Avis

Very bad, very poor after sales service! No willingness to help with my request for assistance with regard to details, and or information, regarding an alleged parking infringement. Wish I could give less than one star! A number of weeks after I returned my hire car I was informed by Avis that there was an outstanding parking fine, incurred and… Read more

issued by the City Council, during my rental period and that a $35 admin fee would be charged to my card, as per agreement for their assistancewith the council. All I was given was an infringement number and a date of the fine and told to contact the council for further details. Also, I was given an Avis customer service number to call if I required assistance. Firstly, I contacted the council for a copy of the infringement and the image, both of which they said they had. However, I had to request for this information officially, which I did. Subsequently, I received correspondence from the council denying me this information, because of their Privacy Laws. I was officially told that the only party that can obtain these details is/are the registered owner of the vehicle. When I called the Avis "Customer service" (ha) to ask for help with this matter all I received was nothing short of rudeness, condescension, and what I could only describe as a childish interaction, even receiving the threat of being hung-up on because, supposedly, I was unable to understand their point of view. And all I was trying to get across to them was that they (Avis) were the only one's who can obtain this information for me. The second person I spoke to also denied my request to speak to a higher authority as he claimed "they would just tell me the same thing that he said". The end result, he did not hangup, he just left his phone on and refused to engage with me, even to the extent of talking to someone else, in his own language, whilst making comments and laughing. This lasted for over an hour before he eventually hangup. So now I have no proof that I indeed did get an infringement during my rental period and that this alleged find is not a mistake?

I booked my RSVP online and received a confirmation email. I attempted to pick up my confirmed car RSVP, and I was denied rental. I was rudely informed that there were no vehicles available. It was instructed that cars at the Airport will need a 24-hour RSVP to guarantee rental agreement. Customer service representatives stated that 3rd party… Read more

vendors are the worst and they aren't able to see accurate number of available cars. It is frustrating because there was plenty of cars in the parking lot. Someone should be training and monitoring team members. I wasted five hours waiting for a car rental.

Avoid - we were charged a significant amount for an alternative car when the one we booked was unavailable – We are currently having a terrible experience dealing with Avis Cairns Airport. We originally booked a Suzuki Swift as a low cost option for our week-long trip in July 2024; however, when we arrived at Cairns Airport late in the evening we were told… Read more

that the model we had originally booked was not available and were instead provided with a BMW SUV. We have had similar experiences in the past with other car rental agencies (including Apex and Europcar) where we were provided with an upgrade at no additional cost due to the car we booked being unavailable. To our horror, Avis subsequently charged us an additional $700 for the upgraded vehicle. After much back and forth with Avis, they have insisted their contract allows them to charge us this additional amount for the upgraded vehicle. We were not informed of the additional charge when we picked up the car. We saved and budgeted for this holiday, and to have been charged the extra $700 has been so heartbreaking.

I rented a car from Avis/Budget in Queenstown, New Zealand, and it turned into one of the most frustrating customer experiences I have ever had. I returned the vehicle in good condition and have timestamped photos taken immediately before drop off… Read more

clearly showing there was no damage to the vehicle. Despite providing this evidence, they refused to properly consider it and continued insisting I was responsible for damage that I did not cause.

The whole process felt incredibly unfair and one sided. Instead of genuinely investigating the matter or treating a customer reasonably, they appeared more focused on charging excess fees than reviewing clear evidence objectively.

Being accused of causing damage despite having timestamped proof to the contrary has been extremely frustrating and stressful.

Apparently they do not bother listening to customers once they decide to pursue a claim. After reading reviews online, I was shocked to see how many people have had similar experiences. Their ratings across multiple review platforms are terrible, which now honestly makes sense to me.

It genuinely feels like there is very little protection for customers’ rights and interests in situations like this, even when clear evidence is provided.

I would strongly caution others to thoroughly photograph and video every angle of their rental vehicle before and after hire because if a dispute arises, you may find yourself fighting to prove your innocence even when you have evidence.

Very disappointing experience overall.

Got AVIS KIA car at Devonport airport port and came to Hobart and returned it there in Hobart at 133 AUD( plus filled petrol for 40AUD). THE car WAS IN SUPERB CONDITION. Great experience. 100% satisfaction with the service from AVIS. Kasun Samarakoon Show details

I've been regularly hiring cars from the airport at Launceston for the past 5 months. The staff at the counter are usually very friendly and helpful. Vehicles are always in good condition. No issues when returning them. Highly recommend them.

