Budget Car Rental Ireland Reviews 567

Budget Car Rental are the worse company I have rented a car from in 25 years. We collected the car in Faro airport. The car was damaged in a number of places including a small crack in the windscreen. On day 7 of the rental the crack grew to half the windscreen. I emailed Budget Ireland which was the email address on the documentation and never received a reply. When returning the vehicle it was inspected by a member staff who looked at the windscreen and said it was ok. He then inspected the interior of the vehicle and told us there would be a €85 charge as the car would need extra cleaning. The car had sand in it as obviously we were on a beach holiday. I took pictures of same and refused to pay for extra cleaning. The following day I received an invoice for €1074 in Portuguese. I contacted Budget Ireland who told me they could not help and I had to contact the office in Portugal. I checked my bank account and €1126 had been taken from it (unauthorised). I have emailed them with my complaint and photos. I have called them every day for 2 weeks and the phone is engaged. I then checked my bank account and the amount had gone through for €1477. The payment is being disputed with my bank . I will NEVER use this company or Avis again . WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Hired a car from Budget Belfast City via a third-party travel provider. Was incorrectly told to return it an hour earlier than the confirmed, prepaid return time.

Shortly after joining the motorway, the vehicle began rattling over 50mph and emitted a strong burning smell. Pulled over to check — nothing visibly wrong — but the smell persisted. Couldn’t reach the rental desk by phone. The 24-hour helpline connected me to the AA, who then transferred me to a “Duty Manager” who was clearly unprepared and frustrated to receive the call.

Eventually, another location arranged a replacement car, which arrived after about 40 minutes. While that effort was appreciated, the overall experience was chaotic and concerning from a safety perspective.

To make matters worse, an unexplained charge was later applied to the payment card with no receipt or explanation. Two weeks later, Budget has still not responded to the formal complaint — only automated messages. Completely unacceptable.

Updated response (30Jul25):

1. Booking Time Discrepancy:
You state that when booking via a third party, it is important to ensure the correct times are selected. I would like to be clear — the time I booked was correct: 10:00 collection to 11:00 return, and this was confirmed in my documentation. The issue lies not with the booking but with the agent at Belfast City Airport, who informed me the car must be returned by 10:00 or I would face additional charges. Please explain why I was advised this, when my confirmation and payment clearly included the later return time. This is not a third-party issue — it’s a failure of internal communication or training.

2. Vehicle Condition and Contact Issues:
I appreciate that vehicles are routinely checked and serviced, but even a recently serviced car can experience faults — which is exactly what happened here. The car began rattling and emitting a burning smell shortly after joining the motorway, creating a serious safety concern.

What I find more troubling is your reference to contacting your team “should an incident happen.” I attempted to contact the Belfast City Airport desk, the very location I collected the vehicle from, but no one answered — despite the number being listed on all your documentation. If customers cannot reach your teams in an emergency, then that number should not be promoted as a contact point. Please explain this failure in communication.

Furthermore, the AA could not fully assist, which is why they transferred my call to a Duty Manager — who was clearly unprepared to take the call. This is not the level of emergency response I would expect from a company of your scale.

3. Unexplained Charge – M50 Toll Reference:
You suggest the charge may be related to the M50. Could you kindly explain how this would be possible when I travelled from Belfast City Airport to Sprucefield? At no point was I anywhere near the M50 motorway in Dublin. Please clarify exactly what this charge is for, and why no receipt or communication was issued regarding it.

Definitely the worst car rental company I've ever encountered. I'll tell you what happened so you can stay away from these terrible people. I arrived in Belfast with a Rentalcars reservation that specified a security deposit of £1,200 (approximately €1,370). My credit card's monthly limit is €1,500 (which I never used that month), so we were fairly comfortable, confident it would cover the deposit. But no. Through incomprehensible and mysterious charges, the sum rose to €1,600, my credit card was unable to pay, and Budget forced me (since we had already paid for everything: rental through Rentalcars, hotels, etc.—it's a coercion) to take out an insurance policy with them for approximately €200, equivalent to the cost of the entire seven-day rental. My heartfelt advice: stay away from this company.

