Avis
reviews and complaints

We had booked an SUV type vehicle many months before our travel. (November 17, 2018). Our travel took us to a lot of bad roads exploring the Calama desert so we wanted to be prepared. When we arrived at the airport counter (on time!) there was no car at all waiting for us. The one, single counter person jumped up and said she'll have to go to downtown Calama to pick up our vehicle and would be back in half an hour ( the people behind us in the line were NOT happy). The car that she returned with was a Peugeot 301. 100% a family sedan and not an SUV. The guy who did the check of the car with us kept insisting it may not have been an SUV but it read in the contract "and similar" and there just was no other car at all anyway. Which we knew, considering the one we were given had to be brought in from elsewhere. So we felt forced to take the car. It was a nightmare and basically ruined our vacation! Anyone who has ever driven the dirt roads of the Atacama will tell you it is crazy to drive with a sedan. To get to our hotel we had to cross a riverbed every time! Very, very, very unimpressed!

I was charged an amount for damage after vehicle was checked in without damage.

No proof, no quote, no damage report was sent to me. Absolutely no documentation or proof?

After numerous emails and requests they still charged me and have still not sent any documentation whatsoever.

When I checked in vehicle with no damage they said the for would be sent to me, I have still not received it.

They charged me over R6000 for damage?

I booked a Avis car via CarTrawler six months before my holiday in Italy. I comes with a prepaid voucher where everything is inclusive and you pay nothing at counter. I followed every instructions, but when I arrive at Avis branch at Via Romolo Gessi, it was closed. Panic and desperate, my hotel help me call Avis Piazza Diaz branch. Avis agent get me to sign new rental agreement without telling me she won't accept my prepaid voucher. I asked Ms Stefunau 3 times how much more I have to pay and she said I pay 62Euro more for snow chain and roadside assistance. But indeed, I have signed to pay extra 750 EUROs on top of my prepaid. Ms Stefunau is a lair.

The night after I collected the car, I received and email with new rental agreement. That's when I know I was cheated by Avis. I tried to call Avis Italy, but it ended with a number that is wrong. Every Avis agent I spoke to said they can't do anything. I finally called Avis UK customer complaint centre. A lady with keep saying I have signed the new rental agreement, therefore I pay, pay, pay. When asked why Avis branch at Romolo Gessi was not open, she ignore the question and keep saying I signed the agreement.

I think Avis Italy is a scam. They sell cheap attractive packages and ask you to go to a certain branch. Then the branch is closed, you will rental from another branch at an exorbitant cost.

I have rented cars from other companies like SIXT, and they were 100 times more professional than Avis.

Avis tag line "We try harder". It is better they change to "Avis, we try harder to cheat you"

Avoid Avis at all cost. My holiday in Italy was total ruin by Avis.

You can contact me at [protected]@gmail.com if you want to verify or know more about my story. I have proof.

After reading some of the complaints, I'm actually considering myself lucky with ONLY a 389e charge on my credit card by the time I got home.

The car had been filled to the neck in the gas station beside the airport and they charged me 18r and 17r for service. That's like 2 euro.. would you be bothered? Then time and distance charges, road fund licence, sat nav... an extra day for 46 mins... They are total scammers and I will never hire off them again. So very disappointed in what should be a reputable company.

I travel to Chicago 4-6 times a year. My husband has been a Avis Preferred customer for over a decade. On all of our trips, we declined the use of a toll transponder and pay all of our tolls via cash. Our latest trip, December 21-25, Avis proceeded to charge us for a toll transponder use and all the tolls even though we paid every single toll. All the tolls were manned with the exception of one, where we paid the $0.60 via change into the basket. We paid cash for all. When we contacted Avis regarding this, they disputed it as we did not have cash receipts for any of these tolls and charged us $24.70 for the use of the transponder and service charge for not signing up for the use of the transponder. This is ridiculous. No matter if I get a receipts for each toll paid or pay online after charges are processed via the license plate, Avis appears to have found a way to force you to use their transponder regardless and charge you upwards of 4 times the cost of any toll. If you do select to use their transponder, you have to pay $20 just to use it upfront. Not fair business practices.

