Royal Rent-A-Car

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER HAD! I booked online and no where did it state that the car cannot go past Orlando, Florida. When we went in to go pick up the car, no one was helpful at all so I asked for a refund and a receipt. After waiting (mind you I was on a time crunch to get back to work before I left for vacation) and not getting any type of written confirmation that I actually had a receipt, I had to leave. When I got back to the office I called to see if anyone could confirm my refund and possibly send me an email confirmation. The woman that answered the phone (Cecilia) was EXTREMELY rude and not accommodating. Apparently because it was booked online there was no way Cecilia the Supervisor could write me a simple email stating that my refund was indeed going through. The only reason I was so adamant about getting an email in the first place was because, as I told Cecilia the Supervisor, my bank statement didn’t reflect the refund she claimed was given to me.

Quick and easy service. Never heard of this company before so I had my doubts. It took 5 minutes to complete transaction and when returning just as easy. Price was as advertise not hidden fees. Highly recommended.

Was checking car prices daily before my FLL trip and Royal popped up at a great price. Wasn’t familiar with them before this but I was happy they were in the terminal vs off site with the other low price carriers.
Overall this may have been my best rental car experience in a long time. None of the frustrating up sell conversations I was used to (insurance, prepaid gas etc.). Check in was quick, painless and my standard size rental turned out to be a very nice Volvo. Drop off was equally painless.
Could not have asked for a better experience.

Terrible service. Absolutely terrible.
If you’re the owner or manager please have a talk to the front counter lady. This is how you loose customers. This took place on January 15 2015 1030am.
I had high hopes after my positive experience in the miami location.
Ok I came in with a noon reservation at 1030 and at my surprise royal had zero customers in line with one lady at the desk. I thought awesome. I let the lady know we’re early for pick up. We waited in line for her to call us up. Dunno what she was doing that took so long. She said she cannot get us our car until 12 as per our reservation. She was unwilling to help even though there was a clear sign that read «cars available» and no one in line at all. I even said what if I cancel this reservation and make a new one. She said that will not work and told me to wait. All this was communicated with a snobby attitude as if I was bothering her. So I walked away to wait for 12. Thankfully one of the Avis guys saw me a little distraught and offered to help. In the end I got a car with Avis for about the same price and was on the road in 15 minutes.
Will give the Miami location another shot but I am done with the Fort Lauderdale location.

I am 55 years old and have rented cars over 100 times in my life. This was the BEST rental car experience I have ever had. The counter guy was quick, efficient and knowledgeable. He didn’t pressure me to buy all the add-​on stuff. The car was clean, new and just what I had reserved and it was only about a 30 sec walk from the counter to my vehicle. Returning it was also fast and efficient. And the rate I got was almost half of what the name brands wanted. Highly recommend Royal

I rented from royal with some trepidation given some of the mixed reviews. However, their prices were about 50% of the big name companies, so I decided to roll the dice and was just hoping it wasn’t like rent a wreck (which is great as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into).
Anyways, I had a great experience. Pretty much the same as renting from anyone else — people were friendly, no hassles that I didn’t want their insurance or gas fill up option. I got a brand new car (literally 165 miles on it) and most of the cars in the lot seemed equally new. Check-​in seemed a little slower than say hertz, so leave another 5 minutes on the way back. Would definitely rent from them again.

After arriving and having a booking with competitor advantage which we arrived at 1115 and after grabbing baggage, taking the shuttle and finding out they closed at 1159pm we arrived at 1158 to find no one at the counter. Royal at the booth next door had 2 great workers a female and a male both were great and worked with us and got us out the door. We got a nice clean great car! Definitley will use again! Thanks royal

If I could, I would give no stars. The man at the desk immediately had an attitude as if renting a car from their company was an inconvenience to him. I usually rent with the major chains but thought I’d give the little guy a chance. But I suppose there’s a reason for why the company fails to expand. I have actually never had a negative experience with a car rental company until now. Our flight had landed earlier than anticipated and shockingly there were no delays in luggage pickup or transportation to the car rental that we expected. Nor were there any restaurants or airport kiosks open yet for us to bide our time.
So admittedly we arrived 1.5 hours earlier than our reservation since I had originally built in some buffer time thinking the airport exit process would be longer. When we arrived, the man at the counter, a middle aged Hispanic man, criticized that we were early and that the car we reserved was not available yet. OK Understandable. Small companies like this simply do not have as many cars in their fleet to be flexible (which in itself is a negative aspect of their company). However the man acted like we were trying to steal from him and insulted that we showed up early. Hold on a minute– aren’t I paying YOU instead of another rental car company which was stationed right beside you? I could have easily canceled my reservation and walked 10 feet over to the next guy, which is retrospect I wish I had done but I was so taken aback by the treatment and exhausted from the redeye I just wanted to get out of there. There is no need to treat your customers like second class citizens. Stuff happens during travel– most of the time there are delays. Rarely, you end up landing early! It is not the customers fault. Point is, I would never go back to this company bc of how I was treated (mainly) and lack of flexibility in their reservations. I would rather pay more for a nationwide chain who has more flexibility and probably would have given me a free upgrade without the attitude. I suspect that is why they ended up giving us a car begrudgingly– ultimately they want your business but don’t expect customer service and don’t be surprised if they treat you like scum of the earth.

