THIS IS A FOLLOW UP TO A PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: I returned to Syracuse on some business and was ready for a problem. As I approached the service counter I noticed that the same young lady was on duty. OK let's see what happens today. Completely different experience paper work and car were ready, in fact she handed the keys to me so I wouldn't have to wait. She also remembered me and addressed me by name. Maybe she had a heads up that I was coming but the service was much appreciated. Even upgraded my car without asking. Later in the day I got a call from the manager making sure everything was good. It was. But and this is a big but. When I got my car there was only one other car in the lot and there were four people on line after me. Do the math. I don't want to jump to conclusions but unless there were more cars on the way in this looked like a potential problem. I hope it wasn't and Dollar Car Rental of Syracuse has their act together. I'll be back again. Bottom line: Yelp does have an influence as long as we use it responsibly. LAST EXPERIENCE: Let me start by saying that I have been a loyal member of the Dollar Car Rental club for over a decade. I rent several times a year and am always happy with them. So what happened to Dollar Rent. Car in Syracuse, NY. Last week I reserved a car for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I scheduled the pick up for 9:30 so I'd have plenty of time to get to a meeting. At 9:50 I'm at the counter. Most Dollar Car Rental offices have a setup for members. It's very simple: You go to the booth see your name and go to the designated space where your car and paper work is waiting and away you go. A little different in Syracuse. First the young lady had know clue about how this works. Apparently Syracuse does not use this system. OK fine. Now she starts trying to up sell me. Luxury car? No thanks. Insurance? No thanks. EZ pass? No thanks. And on and on. I finally explain that I made all these choices when I reserved the car so why are we going over this again? OK so see shows me my estimated bill which is several dollars more than I was quoted. Turns out she decided I should buy Roadside Service. Now I'm getting annoyed. If your car breaks down I'm calling you not an independent roadside service. Just show me my car. Oh it's waiting for you in the lot. Well I get there and wait 30 minutes and no car. All I keep hearing is it will be here in a minute. 40 minutes later they bring my car. Finally on my way. Just outside the airport a warning signal comes on telling me tires are low on air. Fortunately I'm now in front of their repair center. Another 15 minutes and I'm back on my way. I will continue to use Dollar Car Rental, but never in Syracuse again. read more

Dollar Car Rental - Let's try this again - Car Rental Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Wow, worst rental experience ever, first off, the staff smelled of marijuana, nasty!, then we reserved the " managers special" online, just said car chosen at pickup, when we arrived, the staff told us that managers special is an EV, but we are in an area we don't know, at a hotel, so ev wasn't a great choice for us, she said we can "upgrade" for $20+ a day, and that was our only other option, so we took it, unhappily....a Kia Soul, which I surely don't consider an upgrade! Not done yet!, we get to the car, it's terribly dirty, the windshield is so covered with bugs, the wipers won't clear, we had to drive to a gas station, and clean it with a brush.....there was food in center console....just a terrible experiance. read more

I would give ZERO stars if that was an option. I returned my car on time on the day I flew out. Even spoke with the manager because the alignment was so bad, windshield wipers were so overdue for a replacement (conditions were wet and snowy) and the check engine light went on. I wanted to make sure that this vehicle was serviced before anyone else drove it. When I was driving straight, my hands were at 11 and 4 on the steering wheel I got a charge a week later for a week's rental, because they said I never turned the vehicle in. Some small miracle happened and I was able to get in touch with a representative who was helpful and apologetic. He assured me that the charge would be refunded. I was charged another week's rental two days later. I am so irritated. In addition, my deposit was never refunded. There is no hope in getting ahold of a rep. I have no words. The associates are incompetent and this must be addressed by Dolllar. DO BETTER. read more

The cleaning place was so backed up so everybody in line to get their cars had to wait two hours or more.

