Super easy car rental at the Oakland Airport. Catch the shuttle to the car rental center and pick up your car. Note: Either buy the unlimited toll pass for $12 a day or make sure to register your CC to pay for your tolls. read more

Payless Car Rental - Car Rental Near Me - Oakland, California

See all

Terrible experience. Price advertised was for a Rav 4 or similar SUV. Staff could care less. Gave us a Dodge Hornet instead. Literally the most miserable small car of all time. They even had a Rav 4 on the lot. I inquired but the staff said that was for premium customers! To add insult to injury the advertised price was before all the hidden rio-off fees. Delivery charge, convenience charge, airport tax. C'mon. Avoid at all costs read more

My brothers rented an automobile for my disabled handicapped sister to visit mom in Vegas at the hospital (aneurysm) and on way the Aircondioner stop working and the check engine light came on. They called and they said they wanted him to drive 3 hours out of his way to change autos. He didn't feel comfortable driving that far wit our sister. Payless said the car was are responsibility. So they had them wait for nearly 3 hours for a tow truck. So the truck driver called on his way and said he was going to tow the car back to Fresno. He was going to leave my brother and sister and lady helper for my sister on the street with there luggage The whole time they thought they were bringing them another vehicle So my brother had to go to another rental place to rent another car. They did not care about my family. Customer service was terrible. read more

Absolutely horrible experience. I rented a car for a few hours and returned it in perfect condition. Then they charged me $250 for a "cleaning fee" even though they said everything looked good when I returned the car The staff at the front desk was also very rude read more

Payless Car Rental - Car Rental Near Me - Oakland, California

I made the mistake of renting a car with Payless at the Oakland Airport in early June 2025 (this year). My experience with Payless at the Oakland Airport was a nightmare - wrong car, misinformation, sudden huge increases in price, and a total lack of empathy or willingness to fix anything. I made my initial reservation online. Then I called customer service to adjust my reservation, and they promised me these great rates. Well, when I arrived in-person to pick up the car, all the person at the desk could tell me was "Sorry." They had the wrong car, for the wrong pricing, and left me with no better alternative - despite the fact that the Avis, Budget and Payless there I believe are under the same ownership. The person at the desk told me I should call Customer Service and talk to them about it. So I did. When I needed to extend my reservation, the same thing happened again. They promised me this great pricing that I was super happy with. Then when I dropped off the car, I even checked with the employee who was working and he said everything was good with the car. Soon after, I got an email saying I owed hundreds of dollars more than I had been promised. Super shady operation, completely unreliable, and completely unhelpful. I don't know which rental car company is best at OAK, but start with anyone but Payless or you'll end up paying way more! read more

The worst customer service and management after I return it three weeks later they charge me for the cleaning $125 USD and I spoke them with customer service. I asked them any proof of taking photos but on show me or they don't email me so please don't trust them take a photo before you're leave the car read more

Pre-paid this last minute rental through a 3rd party for a one way from Oakland to Sacramento. Shuttle person that transported us to rental car facility was friendly and advised that if we were returning rental car to OAK, to fill up gas at a safe location like Costco. Apparently if you fill up around the corner, there's a high probability you will get robbed. Yikes. Payless, Budget and Avis have merged and are under the same parent company. Unfortunately, their loyalty programs have not. I am able to skip the counter with Budget and Avis, but not Payless. Had to wait 40 min before getting the counter, but the person that assisted was professional and efficient. After calling dispatch to bring our car around and not getting an answer cause someone went on break or lunch, she took matters into her own hands and went out into the lot to get our car. She did her job and got us on her way. I feel bad for these employees because management does not staff them appropriately to be successful. Counter person and parking lot person also advised not to fill up gas at gas station around the corner and to drive directly where we're staying to drop off our luggage so we don't get our car broken into and items stolen. Drop off in SMF was a breeze. No additional charges. read more

Quick and easy pick up and return. Reserved online first so don't know if that helps with the process being quicker.

