Had no issues when I traveled to Des Moines. Made reservation through United. Picking and returning was a breeze. The young man at the counter Tanner did a phenomenal job of checking me in and out quick and even tried to find a car that suited me best. read more

Fast service, nice car and they accept debit card. It's great to see rental car companies taking debit instead of exclusivity credit cards.

DO NOT RENT FROM DOLLAR!!! Please heed my (and the other reviewers') warning that this company is a complete scam. I rented a car for 1 day to drive from the DSM airport to the Minneapolis airport on Dec 26th. My initial rate was given as a charge of $67/day totaling $88 with taxes and fees. All was going well and I returned the car to the Minneapolis St Paul airport as stated on my rental return by following the traffic signs for rental car return at the airport. Later that day I received an invoice from Dollar stating I'd been charged a total of $147 - or an excess of $60 from what was agreed upon!! Countless calls and hours were then spent on the phone with "customer service" (what service???) and unmet promises to have a supervisor call me back resulted in no resolutions. They even hung up on me 3 times! The line to the supervisor rang for 10 minutes before someone picked up and hung up the line. Truly awful! Now I'm out $60 plus valuable time. Please do yourself a favor and don't rent from here. A few more dollars spent with a reputable company will save you money and hours of time in the long run. read more

I forgot to make a reservation for a car when I flew into Des Moines, so I had to brave walking up to the counter. Thankfully, the young man at the counter named Tanner was able to get me a midsize Dodge Avenger with absolutely no hassle. He was very courteous and sympathetic to the fact that I could not use my business credit card to pay for the rental because it did not have my name on it, though he was required to stick firm to company policy. He got me a great rate that ended up being just shy of the advertised rate on the website. So these three stars are for him. Dollar, and I assume all rental car agencies, make it difficult for you to use a business credit card if your name is not on the credit card itself. Also, do not even consider extending your rental as they will charge you an up charge per day. I believe mine was $15.99 per day on top of the rate that I was already paying. This is simply ridiculous. I returned the car and just rented a new one. Of course, none of this is the fault of Tanner at the counter (or any person at the counter) and as I said he was courteous, understanding and helpful. Hopefully he can help me retrieve the earmuffs that I left in the car when I returned it! These three stars are for Tanner, and the missing two stars are for Dollar's "nickel-and-dime" policy. read more

Dollar Car Rental - Car Rental Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

I do not recommend dollar rental at Des Moines Airport. Horrible customer service, just horrible! Larry was very rude and extremely non-helpful and conniving. Larry jacked up my $28 a day rental to $100 a day knowing I had no other choice due to all other rental windows being closed. He sold out of my reserved car and told me i had to take a down grade and pay 4x's what I was supposed to be paying. He said there was nothing he could do about it. In reality, he could've advised me to get back on line and reserve the car he had available for a lower rate than he could give me there at the window. He was hoping I would just believe him and pay the $100/day rate. I lost my place in line after waiting 50 minutes, and did some research. I saw that all the rentals were more expensive than over a week ago when I made my first reservations, but they were much lower than the crappy rate he tried to stick me with. Why not just be honest and let people know that they can try again online and it's possible to get a better rate than what they can give you in person. Or better yet, honor the price of the original reservation, for whatever car they have available!!! Instead he just denied anything being their people's or computers fault, just take it or leave it!! On another note, there was only one person working on a busy weekend with a college game scheduled. Pretty bad planning.. and yes, we missed our dinner plans and had to eat from a connivence store because the restaurants were closed down by the time we were finally got our car! read more

If I could give negative stars I would. Rude desk agents, check and double check your initial receipt when you pick car up even when they've told you they corrected it because 800 customer cannot assist you, will "disconnect" you and you may be forced to drive hours back to airport to correct only to be met by a rude desk agent with no customer service skills. BELIEVE THE LOW RATING HERE AND RENT ELSEWHERE - Hertz, Thrifty and Dollar are all under Hertz umbrella. As a weekly renter I have cancelled all future bookings after spending hours and a 4 hour drive to fix what seemed a simple easily remedied mistake. read more

