Avis
reviews and complaints

I was heading camping with my family for the weekend in a PA state park, and due to major storm warnings decided it would be smart to rent an SUV with four wheel drive. I made a reservation and picked up my vehicle no problem from 30th street station.

Several hours later upon arriving in the local town where the state park was located, we stopped to purchase some groceries for our weekend - in doing so I found that my checking account was overdrawn several hundred dollars.

Terrified I quickly loaded up my bank's mobile application on my iPhone to discover that not only did Avis charge me an initial balance for my rental; $182.40, but in addition charged me $1, 112.69, TWICE!

Furious I immediately called Avis who said they had no record of this charge as the amount made no sense. After a long time on hold, they conferenced in my bank who confirmed the amount and gave them instructions to fax over a request to remove the erroneous hold. I was told to give it an hour and call back.

We headed to our campsite, where I had no cell phone reception, so an hour later I had to drive up the road to a pay phone located outside the park's office. I called my bank who notified me that the hold was being reversed and the money would be credited back to my account again shortly. The rep then asked if I was aware that the charge had been run through twice? Shocked I said of course not. She then informed me that in order to have the second charge removed I would need to have another fax sent over specifying that 2 holds in the amount needed to be removed.

I called Avis back and after 20 minutes of holding got someone on the phone who had no record of my prior call or the scenario I was faced with. Frustrated I explained the scenario and was put back on hold. After close to 40 minutes on the phone I was informed that the fax had been sent and all would be well. I informed the rep that I understood and required a second fax to be sent, to which she replied that is not possible as she could not see the hold in her system. Again, we called my bank - only this time after my bank rep explained there were two charges there was no Avis rep to be found.

Getting extremely upset at this point I sent my family hiking without me and stayed at the phone booth to call back Avis. Again, I got a rep who had no knowledge of my situation as his system did not contain any notes on the matter, this time I asked for a reference number so I had something to provide them with going forward. He assured me that the fax would be sent and I should try back in an hour. After an hour and a half I called my bank to learn that the charge was still there.

beside myself at this point I called back Avis who again conferenced in my bank and seemed to smooth the whole thing over, I was told the credits would be on my account and that the bank system would update at midnight, relieved I left to head back to my campsite after almost 3 hours of dealing with the mess.

The next day I awoke to find the charge still on my account and even less information contained in my file (even with a reference number) than before. Worst of all once back in my hometown, with the car returned, I found myself still on the phone with Avis trying to find out where the, at this time 3 faxes, that were presumably sent to my bank went - since my bank had never received them.

I called the local Avis branch yet again to AGAIN speak with someone who with my case reference number, did not see any information besides a single phone call from 2 days prior that was 'resolved' by sending a fax. They also refused to believe that I still had an additional $1, 100 charge on my account since they could not see it in their system. At this point I took off of work and went to my bank where I had a customer service rep literally print up the transaction log and fax it on Bank letterhead to Avis. I then went to the Avis branch to confirm receipt, and deal with their puzzled faces when they realized they had charged me close to $2, 700 for a two day rental. They had no idea what to do.

After another hour at the local branch watching Avis staff walk in and out of the front desk area scratching their heads, I called my bank after I watched them send a fax through hopefully vindicating the erroneous charge. My bank then informed me that the hold was in fact not a hold but was "notched" for payment, and nothing could be done until it cleared or dropped off - which would not happen until the end of the month, almost 2 and half weeks later.

My bank account is still showing charges IN ADDITION to my rental fees for $1, 112.69 and I am told nothing can be done. Avis has AWFUL computer systems and INCOMPETENT staff, sorry but it's true. This has been overall one of the worst experiences of my life!

The lady who help me was very unfriendly. 1st she was not in the office to help me. After about half an hour she show up. She didn't ask how she can help me. Her dressing code was also not proper she was dress in a t-shirt that fits 6months ago. I'm use to the ladies of Avis they are very friendly and they are a good add for their company. This lady or trump didn't have any manners. She don't know anything about it to be professional.She was very rude to my husband over the phone, he is a regular customer of Avis he rent twice a week a car from Avis. It so happens that his wallet was stolen on Oliver Tambo Airport and i try to organise a car from Jeffreys Bay Avis for him.

But i'm very disappointed.

Avis car rental…who gave them the right to rip off people and how come there is no discussion or redress with their car rental policy. Hope the company disappears down it’s own filthy hole of lies, scams and rip offs. It’s counter staff are primed to foist unwanted extra charges using hard sell techniques, give misleading advice ( “its cheaper to bring the car back empty”) or just downright lie (“there is a 150 mm long scratch” no there is not and here is the photo to prove it. “sorry already entered into the computer” and finally “sorry you can’t leave a complaint with us as we don’t keep any forms here” AVIS go rot. Avoid at all costs!