Charged extra $125 when I wasnt even told that the car has to be "extra clean" so I wont be charged. This is the first time this has ever happened and we've been renting ever since. Dont rent here!!!!! No wonder why the reviews are so low. We have made sure to always atleast clean the car but ofc its not like deep clean like our own car. But to be charged $125???? Seriously. This is disappointing. DONT RENT HERE read more

Nobody wants to advertise that Budget, Avis, and Payless are all now one rental car company (Avis Budget Group). This wouldn't be an issue except that, predictably, all three share one long queue with only one or two agents instead of three queues with at least 3 agents. Consequently, I waited over 45 minutes on a not-busy weeknight just to get to the front. Once there, there was a ton of confusion with one of the previous renters who was incorrectly given the keys to the car I was about to rent. When I returned the car, the employee didn't appear to speak English, and just kept saying "The internet isn't working" instead of closing out the rental transaction. Embarrassing. Just plain embarrassing. read more

Dishonest, fraudulent car rental agency. A dent in the rear driver side door was documented prior to rental and upon return they are trying to charge me for the repair. Payless is blaming Sedwedge service for the charge but say they cannot help even though they provided the proof of the prior damage. I am getting nowhere with this. Just the runaround. read more

Terrible service! This place is ridiculous. Rented a mid size car and when I got to my space, there was a sub-compact. I go to the counter and they basically tell me it's too bad. Istill paid for a mid size, and they would not reimburse me for the difference. Never renting from these guys again. I recommend any other rental service. read more

I rented a car then read reviews and almost had a panic attack but after renting and dropping off, the experience was actually good. Pick up was fast. Car was ready since I had reservations already. I checked car for damages, made sure tank was full and was on my way in less than 15 minutes. I usually rent a car and don't worry about gas receipts, etc but after reading the posts this time after filling I not only got a receipt but I snapped a picture of the receipt, gas tank guage and mileage to be on the safe side. Drop off was just as quick. Their entrance is a little further down around the corner than the rest so you have to look for it or you'll pass it up. I found it after getting directions. Attendant met me at the car after parking, checked car for damages, gas on full. I went inside and he gave me a drop off turn in receipt and just like that finished in less than 5 minutes. He said the hold on my credit card was released and should see it when my bank releases. I'll be check for sure. So good experience. I suggest just make sure you reserve prior, check vehicle and mark the paper thoroughly, keep receipts and get receipts, and you'll have no problems. I didn't give it 5 stars because I wanted to extend one more day and I couldn't get ahold of anyone even during business hours. This was a little inconvenient but I turned it when it was due. I'm assuming management finally got it together seems like. Will I book with them again? Yes. Great deals lol! read more

WARNING - DO NOT USE PAYLESS CAR RENTAL Just returned from a one-week visit to the Bay Area. Reserved a car for a week on the Payless Car Rental website for $192.84; pick-up at Oakland Airport on Saturday, 7/30/16 at 7:00pm. Subsequently received written confirmation from Payless. My flight was delayed so I called the Payless customer service line (800-729-5377) to inform them I would be coming in late. Javier assured me there would be no problem as long as I got to their office at the Oakland Car Rental Center by 11:00pm when they close. I arrived at 9:45pm and the office was closed. A hand written sign was taped to the window that read "Closed due to system outage" (see attached photos). Other perplexed customers were there either trying to rent vehicles or return them. Upon calling the Payless customer service line I got a recording that said the office was closed. I figured I would work things out in the morning and paid for a Lyft ride to my destination. The following morning I call Payless, spoke with Miguel, and was told the rates had changed effective midnight and it would now cost $607.57 to rent the same vehicle type I had reserved. I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told that one would call me back within 72 hours (never heard back from a supervisor). I then requested the local (Oakland office) number. I called several times, no one answered. This was around 9:00am Sunday. I took a Lyft ride back to the Oakland Car Rental Center. The office was open and staffed by Mariam, who also told me that the rates had changed effective midnight and that she could not honor my confirmed reservation rate. I rented a car through Costco from another agency for about twice what Payless had originally quoted. Since returning, I have discovered that many others before me have had bad experiences with Payless Car Rental. Payless has a history of unethical business practices. Accordingly, I will be posting a negative review on multiple social media sites. I will also be filing a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau. If feasible, I might initiate a class action lawsuit. Please read the reviews and heed the advice of countless dissatisfied customers - DO NOT USE PAYLESS CAR RENTAL! read more

