Guest reviews
Overall rating
7.4
Good
Based on 4,538 reviews
Overall
7.2
Cleanliness
7.5
Comfort
7.6
Pickup/dropoff
7.0
Value for money
7.2
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Budget car rental prices in Chicago
| Economy | £29/day |
| Compact | £30/day |
| Intermediate | £31/day |
| Standard | £28/day |
| Full-size | £34/day |
| SUV | £41/day |
Pros
"Car was nice and clean"
(in 595 reviews)
"Staff was friendly and helpful."
(in 215 reviews)
"Nice car, good value, ."
(in 444 reviews)
Cons
"the customer service was terrible."
(in 242 reviews)
"Pickup took over an hour."
(in 57 reviews)
"We don't have credit cards."
(in 99 reviews)
Recent reviews
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car was clean
car was great
great car
return the car
car available
took minutes
great service
great experience
friendly staff
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9.2
Pros: Close to airport. Use toll reader as most freeway are toll in Chicago area.
Cons: Windshield wippers streaked.
review from
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4.4
Will not use Budget again.
Pros: The car was clean.
Cons: One bus for both Avis and Budget from ORD. The bus was over capacity. I counted. Arriving at the rental counter, the line went out the door. It took 1 hour to finally get to my vehicle. Budget is far behind other rental car companies — I imagine not much has changed over the last 25 years. Because of the overcrowded situation, it took longer to exit the facility as well - this was not helped by the fact there was only one attendant. Wait was an additional 25 min to just drive out of the lot. Will not use budget again.
review from
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3.6
Horrible staff
Cons: The line to pick up my car was over one hour in a hot humid building. I could see multiple staff chatting with each other while dozens of customers were waiting. When my turn came, they tried to upgrade me to an SUV by charging an extra $60 per day for a total of $297 for two days. I said this was not a reasonable price but they wouldn't listen. I finally cancelled my original reservation and made a new one on my phone for $94 for a bigger SUV for two days. If they had just talked nicely with me, I was willing to pay up to $150. You guys left money on the table and irritated me. I will go back to renting from National. Rosa should not be in a customer facing job. She was very unfriendly, slow and didn't smile once. I realize hiring good people is difficult but she is just in the wrong job.
review from
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8.0
Extremely long wait to get our car
Pros: We appreciated the rental agent, Maury. He was very professional and helpful.
Cons: Didn’t like that it took 1 hour to get the car. There were 25 people in line ahead of us.
review from
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2.0
Cons: Wouldn't rent to me so I went with Avis at a different location.
review from
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4.0
No Cars Available
Cons: When we showed up at the Budget counter there were no cars available. We were told that they were “on the way”. An hour later I was told that my car was ready. I filled out the paperwork, but the car was not ready, it still needed the gas tank to be filled. So we waited again for the car to arrive with gas. The people were nice, but the delivery of the product was bad.
review from
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7.6
comfortable and economical car, acceptable cuising performance
Pros: We had a good car that proved very comfortable for what was a long journey, from Chicago to Newark in 8 days, with a few days stopped off here and there on the way. Fuel consumption was very good, particularly for a car in the USA (albeit a Korean one): 50mpg was pretty typical going a steady 60-70mph. Luggage space was very good. Budget was very amenable to our changing the drop-off location from Boston to Newark, at no additional cost (one-way rental cost already paid).
Cons: We had to go for a one-way rental, which gave a very much more expensive per-day price for the car, particularly for a short rental of 8 days. Notwithstanding this expense, it was possible to get a one-way rental and it was, if anything, less expensive than other suppliers.
review from
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5.6
Cons: Over 45 minutes in line to pick up the car
review from
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2.4
Worst rental ever
Cons: Waited 45 minutes for a vehicle to be ready even though I had made a reservation weeks in advance. When the car was ready, it was not clean. There were literally dirty socks in it, and it smelled like someone was sick inside. Also, the maintenance lights and the tire pressure warning lights were on. I tried to get the items resolved and the service staff could not clear the warnings but said pressure in tires was fine. They also sprayed the car with air freshener which only helped for about 10 minutes. Never again will I rent from Budget!!
review from
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6.8
Car rental
Pros: Car was new with very cool features
Cons: The car was dirty inside and outside
review from
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6.8
Be careful!
Pros: The car itself - a Hyundai Sonata hatchback- was fine and actually a pleasant surprise.
