had known it was front wheel drive, we would have never tried to go up a hill, which makes their deceit so dangerous. It's just a lawsuit waiting to happen. What's worse is after we called in, we were passed around different departments all telling us it's not their responsibility to get us out, and we were even told that we're on our own unless the car itself was mechanically broken. That's right, they told us we should just be stuck at the bottom of a snowy hill, stranded in a snow storm, blocking roads and being a hazard to other cars. This is after waiting for 3 hours of being transferred from one department to another. After 6 ridiculous hours of waiting, we were finally towed to safety, and we don't even know if Budget is going to charge us a fortune for the towing, which we only needed due to their horrendous mistake. read more

I've never posted a review before but after my experience this morning at the Kitteridge Budget Rental location I was so angry that I need warn others. Seems like there is a real theme in these reviews and I wished I had read them before making the reservation at this place. The man running the place was rude, aggressive, unreasonable and said flat out he didn't care what I thought, who I called or what reviews I posted. My issues was he wanted to charge me $250 to clean the car because there was some pet hair on the floor in the back seat and the car was "excessively dirty" because there was some shoe debris on the passenger floorboard, no mud, nothing unusual, just normal dirt that you bring into a car getting in and out. On the rental counter there is a sign that details when you get extra cleaning charges and the issue regarding pet hair was "excessive pet hair and dander". This was not the case! The woman returning the car just before me was incredulous when she was also told there would be a pet cleaning fee for her car - she drove off with her car to clean it. My take on this place is that it is run by a man that has no understanding of customer service and is willing to fabricate issues in order to make a lot of extra money by say the cars are dirty. DO NOT RENT FROM Budget on Kitteridge in Berkeley. read more

I used this location a few times because it's very convenient. However, of the many rental locations' customer service feel I like this the least. The other reviews reinforce my leery feeling. Quite many years ago I was once charged a hefty penalty being 5-7 minutes beyond the grace period. I was parked in their lot well 5 minutes before the deadline, but waiting in their long line took 10-12 minutes. By the time I was served, the time was late. Their computer's clocking system automatically added $20 or $30 more to their fees, which impacted my wallet gravely at the time. read more

My dad had a heart attack and was kept in the hospital longer than anticipated. When I asked to extend the car rental so I could pick him up, the operator Amin refused to waive the extension fee. He said "Everyone has a heart attack, this is a business." When I said it's not in his business interest to treat customers this way, and he said "That's the kind of person I am." DO NOT rent a car here if you want to be treated like a human being. read more

The owners offered poor service, borderline offensive. They rudely spoke in another language about me in front of me. It was beyond offensive. There was dirt on the dashboard, when I asked them to clean it the reply was " oh that's nothing". Um yes it's something, ITS GROSS! read more

My opinion: This is the absolute worst car rental experience I have ever had in my entire life because of the awful customer service at this particular Budget Car Rental location at 2000 Kittredge. I will NEVER EVER rent from this location again. read more

I wish I could give this business 0 stars. I was lied to when they claimed I could extend my rental vehicle an additional 2 days (at the same rate) by a man named "Shaddy". I went to the Kittridge branch to close my rental agreement and was told by Ameen that my rental was never extended. They did not even hear what I had to say about the man named Shaddy, Ameen forced charged my card and ignored me while I stood in front of him, he forced charged my card for the amount of $980 more for an ADDITIONAL 2 days, when my original agreement was for $40 a day. Ameen was also extremely rude on the phone when I called back to dispute the charge. He told me to "get out of here" on the phone call and hung up on me. I would rather put my social security number on display in Times Square than do business with this company ever again. Please heed my warning, if you know what's good for you never do business with Budget especially not their Kittridge location. 0/10 experience, nothing but heart ache. read more

My girlfriend and I were traveling from the Bay Area to LA and had booked a car online. We input our age as 20 (there was a drop down menu to indicate our age). We were notified we would be charged and underage fee. When we arrived the workers kept saying we couldn't get a car because we were under 21. We kept explaining the website literally gave us the option to choose our age. It was close to their closing time and we said we were gonna call budget customer service to ask about options, but the man just said "we are not going to give you car, so just go." So we left and never coming back read more

This place is the worst!!! There was 30 people in line to get our vehicle and 2 people working the desk!! It took two and a half hours to get my vehicle. The people were trying hard but honestly it's ridiculous! Why only two people on a Saturday afternoon? read more

Amin and his wife Nafees who run this Berkeley Budget outlet were amazing. Budget Rent-A-Car had totally messed up the rental I had made online (and by phone). Amin patiently listened as the corporate office could do nothing to help me, then told me he would personally fix the issue. I was out in the Bay Area for a short reunion with friends and spending hours trying to deal with Budget on the phone or going to a different place to rent the car (not really an option - high volume weekend) Amin stepped in to help. He got me a great car at a fair rate and saved the beginning of my vacation. He basically treated me like a human being - and I am very grateful. This is a small Budget outlet - but I will always go there from now on when I am in town. read more