Payless Car Rental - Saturday, 7/30/16, 9:45pm - Car Rental Near Me - Oakland, California

See all

No more Payless! I'll PayMore just not to use this company. Low pricing, incompetent online reservations books 2 reservations for me. Counter gal at Oakland airport is more preoccupied on her cell phone and ear buds than helping customers. She can't even hear me during our discussions- take the damn ear pods out of your ears, please converse with me/the customer at the front desk and put your dam cell phone down when you are trying to help me! The lines are long because service is so slow due to preoccupied counter help - geez, where's the policy of no cell phone usage while helping customers? Zero stars today read more

Their cars are as clean as a politician's soul. In other words, it was dirty inside and out. Yeah, they're supposed to clean it, but I think the guy was busy with his I-phone games. Either that, or he was watching porn because he sure didn't want to get up off his tush. There are lots of dings, and I went over everyone of the 15 and marked it on my rental form. The tires were thankfully, okay. The windshield fluid was okay, and all the electric mirrors worked. I took some pictures of the car as well and downloaded to my email address as I was waiting for him to finish the paperwork. So since the last trip was kind of a last minute thing, I had two options - Hertz Rent a Car for $55 a day for a compact car, or $25 from Payless. The rest of Oakland airport rental car places were as bare as a bay's butt. Me having my brother in law calling me about rental cars said I should go with the cheaper option. My brother in law loves being cheap and is proud of it. But in light of the fact that I needed a car for four days, the $100 total price tag versus $220 sealed the deal. Some people might feel a little intimidated by the Middle Eastern looking guys that works here. But they were okay, and not trying to do anything weird like bait and switch, at least not with me. I was 20 minutes late returning the car because of the traffic, And they didn't charge any extra. They got me to the Airport Car Rental center where I took a shuttle to the airport. Okay overall, not great. read more

Wow, no added fees. Lie. no 3rd parties tow allowed. That means if you need a tow you cannot use your own AAA service, you have to wait for their service. The price that I was quoted had doubled using their roadside assistance insurance. It would have tripled if I bought their insurance. They make you feel like you need to buy their insurance. Read the fine print. Nickel and dime fees. I canceled and didn't leave the lot with their car. You don't have to use this company. There are lots of other companies to rent from. read more

This place is not as bad as I have read. I found them through Expedia and thought they did screening of the companies they associate with. It is true that I felt kind of weird that I had to go on a shuttle from the rental car shuttle but you get what you pay for I guess. They did not ask me for a utility bill or any extra fees that I know of. The shuttle driver was pleasant and the rental agent was very nice. The 2011 silver Nissan Versa sedan that I was given to me with a few small scratches on it and a cigarette burn on the driver side door. Plus the radio was blasting as I turned on the key. Beyond that it was a great vehicle that got me to anywhere I needed to on my vacation. I would trust the other reviews of my fellow Yelpers and I had wish I had saw them before I submitted my reservation but I guess I was lucky and my trip went without a hitch. read more

Rented a car for one day from Oakland to Las Vegas. Pickup was more or less ok. We Prepaid for Our rental in full and retuned it on time the next day in Vegas at the airport. No agent was on in sight or on hand to check the car in, so walked all over looking for someone and finally found a skinny guy in shorts and a wife beater who told all of us returning cars to just leave the keys and that we would be emailed a receipt. It was a Saturday and maybe two dozen cars were in the Vegas Payless return area. Two days later CC shows an extra $150 charge for our rental. Call and call and stay on hold for 2-3 hour snd get transferred over and over again, finally someone says our Car was not checked in until 7am Sunday morning so we had been charged a late fee. I disputed this and said I had our Uber receipt and photos to proof we dropped it on time, more transferring and then disconnected at the billing department. Disputing charges with CC after submitting an online compliant and receiving NO response after a week. This business is entirely built on unethical over charges, and designed to not allow you to contact them! I'llnever use them or their parent company again! read more