Avis cheated us in Malta. They charged us extra for insurance we had not asked for and gave us some unsafe car (tires completely used and brakes not working well at all, car slept on the road and stopped with a couple of centimeters from a wall).
We make sure to never even go with Avis. We have been paying even extra to not rent from Avis anywhere on this planet. Avis enjoy the extra money you pocketed because that's all you will be getting. We have been advising whoever we can to avoid your rental services including Budget and rest of your s**ty services.
Not normal that there are so many complains and governments and not suing these sort crooked companies. If it so... anyone can run a rental company making easy money from people.

We rented a van at the Munich Airport from August 17, 2018 to September 1st, 2018. The Avis Rental agreement number is [protected]. When we arrived at the counter in Munich we indicated that we were sure that our insurance was covered by our Capital One Credit Card. The Agent asked for proof! He said it's very expensive if you have an accident. He kept pressuring us for proof! I asked him if I signed the contract and then received verification from Capital One that I have insurance, would they refund the amount? He said "Yes"! We signed the contract and left. I contacted Capital One and they sent me documentation showing that the rental van was covered. The Email we sent is below:
From: Pearl Giles
Date: Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 10:12 AM
Subject: Need help
To:

Avis Representative:
We rented a van at the Munich airport on Aug 17. Our flight was originally scheduled to land at 12:55 but due to delays it didn't arrive until 5:10. We got to the Avis/Budget counter after picking up our luggage. There was a very, very long line that we waited in for at least an hour before we were seen by an agent.
The agent asked us if we wanted insurance and we said no, but then the agent asked us... "are you sure?", "do you have proof?". Well, I knew we had insurance through our credit card but I couldn't prove it because I didn't have any paperwork. I asked the agent if I could get proof and then contact Avis and get my money back. He said sure. I contacted my credit card company and they assured me that we were covered. I then asked them to email me a copy of the proof. They did but it took 24 hours before it arrived in my email. So then I called the Avis at the Munich airport. The phone rang and rang and no one ever picked up. I called the next day, at several different times and still no one picked up. Today I happened to drive past an Avis location in Garmisch-partenkirchen. The man at this location was extremely nice and very helpful although he could not resolve the issue. He gave me this email, however, and I am able to finally get in touch with you. I am asking that the extra insurance that I paid for be taken off my bill since I already have insurance like I told the man in the first place.
Thank you for your help.
Lynn and Pearl Giles
Rental agreement #[protected]
We would kindly request a refund.

Fraud App...fraud people.. never use avis india ..unless u have lot of money to waste. I booked mercedez benz e class for my travel and at the last monet they said car is not available and replaced with an innova crysta after i paid a total of 39860 INR. NO proper customer care... They say about a 24*7 dedicated line which will never connect your call to any executives..no email reply when they say max time of reply is 4hours. Such a pathetic experience. I called many times and at last i spoke with a person ...still nothing is sorted and please never support this kind of rentals. If u have any doubt about this details you can contact me at [protected]. I have all the call records and the emails i sent with no reply from car rental avis india

Airport of Riga, Lithuania.
Budget Case: [protected]
Rental Agreement: E517568542

16-23 June. During this time a damage has happened to the car.

I have received from rental documents, where both amounts whether paid for the rent (by American debit card XXX 6232) and paid for the damage (by Israeli credit card XXX 5529) were falsely assigned to one Israeli credit card.

American debit card Visa Company provides car rental insurance. My application for Schwab Visa claim for reimbursement of damage money was denied. Schwab Visa claim makes their decision solely on the base of the rental documents, and do not accept any enclosed letters. Thus, they wrote that according to rental documents Schwab debit card was not used.

On 16th, when I took the car, I gave two card and received two receipts, both issued 16.06.
The rent amount of Euro 190, or $ 216.88 was withdrawn from my account at Charles Schwab Bank.
The damage amount of Euro 1310 was withdrawn from my Israeli Leumi Bank account .

During five months, I have exchanged in-numerous letters with the car rental team in Riga and Budget customer support. Nothing helped. Riga claims that their bureaucratic system accept only one card. They gave me enclosed letter with the explanation of the real situation, but it is not what I need. Budget customer support after many promises of help, delays and protractions directed me back to Riga and told that they help only US and Canada.