I was charged an extra day for arriving 30 minutes after contract.

The Avis was closed but they knew I arrived at that time because an employee in Sears Auto, who shares the facility, told the Avis Manager but the Manager still charged.

My recommendation: Never do business with the Avis located in Sear Auto in Peabody, MA This is a franchised location.

The care little about the truth and they treated this Avis First member like trash.

We rented a car through avis.com to be picked up and returned at the Tegel Airport in Berlin, Germany. When we arrived, they didn't have the car we rented so, after seeing that the car was too small, we upgraded. We understood that there was a fee increase. We also added insurance to our rental with the higher 1050 Euro deductible. The car was a 5 series BMW and it was great. When we returned our car to the Avis garage at 7:15 am there was no attendant and there was a sign instructing us to park in one of the stalls and proceed to the customer service desk on another level. We did so. We had filled the tank prior to returning the car. When we went to the customer service desk we were told what the fee would be and they took all of the paperwork back and gave us just the original rental agreement on the first car - the one we did not rent - we did not notice this until after we were home. We were told that there would be no one to check in our car for 45 minutes and, of course, we needed to get to the airport to check in and get ready for our flight. After we returned home and while checking our finances online, we noticed that we had been overcharged for our rental car. We called Avis USA and were told that there was a 1050 Euro charge for damages! There were NO damages on the car. We were also charged about 95 Euros for filling the gas tank! We filed a claim with Avis USA and were told that if we didn't hear anything in 30 days we should call back. In the meantime, we disputed the charges with our visa company and they provisionally credited our account for the $1690 dollars that we believe we were overcharged. After 30 days we called Avis back and were told that they had emailed us documentation that proved that we had caused damage - including photos. We were also told that Avis USA is only a liason for Avis Germany and we needed to deal directly with Avis Germany. The photos that were emailed show a closeup of a black car with scratches on the fender near the headlight and damage to the windshield. There is also a photo of the car we rented (also a black car) taken from a distance. There was also other documentation including a service estimate with the license plate number that matched the car we rented (we know because we took a couple of photos of the car while we were on our vacation.) This scam involves not only Avis Germany/Tegel/Berlin but also the company (real or fictional) that they supposedly use to repair their cars. We are extremely frustrated and have no further recourse with respect to this situation.

Last month we rented a car at Heathrow airport from Avis. The rental was for 10 days. On the third day a reperesentative called checking wheter we still had the car. She said the rental had been cancelled. She told me this had been an employee error and it would be correcrted. We realised later that our credit card had already been billed for the full ten day period. We called again and were told we would need to deal with this when we returned the car. We did this. It took time at the retune desk and we were told our account would be credite for the foault billing.

We flew back to Canada to find no refund had been made and we were esssentially double billed for the rental. We complained further and recieved a refund, however due to exchange fluctuations it cost us money. Futher emails were unanswered.
Avis was very quick to bill us on bothe occasions but a simle refund took them three weeks and constant complaints to complete.
We do not intend to rent cars from them again ever and would advise others to take theire business elsewhere !

Returning to airport car rentals from the North (M90), I could not find a filling station to top off my rental car.
During the rental, it cost me GBP57 to fill the tank from empty. I returned it half ull and Avis charged me GBP80 for fuel surcharge for half a tank. This is daylight robbery and needs to be stopped.
I booked it through British Ariways and will also be complaining to them.
No more Avis for me as I consider them to be acting unethitically.

When you look up Avis and try to call their reservation number, you will most likely be routed to their call center located in Costa Rica. This is the most hideous call center operated by anyone in the world. The people barely speak English and you can't communicate. When I asked to speak to a manager I was told I could not and when I asked for a US number or to be transferred to someone in the US they hung up on me!

I actually love Avis who has provided me with great prices, great cars, and great service at airports all over the US! Some executive made a horrible decision to cut costs by using this call center in Costa Rica. I will not use this call center. I always ask where the operator is located and if it is not in the US I will ask to be transferred or hang up.

I urge everyone to avoid using the Costa Rica center call center! Just ask where the operator is located!

Wow. I rented a car for 2 day of which I used for almost 2 hours. My $80.00 charge turned into $238.00. They charged 8.75 to my account and I still don't know why. Then a charge of $150.00! Yes I called customer service who couldn't help me. They gave me a number that the voicemail box was 'full.' I tried another number for the security department but she is on vacation until July 11, 2011. Never again. Has this happened to anyone else?