Car rentals are really expensive this summer so I decided to try these guys. They are definitely beneath that pretense of civility that exists even with a sketchy operation like Fox. You take a shuttle to the rental car center then pick up a phone and a few minutes later, an unmarked van arrives to take you to a secret location.... actually, the Econolodge back on Hegenberger. For the first time in a long time I decided to purchase the collision, because of some bad driving karma in my family recently. I'd rented through CarRentals.com and they sent me an email saying hey, buy your collision right now for $11.99 per day and save the $14 we'll charge you at the counter. And found at the counter that Payless actually charges $9 per day. Which makes CarRentals.com Chemical Ali to Payless' Saddam Hussein, or some such.... insert analogy to say that as bad as Payless is, CarRentals.com is worser. I am currently tooling around in my beater whose suspension indicates it was airlifted directly from the streets of Baghdad. The tire warning light is on but I can't find a low tire, adding interest to my trip. Will I have a blowout on the way to the client meeting which is why I am in town in the first place? What fun! read more

Honestly, I had no issues with this car rental company, other than a few minor things at the end. I arrived from the shuttle, and there was almost no line. I even upgraded the car with the no issues ($10 a day) and was in the car within minutes. The agent that helped me was pregnant, and was multi-tasking rather efficiently and with all due courtesy. I felt bad that she actually had to handle manually opening the gate by pressing a button each time a car was ready to leave, in addition to servicing customers who came through the door. My car was clean, no damage, and very new. On the return, the only gripe I have was that there is no sign for Payless - after making a round and asking two people, I was finally told that you had to enter through the Avis entrance and then swing around and park at the Payless area. No agents greet you and you bring your car back in. It was all so quick and painless that I forgot that I didn't even get a receipt, but I called just now to receive one electronically, so hopefully that will happen. Protip: Payless, Avis and Budget are all one big happy family, so that explains a lot (in terms of why between these three companies I kept asking if I have a car out - I don't, but they obviously share the same system, and that the return is done through the Avis/Budget entrance). read more

I've never said it before, but for the first time I wish Yelp allowed negative stars. This place needs to be shut down. I should have looked at the reviews and heeded the warnings of other reviewers. Here's what happened: Booked on Southwest, car ended up being more expensive than what I thought I was receiving online. It was only a little bit extra - I let it go. Car was a jeep. Had a few small dings, not that clean or nice. Outdated, radio didn't work. It's OK, I only needed it for 3 days and I can live with it for a little while. Had to drive on tolls. Brought my own Fasttrak. Never flipped the switch to activate the Fasttrak in the car. Charged for it ONE MONTH LATER without my knowledge. I never signed for this, I was never able to fight it. This should be an illegal practice. I'm having my CC company dispute this, but from the looks of it, they're not going to be compliant. Will update on what happens. Granted service is quick, but I'd rather rent from an honest company. All the people who reviewed this place highly? Look at your CC statement for the next month after renting and see what else they took without your knowledge. read more

I have rented here a few times and actually my last experience was not so bad after all. They are the most reasonable rental car place in the area. Since I have rented from them before, I did not have to provide a utility bill. I was actually in and out of there in 10 min. I made three different reservations prior to my trip through kayak and lastly directly from the site. My quote was originally $300 for the week and I got a last minute deal for $120 from Payless.com. I would definitely shop around and continue to check in on the sites prior to trip to get the best deal! Overall, cars are not the best but they do have a decent selection. read more

My experience picking up was great. The associate was quick and effective and explained everything while getting me out within 5 minutes. Returning is a literal joke. First off, they only have one staff member because they fired people earlier this week. On top of that, the asian guy there this evening spent 10 minutes talking to a customer and showing pictures on his phone when three people were waiting. I waited 15 minutes for him to inspect my car and another lady comes in after myself and the other guy waiting. He decides to inspect her at the same time as inspecting mine. So what should have been a quick return was a 20+ minute annoying time. I won't use payless again if this is the usual service. On top of that, I wasn't told to fill up since it is only a few hour rental and because he took so long conversing with the guy before me, even though i was over 20 minutes early to return my car, i could not go to any gas station and have my return in on time since he was acting like this was his own personal time. Use at your own risk. read more

This business has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Reserved a car a week in advance, show up, no car. Had larger cars available and wanted you to pay extra to rent them. Lady at the counter could not have cared less. Will never rent from them again. read more