It is very unfair that nobody wants to help me with such a simple and just request- to receive rental documents with true information.
Victor Steinberg

Date of rental: Oct 6, 2018

Details:
- When I got to the counter the Avis employee checked my details and said I have a full voucher which means I have everything included so he doesn't need my credit card to charge for anything extra.
- While filling in the voucher he said he will give me an upgrade free of charge and yet I see on the receipt that I was charged 10$/day!
- I had a full voucher which had the Personal Accident Insurance (PAI), Personal Effects Protection (PEP) and Vehicle registration Fee (VRF) but Avis charged them one more time doubling the costs.
- I was not given the summary of the rental before signing. The Avis employee just told me to sign there in a hurry cause there was a long line and then head over to get the car. I noticed afterwards that he lied and added surcharges that he hadn't informed and I was unaware of.

Desirable resolution: Full refund of the extra charges.

I called to make a reservation on the phone and was told that the only location that had available cars was at the Stone Mountain location. My credit card was charged for $221.05 however when I arrived to pick up the car I was informed that there were no available cars! I don't understand why I was directed to a location that had no cars available! I was then told I had to wait 48 hr to get a refun! The reason for the rental was to attend my fathers funeral and because of this major mistake I was not able to make it to the family meeting

I went online and reserved a car rental from Avis Rent A Car. I called customer service and asked first about making a reservation and details. I made an online reservation based upon what I was told by customer service. Later that evening, I had to cancel my reservation that was made earlier that morning. I called Avis customer service and cancellation line and was told that could cancel my reservation but my card would still be charged. I disputed this when the representative said it because earlier that day, I was told if I call and cancel within 24 hours, my card would not be charged. Long story short, I asked for a supervisor with Avis and the supervisor promised to refund my credit back for services that were not rendered. I get up Sunday morning, and checked my credit activity online, and noticed that Avis still charged my credit. This has been a total disappointment.

On 8/11/18 I rented a car from Budget. However when booking the insurance was around $275 and a deposit of $400. However the card I was paying with had a collision coverage. Now I had a minor mirror and a scratch to rt. side accident where another vehicle hit the mirror. I was billed $1280. I need an itemized bill what I'm paying for and pic to send yo the claim department. Also a copy of the contract which was not given back to me. I need this urgently. As the company wants to know what mirror and scratch cost $1280. I would appreciate if I could have this resolve without I have to go public. I send a video and pic of the entire vehicle no other damaged was done. $1280 is over $160, 000 Jamaica I already have the vehicle assessed before I leave and the quoting price was no where near that price. Please assist me.

Date of incident 9-20-18
Avis Preferred no. F9X641
Allison Christian
I am writing this letter to bring to your attention that I am not at all satisfied with the level of customer service I received at the BHM airport location. I was thoroughly disappointed in the manner in which I was spoken to at the desk by Ms. Charlene Chastain at approx. 9:00pm on 9-20-18. Upon arrival and request for my car she then POINTED to a update as of Sept 17, 2018 in which a requirement of proof of residency was needed along w/a bill or paycheck stub. I attempted to advise her that I was not aware of that updated procedure I normally reserve via your app and being that I made my reservation on 9-11-18 how would I have been aware of your changes and maybe I should have received an email stating what was needed when I came to pickup would have been helpful. Ms. Chastain totally dismissed me! She then proceeded to tell me to take a picture of the updated policy and leave please and she repeated that several times. Ms. Chastain NEVER took the opportunity to educate me on the new policy she just pointed at the update the lack of training is evident and I have never been treated in this manner at this location. I am a preferred customer and have been doing business with you company for sometime now. I am truly disappointed in the manner in which I was spoken to and how I felt totally devalued as a customer. I was able to get my rental because thankfully Nathan was there when I returned with my updated information he was really helpful and got me in and out with 5 mins. and that's the customer service that I am used to with AVIS. I have come to expect quality service from you company and would like that this manner be addressed with your representative and I get some form of feedback from you all.

Reserved a 12 passenger van for pick up 9.13.18. Had to return van because the electrical system was going out intermittently. Avis rep had 1 more van ..needed to exchange it. When I got there he threw us the keys..said sorry..i.have to go..it needs cleaned..there is the vacuum... then he left.. $1300 to rent this van..opened it up..covered in dog hair, food and someone peed on the back seat! Called avis customer service..they said they could get us another van in 24 hours but that was the only option other than cleaning it ourselves...I spoke to 9 different people..on phone for 1 hr 12 minutes..still stuck with dirty dog haired van and a seat that was peed on.. nothing else they could do..horrible..