As a. Large family (2 adults, 3 school age kids, 1 infant) we need a large vehicle to accommodate us. We secured a minivan 2 mo the before arriving and 2 days before our arrival I called to confirm we would have a minivan. Our flight landed just around 1:30 pm and we headed down to baggage and the Dollar rental. Upon arriving, We waited for 20 minutes just to get to the counter. I was then told they had no minivans and the only thing they had was a Jeep Grand Cherokee and an GMC Acadia. I looked at the agent and told her to look at my family and all the bags we had and told her that those options would not work which is why I secured a minivan! She went looking for a minivan for 15 more minutes only to say, let's go look at the lot and see what we might have. We go out and there is nothing (which we knew) and there was a shuttle driver, in a minivan. She said we could take that one but it would be 10-15 minutes to clean it. I agreed because we needed the car. At this point, our flight had landed almost 45 minutes prior and now we have a fussy 3 month old as we sat in baggage claim. 20 minutes passed without the van and so I went to the counter and asked. She said that the van was "really dirty" so it's taking a little longer but should be there any minute. Another 20 minutes later then van arrives! At this point, we have been in baggage for over an hour and my wife is now having to feed the baby in baggage claim. I asked for some compensation for our inconvenience and the lady said she would come two days. While I did not think it was enough, I took it. She presented me with my receipt of pre-authorization and it was for the original amount, no comp! I brought this to her attention, she went back to the desk, and provided me an updated version with correct amounts. All good, right? Nope! After giving us the paperwork she says "this vehicle is actually due for maintenance but I'm going to bypass that." So i ask what kind of maintenance because I was not putting my kids in an unsafe vehicle. She stated it was an oil change so I took the car because it had been an hour and a half after our landing. Everything was good, get to our hotel and that night was looking at my bank statement. She charged me twice and they were for the original amounts without comps!!! So instead of one $1k hold on my card I have two $1k holds! So she's holding up $2k of my funds for my entire duration of our trip! I would not recommend Dollar and I am just hoping that when we return the car, everything works out the way it's supposed to. Dollar needs to step up and offer something. I'm also going to be reporting this to Sams Club who I booked this through as I would not want to do business with a company that does this to their customers. read more

Worst experience with a car rental company. We arrived on wednesday 7/17 at 4:40pm with a reservation and were told they were out of cars and had a wait list for rentals from 1pm that day. The 2 young women behind the counter were extremely unfriendly and we were told to just wait with an indefinite time frame. We ended up renting a car from Advantage (twice the price but we needed a car) and as we are checking out, the young woman from Dollar yelled over to the Advantage rental that we were the next on this list. Not sure how we went from the last on the list with 10 people in front of us to next on the list in 20 minutes with no car rentals but either way I WOULD NOT reccomend dollar. Yes it is cheap but they do not guanentee cars even with a reservation. If you need a car, I would go with another car rental place (even if they are a little more expensive) to ensure you have a car when you arrive. read more

New review*** thank you Michelle for restoring my faith in dollar. To the girl that worked Wed June 11th pm shift at around 9pm you are not nice. Not happy. Girl pressure me into taking insurance and would not let me get rid of it less than 5 minutes later when I realized I did not need it. She used sales tactics and was not very nice. I won't be using this place ever again. read more

