I reserved a midsize SUV and when I got to the location, they didn't have the size vehicle I reserved. I was offered a minivan and declined. They upgraded me to a full size SUV, which was hard for me to drive in San Francisco because it's been about 14 years since I've driven a full sized SUV. The full sized SUV I rented was clean and ran well. I returned it with no issue. I would rent from this location again. My piece of advice if you're renting from Budget/Avis is to sign up for their Fastbreak/express service, which is free. You'll be able to skip the long lines, go to the express area, and go on about your business. The guy that checked me out was nice and accommodating. read more

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We landed in San Francisco, and headed straight over to get our rental car. The airport had a convenient and well marked train system to take us to the car rental center. Once there we had a bit of a line, which was rather frustrating...they know many car reservations they have a any given time, so we were surprised they didn't have more staff on hand d to assist with the process of getting the customers in their cars and in the way. Once through the line we got our assigned parking space, headed for the garage to pick up our car. With the map at the entrance it was easy to find the spot our Camry was in. It was a quick load in, the keys were already in the car and away we went. Returning the car was as easy as driving back into the garage, into the return lane, we parked, gave the keys to the attendant, took our things and were on our way. The experience was good, though pricing was bit high from past rental experiences. I'm sure they jack the rates up for holiday travel though. read more

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Unbelievable. Peak travel time, SFO, line around the block and two of the slowest attendants ever I will be here all night but never again read more

Budget - Ridiculous - Car Rental Near Me - San Francisco, California

I accidentally booked the wrong Budget location, thinking it was closer to the airport. When I arrived, I explained the situation, and the staff took care of everything quickly. They changed my reservation, honored the same price, and showed me several car options. I asked not to drive a Tesla and they immediately offered something else that fit my needs. Their flexibility and customer service were impressive. 4.5 stars wait was a little long. read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - San Francisco, California

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As a member of budget fast break- I must say I had a great experience! I received an email and a text prior to landing, that my rental car was available and what spot it was in. I asked for help around the airport and discovered that I needed to ride the Air Train to the car rental garage. I found signs for the Air Train and headed over. The line at budget was very long- and many reviews have mentioned that on here. The lines were long for all companies, actually. But with fast break I was able to just head to the garage and to my assigned car and go! The car was mostly clean and no major damage. I did a quick video of some scratches and dents and headed out. Fast break provided me with a QR code which bypassed the regular checkout line and allowed me to scan at the exit. It was fast and easy. The car itself had satellite radio and navigation, only 40k miles. It was spacious. Car return was simple- I drove in, parked at the end of the line, and they scanned me in with no additional charges. I appreciate budget having the fast break program so I could maximize every minute of my trip and not lose time waiting in line. Thank you! read more

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Lines are RIDICULOUS!!! AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! One employee working with 50 people waiting...and he could care less! read more

It was a very good experience! I picked up a rental car at around 7:00 a.m. October 16, 2025. Didn't have any problem or issue. Fast and reliable. Upon returning the car on October 18th at 10:00 p.m. The staff were great and very respectful. It was an easy and fast car rental return process.. - US Air Force Combat Veteran read more

One person working on a Saturday afternoon at the airport location. Tons of people in line, waiting almost an hour. No AC. Terrible experience. read more

This man in the photo here - that REFUSED to give me his name was very rude and condescending. My husband and I saw him helping someone else so we waited for him to finish. He then told the lady what email to look for on her phone - and as she was looking for her email he was back at his computer so we took the break within their interaction to ask our quick question and he interrupted us and said "I'm helping someone right now. AS YOU CAN SEE. So I'll be with you when it's your turn" his tone, and demeanor were condescending and unwelcoming. You do not tell a customer "as you can see". When we asked for his name he refused to give it to us and said "i do apologize and I understand you might be tired after a very long flight but i won't be giving you my name because it's my right". Deflecting his rudeness on my "tiredness". I didn't even take a flight that day. Another very rude thing to say to a customer while rolling your eyes and having a dismissive attitude. So if you see Mr. No Name at the desk - be ready to be disrespected and talked down on. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEE REPRESENTING BUDGET. *update: his name is Tyler. I knew I could figure it out. read more