We reserved an SUV for pick-up at SYR in early November 2025. Upon arrival at the Dollar/Thrifty counter area, we found a long line of some 12+ impatient if not angry people. We soon learned why they looked that way. There were no cars available. AT ALL. People were told just to wait for 1-2 hours. The agent told us they "were cleaning some cars" and to come back in 90 minutes. When we returned, we were indeed given a car, but it was not an SUV and it was not clean. We remarked on the still long line of waiting customers and the agent told us that it was like this everyday, that Dollar/Thrifty were understaffed and sometimes the other staff didnt show up at all. We needed to go to an evening event so we took the car. It was a very frustrating incident. When I sent this feedback to Dollar/Thrifty, they ignored me. read more

They over sold their cars on a busy weekend so after we waited an hour and a half because they had ONE person working , he told us we and all the others that we would have to wait at the airport and hopefully they could get us cars in a couple hours. Still waiting read more

I got flight delayed, but they were still there more than two hours after their stated closing time.. super friendly and efficient

Long lines. People waiting to return in same line as those picking up. No signs for where to go. Then when we got to the front of the line, we were told the type of car we had reserved was not available and asked to wait another 45 minutes for one to be cleaned. No apologies or offer of a discounted rate. read more

Waiting an hour for a pre-paid, reserved car!!!! No empathy or helpfulness from counter staff. Would rate less than 1 star if possible. read more

All the one star reviews are absolutely true. And my review isn't necessarily about them overbooking their reservations, but its that there is no lack of empathy or interest in helping you set expectations regarding option's and proper next steps. Their is one guy that works there, that I unfortunately have had to deal with several times, and he's just so rude, and arrogant and it felt like he took pleasure in the predicament that your in (for whatever reason), and he's happy your life is disrupted, he point blank doesn't care or does he offer any help for resolve of any matter, its frustrating to deal with people like that. However, I did work with a young lady recently who was quite the opposite, she was real pleasure to work with and was very helpful. The bottom line is don't set expectations on having great customer service experience at their rental counter, and hope that they actually have a car for your reservation. I hope your experience is opposite of mine, this goes for Hertz as well, they share a counter and cars at the Syracuse airport. read more

Counter experience went normally - But when I went outside, I was assigned The Most Filthy Car I have ever rented - Scratched paint, stained seats and smelled of smoke. I could not believe there was no-one out there to show the car to. I was running late and could not go back inside, I took pictures of everything. I paid for the reservation on Priceline, they took a card for deposit. They have now charged my deposit card 3 times in addition to paying the rental amount on priceline and I can not reach anyone to discuss. In addition - No One gave me a receipt when I checked out and assured me it would be emailed Never received, went online to download using my DL-number and credit card there website says no reso exist. so frustrating... Thankfully Capital One is great to work with. read more

Totally understaffed location. Even if you are a Hertz Gold member...no priority is green. You must wait in the long line - no benefit to the extra we pay with Hertz. Every other rental car at the airport has no lines and people were in and out. Avoid this one at all costs. read more

This was an awful experience. They did not have the rental I reserved so they upgraded me to another vehicle because they were out of vehicles. I was provided a contract at the agreed upon rate. I returned the vehicle early (4:30am). I was charged for an extra day (6:30pm) even though the keys and vehicle were returned. I was also charged for the higher rate. I filed a complaint on line and received a response that the charges were correct. DO NOT rent from this company. They RIP YOU OFF and there is no one to contact for assistance. If I lived in the area, I would seek compensation in Smalls Claims Court for their breach of contract. Should have looked at the reviews online before renting because several other customers have had bad experiences. AGAIN, DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY! Michael S. read more

Ok so here's the story, I had a quick trip planned to Orlando and we found and made a reservation trough Dollar Rentals. We arrived at the counter to find a line of over 100people waiting to be processed. The wait was 2hrs and 5 minutes just to get our car. The dollar and thrifty rentals are on the same counter so we all have to wait 2 hrs minimum. When we finally got to the representative they stated the line and wait were normal and it didn't phase them one bit... I definitely learned my lesson and will Never rent from them again the difference between them and others was probably $20.00 and it definitely was not worth it... I will gladly pay 75.00 more to avoid them in the future Take my advice and save yourself the frustration... read more

Dollar Car Rental - Don't do it - Car Rental Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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I reserved weeks ago and they keep saying they "don't have keys" they are behind with cars being ready. They have a downsized car ready but said they can't give it to me it's "a downgrade" i said i dont care but they said they cant. i said how long they said they have no idea . still waiting 30 minutes later they are disorganized and dont have their shit together. go somewhere else read more

No one is ever at the desk to provide service. They rent cars but can't honor pick up times.

