Avis Rent A Car

Made a moving truck reservation online for $ 143 with my credit card and received a confirmation email. I get here and not only do they not have the truck I requested, they tell me it’s going to be over $ 300 and that hey don’t give out confirmations online! This is coming from the manager by the way. He also said it was too early in the morning to deal with this. It’s two o’clock in the afternoon. Completely unprofessional. If I was able to give them less than 1 star I would.

I just had a fantastic experience at Avis in Arlington. The staff was awesome especially Diana. She was great and took the time and got me a really awesome rate! I highly recommend Avis and thanks Diana !!

I used this location for a Budget Truck Rental drop off. This place has by far the worst customer service of all the truck rentals I’ve used up and down the east coast for years. We were renting a truck one way from Baltimore to the DC area. I knew we needed after hours drop off so I called this location ahead of time to make sure that was an option. They simply told me yes. I thought it would be self-​explanatory from there since I have dropped off trucks after hours before. When we got there at midnight, there was no room in the lot for our truck and the sign on the door said, «No after hours drop off.» We circled the building and saw no box for keys or anything. We came back the next morning at 8 am after 3 hours of sleep and driving in DC rush hour traffic. We complained that we had been told there was after hours drop off when there really wasn’t and they told us there actually was but the box was on the side of another building with another company’s name on it and no sign. When I told them they should change the sign on the door, they were rude and snarky. I will never use Budget again.

The service I received from Andre was excellent, he really knows how to look after people. I had no wait in picking up the car or returning it.
The end product of car hire is the car and in this all car hire companies are much the same but when you come across someone, Andre, who takes the trouble to explain things carefully and makes sure you are happy with the car and the arrangements then that car hire location stands out.
I have rented again from this location. Again Andre was on hand to ensure everything went smoothly. The paperwork and the car were ready for me when I arrived, I was in the office for less than 3 minutes and then on my way. Returning the car this morning was just as quick, and I was met with a friendly smile and thank you from the lady in the office. This is how car hire companies should be.

I’ve never waited so long to rent a car so long in my life. The desk attendant was literally having to explain to the other attendant when to press tab on her computer screen. Waited over an hour for a car. They were giving vehicles to people with trash from the last person in them.

Unofficial Unilocal Lurker Elite here. I normally don’t leave reviews (in fact, I’ve only ever written one prior to this), but I feel like I need to speak up for the folks over at Avis location A8V (3206 10^th St N).
It seems like most of the negative experiences at this location can be attributed to long wait times, which I assure you is rampant among all local locations of Avis and its competitors. Seriously. I travel for work, and have taken out a rental nearly every week for the past 3 years all over the DMV area. The issue is accentuated by the fact that this particular location is in a high traffic area. The point I’m trying to get across here is simple: level your expectations a little, and smile. The agents behind the booth, like with any other customer service driven industry, are under pressure for the entire duration of their shift by demanding renters who expect special treatment. They are human, and it can get hard. This isn’t an excuse, but an explanation.
All that being said, I moved within walking distance of this location earlier this year, and have probably rented roughly 15 times so far. Of the 15, I’ve had to wait longer than 5 minutes maybe once or twice, and the agents have always been as courteous to me as I was to them. To illustrate further, when I was frequenting the DCA location sometime around 2014, I actually quit Avis due to multiple 2 hour+ long waits and downright rude agents (to the previous reviewer calling this Arlington location the «worst car rental location», I can assure you that it can get so much worse). I switched over to and enjoyed Hertz President’s Circle status for about a year, and when I moved, I tried this Avis location out, and I became a born again member of Avis. That’s right, my experiences here have been so positive, that I abandoned my top tier status with Hertz to rent exclusively from here.
TL;DR, be nice to the agents, be patient if the office is slammed, and you may be in for a surprise when your car assignment is made. It won’t always work, but that’s the car rental life anywhere.

Excellent service from the counter ladies. They rock and are easy to work with. The prep crew is always hustling. I find it a pleasure to work with this group. I only wish the allowed drop offs after hours but with a limited parking lot, I understand.

Usually get competent if not particularly energetic service at this location. I only go there because they are open Sundays, which makes one day rentals convenient. However, on busy weekends you may have to wait as they may have more customers than cars. Does not matter if you have a reservation. Fleet management is apparently inept… I have never experienced this at the competition.