Maamoun Atallah saved me from a bad situation rented at Sydney Airport had for 2 days tyrer pressure light was on always Maamoun changed car to save me any future disruption Show details

DO NOT USE AVIS, they will defraud your credit card and then ignore your complaints Avis over charged my credit card, adding the previous drivers milage to my account, and then charging me for it. After 20+ emails, copying in everyone from ZA to Global Customer Services, plus Global and ZA CEOs, Avis just reply month after month that reviewing and… Read more

will get back, when in fact they are not, and just waiting for me to give up.

Avis stole from me, and then refuse to respond beyond automated responses.

DO NOT USE THEM, THEY WILL DEFRAUD YOU AND THEY WILL JUST IGNORE YOU

I booked an Avis car through Qantas using points. I collected the m/v at Perth airport and returned it undamaged with a full tank of petrol. The points were worth $324.61 according to the invoice. I assumed that would be the total cost. Avis debited me credit card with a further $387.26 representing surcharges, fees, additional insurance,… Read more

additional GST and a premium for picking the car up from Perth airport. None of this was explained to me at pick up. When I complained they justified the extra cost by stating I signed the contract, however much of these extra costs were poorly or not detailed (Avis contract looks like it was designed in the 1970’s - really poorly structured and difficult to read). I assumed when ordering the car, the Qantas points would be the total cost without added on charge - but it represented less than 50% of the final rental cost of$704. Never again. I feel that Avis was dishonest in their dealings with me, did not properly explain the total cost and their advertising through Qantas was deceptive.

Do not hire a vehicle from Avis in the USA. I was not aware that Avis policy in the USA was to charge a daily fee regardless of tolls used or not. I thought I would be charged for tolls used after the return. This is what Enterprise did last year when I hired a vehicle from them from SFO. The $259.80 ends up as $320 with taxes, I only would have… Read more

spent maximum $20 on tolls. Even if you call it $30 you have made additional $290 off something not provided or 1000% overcharged. This is the definition of price gouging. Had I known that Avis behaved in such devious manner, I would have stayed away.

They tried to rent me a rubbish vehicle that looked like an RACV van with flashing lights and covered in paint damage. I asked them to check their other branches (Airport etc) for a better vehicle and two male employees flat out refused to assist me. When I contacted our insurer a women employee tried to interject claiming they had tried to… Read more

assist but this simply was not true. I went to the Fyshwick branch and was given a modern Prado with towbar with no hassles. Obviously this particular franchise (Braddon) has extremely poor reviews and I won't be coming back.

Very disappointing experience with Avis. I accidentally selected the wrong drop-off location when making my booking. I contacted customer service hoping they could simply update the reservation, but I was told they could not change the drop-off location and that I would need to cancel and make a new booking instead. As a result, I was charged a… Read more

cancellation fee of NZD $86.25. I found this extremely frustrating, especially since I was trying to correct what was clearly an honest mistake. A simple amendment would have provided much better customer service than forcing a cancellation and charging a fee.

While the policy may allow this, the lack of flexibility and customer-focused support left a very negative impression. Based on this experience, I will think twice before booking with Avis again.

1 star – the worst car rental experience I have had in 50 years Avis Rent a Car at Tullamarine Airport provided one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had. It took more than half an hour just to get a car. None of our cards were accepted, and instead of checking whether their card reader was the problem, the staff member blamed… Read more

our cards. We had booked a hybrid vehicle, but were told we could not have one because apparently all returns were too late. We were sent back to the office, then directed to another location. During this process, an Avis staff member tipped a full cup of coffee over my partner and did not offer any compensation or meaningful assistance. We were then told to walk to a car space around 500 metres away, only to find the space empty. When I asked another representative for help, I was rudely told I would need to go all the way back to the office. After being redirected again, we eventually found a car, but it had not even been cleaned. Another representative finally helped and directed us to a different car, but we were then told we had not booked a hybrid, so no compensation would be offered. The whole experience was disorganised, frustrating, and completely unacceptable. I will never hire a car from Avis again, and I would strongly advise anyone travelling through Tullamarine Airport to avoid this branch.