What's the point of a reservation when there is no car available hours later? What's the point of customer service when all they do is shrug their shoulders when there's a problem? Don't come here. You will not get a car. You will not get any assistance from staff. read more

These people are awful and there seems to be shady stuff happening. My husband flew in on a morning flight and picked up his car; no problem. He dropped it off that same afternoon after re-filling it with gas. There was no one at the check out, so he left the keys and went to his flight. They never e-mailed the closing receipt. When we checked our credit card statement later, they billed us for 8! days + a gas fill up + $180 late fee. They must need money bad. . He has been trying to resolve it with Payless with no success so far. They refuse to show us the cc camera footage of their car return area and demanded that he prove that he returned the car. They said documentation of a fuel purchase would be resolve the issue so we supplied it. No joy. Still trying to resolve it with them, but an extra $500+ charge is unacceptable. All they need to do is look at their security footage, but they aren't willing to do that. read more

Stay away from Payless. Their customer service is horrible. Also be aware that Payless, Thrifty and Budget are all essentially the same company, so stay away from them all. If you need to reach anyone at the local office using the phone number on your rental agreement, you can forget it. The local office never picks up the phone. If you try using their lost and found selection on their phone tree, you can forget it. Nobody ever picks up the phone. So if you lose something, it is gone. In this case, I left a $500 pair of sunglasses in the car and can't get anyone to retrieve it from the car for me. I am out of town, so it isn't a simple matter of driving over to speak with someone in person. read more

They literally steal from you. If you get a car here make sure you do NOT use the prepaid fuel option. I was told by the rep that prepaying for fuel is a great deal because 1) You dont have to worry about filling it up before you return it (lie) and 2) You will be credited whatever amount of fuel you dont use. (Lie #2) I returned the vehicle & first they disputed I had even paid for the fuel to start with, then they said they didnt owe me any credit. I returned the car 70% full, NO REFUNDED fuel. So they basically stole 7 to 10 gallons of fuel from me. Lied to me to get me to pay $50 extra to start off witbmh. Shady and dispicable. Will be disputing with my credit card company. read more

I've been waiting 45 minutes in line and just past halfway. My reservation was scheduled for 45 minutes ago. I understand that we're in the times of COVID but every transaction is taking an enormous amount of time and there are only 2 people working for about 20 people in line. They go out to the parking area to coordinate the cars (no walkie talkies). Save yourself some stress and go elsewhere. read more

I was a little worried going in after seeing all the bad reviews, but I honestly had zero problems with this car rental company. The lady at the counter was nice. I read all the fees and stipulations before renting, and made sure to waive all insurance. I bought a pre-paid full tank of gas for $2.70 a gallon, which is really cheap. You can only pay for a full tank though, so make sure to bring the car back close to empty. Got a mid-sized Mazda 2 (or whatever model that is). Drove perfectly fine. We drove to San Francisco then up to Napa for four days. Brought it back around 7 pm on a Friday night. Kiosk was still open, we dropped the car off, and that was that. $165.68 for four days, after tax. Completely reasonable price. If you need to rent a car for cheap I would come here. I didn't get any bad customer service. I'm not sure what their selection of cars is like compared to other companies because frankly I didn't care about what type of car I got. But I'm sure you can get an operational car for a good price. read more

Avoid like used underwear at the goodwill next to the pornoshop!,, As cheap and temping as it is, you cheap bastard, DO NOT GO HERE,,,! The company is run by a bunch of scam artists and isnt even located in the terminal. When I arrived and was all.. Hmmm, where do i find the payless rental? After running around the nice clean shiny terminal for the legit rental places such as enterprise and budget.. I was starting to worry that this place was not in the airport. Sure enough this teenage kid had parked his van about 200 feet from the main terminal . It was totally rinkydinky ; maybe a repurposed ice cream truck, but I thought...meh.. I likes me some ice cream!!! When I got to the off sight office ..of course it had a dirt entrance... Kinda run down and had bad employee of the month awards hanging crookedly on the wall. All good things,,, !!, though I arrived early I had to wait for a car to be ' prepared' meaning ..pop of airfrshener and wipe down with anti bacteria hankies.Verrry sticky feeling but ..smelled.. Fresh? Anyyywaaayyy.. I was on my way to enjoy the bay area. Sometime in,.Came to a five dollar toll . Toll man Tells me I could charge my car. Me never carrying cash thought oh snap! How luxuriously convenient! Few days later brought my car back told them, they had a toll fee. Lady said ' yeah well just charge five to your credit card'. BIG FAT LIES!! They changed me fifty and when I complained the said " sorry it's already sent to a third party " . So they were like haha!! We pulled a fast one! Wtf. That doesn't make sense. They had my credit card info and could have just billed me five but also put in a service fee! Then it gets worse. The city of San Fran sends me another bill with a tack on late fee!?!? They charged me over $50 for a toll fee and didn't even pay it!!! Wha a scam .. I looked it up and Payless is doing this nation wide. They should be shut down. Awful!!!!!! read more

