Avis Reviews 

Ineffectual company. The electric car I reserved from Heathrow did not have a cable to hook up to household plug - all other electric cars I've hired previously have - was told this was standard package and told me to reserve another car. I was standing at the counter! When challenged, the employee said he could book over the counter. Time passes. I had to extend the reservation and have spend the entire morning being bounced around the various Avis reservation numbers only to be told I need to talk to the Heathrow Avis location directly. All numbers they gave me either push me back to the Avis central reservation or don't work. The last number they gave me which is a mobile number to the Heathrow Avis location in 'unavailable'. So now I'm faced with driving all the way up to Heathrow - a long way - because there are no local Avis locations - just to extend the reservation - at my own cost! What is wrong with this damn company?!

Terrible - border line criminal as with most of these car hire companies.

Turned up to no car despite having checked in ahead of time and done the express pick up option! Had to come back a couple of hours later which wasnt easy at an airport.

Car was good - dropped it off and they managed to find a chip that wasnt there previously. About 5 mm I'd estimate - how much do you think it cost? Over a £1000.

Luckily I have third party insurance so hopefully that will cover it but i have no idea how these companies are allowed to operate in this way.

Booked for Inverness Airport
Booked months in advance
Did all the pre requisites as advised
Car not there when we checked in at the airport. Left waiting for an unacceptable amount of time . Car dirty when finally arrived. Have contacted Customer Services to complain who are refusing to give me complaints department contact . Won't book with them again.

Car hire in USA , They take no responsibility for their errors and and nobody knows what to do when this happens when you make calls to try and sort their errors it cost over £70 pounds when you ask for a managers no one can tell you who they are when you get back home uk and make a complaint all you get it’s all sorted Now no refund for call even with evidence you made these call all you get never mind 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Be aware, fraudulent practices. The company offers a favourable rates, collects personal data and declines a transaction with a message: Sorry, this rate isn't available online right now. Please call 0808 284 0014. (EX016)

I am really disappointed in AVIS, and post this as a WARNING to OTHER TRAVELERSthis, as I was the victim of an additional charge I neither wanted nor asked for.

How this works, is when you go to the desk, the guy will mention he is adding a service to your booking, what he neglects to do, is tell you there is a charge to this.

Its happened twice now, however, the first time I caught it, when in August last year, the sales representative at the desk told me he had added the toll pass to my booking, 'to save me getting fines', it was not until I asked if there was a charge for that, that he said it was $70. I asked him to immediately remove the toll pass, he never mentioned it prior to putting it on the booking.

This time, they added additional roadside assistance onto my booking, but neglected to tell me that there was a cost of $141.46, as if he had been clear a charge was being added, I would not have agreed to it.

This sort of sales practice is abysmal from a company as large as Avis, and I cannot believe they are allowed to simply add things to your booking without explaining that such a thing comes with a charge?

Unfortunately, In this instance I did not see the charge added to my booking, I do believe this is nothing more than an elaborate con undertaken by staff on unsuspecting travellers coming in on the back of being travelling for over 16 hours and not meticulously going through their paperwork, and on the part of travellers, relying on decent, honest people being upfront about charges and costs.

I did challenge it, however, Avis / Argus car hire, both 'conveniently' pointed out that the conversation happened at the sales desk, and that it was my word against the sales reps as to how he added the fee.

I WOULD TELL ALL CUSTOMERS TO AVOID THIS SCAM TO ASK THE SALES REP IF HE HAS ADDED ANY ADDITIONAL FEES BEFORE GIVING THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS - RECORD THE CONVERSATION ON YOUR PHONE OTHERWISE ITS YOUR WORD AGAINST THEIRS.

Very sad practice, and something I am leaving a review to stop other weary travellers of becoming victims too.

My wife and I had an appalling experience renting from Avis whilst travelling to Northern Ireland with our young child. We faced a significant surcharge upon collecting the car, paying almost three times as much as we had agreed! What is more, the Avis employee who regaled in demanding this from us at the front desk could not seem to find the relevant information in the terms and conditions to specify why in fact we had to pay this. We were given a customer service number to call, which was out of hours (since it was a Saturday) and left to feel completely helpless in an awfully uncomfortable situation with a toddler in tow. Needless to say, this has never happened to us with any of the other rental car providers we have used, so please beware if you are considering using Avis... The Northern Ireland customer service department have since circumvented my questions to do with this and no longer reply to my emails. I would advise you not to get into the same situation.

I have always used a competitor company however I shall always use Avis/budget the experience I had at East Midlands airport was simply the best. Vartan at reception could not do enough for us he was extremely polite has superb customer service qualities. Very professional. Simply the best b

Misleading, deceptive and predatory behaviour at Avis UK at Heathrow Airport.