Vacationing with three families, we had a day to kill before we boarded our flight back home. We decided to sightsee, eat, and shop. Traveling in such a large group, we needed a huge van.
We went to a major car rental company based upon familiarity, they shamelessly asked for $ 300! Then a smaller one, they wanted to cram us all in a mini van, stating one child could sit on someone’s lap. Are you serious? Are there no seatbelt laws here?
Lucky for us, we stop at one more place, Royal. They had plenty of vehicles and a few new vans. We got the commercial grade that seated up to 15 and all for $ 150. The rep sold us on insurance, stated our personal wouldn’t cover commercial rental vans, the booster was an extra $ 5, but he gave us a 10% AAA discount. Be sure to check the bill, as their system had trouble adding the discount. Luckily we had keen eyes about.
The rep was very helpful and polite. Had us out pretty fast and offered us advice in driving around. Checking in was equally as easy.
At the end, nickeled and dimed a tad, but what a bargain. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this company. Check your bill, just to keep everyone legit.
Thumbs up South Beach style, but as always let me know what you think!

The MANAGER (light complected black man with blue eyes) told me, he gets paid to be nice to me. He said the same thing to one of his employees who was trying to help find my reservation.
All of this, while he was swigging down a tropicana orange drink. Funny! I realized in that moment I was renting from the wrong place, and moved on. But I did get a good laugh. The whole thing reminded me of a Coen Bros. movie.

Great service, beautiful 2015 convertible Mustang, great leather interior and custom rims including the interior. Really stood out with a great bass system! I will defiantly rent from this place again! There is ZERO HASSLE!!! Customer service is so friendly! You have a life long customer!

I’m really shocked to read such bad reviews. We have been renting from Royal for a few years, a few times a year. Have thankfully never had a problem. The main issues I would have would be 2 – 3 people on line in front of me and only one person working at the counter. And since they are a small company and most people book a cheaper car, they are often out of the smaller cars. They immediately give the free upgrade but its often more a gas guzzler than I’d like but I’m happy to have a bigger car than the tiny ones. Rates are always the best, employees are friendly. Would still rent from again

My review and rating is completely based on the experience I encountered with a bigot behind the front desk today when I picked up my vehicle. It is a well-​known stereotype that people like him expect people who look like me to be very loud and reactionary when they are treated poorly and unfairly. However, I never respond in that manner because it is not part of my personality. So instead I elect to write this detailed review, send a letter of complaint to the headquarters and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The kind of treatment I received today was unnecessary. If you want details you may read the story below.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Earlier this afternoon I had arrived to the Fort Lauderdale rental car center and bee-​lined it to Royal with a smile because I’m always smiling and I was happy to be next in queue. I watched as the two reps pleasantly assisted their customers as I drifted off into daydreaming about hitting the beach shortly after. As soon as one couple finished their transaction and stepped aside I moved up to the next available rep and proceeded to greet him «Hi, how are you?» Well this is when it all changed…
I’m very keen at picking up on people’s behavior and demeanor and I will say with 100% certainty that this rep does not like assisting women of color. His smile turned into a frown and his mannerism turned into disinterest and coldness as soon as we began to interact. He first commented on my early arrival for my pickup (1:52 pm instead of the 2pm on my reservation). I asked him what was the exact time he has recorded for my pickup and his response was «Whatever time it is right now.» Of course I was a bit confused being that the time I asked was definitely different from the time the computer must have logged so I asked «And what time is that? I do not have a watch on.» So he looked straight ahead of me gesturing that the time was behind me. So, I looked searching for a display then finally saw a digital clock displaying 1:54pm. I replied, «Well, I’m sure the time you have in the system is not synced to what I just looked at.» So, after a few clicks and no chatter (I figured he was just ignoring me at this point) he blurts out «13:52» What is funny to me and very obvious is that he chose to give me the time in the 24hr format instead of the 12hr format to be facetious. I simply replied «Thank you» because unbeknownst to this individual I actually set all my clocks to the 24hr time format so he did not upset me or throw me off.
After a few more clicks and a scoff (because I declined the insurance), he walked away without letting me know he he would be right back. So, I just watched as he went around the counter to hand-​off a set of keys to a man (of whom he chuckled and smiled with) and watched him walk out to the garage area. Since I’ve been renting vehicles for over 10 years I assumed he needed to go check the inventory and would be back.
Well, he did come back and proceeded to help me without saying anything else besides «Initial and sign,» «You are in space 8,» and directing me to the toilets.
I walked outside to get my vehicle only to see a Dodge Charger which is way too big for my liking and a serious gas guzzler. I walked back into the center and queued up as the next customer to be served. The rep who had «assisted» me was pleasantly smiling and assisting another customer only to turn that smile into a frown when he noticed me waiting and looked me up and down. He then said, «What do you want?» Yes. This is what he said. The other customer uncomfortably stood in silence.
I told the rep I had reserved a different vehicle. He responded that there were no smaller vehicles. I told him I saw smaller vehicles and he stumbled to say they are not in the system. Again I said, the vehicle was too big for me and it has poor gas mileage. He replied that the gas mileage is not that much different and it was a free upgrade anyways. This was shocking to me because I understand efficiency and I was not told that my vehicle class was unavailable so I would get an upgrade — of which I did not want. I continued to let him know that I had no interest in keeping the vehicle (I am renting for two weeks) and asked if I can swap it tomorrow. He said yes, but to call first about availability. I asked what would be the best time to call. He shrugged with annoyance and replies, «I don’t know. 7, 8,9…we open at 5.» I thanked him and walked back into the garage where I encountered the other rep. I asked her for confirmation about the availability of lower class vehicles and when I should I call back to find out about availability. She was kind and helpful as I would have expected anyone in customer service.

