Budget Truck Rental

I pre-​orderd the vehicle a few days beforehand. I arrived at the exact time I was to pick up the vehicle. The staff behind the desk was okay, not bad — not good, but quick to get all paperwork done. The vehicle was a mess! Dirty on outside — needed to be washed, trash on inside, and was not vacuumed — I even had to hand the car porter a used coffee cup from the back seat. As I drove off, I noticed the car had only ¼ tank of gas. I went back in to report this and they offered to get it filled up, but I was on a schedule and couldn’t wait for them. When driving the vehicle at night I noticed how dirty the inside of the windshield was dirty and made it hard to see out of. I brought the car back with almost ¾ tank of gas and they gave me a credit, but I have not yet seen any charges on my credit card, almost 2 weeks later! I completed their online survey, per the e-​mail I received asking me to. A couple days later I got an e-​mail from a person in management from Budget’s main office, who said he’d look into the matter and to let him know when I would rent again and he’d see how he could compensate me.

Imagine an in-​ground pool on a humid summer day filled to the brim with stale beer, cigarette butts, ashes and a dead cow. That’s what the inside of this rat’s nest smelled like. It came equipped with an opened bottle of Heineken under the driver seat and an empty dime bag in the back with a peppering of weed stems across the floor, oh and cup holders that someone decided to turn into ash trays.
The process was fine and the truck drove fine so that’s not the issue. The inside of the truck was the issue here. If you want a truck that looks and smells like a porta-​potty at Burning Man then you’re in luck. Otherwise do a walk-​through before you accept it, or just go somewhere else.

I dont know why I haven’t done a review for this place earlier. But let me start of by saying that this is my go-​to place for renting a car. The past 5 times within the past 3 years I have gone on a road trip I rented from this place! Lets start by saying how accommodating the staff is here! Luba and Dan are the best!!! They try do everything to make sure that you your reservation was met correctly, if not they go beyond that! Of course i’ll be back… like i said earlier they are my «go-​to»!!! Can’t wait to plan my next road trip already!

This is a review of three different employees and two locations. The Dempster/​Gross Point location is tiny with a limited supply of vehicles. I reserved a compact but the female agent only had a Passat or Beetle available. Getting the car was painless and extremely quick. There was the usual insurance and prepaid gas pitch but when I declined, she didn’t push any further and showed me to my car. I wish it was like this everywhere. No shenanigans and no unwanted charges. (5 stars for her)
Later in the day, one of the headlights went out so I called to get a different car. I was told that as long as I come before 6PM, it wasn’t a problem. I left right after work and got there around 5:15PM, only to find the store closed and two other annoyed customers waiting outside. The three of us talked and waited for about 20 minutes when the Budget employee finally showed up, a bag of McDonalds in hand, and asked us, «How long was I gone?» How are we supposed to know that! So he lets us in and takes his sweet time getting to the computer because he’s too busy shoving fries into his mouth. I’m helped last and when I tell him I need a replacement, he tells me they have no cars but calls another location to find something. He finds another branch with cars but says I have to get there before they close at 6PM. It was 5:45PM. Still shoving fries into his face. (1 star)
So I get to the other store (Avis
) and find a young woman behind the desk on the phone. She was on the phone and asked me to wait a minute. Not a problem but it was obvious she wasn’t on the phone with a customer. Once she’s off the phone, she quickly gets me into one of the two Ford Fusions available, which I appreciated. But when I go outside for a walk around, one was obviously washed and the other totally filthy. The agent comes out and tells me she’s putting me in the dirty one because she’s actually renting the clean one herself. I was running late so I had to just take it. The cars interior wasn’t cleaned and there were smudges all over the inside of the windshield. (2 stars)
These locations need to be more professional and understand the customer comes first before fries and their own rental needs

This place is great! I m coming back again and again when i need a car. Every single person working here is very helpful and nice to the customers! I have been renting cars only in this location for more then 3 years and NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEM! Good job!

Made a reservation and paid 3 weeks in advanced for a moving van the day I had scheduled to move out of my apartment. The guy was nice and all, but then he called the THE DAY we were supposed to pick it up and said they have no vans for us! Good thing we didn’t need it until the very next day, but they still left us scrambling. Called U-​Haul on Waukegan Rd instead, and they saved the day! When in doubt, go with a company with a large lot of trucks. Budget’s lot is teeny, and they may only have less than 10 trucks.

Do not trust for truck rental. Did not honor service agreement. They notified me a few hours before pickup time that there were no trucks available, after a reservation was made weeks in advance. Did not make effort to find a replacement. Budget Rental ruins the day!

It took me about 5 minutes to get the car I reserved, 5 minutes to return. The car was clean, full tank of fuel and the staff professional. My only problem was that the seat on the car I rented wasn’t working correctly and I had trouble adjusting it.

I’ve rented from other Budgets before, but I would never again rent from Budget in Skokie/​OHare! despite telling them exactly when we would be returning the car at the airport, we were not told that we would be charged for another day. It was very misleading to be originally told one thing and then find out in the end that no, that was wrong and we’d have to pay well over twice as much.
they also tried to charge us the re-​fueling fee even though we filled it up right before returning. Then they acted like they were doing us some big favor by dropping that charge.
There were other customers at the return counter with the same problem too.

Lame operation. They refused to vacuum the car upon our return, and told us there was a cleaning fee. I asked how much that fee was, but the attendant could not or would not tell us. Vacuumed it myself, which took all of 5 minutes. This after spending around $ 800 on a car rental, one might think that they could do a tiny amount of labor.
Rather uniquely bad service. I have never been asked to clean a car myself when returning it to a Car Rental.

The guy at this place was rude. I am just out of college and did not have a credit score. I preferred to pay by debit card with a deposit. He told me that I still need a credit score. It seemed like racial profiling. I am never renting from Avis again.