I rented a small Toyota for three days - the car worked well - but was poor in terms of condition - scratches, dents, damaged tyre, missing door handle etc. The car condition report appeared to show the majority of these (multiple but vague comments around the whole car). Luckily before driving off I took photos of the car - not easy later at night in a multistory car park). On returning the ar the agent questioned a couple of random scratches and a paintwork blemish on the car (from the extensive number of small marks all over the car). When I noted I had photos of the car at pickup these were not re reviewed but the "problem" went away with my deposit returned. Watching the agent carrying out the same process on other returns it is clear the site is trying to boost their income by charging for pre-existing minor damage on old cars (86000km is my case). This is sharp practice at best and I have not encountered it using my usual rental supplier at the airport (Sixt). I would ask avoid this supplier if at all possible.

Terrible! Problems with the car, rang over 25 times to no avail, not even the roadside assistance line picked up so good luck to anyone without breaks down with this lot. Had to return the car as standard things a car has didn’t work. No apology when dropped off. Then given an alternative which was even worse! Got shafted for all kinds of fees and also the tolls back and forth having to return the faulty car. No offer of these being refunded neither! Terrible service overall and a complete and utter rip off. Ruined our stay in Dublin and left us massively out of pocket through no fault of our own. Bunch of con artists at this company.

Your response to my review is laughable. Your team aren’t on hand to help atall, I rang them over 50 times and no one picked up!

Hired car at Dublin Airport but hit with stealth charges when picking up. New car (25 plate) was faulty, no air working in car. Tried for four hours to speak with anyone in company and was met with automated responses from 7 options telling me to write an email.
Returned faulty car in my own time and met with hostility by Budget manager when I tried to explain the reason I was returning vehicle.
Given a downgrade replacement vehicle without a word of apology or even an acknowledgement.
Wrote letter of complaint on our return to England and waited 2 weeks for a response.
Offered 1 day rental as compensation but again the fault was not acknowledged.
Have written back to explain that 1 day's car hire charge as a refund was not acceptable as we had incurred toll charges returning the vehicle and paid for a breakdown service was was clearly non existent.
Have heard nothing back since.
I would avoid using this company like the plague!

I rented a car from Belfast international airport on 28th March. It was a Clio reg number: ***-D-7823. The car was extremely unsafe for the road because the brake disc was severe worn off and was causing grinding noise. I tried to contact the number provided to me but there was no reply. I wanted a full report of the fitness of the car and was given an email address. I received an acknowledgement regarding the complaint and was told will be replied in few days and nothing happened yet. I was very disappointed with the car and am concerned about the safety of other customers if it is further rented our without safety check. I will not use this company again and surely not recommend to any one. They don't care about safety.

We received a rental car that had a crack in the windshield that could not be noticed from the outside and could only be noticed once the windshield wipers started, which they did about 30 minutes into our trip. At the counter they had told us to simply take pictures of any damage and it would be easy to rectify this. We called budget and they instructed us to return the car to Cork Airport where they could get us another. At cork, they commented that dublin had dumped their problems on them and were not joking and treated us as such. They kept insisting on showing us the initial damage report despite us telling them that we already knew that budget had missed the initial damage on the car. They charged us 660 euros to pay for a new windshield that we had not damaged. I appealed this twice and got no favorable response. Budget took the line that because they didn't notice it and we didn't notice it in the lot that we were responsible for it when it was clearly much more likely that good customers like us would not have noticed it until 30 minutes into our drive and that we did not cause it. I would not rent from budget.

It’s was an absolute disaster, I was quoted €59. I knew it was going to be more when I got fully insured but not (€444)then had to get a car seat for €45 which was flirty.

