This was completely a terrible experience! Unprofessional sales rep & High pressure to take the insurance from them. Despite the fact that we have a comprehensive umbrella policy, in addition to an American Express platinum card that would absolutely provide rental insurance. I never have been asked for a copy of my private Insurance policy. Whatever you do do not rent from this company!! While I was waiting I did research and others experience worse!!! Read about it!! I dealt with Avis at the Sonesta San Juan and they were incredibly professional!! I paid quadruple because it was last minute at Avis. I did so happily in Oder to deal with honest & decent people. Do not rent from popular auto !! read more

Popular Auto - This is where you will be disrespected and poorly treated!! - Car Rental Near Me - Carolina, Puerto Rico

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our experience with popular auto was not the best. firstly, the process of getting the car was extremely long (over an hour). they required a bunch of different forms to be signed, a lot more than other car rental companies (avis, six-t, etc). they have a free shuttle to and from the airport, but we waited about 30 minutes for the shuttle bus, even though when we called, they said it would be there within the next ten minutes. not only that, the shuttle bus only has 10 seats, so you basically have to fight for a spot. the majority of the car rental companies were on site at the airport, but popular auto was about a mile away. the cheaper price is not worth it. overall rating: 3/10 read more

Popular Auto - Car Rental Near Me - Carolina, Puerto Rico

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Fraud and deception. Do not contact this company; you will lose your money! Now we are fighting for our deposit of $ 1000

We rented 3 vehicles from Popular Auto for the entire family trip in October 2023. This company has the best price and service. They are very friendly and professional. They all speak English very well and they well work with you. The vehicles are all nice and in very good shape. Not old beat up cars. They also provide shuttle service to and from the airport at no charge. FYI: Make sure you bring a copy of your insurance " Declaration form" , NOT your insurance card just as it is stated in your contract before you arrive, or you will have to pay what they charge you and its not cheap. Also, pay in advance for tolls. It is much cheaper. There are many more tolls in PR then I can remember. I am sure you will enjoy renting from this company. Rob O Hartsville, SC read more

I had a good experience here renting a Hyundai Accent while on vacation. Popular Auto is not onsite at SJU Airport like some of the other companies are, but they're a short shuttle ride away. I was in and out of the rental office in about 30 minutes--not super quick but not bad compared to other rental offices either. The only upcharge was for the EZpass toll reader for $4.95/day which is not bad for the convenience. My rental was simple but reliable and great on gas, and the total price came out to somewhere in the high $20s per day, plus gas. I was very pleased and would rent from these guys again. read more

Horrible experience, but with a short staff I can't be picky. The shuttle takes 45 minutes to pick you up at the airport the wait time was two and half hours to get a rental. Hopefully dropping off isn't as bad. read more

We are a young couple (30) who speak both Spanish and English. For reference* We booked a rental car through Popular Auto for 3 days and paid a total of 80$. Cheap right? I would have paid triple if the service was going to be better!!! When we arrived, we waited 2 hours just to finally speak to someone. Once the process began, we got the car in 15 min. So why were we waiting so long??? The representative that we had ( Burgos) was sooooooo rude. You would think that it was his own personal car that he was renting out. Almost like he didn't even want us to rent a car! Kept trying to add on fee after fee. Wasn't friendly at all, didn't do a thorough pre-car check and didn't even wish us a great time. Side note**there was another female representative helping another group ahead of us and she seemed very nice and pleasant. However that group was just as frustrated about the wait time** When we returned the car it took another whole 2 hours! We have rented plenty of cars in Puerto Rico and thought to try this one as a cheaper option, but next time we will pay more for a better company with better service. We would have paid TRIPLE to get our time back to enjoy more of our vacation. read more

ONE star because they actually have cars. Other than that, this place was HORRENDOUS. Absolutely the type of employees and establishment that makes you immediately regret making the mistake of choosing this joke of a company and its disgusting display of "customer service." The incredibly snotty and sarcastic female worker at the San Juan location was as helpful as if not being there. No, that probably would have been better, actually. Even if this is your only option, think twice. Good luck! read more

This place rocks shoutout Carlos for helping us!!!! Green motion across the street screwed us over but popular auto saved the day

I rented a vehicle on August/11/2023 and the first thing you get is a smile when you enter the place. The car I rented had a seat belt damage so, they offered another vehicle at same cost. The deposite was high but it was great the car they gave me . Only put gas once and had it for 6 days. I really went places. I had a great experience and this will be my number 1 choice to rent during my visit to PR. read more