Budget - UNPROFESSIONAL AND RUDE FRONT DESK EMPLOYEE - Car Rental Near Me - San Francisco, California

They had the longest lines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

Budget - long line - Car Rental Near Me - San Francisco, California

My flight arrived at SFO early (04/25/25), and I got to the rental car center ahead of my 12:00pm pickup time. There was a gigantic line, and only 4 agents assisting customers. I stood in that line about 45 minutes, and didn't get my check-in completed until 1:00pm. The Budget associate that helped me, Robert, had just come back from a break and clearly didn't want to be there. I asked him to clarify e-Tolls, and he grudgingly mumbled that it was $12.99/day, information that I had read on the site. I found his unhelpful answer to be ironic since he had a sticker/pin on his shirt that read "ask me about e-tolls!" He then proceeded to repeat several times that I had ordered a mystery car, and that it would be a car that no one wanted (not a Camry with a sunroof, or a luxury vehicle). He went on to suggest that it might be an electric vehicle, a small (2 door) vehicle, or a truck. I was alarmed by this since I had chosen the mystery car based on promised features of 5 seats and 4 doors. I told Robert I had a car seat for my son, but he was unsympathetic and repeated that I had ordered a mystery car, and that it would be a car that no one wanted. When he told me I would need to have my rental back at by the scheduled drop off time or I would incur additional charges, I said "12:30", which was the time I chosen when making my reservation online. Robert pointed to his watch and sputtered forcefully "by 1pm!!" Not only did he NOT apologize for the long wait time, he terrorized me with his suggestions that I would get some kind of crazy car. The car I received was a 4 door Nissan Altima, perfectly suited for my quick trip to attend my grandmother's memorial service. It's too bad that pickup experience was so awful, because the drop-off was easy. I should've read reviews here and on Google, but I had no idea that a national car rental company could be so bad! read more

Over a two hour wait to get your rental car. The line did not go down for the entire 2+ hours that I waited in the line. Despite having 10 kiosks at which they could help customers, they only had two or three employees working the entire time. read more

Budget - Well over 50 people in line for the entire two plus hours I waited to get my rental! - Car Rental Near Me - San Francisco, California

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"It's simply impossible to pay a little and expect to get a lot" should be Budget Car Rental's slogan at SFO. Budget lures customers with low prices, then delivers classic "bait-and-switch" surprise charges such as fuel and cleaning fees, poor customer service, and extreme understaffing. I waited over 75 minutes in a line of approximately 35 people with only two agents, while other rental companies had short or no lines. After finally reaching the counter and sent to the find the vehicle, there was no car available and I was sent back for an existing vehicle. Two and a half weeks after returning the vehicle, Budget, with no notice, charged my credit card an additional $250 for a "dirty floor mats." The photos provided when I called demonstrated minor dirt on the floor mats. When I disputed the charge as unjustified, the call ended with zero effort for a resolution, rather a dismissive "is there anything else I can help you with." In the amount of time necessary to briefly vacuum the floor, one could count the number of particles pictured in the photos. By any reasonable standard, the photos revealed only normal, minimal dirt consistent with and expected with routine use. Budget's own FAQs state that it is "committed to providing clean cars to every customer." Vacuuming floor mats, like washing windows or dusting, is a routine, universal turnover step required to meet that promise for subsequent customers. Charging extra for a service performed on virtually every vehicle is duplicitous, double-dealing revenue grabbing, forcing customers to pay separately for basic cleaning that Budget is already obligated to provide. Allowing Budget the benefit of the doubt and assuming five minutes of vacuuming, the $250 I was charged, equates to an effective hourly rate of $3,000. Such a rate in plainly implausible, manifestly exorbitant, and cannot, under any circumstances, be justified. Budget imposes these charges weeks after the rental is completed, then refuses to engage in any reasonable resolution, effectively depriving vulnerable customers of a fair opportunity to dispute excessive and exaggerated charges that they have unfettered discretion to impose because they have unlimited access to the credit cards. This is not an oversight; it reflects a lack of integrity and raises serious questions about the honesty of Budget's business practice. Budget's ratings on Yelp and with the Better Business Bureau hover scarcely above the lowest possible score, and its 3-star Google rating is far below what should be acceptable for a major rental car company. The reviews expose a consistent and troubling pattern: an avalanche of one-star complaints describing poor treatment are met with scripted, insincere apologies. A quick review of recent Google feedback shows multiple customers reporting the exact same issue; excessive charges for trivial dirt on floor mats, alongside frequent complaints of long wait times and poor customer service. The sheer volume and consistency of these consumer complaints, paired with Budget's repetitive, robotic responses, demonstrate not accountability but an unwillingness to change. These hollow apologies do nothing to address a widespread and ongoing practice, leading to the inescapable conclusion that unjustified charges and substandard customer service are not mistakes or corporate inadvertence, but an intentional part of Budget's business model. It is my intention to inform and make a very strong complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, the California Attorney General, and with a member of the California legislature I know to initiate reasonable legislation to prohibit unjustified up charging. Since reviews find no resolution, but only hollow apologies, others should do the same to stop these practices. No one, except those willing to sacrifice poor customer service and the potential for unjustified charges for initially lower rental charges, should consider renting a car from Budget at SFO. read more