Dollar Rent A Car has a noted history of misleading "customer service" and overcharges. I'm posting on behalf of an acquaintance who flew to Des Moines all the way from China to watch her son graduate from college (she has no access to Yelp! in China). She used the Dollar Rent-a-Car at Des Moines International Airport and ended up being charged $3500 instead of the original $1177. She verbally told the agent she didn't want to purchase "insurance" but was charged anyway. And she's not a gullible consumer--she is actually a university professor back in China, and $3500 is three months pay for her! Dollar Rent A Car agents clearly took advantage of the fact that English isn't her first language. That's simply not ethical! Luckily with a lot of pressure from local WHO TV reporter Dan Winters, she was able to get her money refunded, but according to the news story (Google "WHO tv Dollar Rent A Car") there are many more victims who unfortunately fly home before they're able to get their money back. If you do choose to give Dollar Rent A Car your money, be hyper-vigilant and read everything before you sign! If they pressure you into viewing the "contract" on an electronic screen request a paper copy. Sadly, trusting "customer service agents" simply isn't possible anymore. Agents get commissions based on how much "insurance" they sell, and they prey on customers who look tired, weary, and desperate to get into a car to their hotel... If you've been cheated before, there is a lawsuit going on against Dollar Rent A Car. If you share your story you can help get justice for yourself and other victims! Google search "dollar rent a car overcharges" and you'll find a Facebook group for more information. read more

I am a Dollar Express and Corporate member and have up until now found Dollar to be the most reliable and reasonably priced for business rentals. Last night my plane (along with at least 1 more) arrived at Des Moines about 10 minutes late. I arrived at the Dollar counter 12:10 to find a line of 7 people waiting. After another 10 minutes with no one coming to the counter a gentelman called Dollar and was told that this location closed at midnight. THE OTHER RENTAL VENDERS WERE STILL AT THEIR COUNTERS SERVING THEIR CUSTOMERS. All of the lights were on at Dollar but nobody was home.... Thankfully our hotel's shuttle was still running and we made it to the hotel for a few hours sleep. BE AWARE! !!! Budget has been making some pretty good offers on business rentals and I believe that I will give them a try. read more

I will never rent here again, nor will I recommend Dollar to anyone. The initial price was $109 for the time period we booked. After we returned the car, the taxes and fees made the total $256! We returned the car on time, and clean. A tax is understandable, but over $140 worth of fees and taxes is not worth it. I'd rather be told the estimated end price than be led to believe I was going to pay half the price. There was not even a description that says we have to pay with a credit card and not any other form of payment upon pick-up. First time renters are not likely to know that, and if I didn't have a credit card, our entire trip would have been ruined. Luckily I had one because a lot of people manage their expenses via bank/debit card. read more

I don't know what all the negative reviews are about. I had an excellent experience with Dollar Rentals. I was in one hell of a predicament with being out of town and my car went out on me. Due to my circumstances not one of the rental places at Des Moines airport would rent to me but Dollar did. I was almost in tears and they came thru and worked with me so I could get back home. I will never use another rental place. read more

By far the worst car rental experience - true nightmare. We had a connecting flight with two kids under the age of 5. Alex was our rep, she tried hard to up sell us on an SUV. When we said no thank you, she responded "tough we just gave away your reservation its the only car left and you'll have to pay". I mean really? We have two crying kids and you're going to try to pigeon hole us. When we threatened to complain she said she was friends with management and there was nothing we can do. Will never use Dollar ever again - Thank God for Alamo they saved us and even upgraded us for free! Love Alamo read more

We reserved thru Orbitz then were charged over $100 more than the deal. When my husband pointed it out to the clerk, she said someone else didn't put it in right but she should be able to fix it. But it was right when we picked it up and the first charge was made to our card. Either incompetent staff or a company policy to rip people off who aren't paying attention or who haven't reserved thru an online service before. read more

DO NOT LEAVE ANYTHING IN THE CAR WHEN RETURNING THE VEHICLE! I had accidentally left my iPad under the driver's seat of a Dollar rental car in Des Moines, IA. I realized it was missing when I arrived at the hotel I was staying, 20 minutes after returning the car. I called the Dollar lost and found desk at the Des Moines airport and was instructed to fill out a form online. I left 4 days later WITHOUT my iPad. I was told it wasn't found in the car,, by either Dollar staff or their cleaning company. This has been a frustrating and disheartening experience. The item is obviously valuable, both monetarily and personally. There are photos and videos that I will never get back. read more