On 4 Dec 2010 I booked an Intermediate Car from Brisbane Domestic for the period 27 Dec to 28 Dec through Qantas since I can use the Frequent Flyer points..

Before booking the car I checked on your website, and 3 of your competitors, for the equivalent offer, but for the period 27 Dec to 3 Jan 2011 (7 days), which is what I had intended from the beginning – the 1 day booking on line was a late night mistake.
In all cases, including Avis, the TOTAL cost for this period was between $400 and $450 – base rate $51 per day approximately.

On landing in Brisbane (delayed flight) I did not check the contract (which I will not do again!) since I was late for an appointment, only to find out that I had been charged $79 per day, with a TOTAL cost of $803.91 on returning the vehicle.

On 4 Jan 2011 I described my predicament on your Avis Customer Services website, to which I am yet to hear any feedback.

Then on 10 Jan I managed after much waiting to get through by phone to a ‘post booking’ operator on [protected] who then lodged this Case Reference 203927.

No response up to 8 Feb (1 month) so I phoned and was advised that someone would contact me within hours – still no feedback after 2 days.

What do I want? Since the websites quoted $450 for this contract, I expect a refund of $350, and I expect to be treated with respect, like a customer.

I have already advised my company that we will not use Avis again, and I intend to take this to the Press if I do not get some cooperation.

Understand that I am not a happy customer – as number 2 you do not try harder!

**Links to all docs and pictures are at the end of the message**

Had to go to Germany for a business trip. Since AVIS/Budget is a trusted U.S. company name, and my company has a contract with them, I went with them. The guy at the counter was not particularly friendly and, although I had reserved an automatic, he told me they only had one car left and that it was a manual. It was an "upgrade" so I didn't complain. The car was a black Renault Megane. I rented a car from the 4/25/2011 - 5/5/2011. When I did the initial inspection, I couldn't find anything wrong with the car.

I turned the car in on the morning of May 5th, as the contract stated. I thought it seemed extremely strange that the attendant who I turned the car in to walked straight to the back left of the car and pointed to a tiny ding on the wheel well. It was so small I couldn't see it. I actually thought he was messing with me, until he handed me a paper and asked to sign it acknowledging the "dent". I told him I don't see a dent. He pulled me over to where he was and said "You have to look at how the light reflects from this spot". There was a tiny flaw, no bigger than a 10 font letter "o". I mean SO SMALL that you need to get 2 inches from it to see the distortion of the light reflecting. He said he was writing it down, but not to worry about it, wasn't going to get charged for anything. He never gave me a receipt or anything. I will admit that there were a lot of things I could have done to better protect myself in this situation, but I trusted AVIS and their reps... that was a HUGE mistake.

When I got back to the U.S. I saw a charge of over $1700 on my credit card. I called AVIS and they informed me that since it's a franchise in Europe, there was nothing they could do about it but send an email. They couldn't even get me a receipt or tell me what had been charged! AVIS stated that I should get a call back in 24 hours. 3 days later I called them: "Still investigating". 4 more days: "No new information, still investigating". I finally got a letter in the mail from AVIS that said something about over 1050 EUR of damage and that I didn't have to do anything, as they simply charged my card. Gee, thanks for taking care of that for me AVIS... with NO AUTHORIZATION. he back of the letter had 4 pictures on it. One of which was a huge scratch and dent on a zebra striped background that was NOT what they tried to show me when I returned it. What they showed me was a pin-sized dimple in the paint, what they put on the picture was a scratch that wasn't on the car... I've read on this site another person that got a "photo with a scratch on a zebra striped background". If you are reading this and have the same photo, reply immediately so we can fry these guys for fraud and extortion.

I'm currently in the process of disputing it with AMEX and AVIS, but haven't heard anything in a week or so.
Pic of Scratch: http://legendarywou.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/scratch.jpeg
Letter (Personal info Blacked out) - http://legendarywou.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Letter-Front-anon.jpeg

My worst rental car experience EVER!

On June 23, 2010 my husband and I rented a car from Avis, located on 3729 US Highway 1 and Harrison St. in Princeton. We were taking our daughter to summer camp.
Just a few minutes after we got in the car, a Chevy Impala, we got a message on the dashboard “Engine Disable”. Right away, we called Avis. Since it was only 7:00 am, we were only able to talk with the Emergency assistant, who was helping us trying to find the closest location to get technical assistant. While we were driving and talking on the phone with AVIS, the car started to lose power and we moved to the shoulder just in time. The car stopped totally and we could not restarted.
After a few tries, the car restarted, and we were now heading to Basking Ridge to fix the car or hopefully to get a new car. By now, it was 8:15 am. When we got to the Avis location, the technician tried to fix the computerized program. He took the car to try and got stopped in the middle of the road unable to go. As it happened to us, a few tries later it restarted.
By 9:00 am or so we got a new car and were finally on our way.