Do not rent here! Reason's: -You need to show a utility bill to rent a car? -They charge you for taking the shuttle to their office -They keep photocopies of your drivers license! -No Manager on Duty -The cars are not cleaned I was sucked in by the low prices, but it's definitely not worth it! I should have read the Yelp reviews. Too bad you aren't allowed to give a zero start rating. I'm filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. read more

I wish I could give NO STARS. I had issues with the Oakland Payless Car Rental location with my rental for several reasons. First, I followed the address listed on my rental confirmation email to get my car. When I arrive at the address listed, there was no Payless- instead it was a deserted building. After driving around trying to see if the location was behind or around the building- I called Payless and they notified me they recently moved and gave me their correct address. When I got to the location, the line was out the door and proceeded to move very slowly. The line was moving slowly because THERE WERE NO CARS AVAILABLE! Everyone had to wait for cars to arrive, or have to upgrade to a minivan or mustang in order to leave in a timely manner. When it was my turn, the lady notified me that they were waiting for economy cars to arrive. After waiting, I got inpatient and frustrated with the lack of service I was receiving. I upgraded to a sports car at a higher rate just because I wanted to get out of there and start my vacation. When I came back to return my car , they had the same issue- slow moving lines because of the lack of cars available. When I handed over the keys, I asked the lady helping me if there were going to be any additional charges, and she said no. A few days later, I noticed an additional charge had been taken out of my account! I called Payless asking why this had been taken out, and I was told that it was going to be refunded on my card and would take up to 10 business days. I was never given a real reason why this amount had been charged to my account. After waiting several business days, over 2 weeks, I called Payless back and told them nothing has been refunded to my card. I was told that the amount had been released and contact my bank. I called my bank, and they said nothing was pending and no money has been received from Payless. I called Payless back, and was told the same information I had received from them times before when I called. I filed a report with Payless Corporate. This was my first and last time I will rent a car from Payless due to my experience at this location. I understand airport locations are extremely busy; however, that does not give reason behind providing poor customer service. read more

You will pay less money...but you had better pay more attention. A LOT more! We recently rented for 8 days for 132.00 including all fees and taxes and a 15% online code I found. A great price. The car was in decent condition, ran reliably and got us there and back. But the check out process was excruciating. If you pass on all the add-ons and upgrades as we did, be prepared to listen to a great deal of noise. At one point they claimed if I couldn't produce proof of insurance I couldn't pass on their insurance policy. Had to get the manager in on that one since they had not stipulated that as a policy in anything I had received when I made the reservation. Argued with me about not taking the 'Upgrade Deal' which would have doubled the rental rate because I would save SO MUCH on gas in the hybrid they were offering. Yeah? Not THAT much.... they also made a huge deal out of making a thorough inspection ourselves because we didn't take the insurance and basically threatened to ream us for anything they could. When we finally went out to get the car there wasn't one with plates matching our paperwork. They had put down the wrong license plate and acted like we were the idiots when we came back in and said there was no car in the stall they had directed us to and no car with the plates on the lot. Because after all there WAS a car in a nearby stall with similar plates... The return was just as slow and annoying. The people ahead of us were trapped in the same process we had gone thru and then they had to do the check in 3 times before they managed to get the right contract, correct car, accurate price and deposit return. Sometimes you get what you pay for... but only just... read more