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE! My 70 y/o mother called to ask a question and the lady working who answered the phone was INCREDIBLY rude and INCREDIBLY inconsiderate. Speaking to my mother in a very horrible attitude and manner as if she was mad personally with her. My mother was being so respectful and kind and she felt very uncomfortable and hurt due to the workers responses and vulgar wording. It was the day of May 3 2023 from 11:37am-11:45am. I will never rent from here again not unless you educate your receptionist/front desk people on how to TRULY treat people and how to CORRECTLY have good customer service. ¡EL PEOR SERVICIO AL CLIENTE! Mi madre de 70 años llamó para hacer una pregunta y la señora que contestó el teléfono fue INCREÍBLEMENTE grosera e INCREÍBLEMENTE desconsiderada. Interrumpiendo a lo que mi mamá decía. Hablando con mi madre en una actitud y una manera muy horribles, como si estuviera enojada personalmente con ella. Mi madre estaba siendo muy respetuosa y amable y se sintió muy incómoda y herida debido a las acciones de los trabajadora. Y fue el día de Mayo 3 2023 de las 11:37am-11:45am. Nunca volveré a alquilar desde aquí, a menos que eduque a su recepcionista / personal de recepción sobre cómo tratar VERDADERAMENTE a las personas y cómo tener CORRECTAMENTE un buen servicio al cliente. read more

No stars are deserved. while visiting the island I've learned that what I went through is normal. This establishment is known for scamming people. They turned my exciting vacation to the worst experience ever. When picking up my rental, (that I reserved & paid for a month earlier) I was told that i had to call the "third party" car rental agency cause there was an issue. the numbers they gave me for the supposed third party rental agency did not work. Since I couldn't connect, Popular Auto told me I couldn't have my vehicle & since this issue didn't happen before the contracted deadline, I lost all $300 put into my car reservation. never again. read more

YOU MUST READ THIS REVIEW BEFORE YOU RENT A CAR FROM BPPR. The first car I was given had mechanical problems (wouldn't start at times). After the first incident, I bought a portable jumper device, which subsequently, I ended up using 4 more times, to start the car. Once I had an opportunity (business pause), I called BPPR for emergency road service; they said they had no emergency road service. And they instructed me to drive to the nearest local rental site, in Mayaguez (40 minutes in traffic). Not having any other alternatives, I did as instructed. Once there, the counter service person sent me to a battery shop, which was very busy and had 1 hour wait time for diagnosis and service. After haggling and being inconvenienced all morning, the car completely died and emitted a burning smell, and wouldn't restart. The shop had to push it into the service bay. And the BPPR service clerk still wanted to replace the battery and sent my back out in the same car. I debated and argued, until finally they agreed to give me a different car. I didn't want to be late for my next business events, so quickly checked the new car for damages, but in my hurry I didn't notice that the front tires were bald and had several cuts (noticed it later). but the worst is yet to come. The worse part was that after connecting my iPhone to the Bluetooth of the 2nd vehicle, it (the car's Bluetooth system) disrupted the settings of my iPhone, and I was not able to make calls on my phone away from the car. I called Apple for assistance with my iPhone and not even Apple technical support service could help me recover the iPhone settings to work right again. Now I'm back to my home base and 2 weeks later, my iPhone still has the problem and I need to buy a new iPhone. I don't know what caused the problem, but my iPhone was working just fine before I connected to the rental car Bluetooth system. All the inconveniences set my business schedule back 3 days, and rolled into the weekend, in which I could not rescheduled 2 missed business appointments (as result of the car's mechanical problems, and not being able to use my iPhone away from the rental car). I had to reschedule meetings for the following business week, which rolled into another week, added to my schedule and I had to extend my travel 9 more days (at an additional cost of $1,500). I asked BPPR for a 3-days credit for lost of use and lost of time. They gave me nothing but excuses; and said that anything mechanical will fail. I have been traveling and renting cars for over 30 years, but never experience a rental car mechanical problem with any other rental company, not even a slight inconvenience. In the end, my business trip escalated from 23 days, to 32 days, at an additional cost of $1,502. After writing the BPPR Regional Manager an email, all he could offer me was $5 per day reduction in rental rate, on the additional 9 days I had the car (just a lousy credit of $49), on the total 32 days of car rental time. I will never ever again use BPPR CarRental. read more