Pathetic! Rented my car at the airport in Des Moines. Asked about tolls in Illinois because we would be traveling to Chicago. Had a very nice lady explain that there is a toll device in the car and that we would not have to stop for any tolls and all charges would come to us in the mail and that there would be no administrative fees. Utter nonsense! The fees, when I received them, came to $90.00. $13.90 for tolls, $90.00 for administrative fees. Nice little profit on those. Called the customer service number. 30 minutes of hearing how important my call is and thanking me for my patience. Finally hung up. Come on, Dollar. Your systems are Neanderthal! No one waits 30 minutes on the phone any more. That's not customer service. Figure out an easy way to take care of tolls, charge accordingly and train your agents on how the system works. Until you do, I will avoid Dollar. read more

Our experience has always been good at the Dollar site. We travel to Des Moines from California frequently and have found the service and vehicles very acceptable. The cars are clean and personnel friendly and competent. read more

Worst experinence with Dollar Rent A Car EVER!!! flew into Des Moines, go to counter( with Confirmation of reservation) and No Car. I was made to wait over 3 hours by being told that one was being "brought in", from where, i could not tell you because at the end of the 3 hours, i was informed that it would not be there until the following day. ended up taking a cab to Fort Dodge and renting a car from Hertz. Dollar Rent A Car at the Des Moines Airport should learn exactly what it means to be a Rental Car agency.... Never again. read more

The car was ready and easy to pick up and drop off. No hassels. The car was nice, clean, roomy and drove good. The people at the desk and drop off were friendly and helpful. read more

Dollar recently paid a speeding fine that was captured on camera "on your behalf" and sent me a bill plus an administrative fee. This bill does not have the address of the camera that captured me, it does not have the details of how fast I was going and what the speed limit was, and while it has a web address to view the citation, there is no Pin that is required to view the citation. Plus they are also supposed to provide a certificate of compliance. I am supposed to allow 7 days for them to receive payment prior to the due date which is rather impossible since since I received 4 days prior to the due date. Furthermore, the city that issued the ticket has been sued as to the legality of the device that was used to issue the ticket. They are very likely going to lose and have to reimburse violators over the use of these devices. I sincerely hope Dollar is prepared to reimburse me in the event the City loses. read more

If minus number of stars was available, THAT would be my rating! Worst car company on the planet. I travel fairly frequently and due to company budget did not choose one rental company until recently, and unfortunately chose Dollar! Foreign transaction fee for a rental car in Des Moines IA???... seems like the heartland to me! Then another experience was making and pre-paying for a reservation but due to fraudulent activity on the card before the trip our card was replaced...UhOh...now you can't pick up a car without the EXACT credit card used to make the reservation EVEN when you don't owe any money! OK, we were told to cancel that and start over... seems easy, until you learn later that there is NO REFUND of the pre-paid reservation! So we have now paid twice for the same three day rental. WHAT A JOKE! I will never ever use them again. With Uber and Lyft, I am just renting a car less and less often... read more

The WORST car rental experience I have ever had - do not rent here! No car was available at my pickup time, in spite of my reservation. This was in early June. The person at the counter was apologetic and offered me a $50 credit on my rental, as well as reimbursement for a cab - all I had to do was come back the next morning for a car. When I returned the car, I had to pay full price for the rental, but was promised that I would receive a check for the reimbursement in the mail. Long story short, I have received nothing but runaround from Dollar ever since - and definitely none of the promised credit or reimbursement for the cab - and it's now late September. The local Dollar office told me that I must deal with "corporate" for the refund when I called to follow up about this. When I spoke to "corporate" in early August, they had no information at all in their computers about the $50 credit and they could also not explain why I had not received the reimbursement for the cab. They promised to issue the refund for the cab, but I'm still waiting for it - nearly 2 months after that conversation and nearly 4 months after renting the car. "Corporate" said that they would not honor the $50 credit, however, since there were no notes about it in the computer system. Never again will I rent from this company! read more

The counter service at the airport was awesome. The phone service, if you have to call them for anything, does not exist. You have to drive down to the airport to personally speak to the agent, because the phone number, 515-285-4004, does not work. read more