In May, I booked a rental car in Toronto through booking.com. The vehicle was slightly damaged while sitting in a parking lot in Niagara Falls. I didn't notice it until I returned the vehicle. There was a small dent on the rear bumper that was about the size of a dime. The agent at the location said not to worry about it that I would not be charged. In July I received a letter from Avis stating that I owed them $750 for damages. They replaced the whole bumper for a little dent. I have been fighting with them ever since. The have even threatened to put me in collections. I feel that they took advantage of me because I am an older lady. My insurance company has paid some but I am left with the balance of $311, which I really cannot afford to pay. I definitely would never recommend this company to anyone. I have read reviews on Social Media and they are all bad. I would like to resolve this by them dropping the claim and not charging me anything. They are very unprofessional.

There is not enough space to detail all that went wrong with this rental agreement so I will keep the details brief. We had a death in the family and were not sure how long it would take to sort out the estate. We booked for 4 months and received a quote for $1757.85 usd. We picked up the car on may 25th and thought we were all good. A month later I received a call from an avis rep stating the car had been sold and I would have to bring it back to the airport for an exchange. I was also told not to forget to fill the gas tank. What? "we will make it worth your while" the rep said. I drove 50 minutes back to the airport on a monday and exchanged a blue elantra for a black accent. I'm not an idiot and knew they down-graded me. I was too annoyed with having to drive back to the airport to ask why. Later that week I took my 8 and 5 year old grand kids to the zoo. It was 34c when we came out and discovered the a/c in the car did not work. We were hot and I was furious. I called the avis 1800 and was told I would have to bring it back to the airport. "oh and don't forget to fill the car up or will we have to charge you", really? No, I wasn't doing that. We drove to an avis location in calgary and the guy told us he had no cars to give us but found another location that did have a vehicle for us. He told us it was about 25 minutes away but it was much closer than the airport. Also told us to fill up the vehicle again! 2 1/2 hours later, because the vehicle wasn't ready, we picked up yet another car. Less than a month later I again received a call from an avis rep to tell me the car needed to come back to the airport for an exchange. By then we decided we could not deal with this anymore and dropped the car off 8/27/18. We were told we would not incur any charges for dropping it off early. We have now paid $1935.70 usd to date and even brought it back a month early. What would we have been charged if we kept it for another month? The quote we received when we booked was only $1757.85. Why are you over charging your customers? Please process a refund of some sort or I will dispute some of these charges with my credit card company.

I traveled to Endicott, NY on May 24, 2018 and left on May 25, 2018 for my mother's burial. I rented a car from Avis Rental at the Binghamton airport on May 24, 2018 and returned it on May 25, 2018. I just received an invoice from Avis that I would be charged over $100.00 for a Parking Ticket that I received while I had the rental vehicle. If I had received the ticket I am sure I would have handled it, however I had parked the car on a city street in a legal parking, other cars were parked in the same area and there was no signage that I had parked inorrectly and there were no meters or payment system. The car was there about 40 minutes, when I returned. There was no notes or any parking ticket under the windshield wipers, but I just received notice that Avis will charge my credit card for the Parking Ticket that I had received. I never received one or was I notified that I had when I turned in the Rental.
I want to see the Parking Ticket, I am sure the authorities have a copy, and I want information on the infraction that the ticket, that I never received, was for.

Tried to book a car online for my UK trip - entered all details, including credit card, and got a message to the effect 'something went wrong, try later'; I tried later - exactly the same outcome. So I booked with a different company (very straightforward). Few days later checked my credit card statement and Avis had charged me for 2 identical rentals - they took the money but I had no record - no email, no booking reference, etc. Tried to contact Avis but their "..systems were down..". So emailed their customer care (haha) people, again and again - all I get are automated replies. 3 weeks later and still nothing. I have reported these transactions to my bank as fraudulent (i.e. unauthorized). As I have no confidence in getting my money back I will find every review opportunity I can to encourage people to NEVER use this company EVER.