I had 6 hours to kill between arriving at Port Everglades and my flight out, so reserved a car online with Royal since they had the best pricing. While I had to wait about ten minutes to be waited on, my transaction was quick. I had inquired whether the car I rented had a USB port since I needed to charge my phone, she wasn’t sure, so seems like she gave me a higher class car which did. Overall, very pleased with the experience.

I have rented from Royal Rent-​A –Car on a few trips to Ft Lauderdale area. I have been pleased with customer service, cost of the rental and the quality of the vehicles. The employees I have interacted with were friendly, kind and professional. I would recommend Royal Rent-​A-​Car in Ft Lauderdale.

Our flight was extra long because of winds so we landed later than scheduled. Royal CANCELLED our car. I have 2 small children and no car on a holiday weekend.
Do not use this agency. They cancel reservations at whim and overbook.
This place is not to be trusted.

If your heart’s desire is to be treated like an idiot, yelled at and threatened, yes threatened, than by all means rent a car from Royal in Ft. Lauderdale. We prepaid for our car online, presented all of the pertinent documentation upon arrival (insurance card, drivers license a non-​debit Visa that was used to pre-​pay) and they would not give us a rental car. We had to go through the entire rental process again, and then the rate was double what we pre-​paid… nice. Great way to start a vacation, thanks Royal.

We used Royal because they had the cheapest prices we could find at the Fort Lauderdale airport, but we won’t be using them again.
We arrived 20 minutes past our scheduled «reservation,» only to have the attendant cheerfully inform us that they had «cancelled» our reservation for us and we wouldn’t be able to rent a car there. She then proceeded to upsell us on a far more expensive car and had no comprehension that the news that our reservation had been cancelled would come as a surprise to us. Where’s the customer service? We admit that we were a little late, but does this warrant completely cancelling our reservation with no notice?
Royal rent-​a-​car was a Royal pain in the butt. Not recommended.

Terrible experience and I never even went through with the renal!
To be brief: booked with this company online, put in my credit card. Once I completed the transaction I never received a confirmation. Called the company who said it may take 3 hours to receive notice. Fine. Wait 3 hours, no one can find my reservation. The next day I call and speak to 3 different people, all who know nothing of my reservation.
The funny thing is the whole time this is occurring my credit card was charged so they must have gotten it from somewhere. Staff was extremely rude, not helpful in trying to work out the situation. Would NEVER USE THIS COMPANY.

My family and I rented at Royal Rent a Car for several years until recently I had one of the worst customer services experiences I have had in my life at the counter of the company in Fort Lauderdale airport. Yes, their prices are competitive and their cars are OK, but my take is that they are still a very small company so they do not have the training or processes in place to have consistently good service… so how it goes for you will depend on luck, not on transacting with a well run company.
I warn you: Stay away from Royal Rent a Car. The extra buck from renting at Hertz or National is definitely worth it. Do not risk it, and rent with some peace of mind that you will not what to expect.