Avis Reviews

collected a vehicle from Boston Airport.. the lady that served us was extremely rude and tried to charge us extra and when we asked the question why.. she could not explain and got very angry and started to shake with anger! i have never experienced any customer service like this before.
when we finally went to collect the rental the wires on the front tires where showing and the back seats were hanging out and the van was completely dented - not a straight panel on it. we then had to wait for another replacement and that was not great either, dirty inside and out - dented with a cracked windscreen - the best out of a bad bunch. Avis don't even deserve 1 star..
overall a very unpleasant experience after a long flight.. all in all it added 3 hours after a 8 hour flight.
I will never hire a car from Avis.

trying to get an accurate invoice was almost impossible.
i rented a car in denver usa for 5 days, i ticked the box marked "e mail me the invoice" it never came. so i downloaded the invoice from their web page, $492 dollars it said, on my credit card statment it $945 and same day another payment $200, firstly its almost double what i thought i would be charged, and i work for myself and it was a business trip, my time and expenses are to be charged but i cannot submit my final invoice because the invoice and card statment dont even come close from avis. how can a large company like this not even be able to supply an invoice? or worse they may have taken double what they said they were charging

Its a shame I have to give Avis one star as they are not worthy of any. Absolutely shambolic company who are advertising/mis-selling cars that they do not have, have woeful customer service and don't care about their own loyalty scheme Avis Preferred.
In short, we hired a convertible car to use in the US (San Francisco Airport pick up). We knew we were not guaranteed a particular model but any convertible, however the car we got when we got there was NOT a convertible and they didn't even bother to explain why. When we questioned Avis about this after pick up we were told they had no convertibles available (and admitted they never did) so our only choice would be to return the car. As we were in the US at the time we had no choice but to keep the car (or have the stress of returning, trying to find another company WITH a convertible, get refunds, pay more money out for the new company). We were told at this time that we would need to pick the issue up when we returned the non-convertible at the end of our trip. On returning, the staff in the US Avis office did not care in the slightest and told us we needed to pick it up with the UK booking / customer care team once we were home. Our experience with the UK booking / customer service team was the worst; basically a load of empty promises about refunds of at least 50% of the value for the car rental which they did not go on to fulfil. We were always the ones calling them and were promised updates but never had them, and they just kept blaming it on US Avis teams even though the booking was with them and they are one company. After about two months we were issued with a refund of $400 without any agreement from us, not even a quarter of the value of the rental we took out, and were provided with a rude email from the company to say that their position was final. They are an absolute joke of a company who are seriously breaching rules by advertising cars they do not have, then never giving you your money back. We are now more than $1,500 out of pocket!!! Also we are AVIS PREFERRED customers so expected to be treated better. BEWARE!

One of the worst company I have dealt with in my life.
They have very racist and rude staff who doesn't care about customer experience at all. Availing their service feels like you are at their mercy.

I booked a car from Edinburg for my 4 days long trip (I am carrying an Indian Driving Licence). Govt. rule says that one is allowed to drive in UK for a year from the day of their arrival. I still wanted to be sure so I called Avis and someone picked up and I explained them about the licence and they said someone will call me 3-4 days before the booking to confirm which I wasn't feeling sure about (This conversation felt really rude, it felt like the person was really irritated for no reason).

Final day arrived (No one called me 3-4 days before the booking), I travelled from London to Edinburg and went to their Waverley centre and there persons said they can't give me car because specifically Indian licence (Nowhere mentioned in their TnCs) needs international driving licence and I felt like crying as I already had 800 Pounds worth of bookings done and I asked them before over the call if my licence would work (It was qualifying based on their terms and conditions sent over the mail).
I told them they are intentionally ruining my trip to which they said I should have verified it by calling them (That's exactly what I did). They left us sitting near by road. I remember how bad the whole experience just by writing it here.
After that Enterprise's behaviour towards us and our situation was really amazing and we got car although it was on spot price.

Awful. Rented car from Manchester airport. Had impossible clutch. Drove home and then became unwell with Covid. Rang upward of 10 times with no response. Got a response eventually and told I would be contacted to see what could be done. I sent 3 emails and got no response and I’ve had no call back naturally. Never again.

Never use this company they are untrustworthy

Was given a vehicle that had bad juddering at motorway speeds. Made a call to their assistance hotline, had the car checked out and brought to an alternate branch where a replacement vehicle was quickly arranged. Mike, Darren and Irfan from the Birmingham Airport branch deserve a commendable mention.

