Budget Truck Rental Reviews

The rubber flap around the windshield was off and pounding the top of the truck. When we called Budget, the rep. thought we were at a construction site. Everytime we stopped we had to push it back in. The 3rd night, we parked at a motel (backed into a spot) and the shifter went like a broken arm, you couldn't put the truck in park. Had to use the emergency brake. As the truck was packed, I told roadside asst. immediately that if the truck couldn't be fixed, we needed it towed out to offload onto another truck.

2 days later, the new truck came, but no tow and no orders tot ake the old truck back. Also, the new truck's engine light was on. Thankfully the guy who brought the new truck was kind enough to check the fluids hoping the light would go off, after transmission fluid and coolant were added, the light stayed on. Very unsettling as we had 7 hours more to drive through high elevation and very few rest stops. Didn't use the air and went very slow as to not push the engine. Had a death grip on the steering wheel as it was loose.

Roadside assistance was the biggest joke - you have to do their job for them. They didn't listen to me when I mentioned we needed a tow in order to offload our things. It took over 32 phone calls back and forth (many times I was on hold more than 30 minutes) for there to be any resolution. This was especially unsettling as we had to still move out of an existing home and move into a new home with movers scheduled at the new home in less than 20 hours. We got there with just 12 hours to move out, sleep and move into the new place. Roadside assistance did not care - they are in NC and are behind a desk. I will never use Budget again - they are not professional and roadside assistance was an absolute joke. I wish I could upload the videos...

Think you've caught on to their scam and want out? Think again. The escape isn’t smooth sailing either. They have a charming little $50 fee in place for cancellations. Because why let someone leave without one last parting gift? If you value your time, money, and peace of mind, steer clear of this quagmire. Don’t be seduced by the initial attractive rates they dangle in front of you – because the true cost is hidden in deceptive practices and added fees. For those looking to rent a truck without the accompanying migraine, U-Haul is a tried and true alternative. In the vast landscape of truck rental options, do yourself a favor: bypass Budget. Your wallet and sanity will thank you.

Finally Budget informed me that another truck would be provided. The replacement truck wasn't available until noon and then the items in the first truck needed to be moved to the replacement truck. It was late afternoon before the trip was resumed. In both repair shops there were no facilities for the customers to wait comfortably and the heat index was in the triple digits.

The replacement truck was clean and ran without any problems. After unloading it on Sunday I called Budget about dropping it off. I was told the drop off place was open. When I arrived at the drop-off place it was closed and only physical drop off was allowed. This necessitated an unplanned overnight stay since I was almost two hundred miles from home. Finally I received an email several days after dropping off the truck that I was being billed $57 to refuel the truck that was towed from the repair shop in Tennessee.

The tow truck did not show up until 1 pm, then towed the truck with belongings to our second destination. We unloaded the truck and Budget said to call roadside assistance for the second tow, waited two hours and tow company called to say they didn't want to tow because it was raining, and he would pick it up in the morning. So I had my husband who picked us up and drove us home. Over 32 hours delay and budget will not fully reimburse for the hassle. What a mess and loss time at work. All because they cheaped out with an off market catalytic converter.

We also noted excessive front end shake no matter what speed the truck was driven at and visually inspected the front tires only to find that the Camber was clearly out on the vehicle and both front wheels visually leaned further out then the bottoms and both front tires were also badly cupped on inside of tread. Pulled into Fort Stock Texas Chevron Pump #6 around 15:30PM and vehicle would no longer go into any forward gears. Only Park and Reverse.

Contacted Road Side Assistance and was told a mechanic would be dispatched right away. I let the Chevron Manager know that truck was disabled and could not be moved. Couple of hours later after no update from Budget Road Side Assistance I was finally able to confirm that mechanic would arrive around 21:00PM. Once mechanic showed up, he confirmed that shifter cable housing had melted against the exhaust and caused the cable housing to fall apart. Road Side Mechanic then said he was going back into town to try and locate the correct cable to repair the vehicle onsite. He later called back around 22:00PM to tell me that the part was not available but that Budget would contact me shortly to resolve.

NO call/text from Budget. So once I was able to get through the roadside assistance automated phone system again and speak with someone, was told that they were looking to get a replacement truck from Midland and/or possibly Austin to unload my broken truck onto another truck. Still no update so AGAIN, after calling Budget back was told a Tow Truck would be on the way.

Around 12:30AM, Tow truck shows up only to tell me that it looks like his Tow Truck is too small for the broken truck. I was actually told that "I picked a bad time to break down" are you kidding me? Keep in mind we have been sitting on the tailgate of the Budget Rental truck since 15:30 in 100+ deg heat for almost 9 hours. I called Budget and told them they needed to get the truck out of the Chevron Gas Station and over to the Sleep Inn Hotel down the street and quickly sent my son over to reserve a room as we had no choice but to spend the evening and figure out what to do.

We ended up unloading my son’s car from Car Doll after using a jack to stabilize the dolly and the Tow Truck driver was able to tow the dolly down the street to the Hotel. I then had not choice but to put the truck in reverse and back it down the center median of the main road in Fort Stockton with my son spotting me to move it from Chevron to Sleep Inn parking lot. Keep in mind that Chevron was also not able to sell gas at the pump that I was broken down up until this time.