On July 16, 2010 we rented another car from the same location. We were going to pick up our daughter from camp early next morning. I picked the car up at 7:30 pm and parked it across from Avis, where they ask you to move it once you have rented it. Later at night, when my husband returned from work we went to get the car together. We noticed that the gas tank wasn´t 8/8 full as it stated on the contract, but only 7/8. Since we left at 6:00 am the next morning we did not call and thought we would tell them when we returned the car (wrong, of course). We also noticed that there was a water tonic bottle in the trunk, but we left it there. It wasn´t ours.
When we returned the keys the morning of July 19, 2010 they checked the car and told us that there were two scratches on one side of the car. We did not have any incident with the car and we never noticed any scratches.

I had to fill out a form for Avis and I declined any responsibility. The person at the office laughed at me and said I could not decline the responsibility and added something else on the paper.

I told her that the same as they did not notice a water tonic bottle in the trunk of the car and they left the gas tank not as indicated on the contract, I did not feel I could assume the responsibility of a scratch that we didn´t think we were responsible for.

The staff at this location were rude, disrespectful, unprofessional and were never clear with the information provided to us.

Later that day, my husband called the Avis location on Harrison St. to find out more about what I had told him. The person who answered the phone said that there was a scratch on the car and could we say that it was there when the car was taken out. When he said that we had not looked at the car when we took it but nor had Avis checked the gas tank or the back for bottles, she repeated what she had said and when he repeated what he had said, in a truly non-confrontational manner (truly), and she hung up rather than deal with it. When he called back, she put him on hold immediately and never picked up.

He called Avis and described the events, they apologized and said to speak to the manager at the Princeton Avis and that all was noted.

He works in client service and called the next day not just to complain about how he was handled but to let the manager know what had happened and that that person should not be dealing with clients (she hung up on!). So when he spoke to the manager the next day she simply defended the woman who hung up on him and said that he was yelling at her (he absolutely was not). That was it.

Not sure where it will end but we are expecting a letter saying we owe money to pay for the car.

Had a car reserved two months in advance with them. Showed up and they had NO CARS...talked to a girl online who was nice and told us that if we rented the same type of car for the same period they would reimburse the difference. We did, and now we'll probably have to take them to small claims to get them to honor the deal. If they hadn't made that offer, we would have just reluctantly taken our personal car on the trip, but we trusted them..stupid us!

Two weeks ago, on our trip to Europe, we rented a car from Avis at the Munich airport. Upon receiving the car, the paperwork showed no damage. The cars are picked up a fair distance from the desk in a poorly-lit multistory garage. There is no attendant at the location you pick up the car. We walked around the car and it looked fine. We returned it back a week later and within 15-seconds of us stopping, the lady who received the car identified a chip on the windshield. The chip is the size of tip of a ball-point pen. How do I know? The letter identifying the damage has several pictures attached and is using a ball-point pen to point to the damage. The repair charge is 750 Euros. My complaint is two-fold: 1) as a driver, I would definitely notice a rock hitting my windshield especially if it causes a damage. I had no rock hitting any part of the car. Further, the speed with which the attendant zoomed on the tiny chip on the windshield leads me to believe, she knew it was there. 2) let's assume for the moment that the damage occurred while the car was in my possession. 750 Euros for damage of this extent is excessive beyond belief. My conclusion is that not only Avis will not repair it, they will keep it ready for the next customer to hit them with the same "damage".

With the holiday’s approaching I want to share my experience. Although my car rental was related to an auto accident Avis Budget Car Rental, Llc. Requested my bankcard for a minimal deposit until the insurance could be verified. Having failed to either contact us to verify information provided on the claim, or bill the insurance company properly four months later a charge of over $400. Was applied toward the bankcard using the same authorization number from the date in which the deposit was made.

After contacting Avis Budget Car Rental, LLC., customer service department about the matter, I was made aware that not only did Budget fail to handle billing correctly, but they overcharged by a whopping 5 days.

The representative kindly adjusted the bill, which zeroed the balance out, right? Not so, I was reimbursed by the insurance company as expected, but another four months later this past October, Avis Budget’s 5 day overcharge was re-applied to the bankcard using the very same authorization number. Although Avis Budget has a contract with my auto insurance carrier in eight months not one of their representatives attempted to contact us to verify the information on insurance claim.