Avoid this location. At least half of the customer service/front line literally do not care at all about their customer service and treat people that come in like crap. The cars I've gotten from this site are never in good shape. I'll spend a little more to avoid the headache that this place presents. From what I can tell, top to bottom, this place is on autopilot and most of the people involved don't care. read more

Budget - Damage modem y - Car Rental Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I'm a FastBreak member and have rented cars from this SFO location several times. Overall, we've thankfully had ok experiences here so far, and hopefully will be smooth in the future. We've only picked up after a long flight and after dark (flights landing in the evening), and we're exhausted from our trip, so we're glad to get the car quickly and go. We always check out the car first and take lots of pictures before we drive off, taking care to make sure any damages are noted and won't take a car if it's more damages than like a little nick here or there. Also take a picture of the odometer and the gas gauge so there's no dispute. We then return the car back to a Budget car rental office in our hometown, and make sure again to check out everything to make sure we've cleaned the car thoroughly, not left anything behind, and also take lots of pictures as proof that we've returned it in exactly the same shape as we received it and have filled up the gas tank back to full so that we do not incur any fees/penalties. We've also dropped off rental cars here for one-way trips coming from our hometown driving into SFO to fly out from here. Overall, Budget has decently competitive prices as long as it's not right around the holidays. read more

Rented a car right after Christmas and it was a nightmare. Showed up and waited inline for my reservation... After spending a hour in line I waited another 30 mins at the counter as the customer service person was trying to find a car for me as they did not currently have one that met my reservation. My reservation was four a Luxury sedan and they kept trying to get me to take a two door convertible. We finally got our car and headed down to LA only to realize coming out of the grapevine that the vehicle given to me needed a brake job and would literally shake the front end going down hill when applying the brakes. Called Budget was told just go to any Budget and they will swap your car out. NOT TRUE!. After going to multiple Budgets I finally gave up and we used the car for our whole trip. When i returned the vehicle I told the manager on staff of my displeasure of dealing with Budget and he told me they would credit a portion of my bill back. Its now been three weeks and no credit has come in, now trying to get them on the phone and it is a complete hassle! HORRIBLE COMPANY read more

We used budget for a trip from SFO to Napa and back to the city and it was easy peezy! In and out in about 25 minutes from the tram. No unexpected fees or charges, we filled up at the costco near the airport for return and it was an easy drop. read more

Would give it 0 stars if I could. They have 12 stations but choose to only run 3. Manager had to come out to open up a 4th/12. I flew from LV to SFO and I think I waited longer to get my car than the flight to get here. They take 15+ minutes per person to check in. If you value your time, please just pay extra to go with literally any other rental car company. Update: Good luck getting your car in the same day you rent it. It's been an hour and I haven't even come close to the front of the line. read more

No surprise they have trash eating. Rude service. Unbelievably unhelpful counter. This is my 2nd rental with Budget this month through Costco and never again. Dreadful. read more

AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!! BEWARE that Budget makes up for inexpensive rental charges by charging for unsubstantiated services after the fact. I reserved a vehicle at San Francisco Airport (SFO). Waited over an hour at the counter, Budget overbooked. Budget were distributing vehicles as they were being returned. Budget was not cleaning or doing any other maintenance upon return of the vehicles. Finally received a vehicle (not type I reserved) and the engine was still hot from previous renter. It was obvious that the vehicle was not cleaned. Crumbs in the console. Wife scraped off something from the glove compartment door. Since I needed to pick somebody up at the airport and I already waited an inordinate amount of time I took the car and was glad to leave the Budget complex. Upon return the agent sent text or email that the car was successfully reviewed and checked in. No problem. About a week later I received a text stating that I owe 250 dollars for cleaning the car. I contacted Budget and the representative and the representative stated he will look into it and get back. He did not get back. Further contacted Budget through the BBB in New Jersey(home office) and asked. 1. what needed cleaning. Can Budget Substantiate need for cleaning 2. Was it interior or exterior 3. What time did the previous renter return vehicle. No reply from Budget substantiating the need for special cleaning. Budget charged my credit card. This is extortion, since they have my card number, but give no information about why they are charging except vague claims about needing cleaning. Refuse to delete charge. The whole Budget experience does not warrant the inexpensive quote for the rental. read more

The rental car was fine - clean, smelled good, and full tank. All I could ask for. What I didn't ask for was extremely unprofessional behavior from front desk employee Pedro, who quoted me a lower rate at the desk and ultimately charged me a higher rate. I simply asked a question about an optional charge before the final sign-off, he caught an attitude, and charged me a higher rate while removing the additional perk that I inquired about without explaining the discrepancy. When I attempted to ask about paying the original rate, he was dismissive and condescending, saying he would simply void the agreement altogether. I'm not sure why he was feeling so vindictive about me reading the fine print, but it was certainly not the customer service experience I was hoping for. read more

Reserved a car here days in advance. Came in day of rental and was told my car wasn't available. When asked why the dude said " you know how many planes just landed? We had so many walks ins " I literally said so you have my car to some one who just walked in. Offered me a pick up, I said okay at first then they tried to hit me with the difference in price. I said why do I gotta pay for them giving my car to some one else. Piece of shit company and piece of shit staff. If you're reading this budget , fvck you. Yall are scammers read more

Should have looked at the reviews before booking. Had an uneventful experience at the kiosk when picking up the car and car itself was okay except for a tire pressure issue that I resolved: however, was then later charged for Loss Damage Waiver and daily tolls after discussing the latter would be charged per toll and not daily. Customer service was not helpful and there were very long wait times (no surprise there). I have used several rental car companies over the years and have never had additional fees upon drop-off- will never again use Budget. read more

I would give 0 stars if it was an option. Do not rent from here. Even if you reserve a car, they do not honor it. They will rent out your reservation to whoever comes to the counter first (the counter agent said this), so good luck getting your reserved car if your flight doesn't come earlier in the day. On top of that, they gave me an inferior car and charged me the same rate from my reservation. That's some shady business going on. This is the 2nd time this has happened at this location. The first time I just thought "things happen" and left it at that. 2nd time, same location- I think there is something shady going on. I will not rent from this location again (Budget or Avis- they're the same company) read more

I have no complaints about Budget. The line was long but it moved fast. Service was efficient and friendly Living in SF for many years we didnt want a SUV without a trunk. Break ins in SF are everywhere They were great and found a car with a trunk. Actually an upgrade to a Dodge Charge. Great price and service read more

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The condition of the car is not good. There may be problems with the idling system when stopping and waiting. The brake system is not very sensitive. In short, I am very disappointed with this rental. read more

We rented a car from Reno and used it to travel to Lake Tahoe and Yosemite. We returned the vehicle to San Francisco airport. Days later, we were charged $450 as a cleaning fee for sand in the vehicle. Unfortunately, we took delivery of the vehicle in an unclean condition, as it was the last vehicle left that would fit my family, and it was a long travel day. But now we are being charged to clean that mess we accepted upon delivery. I suppose I could understand a small fee for cleaning the inside (even if there was no trash left behind - we had to clean it every night due to bears, and even had a small vacuum with us for that purpose), but $450 is not reasonable. The company would not speak to me to resolve the issue. I am attempting to resolve this via our AMEX account, but I wanted others to be aware so that they could avoid this scam by using another rental company. read more

