When I arrived at AVIS, there were 10 groups of customers ahead of me (I say groups because 2 or 3 people might rent a car together, counting as one order), but there was only one counter open. About 10 minutes later, a second counter opened. It took about 15 minutes to process each customer, which was very slow, so I waited for over an hour. I hope AVIS can add more staff to speed up the process when there are long lines. Because there were too many people waiting and too few counters open, I didn't have a chance to check the car for damages when I picked it up. As a result, when I returned the car, they claimed I had caused scratches and was responsible for them even though I had not been in any accidents. Since my car had full insurance, I received an email from AVIS about the damage and am still waiting for further resolution.
The staff at the Avis counter immediately asked if we wanted to upgrade to a Toyota Camry for an additional $10 per day after checking our order. Considering that the Ford Fusion model was already full-size, and based on our previous rental experiences, it should be spacious enough to fit two large and two small suitcases, so we declined. The staff then tried to sell us insurance. Given that we had already purchased enhanced third-party liability insurance on QEEQ, and we had our own personal insurance, we told him to stick to the package we had booked without any changes.
The staff was visibly unhappy but gave us the car rental slip. I saw it was for a Kia, which struck me as odd since Avis is reputed to be on par with Hertz and isn't known for economy cars. Thinking I might have misread, we went to check the car and indeed, it was a Kia. Interestingly, unlike previous rentals where we were allowed to pick from a row of similar cars, this time it was a specific car with no choice. Moreover, this car had almost 28,000 miles on it, nearly 47,000 kilometers, making it very old.
We have never rented such an old car before! We had rented from Dollar and Budget where cars typically had no more than 20,000 miles. Expecting a higher standard from Avis, we were quite disappointed. The car had multiple scratches on the rear bumper. I went back to talk to the staff, who said we should mention the scratches to the gate staff when exiting. Regarding the model, they said the Kia was the same class as the Ford Fusion, and a $10 per day upgrade would have gotten us the Camry. Because I didn't fully understand the staff's English and he was communicating via poorly written notes, it was hard to grasp his meaning, so we gave up arguing. We were also tired from a 16-hour flight and didn't think to call for help. We managed to fit our two large and one small suitcase, with another small suitcase in the back seat. Fortunately, there were only three of us. We felt quite unlucky to get such a worn-out car.
The car was very slow to accelerate, frequently getting left behind on the highway and attracting disapproving looks. The worst was when it snowed and rained, and the wipers didn't clean properly, due to old wiper blades that hadn't been replaced! The side mirrors weren't heated either, causing them to fog up, obstructing the view of traffic behind. This made for a stressful driving experience! We had planned to drive it for 8 days anticipating snow in the East Coast, thinking a more expensive car from a reputable company would ensure safety, but it turned out to be the opposite. Avis truly disappointed us!
When returning the car, we filled the tank at a gas station 3-5 kilometers from the return point, ensuring it was full by adding $30 worth of gas. However, Avis claimed the tank wasn't full and charged us an extra $6.59 for 0.5 gallons. In our past rentals, we always filled the tank before returning the car and never faced additional fuel charges. It's impossible for there to be a gas station right at the car rental return entrance, so it felt like a deliberate scam by Avis. We also weren't given a receipt showing the tank was 18.5 gallons full when we picked up the car. Given the small amount, we chose not to argue further.
This sums up our experience with Avis and our disappointment.
Since then, we've avoided Avis and tried Alamo, consistently renting full-size cars. The experience has been great; only one airport tried to sell insurance while the others didn't. We got to pick our own cars each time, once a Nissan SUV with only 6,000 miles, and another time a Camry with only 3,000 miles. It was a completely different experience from Avis.
Picking up and dropping off the car was very convenient, no need to wait in line. For returning the car, just park it at the return point and place the keys under the windshield.
To pick up the car took over an hour and was outrageous.
About QEEQ:8.0/10
Service was so bad
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