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Budget.com – Contact Us


Hello,

I made a reservation for a one-day rental, to pick up at Palo Alto at 2pm, and return to SFO at 4pm. I was told that this would cost $30. At the facility, I agreed to another $20 for insurance. “You don’t already have liability insurance?” He prattled something about “piece of mind.” As I don’t want to drive without the state-required liability insurance, and I don’t want to be liable for your vehicle, I agreed to about $20 in insurance.

I received a free upgrade, drove around, filled up the tank, and dropped the car off promptly.

Total charges $78.54. I was figuring I’d be out around $50. What happened?

I note you nailed me for “1 HR and 1 DY” though technically I guess I had the car for “2 HR and 1 DY” .. okay, yeah, whatever. $10.

Then, $3.19 sales tax. Okay …

LDW? $18? What’s that? And PAE/ESP/SLI CHG? $23.90? Which of those are insurance and what insurance am I obligated to get when I rent a car?

As it stands, I can not say that I would use Budget again. I feel as if I have been taken advantage of.

Thanks,
-danny

hey say. If anyone wishes to impart some car-renting advice or wisdom, I’m happy to hear. I could publish your message here.

/danny

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Responses

July 9th, 2004

Danny Howard

They eventually got back to me after a long delay, and said they would need me to repeat previous details to them. I wrote them back that I just wanted to know what the acronyms were, and they were basically “insurance.”

Gee whiz.

January 28th, 2006

dannyman

Also, I have really enjoyed my experiences with both Thrifty and Enterprise . . . the latter seems bigger and their employees are always friendly and enthusiatic. But they both squish the expensive “Budget” car rental, in my experience.

So, my wisdom for car rentals is: Budget bad, Enterprise and Thrifty good.

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