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As the other reviews say, they are worst rental car experience I've ever had. When we first arrived, it took an hour to get picked up from the airport and then another hour to get our rental car even though there was no one in front of us. They add several fees which almost doubles the quoted price. The car we got was basic at best. When returning, they "found a scratch" and held our entire $500 deposit. We drove it for one day AND there were no accidents or bumping into any other car, curb or anything that would have caused this. The rep only looked at this one spot on the bumper and didn't even check the car anywhere else--it was as if she magically knew to check for this scratch in the exact spot. We asked to see if the person before us turned their car in with this mark but of course they would not do that. Unfortunately we had a feeling this company would try to scam us and it appears that was true. To top it off, we had to wait nearly an hour to even get a shuttle ride back to the airport when we dropped the car off. I would highly discourage anyone from using this place. read more

So far the best car rental in Puerto Rico! The Shuttle always on time, excellent customer service and all the cars really nice, clean and new. read more

Popular auto TLDR; go with a large company that has streamlined processes in place for taking care of their customers. Just pay a little more to work with a competent company. We rented a car from Popular Auto and I don't think I've ever had such a poor rental experience. When we first arrived to pick up the rental car that we had pre-paid for, it still took 2.5 hours from getting on the shuttle to having our keys in hand. It was also tough to find the shuttle and we had to call twice to confirm when and where we would be picked up. On our first day in Puerto Rico, a part was stolen off our car. This was not their fault and we had verbally accepted to use our own insurance. To their credit they did bring us a new vehicle, but things went downhill from there and it appears they do not have any processes in place to handle this type of situation. When the representative came to examine and return the damaged car, he simply took it and said, "that sucks, that is why you always buy the insurance" and did not file a police report, nor at the time did he tell us to file one. We were unaware it was us who needed to file the police report in order to fill out Popular Auto's accident report form. Several hours later - long after we had left the city where the theft occurred, the rep called and told us we were responsible for filing a police report. The result was us spending a day and a half of our vacation jumping between police stations trying to fill out and obtain a police report in order to fill out Popular Auto's accident form. Keep in mind the rental company had taken the vehicle by this point, which made it much harder to file the police report. When it was all said and done we owed over $4,000!! Our $1,000 deposit that we had to verbally agree to (not clearly spelled out in their terms) in order to use our own insurance was taken, we owed for the fuel on the damaged vehicle (if we would have known we would be charged for that we would have filled it), rental cost for the new vehicle at a higher rate, and the cost of repairs $4,000 (that were mis- estimated by $2,000). read more

this is totally scam! They changed me extra $1000 while I didn't do anything wrong with the car. they said I damaged the car . stay away from them!!! read more

This place is not busy has plenty of people working and yet 2.5 hours still NO CAR. Reservations yes prepaid yes did everything we could to streamline- take a number- still no car!!! Glad Allen had a great experience he's the only one. Employees are leaving for the day and I'm still sitting waiting on my fiancé- this is ridiculous- car rental people not brain surgery- read more

Popular Auto - Outside waiting after 1 hour shuttle wait - Car Rental Near Me - Carolina, Puerto Rico

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Clean new car, very good price, we waited about 20 minutes to get car, and they place a $500 hold on your card if you use your own insurance. Took it off when we dropped the car, and the price was actually less than original quote. read more

AWFUL service AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Shuttle for the airport thats 7 minutes away takes at least an hour. Slowest service I've ever experienced and they don't care about their service or customers read more

Slow as molasses. More paperwork than buying a car. It took us about an hour to walk away with a car we had rented in Rentalcars.com. To prove our insurance (from Safeco) was real we had to email them some page from the policy. Stay away! read more

When I arrived, I waited 30 minutes for the shuttle to pick me up. I called to inform the company I was waiting and it wasn't until then they said they'd send someone. Another customer waiting for this company ended up taking an uber because of how long the wait was. The representative who I spoke with on the of my return was rude. Questioned me as to why I wanted to extend my rental (by an hour) and told me when I should be at the airport. I definitely would not recommend. read more

We used Popular Auto for our rental car company from 5/1-5/7 2021. We were greatly pleased with their service as they did everything they could do to ensure we had a seamless positive experience in Puerto Rico. We were late and the shuttle driver tried to get us to San Juan Airport in time for our flight. We did miss our flight bit nor for a lack of ambition from the Popular Auto crew. We caught the next flight and everything turned out well thank goodness. We would definitely recommend the folks at Popular Auto at 1054 LA isla Verde Avenue in San Juan! Great job! read more

