Avis Car Hire

We booked a car rental in the Dominican Republic and were charged $742.80 (£585.71). On arrival in Santo Domingo three days later, we were told by the agent that we had not yet paid for the car and had to pay there and then. Having just touched down and with no local phone facility, we had no way to check this and assumed - it's Avis, right??? - that this must be true. We therefore paid again - slightly reduced to £484.30 because we agreed to accept a larger collision damage waiver - added an additional named driver and went on our way. On our return to the UK, we discovered that the first payment had indeed been taken as well as the second. We were charged more or less double the quoted price!

When we approached Avis about this, we were told that the extra payment was an insurance surcharge which we had agreed to and so would not be refunded. This is a blatant lie - we told the Avis agent that we did not reqiuire any kind of extra insurance as we already had a global cover policy of our own. The only possible justifiable surcharge was for the second named driver we added at the airport (and were quite happy to pay for). But this charge, on Avis's own admission, comes to no more than $65 (ie just over £50). The remaining £430 odd has been a simple sham on Avis's part. Whether this is local corruption in Santo Domingo or simply sharp practice on the part of the whole company, I cannot say - needless to say, though, if Avis's quote for the rental had been £530 + £430, ie almost £1,000, we would certainly have chosen another company! And I suspect Avis are well aware of this.

NB - there can have been no confusion in the conversation with the Avis agent here - I am a fluent Spanish speaker and was in the company of two native Spanish speakers, my wife and brother-in-law. We all three concur that we were told our original payment had not been taken, and we all agree that we made it quite clear we did not require any added insurance. Clearly, we have been tricked.)

I left some glasses in the hire car in Calgary and went back for them less than an hour later, I hadn’t even left the airport and they couldn’t give them to me, even though they acknowledged the had them in their possession. I have emailed several times and they won’t entertain emailing where they are. How can you keep someone’s possessions if they are standing in front of the desk less than an hour after dropping the car off. No help at all just a long email giving reason why they are incompetent. Avoid like the plague

I booked a car with holiday autos and paid in full, I picked the car up from Budget/Avis via there shuttle bus, after returning the car and getting home I recieved a made up bill for €349.19 from Budget/Avis for premium top up Insurance I have contacted them over and over but they keep saying I signed for it which is nonsense and I have four witnesses to prove i told them I did not want top up insurance.

I actually have an annual top up insurance which cements the fact that i do not need or want an additional policy for the same thing I will never use holiday autos, budget or Avis again.

We rented and prepaid for a Avis rental car from Nashville airport. As our flight to Nashville was delayed we rang Avis Nashville to tell them we would be 30 to 45 minutes late. They said that was ok and would note our booking.

When we arrived within the extended time for picking up the car, Avis said our booking was cancelled snd though all cars now fully booked they would honour the rental but we had to pay again and this cost 30% more. So we had to pay twice for the same car.

They blamed it on Priceline. But we had called the Avis helpline.

We called Avis help twice. Got through second time and they then transferred us to a supervisor who did not let us talk and hung up on us.

We called again snd was placed on hold for 1 hour 20 minutes or so. We gave up waiting. Will try again.

But watch out with prepaid rentals with Avis!!!!!

I never had a problem with renting a car for Avis. The cars have always be clean and in good condition

I was charged £300 for alleged damages to a vehicle which do not exist! They claimed a small scratch on the underside rubber panel of the vehicle. No repair quote, no repair completed, but an arbitrary charge to me upon return. No response from Avis customer service, they even failed to provide me with a receipt! I had to enquire on the corporate website to obtain an itemised list of charges. Complete rubbish experience!

Booked a Group F car on the Avis website to pickup at Limassol office. From start to finish it was 5 star service. The vehicle was clean and undamaged. The station manager ran through all the paperwork and then gave a quick run through of the vehicle. I was even allowed to extend the rental for one day at a reasonable additional cost and had the vehicle picked up from my hotel on the last day. Well done Avis Limassol!!

However when we checked there was even a small dent in the wing.

While my husband went to the desk to report this I noticed quite a few other customers reporting scratches etc too.

The staff at the kiosk were just standing around and chatting to each other.

I don't think they were interested in reviewing the vehicles prior to the customers taking the vehicles.

We were hiring from Calgary Canada and it's the worst car hire we have ever experienced

Rented a car at Stockholm airport using a free weekend voucher so there should be no charge at all. Was asked to sign the agreement on a tablet and didn't see any extra charges and none were mentioned.

Didn't realise until later that they had added windscreen insurance which they are refusing to refund as I signed the agreement.

So make sure you read through the whole agreement before you sign as I suspect these extras are added deliberately and it is a nice earner for them if you don't notice before you sign!

We had a situation regarding the full tank of petrol. I filled it completely 6 kilometers from Cape Town airport, but was denied any acknowledgement that the tank was full.

Our credit card was subsequently charged for two litres of petrol (68p per lire) and a fee for filling those two litres and a pro-rata of road fund licence for the 12 days hire, something I have never heard of before, totalling approximately £18.

Along with that, three weeks later, the credit card was subsequently deducted approximately £19 for the waiver of a speeding ticket.

Although I have asked the authorities of confirmation of the issue of a speeding ticket, no response has been given. I believe this is because only South African citizens are prosecuted and foreign nationals are exempt.

We have just had another speeding ticket being charged, two months after our return to the UK and once again no one at Avis is responding.

I caution everyone who hires a car in South Africa to obtain a full receipt when the car is returned confirming the volume of the petrol tank and also the condition of the car itself.

This is the first time we have used Avis and obviously will be the last.