The only disappointment was that the Avis customer service hotline is only open between certain times and it is nearly impossible to reach an individual branch, otherwise it would've been a perfect example of service recovery.

Picked up a rental car in Iceland. The car was dark grey and the weather was overcast. I went over the whole vehicle carefully and submitted 15 photos of scratches, dents and windscreen chips in addition to 5 marked on the collection paperwork. Nonetheless when I returned it they found a dent, invisible unless standing at exactly the right angle to see it. It was across the driver and rear passenger door and likely from another car door being opened onto it. Given the state of the bodywork I am strongly suspicious that it was already there but impossible to see given the colour of the car and weather conditions. Absolutely livid to be charged approximately £1000 to repair this (which clearly won't be repaired given the rest of the bodyworks condition). Make sure you take out damage excess insurance! I booked through a broker so have to claim back this extortionate charge via the broker but please get cover because its a clear scam to sting you for extra money.

I rented a car from Avis early this year. I picked up the car late at night which was a brand new car so no damages. Well not that I could have noticed.

A few days later I returned the car and ask to get someone to check everything before I catch my flight. The agent replied that they were too busy to give me one (i was the only customer there) however I insisted to get one but no luck then was told that I will miss my flight if I wait.

Later on that day I received an email notifying me that a new damage (Right mirror casing scratch) was found which I was reliable to pay for the repairs total cost €150

I immediately got in touch with customer service to dispute the fee. To be told by the agent named Dmowski which I quote “I would like to advise you that based on the evidence described above (i.e. the signed contract) we are confident that our position will be upheld.”
I then asked Dmowski to provide me with a proof that the scratch was indeed more than 25mm which is outside of their tolerance.
Since I raised this argument no more responses to my emails total radio silence.

A month later not only Avis charged my credit card the fee but also the amount was higher than quoted.

As I was getting ignored by the complaint department I then decided to get in touch with the European Car Rental Conciliation Service and filed my complaint with them.
They replied within weeks to say that they examined the image of the damage taken by Avis and they noted my comments on the size of the damage. They did not feel the damage exceeded 25mm therefore they requested that Avis considered this. Avis agreed that the damage was not outside of their tolerance, therefore they will refund the charge for damage in full which can take up to 30-60 days. No refund was received after 60 days , I had to get in touch with them to push this.

I strongly recommend that if you can't afford to get their expensive excess insurance do insist to get a check out at drop off because they will take advantage. If you had any issues with them in regards of excess or damages and you strongly believe you are in the right do contact the European Car Rental Conciliation Service and they will be more than happy to help.

Avis sent me 2 emails stating what I needed to provide to pick up a pre-booked car at Belfast International (including proof of address and DVLA evidence of my driving record) . On arrival at the Avis desk I was abruptly told that because I had no doctors certificate of my ability to drive (I am 77), no car would be released. This requirement had not been stated in the emails referred to above. The representative confirmed to me and my partner that a full refund would be provided. A partial refund has been made, less £60. No communication has been received from customer services with an explanation for this. I will never use Avis again.

I tried to phone Avis 4 times at Inverness as I needed to alter my reservation.After 8 minutes of dialing I gave up.What dreadful service and what would happen if you had a breakdown

The very worst company I have ever had to deal with.
They’ve over charged us nearly £400 and refuse to refund us our money back. How is it possible that they can do this?!
Please, please do not use this company!

Do I really have to leave even 1 star?

Shocking.

Not given advice or instruction on how to charge an electric car. (the relevant cards required were not included with the car). Because of this we missed our flight home and had to spend another £250.00 to stay in a hotel.
They were quick enough to ask for feedback, but not so keen to respond to my complaint...

Arrived Heathrow. Despite told shuttle there in 15 minutes it NEVER arrived. We were left stranded for nearly 3 hours. Calls to Avis not picked up. Taxis would not take us.
Finally a kindly airport worker took us in his private car.
Young girl at Avis very pleasant but could not explain why not picked up or calls unanswered. Was all very distressing. We are in our seventies and not what expect after long plane flight.
We have never used avis before and never again.

Avoid at ALL costs.

They over charge and then add "Optional charges" when you complain.

Unfortunately also applies to the USA.

Will walk on glass before using Avis in any form again !!