Just dropped a car off at the “premium” cost drop off location at sydney airport. It’s essentially an area in the carpark, unsheltereded with no lights. This is unacceptable, dropped car off at 530pm in raging rain. I couldn’t see anything in the car and got absolutely drenched. Poor Poor Poor…don’t believe that you can gather your things together at this location, gather everything and pack nicely in the boot

I booked an Avis Car for pickup at Nice Centrale Station France. Customer Service terrible. Had to take all luggage up 5 floors to collect the car and get it down in narrow exits. Would not bring it to us for collection. Said too busy. Said printer was not working and would email rental agreement. Never emailed. Range 3 times in Business… Read more

hours to Nice office over 2-3 days in Bayeux - No answer at 10am week days. Hotel contacted Avis once for us and they answered. Said email was coming. never received. Was provided a Ford SUV Kuga Car steering dangerous on tollway. Checked Tyres 23 PSI to 26 PSI on tyres . Way under recommended 32-35 Had to put air in the tyres to fix the issue. Drop off at Avis near Paris fine but explained history with the hire.

Do Not use this Avis rental point. Plenty of other options in Nice.

I rented a Toyota Prado at the Alice Springs Airport Australia. The quote I received for the rental on the confirmation was AUD$2071.75. I was ultimately charged ~AUD$1,300 more than the quote when I returned the car. Problems: (1) the kilometers were not recorded so I was charged an unknown figure for extra kilometers; (2) I was charged extra for… Read more

"Roadside Assistance" when it was included in the "Complete Cover" I purchased; (3) I was charged extra for the Premium Location Surcharge and Admin Fee with no explanation. I have tried following up with Avis to no avail. I would NEVER rent from them again.

I recently had a frustrating experience with AVIS rental company that I feel compelled to share. I rented a car for the weekend, which cost me $329.53, in addition to a $200 bond and $96 for insurance. This totaled $625.53, all charged to my credit card upfront. When I returned the vehicle on Monday, I was shocked to see that AVIS debited the… Read more

full $329.53 from my card again. Naturally, I called their customer service twice to address my concerns. Each time, I was met with vague responses, being told to check with my bank instead of receiving any real assistance.

To make matters worse, I inquired about my bond, only to be told that it had been used to cover my insurance costs. I repeatedly explained that I had already paid everything upfront, but the representatives were unhelpful and insisted I contact my bank to figure out where my money had gone.

This experience was not only frustrating but also incredibly disappointing. The lack of proper customer service and the confusing handling of my payments have made me wary of using AVIS again. I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere for a rental car, as AVIS clearly lacks the support and transparency needed for a smooth rental experience.

Rented a car for two days in Perth Australia, should have been $400 roughly, was charged 100 times this $44,000 to credit card. Now to rent a car you give basically all your contact details from name, dob, address, email, phone and drivers licence as well as a credit card, even an emergency contact. After not being able to get through during… Read more

office hours the first day after finding the charge which was a week later, a person in a different department said AVIS would call back the next day. They didn't. After eventually getting through their poor 1800 number service, their remedy, refund the money and issue a $50 voucher. They also maintained they wanted to keep my credit card on file for future rentals!!

So they had $44K in their account for a week, they acknowledge that this was a big problem across all AMEX cards during that time and that there were lots of people involved. I had to contact them to alert them to the issue even though they knew about the AMEX overcharge issue and their remedy is i can have a voucher the next time i hand them over my credit card details and rent from them again.

They didnt even understand why keeping my credit card details was an issue.

I am giving one star as it does not accept 0 stars. Avis have been a nightmare to deal with from when we picked up the car and when it was returned. Booked and paid in full a car for our recent trip to LA. After at least 45 minutes picking up the car from someone who was not helpful at all ( we were the only customer)we finally went to collect the… Read more

car. The customer service was terrible. The assigned car had considerable scratches and dents, we went and found someone to show them and all they said to do was take photos, which we did. They took a security deposit even though the car was paid in full. Upon return we filled up the tank so it was full about a block away from rental return. We returned the car, the guy checked it was full and that was it. No car return documents given. Thought nothing more of it until we got back to Australia and found they had charged our credit card an additional $487 that we did not authorize. $95 of which was for a full tank of fuel, the rest of the charges were for items we did not agree to. Tried emailing and spoke to someone called Hector who after the 2nd email ghosted us and closed the case. Now 4 weeks later we still have no resolution in getting our unauthorized money refunded. Waiting again for another person to get back to us. This time Avis Australia customer support. We don’t hold out much home in getting our money back this way so will be taking it to consumer affairs. DO NOT USE AVIS UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET RIPPED OFF. We have been hiring cars overseas for over 30 years and I must say this is the worst experience ever, it was the first time we have used Avis overseas and will be the last.