Recently returned from a trip to Northern California. We arrived in San Francisco on 7/28/24 and had prearranged for a rental car through Budget in their airport location. Check in was seamless and we were directed to the parking lot to pick up our vehicle (Ford Explorer). When we got to the vehicle it was clear that it had not been cleaned between rentals. The outside was filthy and the inside had not been wiped down or vacuumed. It was also obvious that a smoker had driven the vehicle previously. We took the vehicle in that condition although in hind sight we should have asked for an alternate car as we discovered the windows were streaked so badly it was difficult to see out of them. About 10 miles after leaving the airport the Tire Pressure Monitoring Light engaged. I was going to return to the airport but pulled onto a service station to inflate the tires. One tire was down to 27 psi and another was at 24 psi (36 psi is normal). Again, if the car had been properly checked in before returning it to the rental queue, this would have been discovered and addressed. In addition, the car (with approximately 34,000 miles) badly needed the front tires replaced. Both were severely worn with minimal tread life remaining. Renting a vehicle with worn treads and low inflation (especially in an area with narrow winding roads at high elevations) was dangerous and irresponsible. I also paid to rent a GPS for the car. I am technically savvy but was never able to get the system to work - resorting instead to using the navigation system on my phone. My wife and I have retired and have started traveling extensively. Rental cars will be a necessity on many of our upcoming trips. I would have to think long and hard before renting with Budget again - or recommending them to anyone else. read more

We will NEVER rent from budget again. We scheduled a Camry and went to pick it up and they gave us an EV instead. The EV was much cheaper when we scheduled but we were going out into the dessert so absolutely did not want an EV. The rude emoloyee at the counter insisted we take the EV against many arguments. We told her we were going to Yosemite and that our house rental was out in the dessert and we worried about charging. She sarcastically told us over and over that that this is CA and there are chargers at every gas station. There were NOT. We could only find Tesla supercharging stations and there was no adapter in our rental car. After six hours in 102 heat searching for charging and two stops for one hour and two hours at a level 1 station we finally got enough charge to go 25 miles out of our way to a supercharger that was not Tesla. We missed a day at Yosemite and were miserable and terrified. Budget would do NOTHING for us. They would not even pay us the difference between what we paid for the Camry and the cost of an EV. NEVER AGAIN read more

Customer service lied over the phone after a long conversation about a refund. I've never had additional charges in the past at any rental service, and Budget charged me a cleaning fee that was around 40% of the total rental cost for a mild amount of sand (what was incidentally on our shoes after a short hike). After getting the charge and speaking on the phone with them for a long time, they said they would provide a 50% off refund since this had never happened before. The process was to charge the full fee, and then refund 50% back. I called back a month later, and was told the notes have no comment about any refund. Also, we ordered an intermediate SUV, and we got a minivan that had minimal treads and was not very safe. read more

We had a reservation and confirmation email for a car. I called twice while in line and was assured we were good to go and our reservation was good and they had a car waiting for us. We waited in line for 2 hours and 43 minutes. When we got to the counter they said that they were not honoring any reservations made the 26th or 27th and that they didn't have cars. They could have made an announcement to the 3 hour long line at any time that they weren't honoring reservations. They didn't and let us all wait there just to be told they weren't honoring reservations. There was no manager in sight. Terrible customer service. I understand things happen but there's no way they should have let all of us wait there like that just to be told they weren't honoring reservations. read more

I've used Budget twice at SFO. More than one hour wait both times. The car itself was ok. Return was ok. read more

Absolute scam. They will add charges to your bill without your knowledge or consent. They will not help when you call with a concern. Fraudulent business practices read more