Budget car rental Shannon airport
5 star
Excellent 👌 staff
Professional
No crap talk
Definitely recommend
Will be using again
Thank you girls at Shannon Airport

I recently collected a car from Budget Car rental at Dublin airport. I have to say that the service (or lack of!) I received from 'John' on the service counter in the terminal was appalling. No customer care at all. He threatened to cancel my booking on two occasions just because I questioned the insurance and his reply to my questions. I was calm and spoke politely, but this guy was rude and should not be working in a customer facing role.

TAKE PICTURES OF THE CAR BEFORE YOU DRIVE IT AWAY!!
The photo of the car damage is not accurate and the Dublin Centre shop on Drymcondra Road tries to blame you when you return it. Disgusting!!
Luckily we had photos, with dates and times. The customer should not have to do this. They should check their own vehicles prior to renting them!
Be aware they also provisionally charged you an additional £2,500.00 deposit for excess and collision damage.

We waited for over 1.5 hours to get our booked vehicle in Dublin airport. When anyone books at the airport - they come after a long travel. Its not fair expecting them to wait for 1.5 hours. Very bad service. Long lines and insufficient service personnel. Will avoid budget from now on. Its a big mistake.
edited 02 July: Rented car from Sixt this time and got the best service and a better car! With Budget, its always a struggle as they book one and give another.

Renting a car for 2 weeks (booked via Aer Lingus) on Airport Dublin went smoothly. No hidden costs, no pressure to buy additional coverage/assurance.

I have rented my car from Budget travel at Birmingham airport many times with never any issues, that was until today. I picked up a VW Polo on a wet dull Saturday morning around 8am, guy behind counter said car was new with no damage but as usual I did a quick check off the outside of car although with it raining, being quite dark and with beads of water in the car it was hard to tell but it looked damage free. It was just myself using the car and I returned it this morning back this morning around 4.30am happy I'd have my £300 deposit back in my account within a few days. At 6.26am Budget emailed me saying they were charging me for damage to what seems to be an edging around the drivers milage screen. The few times I drove the car over the weekend I can honestly say I never saw this and I can 100% say it did not happen while I had the car, so it looks like because I didn't inspect this car with a fine tooth comb I'm being charged for the smallest of damage someone else caused that whoever had been inspecting the car last time failed to see. They're charging me £300 for something I knew absolutely nothing about and definitely did not do.. This is without doubt the last £300 they'll ever be getting off me.

I recently landed in East Midlands airport and had booked a car via Ryanair website which I paid in full on arrival I decided to upgrade to electric car which I paid the extra for by card again as I thought it was convenient not having to refuel the guy was really nice and also took the 300 deposit I then got a bill for 45 charging me for charging the car and upgrade just to warn people this company made me sign an agreement and once you sign you are agreeing to them taking extra money so be very aware of what exactly you are paying for as none of this was explained to me :-)
There was no one there when I returned the car to let me know if extra charges just an email whilst I awaited my flight seems once you sign you are giving them permission to take what they want out!There is another car rental place there Avis maybe they would be a better option but make sure everything is explained as I feel I signed a bit of paper not knowing what exactly I was signing and let’s face it if they have to charge you to recharge a car for all it costs I only did 100 miles so they charged 19 to charge it again 🙄please see below quoted via email by budget cars:
Consequently, items that are included on the rental agreement are considered to be contractually accepted by the driver and will not be refunded.
So be very aware you are signing away your rights to absolutely anything they want to charge you!!EDIT: budget cars you have that answer to everyone so your just here sign here and then your covered to take whatever you want out ripping off people except I signed the agreement not the card it came out of :-)

The worst experience with a car rental company

We were supposed to pick up a rental car with Budget in Dublin on Friday @ 5.30pm and the man behind the counter was the worst customer service representative I've ever had to deal with.