We had an incredible experience with Popular Auto on our recent trip to PR. I normally am not one to leave reviews however they went above and beyond for us and really helped make the car rental process seamless. They were incredibly accommodating and professional- especially when we were running late to catch our flight. We will absolutely use Popular Auto on our next trip! read more

Our friends rented from here and waited 1 hour to get the car. We are returning the car now and it's again a long wait. Avoid this place if you can. read more

RENTER BEWARE! I made a reservation in February for a trip planned in April. I received a confirmation but now a week out from my trip, I was double checking it and found that they cancelled it and did not send me anything with regards to it. I called them and the woman I spoke with just said it was cancelled by the system and there was nothing she could do. She didn't work with the system. What? I made the reservation on THEIR website. If you don't want unpleasant surprises, go with another rental company!! read more

I wish I could give this place a ZERO!!! I had the worst experience with this car rental. We did not know we had to call the rental place to let them know we have arrived to the airport. The shuttle finally picked us up after 25 minutes of waiting at the airport. We rented a van and the van had roaches!! We did not have a lot of time to return the car because it was a short and busy trip. On our last day of the trip to drop off the car. We were lost for 2 hours! The car rental did not provide their address on the invoice for car drop off. We used the address on the invoice and was lost for 2.5 hours. We called the rental place multiple times and they did not answer the phone. The manager was very rude, they did not listen to our complaint about the roaches, our complaint about the address. We were very close to missing our flight due to this. I will NEVER rent from this car rental facility. read more

Popular auto rental and their business party GotRentalCars.com are the WORST companies I ever had for car rentals. First of all, they charged $1,000.00 upfront for a security deposit just because I used my full cover auto insurance policy (and even if you take their insurance, they will still charge you $500.00). But the worse was that when I tried to return the car ahead of time, they told me that because I used a third party reservation site (GotRentalCars.com; which by the way advertises a "free cancellation "policy) and had pre-paid the reservation, that I would need to call them to "see IF they would refund" my money for the unused time. I'm appalled that Popular Auto Rental make business with a company that scams their customers like that. Shame on GotRentalCars.com and also shame to Popular Auto for enabling them to scam their customers. First and last time I rent cars from either one! read more

I haven't used Yelp in years but felt the need because of how terribly slow the service. As I write this we are about 1.5 hours since we arrived at the rental place and we still haven't gotten a car. I have no idea how they still have business. read more

Be aware this place said is in airport and is not.... I rent thru Booking.com and said was in airport is no true they have shuttle bus to location. they close at 6 pm so if you fly Is delay you no get you car. No a good place to rent in COVID times,they don't disinfect good enough the van cuz I find a glasses in floor. $ 500 deposit yess 500 is not 250 like others and if you use you mayor credit card and choose to used credit card car rental insurance and has a accident you have to pay to them and then you claim to you card they don't do it directly to you credit card agency. The car quality was bad chair stain, brake pads sound, and 1 brake light don't work . Plus they take a lot time to give you the car read more

I have written positive reviews,but this is not one of them. Popular Auto Rentals is a miserable waste of time. Imagine starting your Saturday sitting in their office for an hour and a half to rent a car. Walk in at 8:45 there is only one agent handling 5 people queued up. In walks another agent and a manager. The manager is too busy to do anything but handle paperwork and the que just gets longer. When its finally my turn, 90 minutes later, I ask? "Why would did it take 90 minutes to rent a car?" The answer was "Well, its a high season time..." It took on average 30 minutes to get a single customer signed and in a car! The management is not serious about this enterprise. In 90 minutes I could have taken a taxi to any of the dozen rental companies in and around SJU 3 times and rented 3 cars. This was a regrettable choice. It won't happen again. read more