we got the keys for our first vehicle got everything in started the car and it sounded like it was about to explode. wasn't a huge deal went to turn in the keys to hopefully get a new vehicle which they did give us no problem. The second vehicle seemed a lot nicer at first and then we spent a whole morning trying to get the car to start because of a dead battery. we won't ever be using them again. read more

Booked a car months in advance just for it to not be here. Do you guys need a year notice? 2 years? Just let us know how much time you need to get a rental car ready. Horrible business, and even worse business practices. read more

I had to book a flight last minute and rented a car online. I've rented cars before and it's usually pretty standard except with this dusty joke of a business. I was unaware of the $500 hold they place on your debit card when renting a car here. "it's in the fine fine print" and "we've had to turn away families with little kids because they weren't aware" was all the help I could get. No refunds if you can't pay it either. The manager just looked at me with his soulless eyes and said, "You'll get it back" ‍ it's been almost a month and I have NOT gotten it back. I did however get charged an extra $136 after I dropped the car off. So thanks but no thanks. I hope you go out of business sooner than later. read more

I have used them twice now and both times have had horrible experiences. This last time the car they gave me was clean and an up grade from last time but I am handicap and when returning the car I was already out, parked and removing my items and almost done when the young man told me I had to move the car. I re packed and did so . Because I was in a hurry then I forgot my handy cap tag in mirror and when trying to call continually they do not have anyone who takes phone calls for the company. I have emailed several times with no answer and of course the item was not returned to me. read more

Four people at the desk, moved half way through the line in 30 minutes. Sorry, correction, 5 people at the desk.

The car was old, had dents, poor headlights, and absolutely reeked of marijuana. The smell so permeated the seats that the entire weekend we had the car we were nauseated at the smell every time we got in the car. It was absolutely horrendous. The clerk working at Syracuse Airport on 8/18/23 in the early evening seemed to be under the influence. It seems that the clerk is smoking pot in the rental cars. The person next to us was also having trouble with the same clerk. He was unresponsive to her and we all had to wait a very long time for our cars while he went to get the keys. Someone needs to fire this employee or conduct drug tests. Also, someone needs to smell these cars and get rid of the ones that are not appropriate for rental. I have used Dollar in the past but based on this experience, I won't use then again. read more

We rented a Caravan one-way both SYR-ORD & ORD-SYR thru AAA. Dollar reps were not at either location to check us in. That's due to Dollar's co-share of services with other rental companies. But all was good! No difficulties were encountered either way. Still, it is strange to never meet a Dollar rep. read more

My experience with renting from this place was the worsted I ever had. The car was dirty and smelled like pot, so bad that my adult daughters who I went to visit wouldn't even ride in it. When I complained they said I needed to contact the manager at the facility. I'm not sure if you have ever tried to get ahold of the specific location of a car rental place at an airport, it is virtually impossible. Not to mention they indicated that I could exchange the car, my final destination was 2.5 hours away from the rental place. I just became a grandpa again and those 5 hours of time were more valuable spending them with my new grandson. When I returned the car, I again tried to find someone to talk to but there was no one there. I filed a complaint online and they indicated that they couldn't do anything until they got the car back. After returning the car I reach out regarding the complaint. This is the response I got. "Hi Lawrence, Thank you for emailing us back about the experience you had with your recent rental. We always strive to provide the best service possible, and we truly value your business. I understand you want this to be resolved as soon as possible. This will be reported and make sure won't happen again. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for contacting us and we look forward to serving you in the future. Sincerely, Lyn P. Tours Correspondence Agent Dollar Customer Services http://www.dollar.com" No offer of any kind. I see there are many other bad reviews here. I guess next time I will check the reviews. I have family there and I will not rent from this company again. Lawrence Name has Cathy because she posted this for me. read more

Person at counter was very unfriendly. I felt like was an annoyance to him even though I was the only one at his counter while the other companies had lines. I arrived 20 minutes ahead of reservation and instead of warning about extra charges or explaining my options he just added about $200 to my price without saying a word about it. Really??? My week rental was four hundred something and you're going to cram an extra $200 on there for being 20 minutes early--- without telling me!? Screw you; Hertz/Dollar will forever more be my absolute last choice for rentals. Surprisingly there was no $200 rebate offered to me for returning the car 30 minutes early. read more

Rent anywhere else, or walk. Last thing you want after traveling is an hour plus wait time to receive a vehicle. Worst part, being charged $48 a day for a week after returning the vehicle, because they don't close out the account. read more

