Budget Italia Avis 

I am extremely dissatisfied with my experience with Budget.

At pickup, we were promised winter tyres as a bonus. However, the car was parked in heavy rain, and since we were managing children and luggage, we did not immediately check the tyre condition. Later, we discovered the car had summer tyres, which is completely unacceptable given the conditions and our planned trip to the mountains.

Additionally, the fuel tank was only partially filled, which we noticed later due to an unusual and unclear electronic display. Attempts to contact the company were unsuccessful — they did not respond to calls or emails.

We had purchased full insurance through DoYouItaly specifically for safety while driving in mountainous areas. Due to the inappropriate summer tyres, the car slipped slightly at one point, resulting in a minor scratch on the rear bumper — something that could easily be polished.

We returned the car early in the morning outside office hours. No one contacted us regarding the damage. Then, exactly one month later, AVIS (their parent company) charged approximately €500 to my credit card without any prior notice.

When I contacted them, they simply sent a document stating the charge was for the scratch and claimed they were not required to inform me before taking the money.

The most concerning part is this: I had only 30 days to file a claim with my insurance, and they waited exactly that long before charging my card — effectively preventing me from using my insurance coverage.

This feels highly unethical and deliberate.

Now I am left in a situation where:

the rental company has taken the money without proper communication,
and my insurance is no longer valid due to their delay.

I strongly do NOT recommend this company. This experience felt like a calculated scheme rather than fair customer service.

Horrible horrible. My flight was canceled less than 48 hours before my pickup, and I rescheduled to arrive a day later. I made multiple attempts to contact you in advance—by phone and email—just to inform them of the delay. I wasn’t asking for a refund or discount, even though I would use the car for one day less.
Despite this, no one responded or helped. When I arrived, I was simply told I was a “no-show,” and nothing could be done. This was very disappointing given the effort I made to notify them.

Ladri..consegna avvenuta di notte..purtroppo non sono riuscita a fotografare bene tutti i danni dell auto consegnata,e al rientro mi hanno addebitato 365,00€ per un piccolo graffio sulla plastica nera del paraurti,considerandolo grande danno..sono dei ladri.ATTENZIONE,altre compagnie sono molto più serie,non fidatevi di quei ladri maledetti budget

We have travel to Italy every year for the last thirty years and on each visit, we have booked car hire for the duration of our stay. This experience has given us, we believe, a realistic expectation of the process of car hire.

No one will ever look forward to the experience of renting a car. The companies are in a price sensitive market and competition is high. Additional charges are always the norm and you know you will never pay the price quoted and rarely feel that you have had a good deal.

The staff have a difficult job and they have to deal with people stressed from the experience or expectation of a flight. They are also incentivised to increase income and we have become immune to the whole process. “Let the duel begin”, is usually our motto.

It is with this context that I offer my review of Budget Car Hire at Naples Airport. My advice is never, ever use them. If you are unsure, stop, pause, think about it and then go book somewhere else. There are people who hang around in dark alleys outside houses of ill-repute at 2am who you could probably trust more. Whatever incentives they publish on-line or whatever price that they quote, never believe anything they claim. They are merely a trap for the unsuspecting.

I would suggest that the experience of sticking a fork in your own eye would be less painful than renting from these charlatans. Actually, pouring petrol on your own genitals and standing close to a naked flame would probably leave you with less of a sense of pain or trauma.

The staff approach a returned car rather like hyenas who have spotted a wounded wildebeest. They sniff, probe and test for any sign of weakness and imperfection. I believe that should they not be able to find anything else, then they would insist that the windows were more transparent then when you collected it and charge accordingly.

I was already disappointed with Budget when I saw the added costs to the price quoted that were added from that quoted on-line when I collected the car two weeks previous. When I returned it, there was a slight indent on the passenger door on the drivers side. It looks like it was done by a door being open onto it by another car. It was the size of a chickpea - a very emaciated one at that. We believe that it was in the photos that we took but we were told that there was too much glare to see - Oh, what a fool I feel not to have booked and attended a professional photography course before my holiday. On our return, we were given excellent advice on how to best photograph dents and from which angle and the need to make a video with the picture quality of a cinematic masterpiece before driving away. All good advice that would have actually been quite useful when we actually picked it up rather than upon return.

All the time they are wearing you down for the kill and the charge that will exceed the national debt of Brazil for a small dent that will require the attention of a Formula One mechanic to repair it who has been specially flown in by private jet (I can only assume that is why it costs so much), the Budget team will tell you that “We are trying to help”, they really should add “….. to charge you more money”.