I will never rent from Dollar Rent a Car again. I rented a Toyota Camry from them on 8/11/2015. The car had a form that said car passed 35 point safety check. I took it for granted that that was the case. (my mistake) A few nights later returning from Knoxville Nationals, the air pressure sensor came on.. I pulled into the next available gas station to take a look. The left rear was flat, & showing metal cords through tires. I changed the tire with the spare. We inspected the rest of the tires, & found the other rear tire that was just as bad. we took a gamble & drove back to our hotel. The next day I called the customer service group. They asked me if I could take it to a tire store to get it repaired. I told them I was not going to drive that car again. They towed another car to me as a replacement. I am on vacation, & you want me to go hang out at a Tire store. B.S. Who ever completed the safety check should be fired. (or Manager who OK'd that this care could be used.) Never again Dollar P.O.S. read more

AVOID RENTING FROM DOLLAR IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE RIPPED OFF! If you have a dispute with them, forget it. "Customer Service" is an oxymoron. I had a bad experience all around at the Des Moines Dollar and no one at Dollar was willing to listen to the circumstances (despite their conveniently overlooking the fact that no one was working the counter at a time their website claims should be manned). Pay a little more from a legitimate car rental company and save yourself the headaches. I will never rent with Dollar again. read more

Do not use their prepaid gas option unless you absolutely have to. The counter person advised me to use it and if I filled the car upon return it could be taken off. I filled the car and upon return I am told once you select it you can't cancel it? Tried corporate same answer. Lesson learned, NEVER USE PREPAID GAS. read more

When I got to the ticket counter I was offered a "smart" car - one of those tiny ones that I wouldn't even be able to put my suitcase in, so I was basically forced to upgrade. I was upgraded to a Chevy Malibu and was charged an additional $16.99/day (which I wasn't informed of) - yes, I should have asked, but I had no idea my total car rental would be $165 for 4 days in IOWA! I will never use Dollar again - no wonder everyone was in the HERTZ line - I won't stray ever from them again! read more

worst experience with any company ever. reserved a car and when i arrived they told me they didn't have a car for me. wasted a business trip completely because they lied. completely ridiculous customer service. i would completely avoid this company as they will lie and continue to lie about you being on a waiting list. i sat in the airport for 6 hours waiting for a car and nothing happened accept scott the manager claiming some cars would be in soon. do not rent from this company ever. they are a terrible company. read more

First and foremost, this negative review isn't about the customer service. In fact, the customer service is the only reason I'm giving them the second star. I reserved a midsize car through Orbitz, and expected something along the lines of a Ford Fusion, Chevy Malibu, or Hyundai Sonata since those were the examples provided by Orbitz. Instead, Dollar's idea of a midsize car is a Ford Mustang. This sounds awesome at first blush, but not if you really were hoping for a midsize car. First, I needed a 4-door car, not a coupe. Second, why on Earth would I want to drive a rear-wheel drive vehicle in Iowa in February when the roads are icy? Unfortunately, my only other options were a minivan, a compact car, or an SUV for an additional $14/day. I opted for the compact car, which wasn't discounted even though I could've gotten it for less had I simply reserved it in the first place. To compensate, the folks who work there gave me a couple of 10% off coupons for future rentals, which is a nice gesture even though I don't ever plan on doing business with Dollar Rent A Car ever again. read more

This was my first experience with Dollar, and I will never rent a car from them again. The vehicle I was given had a large crack on the front bumper. I have limited mobility and a child, and the desk associate was not willing to bring the car closer, or help me get to the car. My family had to walk a few blocks to reach the rental. I unfortunately forgot to grab my handicap permit out of the rental the morning we dropped it off. Because we dropped the car off before the office opened, I had to inquire about my lost permit once I got off the plane in Denver. That same morning, at 9 am, very soon after they opened their office, I called and asked for help with my forgotten permit. I spoke with 3 different associates that day, and none of them were willing to radio to the car cleaning crew and inquire of my permit, or willing to walk out from the desk and grab it for me. They seriously could care less. What a huge disappointment. read more