Highway One

My total rental cost was $771. At San Francisco Airport, the service staff gave me a bill for $1160, claiming it was for a vehicle upgrade. When I asked if it was the upgrade fee, they said it was a deposit. There were a lot of people in line, so I didn't check carefully. Later, I found out that there is no deposit for car rentals in the US.

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.

At Budget in San Francisco, you need to take a shuttle train. The pickup process was quick, and the staff were friendly. You only need a driver’s license. The Ford EDGE I reserved was unavailable, so they offered me a choice between a JEEP Grand Cherokee and a Hyundai Santa Fe. I chose the Grand Cherokee without hesitation as it’s a high-end car in my home country.

Excellent- helpful counter staff at check-in, and when the car I expected was not there this was sorted out very swiftly and I ended up with a different car, which was (to my eye) a better car all round anyway so no delay and a happy customer. I misunderstood the cost of the advance toll fee coverage at the pick up desk, (the fee for which seems poor value to me) but I was able to delete it later by visiting a different local branch where it was sorted almost instantly. Although I could not effect this over the phone the lack of fuss otherwise over this did impress me and I will likely put Budget at the top of my list for a future hire. Handing the car back was also disarmingly slick and efficient. Incidentally, I returned the car brim-full but nonetheless the fuel gauge showed 'almost-full', nobody quibbled so another brownie point for lack of drama there. All told a better experience than I expected and I suspect that was not just good luck.

QEEQ did a good job- my brother booked a car at the same time directly with a different company and I think I had a better deal- better car, better price, but I won't rub it in!

Great experience!

Easy to book and good price!