Genuinely, if you ever are in a position that your only option is to use Budget Car Hire at Naples Airport, please, please, please, I beg you either hire a donkey for your stay (at least then you get more good humour and patience than when dealing with the average car hire company employee) or organise a loan from the World Bank in advance of your trip.

I do not often do reviews but firstly, my therapist said it would help me and, secondly, if this serves to help others to avoid the descent into bitterness, self-blame and angst that I have encountered from using them. I consider that should this review help to stop only one person making the same mistake as me, then I can feel that I have done some good in this world.

Dear Reader, should you have been so kind and patient as to read this far into my review I can only add that renting from this company, no matter how good a deal you feel that you are getting, the money that you save will never be more than the cost of the therapy required after the experience.

For those who feel they still wish to rent from Budget Car Hire in Naples, I can only say that I admire your courage and that it was on such daring that great empires have been built. I salute you.

I suspect that one day some archeologist working on Pompeii will find a figure with a clenched hand holding a wooden tablet on which it is written, ‘Vesuvius do your worst, I have used Budget Cart Hire what greater tragedy could befall me?’.

It was good service and everything went quickly and well in Rome ciampino apt.

Pésimo servicio. Hicimos una reserva por booking. La señora del mesón (pelo blanco y corto, ojos pintados verdes) nos dijo que teníamos que esperar 3 horas, sin embargo si le pagábamos el triple an ella, nos pasaba un auto de inmediato. Le preguntamos por qué, y según ella así funciona el sistema, incluso si reservan por la página web directa pasará lo mismo, siempre esperar 3 horas a menos que quieras pagarle a ella. Nunca más confiar en esta agencia!! Luego fuimos a noleggiare y todo perfecto

I rented a car for a business trip, using Booking as the reservation platform.
I booked a compact automatic SUV as I need to drive around 600-800 km a Week.

A very rude staff hanlded my pick up at the Linate airport.

In spite of the car category, htye insisted to provide me a city car. I was handed over a dirty and very old car, way below the category I booked. I complained twic and then was haded over a city car of a better category. For the transition I was charged 18 euro, I found out later from an email communication.

I had to hear comments from another woman on the car category on women not needing a car anyway.

I have cancelled several meeting and now will forever avoid Budget,AVISand Maggiore as they share same staff.

My business trip is ruined and will not really consider long term renting again.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS, SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICES

I have rented a car through Booking.com for a total and final cost of €55 with no additional charges.
The original rental period was from 10:00 AM on February 6th to 3:30 PM on February 7th.

At your Linate Budget agency, I was told that:

I would receive a category upgrade at no cost to me.

I could keep the car until 10:00 AM on February 8th, having rented the vehicle for two days.

I could have added comprehensive damage insurance for about €20 per day. As I actually did,

To avoid penalties or additional charges, I would have to return the vehicle full.

I returned the car on February 7 at 8:10 PM, early, and with a full tank.

In the end-of-rental invoice, also attached, I was billed the following items:

Rental fees €85.11
Location surcharge €25.11
Vehicle license fee €4.70
Late return surcharge €15.00
Optional services €20.72

For a total of €183.78 (including VAT).

None of the above items correspond to the costs indicated in the contract with the booking portal, nor correspond to what declared when I have rented the car.

pS THEY ARE ALSO LYING ABOUT WHEN I HAVE RETURNED THE CAR

PPS I have written them several emails and they never replied.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS, SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICES

Not even one star, but there's no option to give ZERO... We booked a car through Ryanair (flights and car) and paid in full 45.53e. The car was dropped off on time, keys were left in the box, as per instructions, see photos attached.
The following day we received the invoice 408.87e :
252.53 rental charges, 55.86e location surcharge, 11.75e license fee and 15.00e late return fee.
163.34e was already deducted from deposit, the amount due is 363.34e.
We are renting cars quite often - 5,6 times/year, nothing similar ever happened to us...

Ho nolegiato mediante RyanAir. PROBLEMI:
1) Il sistema web ha cambiato in modo arbitrario il drop-off da me scelto (da BS a BGY), senza avvisare. Allo sportello Budget mi è stato quindi palesat oun costo aggiuntivo di 100 € per lasciare l'auto a BS.
2) Mi hanno addebitato unilateralmente 13€ di benzina, sulla base del 63km percorsi, pur avendo consegnato l'auto 1,5 giorni prima del previsto e con il carburante FULL. Per evitarme avre dovuto dimostrare l'avvenuto rifornimento, ma nessuno mi ha avvisato.