Really bad experience with Popular Auto, I live in Maryland, I rent two cars on line the same day from the same company, same type and rate, one for Texas and one for Puerto Rico. In Texas we got a Jeep Compass (small SUV) , We had no issues at all with the company or staff, we returned the car at 5 am in the office parking lot and dropped the keys in a drop box by the front door. ( No extra charges ) But in Puerto Rico we had a lot of issues. The first one, we got a Hyundai venue (Compact ). We were told that the vehicle is the similar to what we rented, which is not because a Hyundai Venue is not a considered an SUV. We try to upgrade and they has no vehicle available. The second one, we got the car with 3/4 of gas and they told me to returned with the same amount. I return it just as they told me but the still charged me $98.48. To high when the car takes just $40.00 to fill full. When I called the company, again they provided a poor customer service and no help. The company doesn't work on weekends or over night so they charged me an extra $60.00 fee for dropping the car at the airport ( 2 miles away) because they operate from 8 am to 4 pm. and I we have to depart at 6 am. I feel pretty bad, since we are Puerto Ricans and have to write a bad review to a local company , but this is a scam and a shame that the good and honest companies has to face every time a Tourist visit the Island and has to deal with this scheme. To those Visitors, I will like to say that not every company is like Popular Auto or it staff. Please continued visiting our Island, but in the future try to rent a car from a known company. J. Ruiz read more

This was an amazing experience with getting a rental car. They were kind and very helpful telling us places to check out while we were here. We had an all around great experience with this rental car, plus the staff was amazing!! A++++ read more

I think you need to know the experience I had,as well as the other folks at the rental counter at Popular Auto. I arrived with everything that was in my confirmation email: Things to remember when picking up your car * Your voucher. * A valid credit card in the main driver's name. * Your Driving Licence (Both parts if applicable). I also had my insurance card, since I did not plan on taking their insurance. We were told that they needed the insurance declaration page and if we did not have it we had to pay $15.95/day. They wanted to make sure our liability on our coverage exceeded $10k - $20k. Are they for real. Mine exceeds $100K and so did the rest of the folks. Since it was sunday we could not reach our agents and they scammed us for the $15.95/day until I delivered the declaration page,which I did on monday. I will never booked with them again. They also make you pay daily for the EZPass even if you don't use it. So when booking I thought I was getting the best price only to find out they nickel and dime the customer once at the counter. My new cost exceeds what I would have paid at Avis, Hertz etc.. As I said I will never use they again. Please share this review. read more

So slow... so many extra fees... so not helpful... Charges 6 dollars a day for ezpass. Tries to overcharge you on insurance. So slow... read more

*edit: Everyone is really nice AND they made sure to get us to the airport on time when we let them know that our flight time was approaching. They made sure to get our receipt right before we left, with the exception of the two tolls that hadn't come through the electronic system yet. If you're an impatient person and are always in a hurry, this probably isn't the right place for you. Cheap rental. Bring proof of insurance to avoid paying the daily collision insurance. Regardless, they'll add a $300 charge to your card for additional fees and refund it at car return so just plan for that. These guys are 15+ minutes outside of the airport, plus another 15+ minutes to wait for the van to arrive to pick you up, plus another 25+ minutes to wait at the rental place if there is anyone in front of you. No one is in a hurry here. What's cheap in dollars may be expensive in the time associated. Plus: Got a brand new car with zero miles, has an aux and micro USB port to listen to your own tunes. read more

Just got back from Vacation Puerto Rico. I rented from Popular Auto. From the time I booked I received text messages updating my reservation. When I arrived the shuttle Van was waiting & the driver was very friendly to me & my family. Ronaldo at the counter was very knowledgeable, friendly and got us to our rental auto quickly. Thank you Popular auto and the great staff at Carolina PR. I will Definitely rent from you again. The Torres family. read more

This is the worst rental car experience I have had. The staff is extremely slow with no sense of urgency. They took at least 20 minutes with each customer. The shuttle to pick us up from the flight took an hour to pick us up. The process took at least three hours to get a rental car. Not a good representation for Puerto Rico and not a good way to start a vacation. Highly recommend you choose a different car rental place in San Juan. read more

DO NOT USE THIS PLACE. DO NOT. Hands down the worst rental car experience I've ever had. 3 plus hours to check us in. You'd be better off renting a mule. read more

Let me start with the positive, the rate for the rental was very reasonable, the vehicle was clean and worked fine. However, I experienced a long delay in getting picked up at the airport and the customer service was horrible at the office. I would like to point out that while in Puerto Rico several significant unauthorized charges were made to my credit card. These charges were for purchases at Amazon.com. To be able to make these transactions, the purchaser would need to have an account with Amazon and know the mailing or billing address of the cardholder. While in Puerto Rico I did use my credit card at several other locations, however, the only place that had details of my credit card such as the billing address was at Popular Auto Rentals. Based on this experience, I don't plan to return to this car rental, nor do I recommend it. C. Reyes Fort Lauderdale, Florida read more