We have booked with many different car companies previously including budget and have always done the same thing my partners books and pays for the car and I pay for the insurance when we get there. We've never had an issue before including with BUDGET themselves in Dec 2023 in Kerry. The name is always just changed and we HAVE had brilliant experiences and never had any issues before. The man behind the counter was definitely having some sort of bad day and was ignorant and awkward from the minute I walked up to the counter. Including whispering with the other representative next to him about myself. Both staring and trying to be intimidating. Now I would absolutely would have given him the benefit of the doubt if it wasn't for the poor man behind me that also had issues. The man basically was a 'not my issue' kind of vibe and had nothing in him to try and just help. It was very easy to change the name over and when I rang Saturday morning to complain the man on the phone agreed it could have been just changed and they get it all the time. But he refused blank to help and we were told we couldn't have the car. so we had to hire another car from SIXT who were incredibly helpful. This situation was explained to both them and ENTERPRISE who both agreed he was just being difficult and to be frank an arse to every customer. Both said they all get it and names are just changed over as they have to separately input names for insurance anyway so it makes no difference. Would never use BUDGET again because off it.

We had a very disappointing and stressful experience with Budget Car Rental at Dublin Airport.
From the moment we mentioned using our credit card insurance instead of theirs, the staff at the rental counter became rude and uncooperative. They insisted that no U.S. credit card would cover rentals in Ireland, even though I had already researched this thoroughly. My credit card (Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard) did cover the rental, and I even emailed Budget proof of this after picking up the car.
However, in the meantime, they charged an astonishing $6,200 deposit on my credit card — an amount that seemed completely disproportionatet. While I understand rental car deposits, this was far beyond reasonable and set the tone for the disappointing experience that followed.
The car we were given was in poor condition, with scratches all over and visibly worn tires. Unfortunately, one of those tires blew out while we were driving on a busy highway, heading to the airport. We immediately tried to contact Budget for assistance but couldn’t get through to anyone on any of the numbers provided. At one point, we received an automated message telling us to call AA. We did reach someone there, but they informed us they wouldn’t be able to help for several hours — which, of course, meant we would miss our flight.
We didn’t feel safe on the side of a busy highway with cars speeding by, so we tried calling an Avis number, and someone finally answered. They referred us to a local tire shop, but once again, we were told they could assist... in several hours. When we called Avis back, we were told to abandon the car and take a taxi — which they assured us they would reimburse. Of course, that reimbursement never came, and they later denied ever saying such a thing, despite specifically instructing us to get a receipt and drop it off with the keys.
By the time we reached the rental office to return the keys, we were racing against the clock to catch our flight, and once again, we were met with rude and dismissive behavior from the staff. At that point, we were just focused on getting to our gate.
The weeks following our rental were a complete nightmare as we tried to resolve the situation. Budget held a $6,200 charge on my credit card for three weeks, which was absolutely unnecessary. To make matters worse, they accused us of driving on a flat tire — something we clearly did not do. We were on a busy highway, and as soon as it was safe, we pulled over to address the issue. It was both insulting and completely unreasonable for them to suggest otherwise.
In the end, they added an additional $600 to our final bill to cover a tow and tire replacement Normally, I’d just dispute this with my credit card company and move on, but after reading multiple reviews from others who have had the same experience at this location, it's clear this is part of an ongoing pattern where Budget shifts the blame onto customers to avoid paying for damages. To top it all off, we're also out $170 USD for a taxi and tip, which they failed to reimburse as promised.
I would strongly advise avoiding this location. The customer service was shockingly bad, the car was unsafe, and they take no responsibility for their vehicles or broken promises.

Very disappointing experience. I picked the car the car up 35 minutes early, unfortunately this incurred a full 24 hour additional rental charge! From a customer service point of view I was not advised of this impact by the rental agent. I appealed the charge via their complaints and twice received the same response you signed for it, it's in our terms and conditions etc etc. Well Budget is goodwill, empathy and reasonableness in your terms and conditions. This corporate approach is cold hearted and a complete customer turn off!

This has been the worst car rental experience in a long tine and I travel a lot. From being asked to step out of the line and having to go through the line again because they need a printed letter from the credit card covering insurance to paying 60eu for the rental and 200eu for insurance to then not getting the statement printed or by email. Staff are rude abd not helpful. Never again.