I apologized to Hotel that I had no choice but to park the Budget Truck in the front parking lot as we could not risk backing it any farther to back of Hotel. Last thing I wanted was to cause damage to anyone cars unnecessarily. No restaurants available on a Sunday Night at 01:45AM so meal consisted of Mac and Cheese. Woke up at 07:30 expecting an email/text and even a missed call from Budget but NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING. Completely unprofessional customer service.

As a reminder, at no time during this situation did Budget Truck rental reach out to me. Each time I contacted them I was given no choice but to go through the automated phone service, waiting in excess of an hour at times to speak to a person. Contacted Roadside Service and was told agai... that Budget was looking for a truck and crew to send to Fort Stockton to unload and load the new truck but that they had no ETA since it was being driven to Fort Stockton from Midland TX and/or Austin TX...

I explained that this was NOT what was told to me last night. I was told that a Tow Truck would be dispatched in the morning after checking into hotel. Around 11:00AM we had to check out of the room and at that point, I contacted Budget and informed them that they could get the keys to the truck at the front desk of the hotel to resolve the issue and that my son and I had no other choice but to leave the truck behind and continue to Austin using my sons Fiat 500 as we needed to be in Austin before 18:00PM on the 3rd of July to secure the keys to my son apartment. If not, no one would be available until the 5th.

While driving my son's personal car to Austin, I was contacted around 16:00PM from the tow truck driver that the truck was just now loaded onto a larger flatbed and was just leaving Fort Stockton at 16:00PM on the 3rd. There was a concern about the height of the truck and if it would clear the freeway overpass or not. During my drive to Austin I was asked to monitor the height of each bridge and texted the tow truck driver as to any heights under 16 feet. Due to the fact that this Tow Truck Driver was the nicest person representing Budget that I encountered up to this point I did as requested and monitored the height of the bridges and texted him in anywhere under 16 ft. Needless to say, we did not make it to Austin in time to get the keys to apartment.

Around 11:00PM on the 3rd we were informed that the truck had arrived and luckily the apartment gate was broken/Open so tow truck was able to move the damaged Budget Rental truck into the apartment parking lot. Only open space was towards the back of apartment complex opposite from my son's new apartment.

We managed to get Keys on the 5th and began unloading the truck but could not move the truck any closer to the apartment so we had to down load boxes into my In-Laws SUV and then drove the SUV back and fourth to the other side for apartment complex. For the furniture, we simply had to hand carry it around the parking lot taking several breaks due to the 100+ deg Temperature. Finally, after being unloaded, I was able to contact Budget and the damaged truck was towed away on the afternoon of the 5th. Called Customer service again on 6/12/23 @ 12:30

Spoke with “Al” from Customer Service and after explaining the situation and what occurred he immediately offered me a total of $409.00 to INCLUDE the $124.82 hotel cost in Fort Stockton. That was 25% of my my truck rental cost to include my hotel which I paid for myself. Had the truck broken down and roadside assistance dispatched in an hour or two the compensation offered would be acceptable.

HOWEVER, this was not a simple 2 hour delay. This delay caused me to have to extend my time away from work, 3 days delay directly related to this breakdown and lack of prompt and timely service from Budget Roadside assistance, having to constantly call Budget throughout this breakdown for updates and having to offer options to resolve my issue, the unprofessional and poor communication from the road service to include being told “I picked a bad time to break down”

I was given an email to send my grievance to since the offer of 25% was NOT acceptable to me. Today I received an email reply saying that they would only reimburse me 25% Could no one at Budget reached out to me given that I had told them my cell # at least 10X times? Seems like they are hoping you will go away with excessively long customer service times as well as only giving a email address to send emails too? Absurd.

At the very most, I should only have to pay for rental truck from Gilbert AZ to Fort Stockton TX ONLY.. as that’s were it broke down. I was only able to make it 449 miles of my 976 mile trip. 3 days worth of delays, not including my own time troubleshooting and re-wiring the trailer lights. I can honestly say I will not be recommending Budget Trucks to anyone in the future and almost feel that I need to post my personal experience on “Reddit” and/or “BBB” to warn others of what to expect when renting a budget Truck.

In closing after contacting Corporate Budget Truck rental and spending an additional hour on the phone with a supervisor, I was able to recuperate 45% of the basic truck rental that I paid (Not Including Tax) as well as my hotel cost. I felt it should have been 55% since I was only able to make it approximately 45% of the distance (449 miles of intended 976 miles) but further discussion with the supervisor was causing my blood pressure to climb and at this point, I simply wanted to put this Budget Truck Fiasco behind me. I advise others NOT TO RENT from Budget Truck Rental. There is a reason why they have a 2.1 out of a 5 for a Review Score. Save yourself the headache and rent from a reputable truck rental company.

Customer service was responsive and took information, but not able to rectify situation. Basically, asked if I wanted to cancel the reservation. Really? That's their solution. Thankfully, we were able to get a truck from Penske. Have used them before and would only recommend Penske. My mistake in trying Budget because cost was a little less at the time of the reservation. Will only ever use Penske. Reading some of these other reviews, it's clear Budget should get out of this business. They're not competent and don't understand Customer Service.