Budget Naples, there was no one at the car rental lot, we had to take care of everything ourselves. We took pictures and videos of the whole car, but somehow we missed a little scratch on the passenger mirror. It was very obviously an old scratch. They managed to be there when we dropped the car off and completely lied, said we did it, when it was obvious that it had been there for months. They are still putting charges on our card several days later. They are frauds, liars and cheats. Disgusting.

Un furto. Guasto tecnico all'auto ricompensato con un addebito finale sul carburante (avrei dovuto restituire il pieno, mail guasto ha anticipato la riconsegna e guastato i piani). Da 45 euro previsti a 197 euro. Nessuno ha nemmeno accennato ad un risarcimento in qualsiasi forma.

Budget at Trieste airport. They have not returned my deposit amount back after 28 days. I have been calling and calling and calling nobody answers, sending emails, nobody replies. They told me then that my deposit should be send back after 7 days but after 28 days still nothing. They have no one when picking up the car or returning the car to confirm the condition of the car. The document they give you which supposedly showing the condition of the car is barely understandable. It is so small you are not sure if the damage you see on the car is actually on the document. You have to go all the way back to the counter inside the airport to confirm with the guy and show him the video you took. Otherwise they might think that you did the damage. It is ridiculous.

Absolutely agree with the other terrible reviews. Downright dishonest. Lying about the time I returned the car to charge me an extra day. Lying about refuelling the car. Lying about damage to the car. They should be in jail.

Prenatata vettura Jeep Avengers con Cambio automatico.
Consegnata dkoda Fabia con cambio manuale. La ragazza allo spertello ha detto che era cambio automatico.
Ho firmato un foglio ci scritto: vettura bianca, ma era grigia.
Prenotazione 623198448.
Oltretutto è stata esplicitamente richiesta la vettura con cambio automatico per problemi alla gamba sinistra!
Un'indecenza!

Numero di prenotazione: 33529226IT3
fatta tramite booking e nonostante sia stato fornito il nominativo del conducente risulta il nome della nostra società presso l'aeroporto di Pisa ci rifiutano il noleggio di 3 giorni pagato in anticipo 109 euro poichè a loro non risulta prenotato a nome di persona fisica. Mi chiedo perchè allora approvare una prenotazione che non è consentita con nome fornito e tra l'altro il nome del conducente corrisponde allo stesso che ha eseguito il pagamento titolare della carta di credito. TRUFFATORI NATI. Fatto nuovo noleggio alla modica cifra di 280 euro + 109 euro perse.

Budget in Cagliari recalculated the cost of a 2 day hire when I returned the car. I had booked online in the UK directly with Budget. The revised price was £36 more than quoted. They insisted on charging this as that is what the computer said. There was no valid reason. We had a long debate about this in the airport car park, which unfortunately held up others. I won’t be using Avis-Budget again. It’s a racket.

Abbiamo noleggiato un veicolo a Napoli aeroporto, servizio di consegna e ritiro davvero super rapido e personale molto cordiale! Consigliato

Sono dei ladri!! ci hanno derubato di 365 euro riportando dei danni alla macchina non causati da noi!! Alla consegna dell'auto non c'era nessun operatore e un mese dopo, dopo aver già riscattato i soldi, hanno inviato foto di un danno piccolissimo non causato da noi! Essendo il danno piccolo e in un punto della macchina scomodo non rientrava esattamente nelle inquadrature delle foto che abbiamo fatto quando l'abbiamo ritirata all'arrivo quindi non abbiamo prove per contestare!! Ladri !!

I'd give zero stars if I could! Firstly, this was Budget from Bari booked through Ryanair. Budget bombard you with emails and phone calls, ostensibly to speed the pick up process but really trying to sell you insurance and breakdown cover. The pick up process at Bari was diabolical, despite having completed all the online forms and the phone call. Queues were terrible, and this was late September !
Now, as it was an out of hours key drop return, they're trying to stitch me up with damage charges ( luckily my videos and photos should put paid to that!) and additional hire charges - for which I paid Ryanair in full.
What a shambolic mess.
Avoid them like the plague and don't believe any positive reviews you read.
I've hired dozens of cars from airports all over the world and this was the worst experience by a very long way.