I booked and prepaid for my rental in advance. At pickup, I asked whether switching from a manual to an automatic would cost extra and was told there would be “no difference in price.” No additional charges were explained to me during pickup or signing and I was not informed that I was being “upgraded”

Only upon returning the car was I presented with a total price almost double the amount of my initial prepaid booking. When I questioned it the staff informed me there was nothing they could do after the vehicle had been returned and told me to contact support instead.

Concerningly while I was there another customer beside me at the desk was disputing a very similar issue involving undisclosed upgrade charge which suggests this is far from an isolated incident.

Overall, the process felt extremely misleading and poorly communicated. I would strongly recommend against anyone hiring through this location.

Would rate 0 stars if I could.

It should be zero stars but you have to select at least one. My daughter and son in law were left waiting for the day for their car to be picked up in Panzano Italy. It had a flat tyre. Apparently it couldn’t be fixed on the side of the road and we have to drive them to Florence to pick up a new car. Apart from the pickup being late the idea that we have to drive to Florence and back, a 2 hour round trip, is ridiculous. This is after the AVIS online reporting would not accept the car registration of their own car and both emergency numbers provided by AVIS did not work. This is awful service.

From/To London Gatwick South Terminal Very efficient pickup, friendly helpful staff.
Car was an "upgrade", in that it was larger, but I'd have been happy just to get what I paid for.
The car was fine except the clutch was worn and juddering, and the screen wash was empty.
Neither a big deal.
Returned car, not waiting, again very efficient and friendly staff (Davide in particular).
Mentioned the issues with the car and was very apologetic and quick to resolve.
5star service 3star car; but issues were resolved.

Arrived in Bordeaux to be met with a half an hour queue, as 2 people manned the Budget/Avis desk. No quick pass desk open, no key collect kiosk. What is the point of being a preferred customer? Car was soiled with a recent rear seat stain. The supposed full tank showed 750km however when I filled it for return it showed 850km.. No one to receive the car on return, one person manning the desk, so no handover. Not impressed at all.

I have rented from Avis five times and spent £1,500+ with them. On my most recent rental I asked the desk representative directly what fuel level I needed to return the vehicle with. He told me clearly to return it with "a little bit" in the tank and confirmed I did not need to fill it up. I followed that instruction, stopping at a petrol station before return to put fuel in.
Avis then applied a penalty charge that doubled the cost of the fuel. When I disputed this, pointing out that I had followed their own employee's verbal instructions, they refused to engage with the misrepresentation issue and simply repeated that the written contract required a full tank.
I received no callback despite being promised one within 48 hours, and the full disputed amount was taken from my account before any resolution was reached.
I have now filed a formal complaint with the BVRLA and initiated a chargeback with my bank. I will not be renting from Avis again.

They tried to overcharge when we collected the car (by about £350) and we really had to argue hard to get them to change it. After we returned the car, they then put through unauthorised charges on our credit card which they’ve not yet justified. If we get no response we will dispute it through the credit card. Terrible company!!

I cancelled my booking for car rental in time after departure of my flight and have not received my refund as stated by Avis in writing that it'll be paid within 7 days. I have been in touch several times and with trawler.com the car rental broker who say thats refund payment is between Avis and me. I will contact my bank for visa charge back!

Avis customer service. Waits of over an hour. Staff often unapologetic and unhelpful. (my deposit was not refunded, my bank had to draw back the money)

They didn't check the car at drop-off and waited until I left the office (and arrived at the airport) to inform me of damages, (which had already been present on the car and signalled on the contract) - subsequently charging me 300GBP.
A car rental classic con. Never again.

Overcharged - charged twice by Avis for additional driver at Kefalonia Airport, Greece. Avis counter staff were rude and unhelpful and refused to sort it out despite acknowledging I had been double charged. Only a small amount of money but why do car rental companies like Avis always seen to overcharge?

I had a terrible experience with Budget/Avis at Southampton Airport. I arrived 3 hours late for a prepaid booking. Despite the car (MG ZS, LB75SDO) being available in the parking lot , the agent refused to honor my original voucher just to force me into a new, significantly more expensive contract. The agent explicitly lied to me, stating that the "Fuel Up Front" option (£97.60) would be partially refunded if I returned the car with fuel left in the tank. Based on this verbal promise, I signed, but the contract terms actually state no refunds are given for unused fuel. They took advantage of the fact that I was traveling with my family and needed to start our trip. I ended up paying £387.70 for a rental that should have cost half that amount. Pure exploitation of customers in a stressful situation. Avoid this location!

They charged me extra when i picked my car up and told me it was a security deposit. They then refused to pay me ot back and said it was for multiple extras. I got scammed into paying for additional things i did not need.

Stay clear of these!