I recently rented a vehicle from the rental counter in Syracuse Hancock Airport and came away extremely frustrated and highly disappointed. I rented the vehicle so that I could travel to Geneva, New York to visit family. My flight into Syracuse had me landing around 7:00 pm and then the drive to Geneva of 60 miles would be taking an hour, making  my arrival into Geneva late into the night. I checked into the service counter and was given the "Manager's Special". After I walked to pick up my car, I opened the back door to insert my luggage and was immediately knocked in the face with the horrendous smell of stale cigarette smoke. Upon leaving the airport, with the long drive, I was extremely uncomfortable in the cab of the car, and had to constantly lower and raise the windows to allow air to enter to lessen the odor. Once I arrived in Geneva, my family was sympathetic to my situation and I ended up not driving the vehicle at all while I was there for the next four days, due to the offensive odor in the car. Prior to leaving, I did use a fabric deodorant- Febreeze-  to see if that would help. No such luck. Upon leaving Geneva on my drive back to Syracuse, a light comes flashing on and displays that the "replace battery in remote key." While at a stoplight, the CAR SHUTS DOWN!! EVERY STOPLIGHT I ENCOUNTERED AT EVERY REDLIGHT, I HAD TO RESTART MY ENGINE ON MY 60 MILE TRIP TO SYRACUSE!! This is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. I have the dash display of the alert attached for your reference. To ask if I would recommend Dollar Rent a Car to anyone who would even have the remote chance of experiencing anything similar to my deplorable situation is ludicrous! Almost $500.00 wasted on their "Manager's Special"? No follow up- no compensation in some manner by a Dollar representative?! No response. Shameless. read more

Dollar Car Rental - Dash board alerting battery needs replacing in remote, stalling car. - Car Rental Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Dollar Car Rental..... worst experience with car rental from Orlando Airport. Flight arrived after midnight because of delay in Charlotte, NC 5/19/2017 there customer service representative were so nasty because car were not available for about 14 customers who were waiting patiently. Then they tried to give you any car not what your rental request was and the still charge you the full amount even after waiting over an hour for your vehicle.....the car was not full of gas. When I return the vehicle on Wednesday 5/24/2017 with a full tank they charge me for gas because they said it wasn't and the the representative who checked me out didn't speak English very well ....... I explained that the gas was full he just told me I would get a receipt for the charge..... well I did and they charge me $20.00 extra for gas that was in a full tank..... I would never used them again if it was Free!! read more

Totally useless. We reserved a car in advance and the Dollar desk was closed on arrival, re-directing is to the Hertz desk. We waited in a line of 20+ people as the two employees slowly saw each customer. At one point the manager had to run out to find more keys. No communication to customers was made. Such a frustrating way to begin a vacation. read more

After fighting to get my contract closed for days ($50 charges day after day), I was then charged $900 in addition to what I already paid for "extra days" that I did not have the vehicle. Months later I finally received a refund but not without a fight & a lot of headaches. Will not be renting here again! read more

We booked a car through another site but from dollar car rental. First, we were skeptical because of the bad reviews on yelp and their phone number issue. But when we got there, although it says they close at 10pm online, they actually close at 1am I think. Dollar is under Hertz so the Hertz guy named Scott helped me with my rental. He was really nice and funny. We had the cheapest minivan booked but because they were out of the nissan pathfinder, they gave us a Yukon. We loved the car and the customer service of Dollar. read more

Used Priceline to make a pre-paid reservation for a car. Arrived at the empty of employees counter at SYR at 6:58pm only to be told by another two frustrated customers (families!) that they had also recently arrived and also were greeted with an empty counter. The stated hours at this location are that they close at 7pm, yet, no employees to be found. Called into Dollar's toll-free number, and after literally 3 minutes of navigating their horrible phone tree and 46 minutes (total, including numerous long holds) of time spent trying to sort it out with their customer service reps was told "there's nothing we can do. Either travel to another Dollar location that is open (the closest was Rochester airport an hour and half DRIVE away) or "come back tomorrow." I rented from another provider (thank you Avis!!!) for one night and came back the following day. I was explained to me (with a straight face!) that they close early if they have no cars left, so that even if an employee had stuck around they would not have been able to get me a car. I explained the nature of a "reservation" and especially the nature of a "prepaid reservation" as being a binding contract to provide a service. The desk person phoned the manager, who apparently said "I'll see what we can do." I was told to write my name and phone number on what appeared to be a blank computer punch-card (?!) and that somebody would be in touch. Of course it's been a week and that hasn't happened. They stole my money and left me and my family stranded. They still haven't reached out, and I expect I'll have to reverse the charge with my card provider. Abysmal product, abysmal service. Zero stars, will not use again. read more