This location is horrible! Rude employees, not helpful, and sarcastic! Arrive at 10:45pm and proceed to the FastBreak floor. No signs with names and assigned vehicles and the Budget app won't work. Rude Employee #1... go pick out a car from rows J-K, but the signs say FastBreak is N-P we go back and forth because the sign clearly says N-P.. nothing in J-K with my name or anything else. Go up to the counter. Rude Employee #2- after 10 minutes he gives me a vehicle, a Dodge Ram... there is about an inch of water in the center console and THERE ARE NO KEYS! Rude Employee #3... you have to go back to the counter because there are no keys and I can't help you. Back to the counter. Rude Employee #4.. the FastBreak counter closes at 10pm.. huh? Aren't you 24 hour location? Where is the list of drivers and vehicles? There isn't one! Huh? After 10 minutes he assigns me a vehicle. 45 minutes after arriving at the rental center, I was on my way. The Fast Break program designed to skip the counter, get your car and be in your way was a major failure! Worse was having to deal with four different employees who could care less about service or employees at 11pm. Rent your car from someone else. This was a terrible experience. I'll take my business elsewhere. read more

Absolutely the worst experience ever. Do not book with this company, they are criminal! After a 40 minute wait in line at the counter our reservation was for an economy car however they told us all they had a 7 passenger gas guzzling Mazda CX90 SUV. It was badly damaged and was filthy both inside and out, definitely not in a condition to rent. Worse is there was no one in the lot to discuss. We reluctantly took the car as we felt we had not choice but took photos of the damage and filthy state it was in. Upon returning the car we mentioned this to the attendant and pointed out all the damage. The attendant lied to us and did not do her job, as she failed to properly go over the car or even notice the gas was returned on full (and we got charged to fill it up). Very poor service with an attitude. A few days later we received demand letter stating we damaged the car and were liable for it. I provided them with all the photos we took, however now they are demanding time stamps on all of them (even though it's clear they were taken in the rental garage), so ridiculous. I asked Budget how they came to the conclusion we were responsible without any substantiating evidence, as well I asked them for their photos and videos of the car prior to our rental. To date they have not responded. This is insurance fraud in my opinion. You are treated as you are guilty until proven innocent, even though Budget full knows the state of their vehicles. What a horrible experience, stay clear of Budget and Avis who they are partnered with (and share the same criminal business practices). read more

Nightmare!!- do not choose this company! This place is a nightmare for sure. I mean if you want to wait in line for 1 hour to do another check-in after hours of flight, please do choose Budget car rental. I mean no joke, their brand name is serious, they do have a budget putting employees to work. With 10+ kiosk here, only 3 employees actually helping people while others being empty. What a nightmare, it's not worth it for just saving a few dollars. Do not choose this company!!! read more

I have never been treated this poorly anywhere. I would like to say it was one individual, but unfortunately, before we concluded our rental, we spoke to three different agents, each as unpleasant as the next. An older gentleman, with a paddle he held up to call us over, at the counter swore at me when he mistyped my credit card number and had to reenter it. The reason for the multiple agents was that even though we reserved the car online using my husband's debit card, we were not told until we arrived that Budget does not accept Wells Fargo cards because they cannot run credit checks on them. We stepped away from the counter to transfer money to my debit card, came back, and when they used my card, it declined. I had not put the travel alert on my card and had to call my bank. We stepped away from the counter to do that. Despite our frustration, my husband and I remained calm and polite at each step, while the staff was dismissive, unhelpful, and rude. The price for the rental was also over five times the cost of the Budget rental to drive back to San Francisco from Santa Maria. There is a smaller Budget just a few miles from the airport, in the future, I will use Uber to get to that location. read more

No line and excellent customer service from Edwin at SFO Budget counter! Friendly, helpful, and a Bay Area native go see Edwin at the Counter! read more

Budget is evil. These dishonest sob's disguise in the fine print that if you cancel a reservation made with a credit card for any reason or no reason they will charge your card $50 to cancel. Are you effin kidding me? If I could sue them, and hold them up naked to the world, I would do it, and I know I am not alone. I am going to report their sorry business to the Consumer Protection Agency and to the Better Business Bureau. You do Not charge people for cancellations. read more

The line at this Budget is perpetually longer than the other rental cars in the terminal. Took at least an hour to pick up our car. Terrible. read more

Budget - The worst line literally - Car Rental Near Me - San Francisco, California