San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles

Good

The queue was a bit long, and we couldn't complete the process together (other companies allowed multiple cars to be processed at a single counter)

This company is really bad. We arrived at the airport at 9 o'clock and had clearly booked a Ford Escape, but we were offered a BMW X5. The representative was Chinese and we made it clear we didn’t need an X5. However, they still processed an order for the X5 after completing the booking, which would cost us an extra $600 per day. Luckily, we noticed the error and requested a change, but then they asked if we wanted a GPS. We declined, and by this time, we had already wasted an hour because she told us it would take a long time to modify the order. Then they offered an upgrade to a Ford Edge, which we also didn’t need, and asked if we wanted additional personal insurance, even though we had bought all necessary insurance when booking. By 11:30, two hours had passed. My friend and I realized they wouldn't let us pick up the car unless we bought something extra. We had no choice but to choose personal insurance. The car we ended up with was an old Jeep, not the Ford Escape we originally booked, and it consumed a lot of oil. This was a very unsatisfactory car rental experience, and I will not use Budget again.

When we picked up the car in San Francisco, we waited in line for half an hour, and there was no self-service option, which is not as good as Alamo. The receptionist, who seemed to be Chinese, spoke English the entire time and was very polite with a constant smile, but we felt he was a bit deceitful. Despite having already purchased full coverage insurance from the rental website, he forced us to buy an additional $50 insurance without explaining it properly. He simply mentioned that if anything happens, we could call this number for assistance, and we agreed. He then presented us with a bill that was $52 more than our reservation. We almost fell for it. When I asked for clarification, he finally backed down. We even showed him our reservation which clearly stated in English that we already had all the necessary insurance and didn't need any extra coverage.

Upgraded from Jetta VW to Chrysler 300, with additional USD15 per day. Like the service provided by Carlo upon check in and he recommended an upgrade which I agreed. The car was an pleasure to drive. Unfortunately, left my sunglasses and phone holder when returning the car at SFO rental car park.

So far so good