Cons: Despite telling the agent multiple times that I would fill the car with gas myself before returning it, she charged me the $46 fuel service option. When I questioned her on it, she said it always shows up that way, but if I refuel it, it will just get taken off. That’s a very shady practice in my opinion. When I returned the car with a full tank and asked the woman who checked the car in to remove the charge she did, but she also told me not to accept that next time. It’s an option, not a default, and I should not have had to agree to that.
review from
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7.2
Did what I needed it to do
Pros: Easy pick up and drop off
Cons: Office wasnt clean at pick up location and overall a bit overpriced
review from
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8.0
Extremely long wait to get our car
Pros: We appreciated the rental agent, Maury. He was very professional and helpful.
Cons: Didn’t like that it took 1 hour to get the car. There were 25 people in line ahead of us.
review from
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7.6
comfortable and economical car, acceptable cuising performance
Pros: We had a good car that proved very comfortable for what was a long journey, from Chicago to Newark in 8 days, with a few days stopped off here and there on the way. Fuel consumption was very good, particularly for a car in the USA (albeit a Korean one): 50mpg was pretty typical going a steady 60-70mph. Luggage space was very good. Budget was very amenable to our changing the drop-off location from Boston to Newark, at no additional cost (one-way rental cost already paid).
Cons: We had to go for a one-way rental, which gave a very much more expensive per-day price for the car, particularly for a short rental of 8 days. Notwithstanding this expense, it was possible to get a one-way rental and it was, if anything, less expensive than other suppliers.
review from
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6.8
Car rental
Pros: Car was new with very cool features
Cons: The car was dirty inside and outside
review from
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6.8
Be careful!
Pros: The car itself - a Hyundai Sonata hatchback- was fine and actually a pleasant surprise.
Cons: Despite telling the agent multiple times that I would fill the car with gas myself before returning it, she charged me the $46 fuel service option. When I questioned her on it, she said it always shows up that way, but if I refuel it, it will just get taken off. That’s a very shady practice in my opinion. When I returned the car with a full tank and asked the woman who checked the car in to remove the charge she did, but she also told me not to accept that next time. It’s an option, not a default, and I should not have had to agree to that.
review from
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7.2
Did what I needed it to do
Pros: Easy pick up and drop off
Cons: Office wasnt clean at pick up location and overall a bit overpriced
review from
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4.4
Will not use Budget again.
Pros: The car was clean.
Cons: One bus for both Avis and Budget from ORD. The bus was over capacity. I counted. Arriving at the rental counter, the line went out the door. It took 1 hour to finally get to my vehicle. Budget is far behind other rental car companies — I imagine not much has changed over the last 25 years. Because of the overcrowded situation, it took longer to exit the facility as well - this was not helped by the fact there was only one attendant. Wait was an additional 25 min to just drive out of the lot. Will not use budget again.
review from
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3.6
Horrible staff
Cons: The line to pick up my car was over one hour in a hot humid building. I could see multiple staff chatting with each other while dozens of customers were waiting. When my turn came, they tried to upgrade me to an SUV by charging an extra $60 per day for a total of $297 for two days. I said this was not a reasonable price but they wouldn't listen. I finally cancelled my original reservation and made a new one on my phone for $94 for a bigger SUV for two days. If they had just talked nicely with me, I was willing to pay up to $150. You guys left money on the table and irritated me. I will go back to renting from National. Rosa should not be in a customer facing job. She was very unfriendly, slow and didn't smile once. I realize hiring good people is difficult but she is just in the wrong job.
review from
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2.0
Cons: Wouldn't rent to me so I went with Avis at a different location.
review from
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4.0
No Cars Available
Cons: When we showed up at the Budget counter there were no cars available. We were told that they were “on the way”. An hour later I was told that my car was ready. I filled out the paperwork, but the car was not ready, it still needed the gas tank to be filled. So we waited again for the car to arrive with gas. The people were nice, but the delivery of the product was bad.
review from
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5.6
Cons: Over 45 minutes in line to pick up the car
review from
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2.4
Worst rental ever
Cons: Waited 45 minutes for a vehicle to be ready even though I had made a reservation weeks in advance. When the car was ready, it was not clean. There were literally dirty socks in it, and it smelled like someone was sick inside. Also, the maintenance lights and the tire pressure warning lights were on. I tried to get the items resolved and the service staff could not clear the warnings but said pressure in tires was fine. They also sprayed the car with air freshener which only helped for about 10 minutes. Never again will I rent from Budget!!
review from
Other suppliers in Chicago scored
Where can I find Budget hire cars in Chicago?
3721 North Broadway Street, Budget car hire