Adding insult to injury although the overcharge had been previously adjusted, and the date of the rental’s return is verifiable Avis Budget Car Rental, Llc. Representatives have refused to re-adjust the bill, or forward the matter to their corporate office for resolve.

Has this happened to anyone else? I’m seriously considering looking at filing a class action. I rented a car from Avis through Hotwire, and when I went to the counter, the agent kept trying to “up sell” me on everything but I said no. When she was going through the options, she either showed me on the form how much the insurance would be and I said no that’s ok, and then she gave me the form to initial.

I asked her why it said $105 instead of the $52 that I paid through Hotwire and she said they didn’t know how much I paid through Hotwire but that was the Avis charge in their system and that I would only have to pay what I paid Hotwire. Well, when I went back a few days later to return the car, I saw they’d charged me this same $105. I couldn’t figure out why, and so I disputed the charge.

They took off a $15 charge for going over the time – the manager said even though I brought it back at the contract time, I picked it up an hour early so they should have adjusted my return time, so he waived that fee. But I was talking about the whole thing, not $15. The manager shows me where I had allegedly agreed to insurance at a cost of more than I paid for the car – $90. (I realized that this $90 plus the $15 equals the $105 initial payment I saw, which makes the initial $15 “late” charge also suspect, unless they knew somehow I’d bring it back “late.”)

I explained that the agent either circled that herself when she was showing me the options or circled it after I signed because I have never in my life purchased insurance for a car rental since I have my own. We had just gotten a rental car the other day and also declined the insurance. I did notice that Enterprise (the rental company we got a car from a few days prior) also tried to up sell us on options and even asked what my deductible is, like he was trying to scare me into buying the insurance. I’m thinking this must happen a lot.

These guys are a serious bunch of thieves. I was hit from behind and the evidence they have at hand is quiet clear to whose fault the accident was. However, at the time of the accident, AVIS collected information from the third party to the accident and somehow managed to pay the third party out even though she was at fault. Now they expect me to pay the insurance excess. I personally suspect either some sort of internal fraud to favor certain people or simply staff fraud who make a commission from paying out wrong claims. (BRIBERY at its best i guess)... complaining doesnt help, because obviously they dont care about customer service. Personally, i think its because we continue to support these thieves and they make enough business. i wish someone would investigate these guys. or perhaps publicize these acts to a point where they start feeling the pinch... I will as of this point never support these clowns again.

I rented a Nissan Altima for a 4.5 hour long trip. The vehicle started making a dreadfully loud noise the day before the trip ended. On the way home, I contacted Avis because the car had eaten 1/4 tank of gasoline in 43 miles. I explained that I had to keep stopping, and it didn't seem dangerous enough to contact the emergency roadside number. When I returned the car 45 minutes late, I was charged a late fee, and I had paid 75.00 total on gasoline. The car should have been able to do the entire trip on one tank of gas. The representative ended up charging me more than the amount I was scheduled to pay, after presenting a coupon initially at pick up. I saw this complaint site and felt discouraged. I called Avis, who submitted the complaint but I didn't think I would obtain resolution, after it was already charged to my credit card. A week later, the company sent me a letter to inform me of a fair refund, and I will continue using the company for that reason.

Heads up when you rent a car from Avis, I just had a bad experience and was overcharged by $110.00

I had to do an upgrade because they didnt have a mid-size available as requested through Hotwire, but 5 dollars a day turners into 7 a day after all taxes and I was also tricked into getting a vehicle protection that I specifically declined. Contract was never explained to me and customer service was the worst I have ever came across. Car was nice and clean, however stay away or triple check all new charges and contract, this Avis is located at Atlanta Int airport.

I recently had to make use of an Avis rental vehicle when my vehicle went in for damage repairs. My insurance company made the arrangements and the vehicle was delivered to Ger-Matic Panelbeaters in Silverton.

I used the vehicle for a week and on the 31st March and I notified the call centre that they must pick up the vehicle between 16:00 and 16:30 at the same premises it was delivered to. I arrived at Ger-Matic at 16:00 after which the receptionist called the CSIR branch to notify them that I was there and that they can come and collect the rented vehicle.

I took delivery of my own vehicle and moved my personal belongings to my own vehicle. I then inspected the vehicle inside and out to make sure everything was in order which it was. I waited for their driver until 16:45 and then handed the keys to the receptionist at Ger-Matic. At 17:10 I received a call from a lady at Avis informing me that tere was damage to the rented vehicle. I was shocked by this allegation as I knew that I have inspected the vehicle before I left and there was nothing wrong with it. My questions: Why were they not there when I picked up my vehicle? & Their logo 'we try harder' to do what!?