Booked a rental car from Thursday to Friday. I flew to her from Brisbane to help discharge her from hospital and set her up with extra living support. The car was used to get her to and from hospital, groceries and a doctor appointment. I did one 40min round trip to get house keys. Drove a total of 200km maybe in the time I was there. Paid the… Read more

$315 rental fee AND was charged $200 holding fee at the counter on pick up. I was told $200 would be returned on drop off. Oh but I was given a “free” upgrade… Corolla to a Forester.

When I dropped the car back I apologised for being unable to fill it before hand and will pay the $5 per litre charge as car was not driven around much so thought it would be $100 or so in total once they charge me for fuel and some extra for handling or whatever.

Friday I have found another $456.20 has been taken.

I’m really hoping I can get my money back.

I am concerned about a booking I made for a rental car in Hobart. I specifically asked for maximum insurance and zero excess. When I read through the contract it said I had declined zero excess! I rang to get it fixed. The person on the line fell silent. I kept asking are you there? Could you please answer my question? They said: give me a chance.… Read more

This is after minutes of silence. Finally, he said he modified the booking and sent me another email. When I asked had there been a mistake he fell silent again. When pressed he said it was a glitch in the website, which is rubbish. The lying made me angry. He kept saying relax, but this is no small matter. When you specifically ask for zero excess and they make an error which means you could potentially be up for $5000 in case of an accident, this is no small matter. Not answering a customer's questions over the phone is appalling. I suspect he didn't understand, or didn't know the answer but would not admit to ignorance or a mistake by Avis.

DO NOT USE AVIS - They won't give me a copy of my signed agreement. My rental, through Booking.com, was $340, once I returned the car, full of fuel and on time, they withdrew $1,136 from my account without my knowledge. I told them I had a minor incident where paint was scraped ONTO the car, not off. After 4 weeks of asking they eventually sent an… Read more

invoice $868 of repairs for something I should have wiped off myself and refunded me the $268. They ruined my holiday. No way was this damage that expensive. Dodgy.

DO NOT BOOK AVIS – Very Disappointing Experience I had a very disappointing experience with Avis and would strongly advise others to avoid booking with them. My mom was supposed to pick us up from Gold Coast Airport, but due to an emergency she couldn’t make it. Since we had several pieces of luggage and taking the train wasn’t practical, we… Read more

decided to rent a car from Avis at Gold Coast Airport and return it the same day at Brisbane Airport.

Our booking was for approximately 2:30 PM pick-up and 6:00 PM return, less than 4 hours of use. The total quoted price was $242, including the $45 zero-excess “no risk” fee, which we were happy to pay for peace of mind.

We returned the car on time at 6 PM. Minutes later, we received the receipt showing the expected total of $242, which seemed correct.

However, after a week I noticed that the security deposit had not been returned to my card. Instead, the pending charge had become a final posted charge. Confused, I contacted customer service.

Another frustrating part of the experience is that there is no way to contact the local rental location directly. All calls are routed to an overseas call center, where staff often do not have full access to the booking details.

Initially, I was told to wait 14 days for the security deposit to return. I explained that my bank already showed the charge as finalized, not pending, which usually means it is no longer just a temporary hold.

Only after pushing for clarification did the agent finally tell me that Avis had charged a $150 cleaning fee.

This was extremely shocking and frustrating. We used the car for less than four hours, simply driving from Gold Coast to Brisbane Airport. There was no notification, no email, and no explanation informing us that a cleaning fee had been applied.

What I find most unacceptable is the complete lack of communication. If I had not called to investigate, I would never have known why the deposit was not returned.

Charging additional fees without informing the customer or providing an explanation is very concerning and creates a lack of transparency in the billing process.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Avis.