Budget Rent A Car

The customer service was awful. The counter people were rude. They require that you pay for their car insurance for $ 27.95 because they don’t bill car insurance companies anymore. Also, I paid an extra $ 16 for a car with a car seat and they gave us a car without one. We told a worker and she said she would take care of it. After waiting 20 minutes my husband went to the counter and they basically just handed him a car seat for him to install. For what we were paying one of the workers could have installed it for us. We travel a lot and will never use Budget again!!!

All night line at under manned Budget. Renters beware. One kid at counter who «can’t call anyone for help.» Wish we had the manager’s number!

I will NEVER rent from Budget again. I was informed upon arrival that I basically had to purchase the coverage to cover the car because they no longer billed car insurance companies. If I did not purchase the additional coverage, my credit card would be charged for any damages to the car. I have not ever damaged a rental but always felt secure knowing that my private auto insurance had me covered just in case. I had to pay an additional $ 27.95 per day for their coverage. Budget and whomever are its partner just lost a customer. I would have went with a different company but unfortunately it was too late for me to cancel.

My husband and I recently returned from a trip to NOLA where we rented a car from Budget. I’ve read several reviews on here regarding the walk from the terminal, long lines, etc. While that may be the case, as it is at most airports across the country, what they lack in accessibility, they make up for in customer service. When we arrived to pick up our car, Kathy helped us at the counter. The process could not have been more simple and smooth. Returning the car was just as easy. But, what really get’s 5 stars here is what happened after we returned home. I realized I had left my nice sunglasses in the console of the car we rented. I figured it was a loss, knowing that they clean out the cars and are rented to new customers immediately. My husband called to see what they could find out, and sure enough, Kathy was there to help us again. We gave her all the specifics, and she was on it right away. Within the hour she had located my sunglasses, scheduled them for shipping, and contacted us with the tracking information! I’m thankful the cleaning crew was honest and turned them in, and for Kathy at the NOLA Budget counter for going out of her way to help us out!

Now THIS is how you start a vacation! Other car rental companies take note… THIS is the way to do it! First you get to walk six miles to the brand new car rental facility, because New Orleans cares, and wants you to be healthy. Then, when you get there, instead of checking you in at the nice air conditioned desk, Budget sends you right upstairs where the cars are… where it’s 80 degrees with 98 percent humidity. At midnight. Once there, you get to join a looooooooong line of extremely jovial people, half of whom are on the phone trying to book with another company. At an average rate of 10 – 15 minutes per customer, you will breeze through this line in about an hour and a half! Thankfully, they prepare for busy holiday weekends by staging two whole people in the both to service the 80 people in line! And they don’t clutter the area up with those ugly boards that send preferred members directly to their cars, so EVERYBODY gets to enjoy the line! Yay! Thank you Budget, for helping us realize that it’s worth the extra $ 50 to rent from somebody… ANYBODY…else.

To pick up your car at the airport, you need to walk nearly a mile from the terminal to the car terminal. The car terminal is clean and nice, although not a lot of seating so families waiting to get their cars have little space.
There was only one agent working the Budget rental counter, despite three people being behind the counter. There was some issue with the guy before us’s reservation. The sole agent spent almost 45 minutes trying to resolve it. We were quickly able to get our car and we were off.
With our car number in hand and rental agreement, we went up the escalator and into the garage. Quickly found our car and were on our way in a matter of minutes. The car was clean and newish.

DO NOT RENT from here. We have had nothing but trouble with them. Our car broke down on the way to the airport. They charged us for not filling up the car (which we couldn’t because it broke down) but also charged us for another 4 days because the car was in the shop so it wasn’t returned in time. We were told by the Budget roadside assistance to take a taxi to the airport and we would be reimbursed once we arrived. Sean the manger of Budget won’t return any phone calls and it has been a very large hassle. If you need a car I would rent from anyone else.

Picked up a car at New Orleans airport with a scheduled drop off the next day in the city center. Was told the drop off office closed at 5. I arrived at 3 only to find it had closed at 1 with no after hours drop off. Was charged an extra day for the misinformation I received. Lousy car rental agency. Did nothing to try and help me resolve this issue.

The agent (representing Payless Car Rental) told us that our own car insurance on our car at home would not cover the car, so we paid $ 975 for a 5-​day rental. Our family told us when we arrived that this is a lie, our insurance would cover it.
To be clear, PAYLESS /​BUDGET CAR RENTAL LIED TO US. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, NO MATTER HOW CHEAP THEY SAY THEY ARE.

Rented car for one day, flew in from Dallas to New Orleans for a death of friend, only flight to return was from Gulfport, Ms (60 miles from New Orleans) the next day. Told agent, she said the total would be $ 310.00, which is a lot for a standard car, but I had to leave from that airport and agreed to that charge. Well returned the car full tank with 100 miles driven on the car and my bill WAS $ 610.65!!! Still in shock!!! Hopefully someone help with this, will up date!

Picked up a car rental from MSY. Convenient location next to airport. Easy 5 minute walk to pick up car.
Problem is car was not cleaned and reeked of smoke. I don’t know if the staff are concerned with the experience of the renter as far as future rentals. Avoid this company.

My experience at the MSY Budget gave me a great intro into how NICE folks are in the South! I’m a Fastbreak member, and the whole experience of getting our car was fantastic. I believe the über-​nice ladies who helped us on Wednesday, April 18, both the check-​out and shuttle driver, were super. Just totally started us off on the right foot.
They were out of the size (compact) we’d reserved, but happily let us choose a larger vehicle at no extra charge… awesome!
Oh, and our check-​in girl and shuttle driver on our last day (Monday, April 23) were both fantastic, too. Since we’ve decided to make our trip to New Orleans an annual deal, we will mos’ def’ be using Budget every time for our car rental needs :)

What a terrible pick up process for the cars here. Since Avis and Budget are now basically the same company the counter staff at the rental counters has been roughly cut in half and the lines are becoming ridiculous. Top this with Budget’s messed up Fastbreak program and you have a perfect storm for long and bad service. I wait 20 minutes in line at the counter and am told I am fastbreak and did not need to wait in line. We then wait for 20 minutes for the rental bus to come back and get on the bus and I am told that I do not have a fastbreak reservation. Seriously, how can this not be aligned from the counter to the bus? The car that I eventually got was nice and had Bluetooth so I could hook up the iPhone and listen to tunes. The return process was quick too because its in their interest to have a quicker return process than checkout. Anyways, if you rent here be prepared to wait and have a terrible pickup process.

Tip-​join Fastbreak and it will make the rental process a snap.
Since we are members, we went straight to the shuttle and let the driver know we had a Fastbreak reservation.
Once we got to the location, she gave us a choice of 3 Fastbreak vehicles available in the series we had pre-​ordered.
Presented our license and credit card to the agent at the gate and we were on our way within 5 minutes. A breeze!
The customer service reps are really pleasant and I will rent again from this Budget location on my next trip to Nola.

At the airport, the girl at the budget rental car counter was very nice. She also happens to works at Avis since the two companies are owned by same parent. However, we were told my the bus driver, that someone hasn’t worked at the counter for a while so customers usually have to figure out where to find the shuttle themselves. I guess we got lucky because we got assigned a car at the counter so the shuttle driver drove us directly to our car.
The shuttle service was fast.
We got a Nissan, which got great mileage. Also, there was no additional charge for a diff drop off place.

Pretty shoddy customer service, and if you have «Budget» in your name you really shouldn’t be allowed to charge $ 7 for every gallon of gas the driver forgot to put back in the tank.