had a confirmation for a car but when I went to pick it up there was no car available. customer service was unprofessional and while there was an offer to check back 8 hours later to see if a car was available at that time they refused to give a discount or anything else to make the situation right read more

Dollar/Thrifty are the same people in Syracuse. Rule to understand when dealing with them: they CANNOT tell the truth, so just figure whatever they say will not be right. Worst ever policies, bald tires, and no service, secret restrictions not disclosed nor the same as national company policies. They're a mess, don't rent from them. read more

I see that others had a bad experience here, but ours was only positive. We rented a car last weekend to drive up to a lake. The car was all ready to go even though we got in earlier than expected. It worked great for our purposes, had a full tank of gas, etc. When we returned the car and paid the bill, there was an extra $75 of charges over what Hotwire had quoted us. The Dollar rep, Jamie, explained that the Hotwire quote was missing a bunch of airport fees, etc. She couldn't do anything about the fees but was kind enough to give us a discount on our rental to bring the cost closer to the one we were quoted. Thanks, Jamie! read more

Dollar Corporation is running a scam! If you use a toll road without toll takers (ie: MA Turnpike) they will charge so much money that it should be criminal. I am being charged $161 for less than $20 in tolls! They call this administration fees, I call it corporate robbery! They also claim you are in multiple places at a time! They are charging me for fees in Newport RI, closest I got was Boston and NYC-closest I got was Albany! The consumer is left with no recourse since they have your credit card on file. DO NOT use Dollar rent a car, they are running a scam on the consumer! read more

Horrified!!!!!!!!!!! I have been trying to get all my money back because I returned my car rental on time, and nothing was wrong with the car but because the person in syracuse ny didn't close out my rental they ended up charging my card another $436. I have tried talking to the company many times and they say that they don't know what their merchant id is and that is the number that my bank needs in order to give me my money back!! So now 13 days later I still do not have my money!!! I would give these guys a negative 100 if I could. I am very dissatisfied!!!!!! The fact that everytime I ask to speak to a mgr they are in a meeting(yeah right) and you can't even talk to the person at the airport infuriates me even further!!!!!!! read more

I've used dollar ca rentals a few times never had a problem til this time. We've had our rental for 2 weeks, we were to return it on Monday 3/16/20. Sunday I got sick and with this COVID-19 virus going around I got tested and self quarantined myself at home to be safe. I have to return it to the Syracuse airport but the company has done nothing to help. My fiancé can't drive it in bc she's not on it I have too but still charge me full rate to wait to bring it in. So I either have to pay for the extension or take the risk that I may have more than a cold and take it in. I don't have the money on my card we're all out of work so I'm screwed now due to this bc I'm not risking others til i know if I'm in the clear. It's rediculous and bc of this I don't have rent, or any money for my fiancé, 3 kids and myself to get through this pandemic! read more

Hard to know how to rate this experience. We were thrilled that when we had problems with the car we rented, they quickly drove a new car to our location 2 hours away. However, a better experience would have been to not be troubled by the change oil light being on and the car shaking every time we applied the brakes. read more

Awful experience. Kicking self ever booked with this car rental agency and learned my lesson never to do so again. In a rush I booked as an add on to flight and ended up with an upgrade as my vehicle wasn't returned yet by prior customer. Was charged for upgrade though told would not be charged additional cost. Was told would get same rate if extended another day. When called to do so, was quoted another rate. When told the supervisor had approved the discounted extended rate, the agent quoted less, however, could not tell me what total bill would be, with additional day. Instead of placing me on hold or calling me back, she was silent and then told me there was not a way to view total with additional day. Definitely needs more customer service training and how to communicate with customers. This was not only issue wish agent, it seemed I was bothering her when called even though doing multi day sale. What sort of business is this and how still in business? Back to Enterprise and top customer service for me and my employer. Disappointed and costly. read more