B E W A R E !!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT RENT HERE!!!!!!!!! 1.5 rating with 57 reviews! Gee.... I wonder why?! Stay away from this place! SCAM ALERT! I thought my rental experience was OK even with the double charging of my credit card and the super dirty car....... then ........a month later a $18.75 charge appears on my credit card for the Highway Toll Administration. Turns out that Payless has their own hidden transponder in the car so even if you bring your own Toll Roads transponder theirs might pick it up instead of yours. FUCK...............would be nice for them to tell their customers this!! Then they charge you $4.00 for the toll and $14.75 for the service fee. What a scam! I went through the toll bridge 4 times and 3 picked up my personal transponder and the other one was the Payless bend-you-over transponder. Would be nice to know upfront about this scam........... I would have just paid cash and not risked it at all. Trying to get any help from this Payless office is a joke. They are clueless. The guy I talked to didn't even know they had their own transponders in the car. The the lady at the so-called Highway Toll Administration in New York was a bitch too. Unfortunately there is nothing the people at the legit Toll Roads in Bay Area or OC can do about it because it doesn't show as a violation because it was paid by the scam transponder and I get to pay $18.75 for a $4.00 toll. That's what I get for being a cheap ass and renting at this low budget, shit hole of a rental car place! Stay away! read more

Awful awful awful. Worst costumer service experience I've been through. Seriously. Spend the extra $15, and go with Hertz or Avis or someone who cares about customer service. My girlfriend and I flew into OAK for a weekend trip. We prebooked the rental through Southwest.com website, and had agreed to a $88 charge for 3 days. Great savings, right?! Wrong. They tried to charge me $160 for extras and insurance that I didn't need or want, and the don't tell you they are doing it. I had to stay, argue, and negotiate a deal with people after flying for 5 hours. I felt backed into a corner. I ended up paying $102 for an AWFUL, dirty, and beat up car that I had to inspect and notate thoroughly. Luckily we made it through the weekend with the car, and were able to return it, which is another story entirely... read more

Listen to the reviews. DONT DO IT! -They're so shady, they don't even reside on the rental car lot. You go from the airport to the rental car lot, and then have to wait at the rental car lot to get another shady van shuttle to the ECONO LODGE, and then run the rental place out of the side of it. -They're SO SHADY, even though I'd booked online and in advance, they sprung additional "requirements to rent" on me (like bringing a utility bill with an address that matched the address on my license and the address on the card used to book the car?!?! WTF?!?) and when of course, I hadn't been alerted to bring that in the first place, they charged me an additional $20 per day for their "liability insurance" -The ride back to the rental car lot (not even the airport), they decided to take a little detour and stop off at UPS store. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Its not like i have a flight to catch or anything :-\ Not worth it, don't do it, don't do it. And if you do it, be prepared for the consequences. I hope you like a challenge read more

Stay away Payless Car in Oakland. You can try if you want to make yourself angry and hopeless; on the other hand, that's why they are so cheap. Rude or NO customer service (Services?!?!) . Ridiculous policy renting policy... How can they keep doing business like this? read more

Terrible terrible place to rent a car. Just DON'T do it. I was very unhappy with my experience at the Oakland Payless rental center. I was dealing directly with the Manager at the site and he was not helpful in any way. I rented a car that was dirty on the inside (dirt, personal items including pill bottles and ticket stubs, hair ties - left from previous renter, strong cigarette odor). When I drove back (out of my way) to return the car and request a clean one, the manager said I would have to pay for the gas as the car's gas gauge was not 100% full. I tried to get him to understand that I should not be responsible for the gas and that the company should pay for it since I was driving a dirty car. He said I would have to pay for it and blamed me for not doing a "thorough self-inspection" prior to driving off with the car. I explained to him that I should not be denied a clean car due to the negligence of his company in providing a clean car to a customer. He did not budge, I left very displeased and will never rent from Payless again given the type of customer service and culture that is being rewarded. This manager should be reprimanded and Payless corporate should likely give a visit to that location to see first-hand the type of operation that is being run. I will never rent from here again and warn anyone to STAY AWAY from this horrible business with NO customer service. Also the manager kept trying to upsell me on everything and it took me 15 minutes to just get the car and get the keys from him. Wish I would have paid the extra money to rent from a real rental company. Lessons learned. read more