This is by far the worst car rental location I have ever been to. The service is terrible, you better hope they have the level of car you rented and they didn’t give it to the person in front of you.
They say their lifts are broken, so you cannot rent a car on one of the top lifts, only to find one of their staff members pulling a car down from one. All of their staff are the opposite of friendly and seem complacent if not happy to provide you with the lack of service they offer.
In both of my experiences, I returned the car I rented cleaner than when it was handed to me both inside and out. I had to take it back to my apartment and wipe the entire inside down so my wife would actually get in the vehicle. Traveling for work every week and renting cars from the airport I have never experienced anything like this.
Do not even put a coupon on your reservation, they are hardly likely to have the level of car you actually booked, so if you try to use a 1 free class upgrade forget about it.

Glad they are open on Sunday and have great hours. Booking online was easy however. They aren’t nearly as friendly as should be. Most disappointing was they tried to give me a bug guy covered car that was also not vacuumed inside. James was great but Alex definitely needs customer service training.

Do not rent from this Avis location.
I am an Avis Preferred member who had an online reservation for a standard SUV. Upon arriving to Avis at the time specified on my reservation, I was told the last SUV was gone, and I would have to wait if I wanted one delivered. A child was behind the counter offering me vehicles while the customer service rep searched his system. I presume the child was a family member of an employee. I was offered minivans and sedans, none of which were satisfactory. I promptly canceled my reservation and proceeded to Reagan National Airport for National Car Rental.
In addition, the representative of Budget (shared counter) was rude and unapologetic about Avis’ miscue. I travel and rent vehicles frequently, so I have the requisite car rental experience to know when I’m dealing with unsatisfactory service. Once again — do not rent here.

Stopped by quick and was stuck in the very small parking lot because they permitted someone to load a scooter in a pickup in this very small parking lot. I was blatantly ignored. Horrible customer service.

This review is targeted at the horrible customer service and unprofessional practices experienced when renting a 16 foot Moving Truck and Car Carrier from Budget Rental (Capital Area Rental, LLC, 3206 North 10^th Street, Arlington, VA 22 201)
Highlights of why you should never rent a Budget Moving Truck from this place:
~ Jamie, who seemed to be the owner of the Budget location in Arlington, made condescending quips and insults to my husband when he asked a very basic safety question about using a care carrier, since it was his first time using one.
~ ordered 24 moving blankets and received 0 for my move which meant my furniture was unprotected. As a result, my coffee table and other large furniture got large scratches. I want to be compensated for the damage to my furniture.
~ called Budget after leaving with the truck to inquire about the moving blankets and Jamie lied to me and told me that the 24 moving blankets were not a part of my order. Then he told me, he would get me the blankets though but he didn’t have them onsite, so he would call me when he had them.
~ Jamie nor anyone at Budget every contacted me that day to let me know they had the blankets I ordered a month before my move (with the email recipe as confirmation of what was on my order). I contacted Budget 3 more times to try and find out if I could get the blankets I ordered but the person answering the phone said they didn’t know and would call me back. No one ever called me back.
~ Due to Jamie’s insults and inaccurate information about the care and use of the care carrier, after driving 300 miles we saw our car was not properly attached by the wheel well straps and had to ask strangers at a gas station for help. I hate to think about the damage that could have occurred since the car was not attached correctly due to inaccurate information at the Budget truck location in Arlington. By the way, our total trip was 1,600 miles across the country so the security of our vehicle was very important to us.
~ Before we packed up and started driving, we noticed that the cab of the truck contained old food and drink cups that we had to dispose of before using the truck, which is rather unprofessional.
~ When I called the Budget location at Arlington to double check that they had removed the the blankets from my bill, the lady who answered the phone said she had gone in and taken it out of my order online. I found out when I returned the truck to the budget location in Boulder that the blankets hadn’t been removed from our order and the Boulder budget owner took that charge off our bill for us.
~When I placed my order online, I needed to make a change a couple days later. There wasn’t a functionality to change my order online and so I called Customer Service. It took 3 calls of at least 30 minutes each to make a simple change to my order (picking up the truck one day earlier). This was an outrageous waste of my time.

I actually rented from Budget, but they’re one and the same (right?) The woman who worked there was SUPER friendly and this location was so much easier to manage than the airport location (mainly because I didn’t have to deal with tourists). The service was really fast picking-​up and returning the car (and going back a few days later to pick up something I forgot in the car).

Booked a rental online the night before. Less than 10 hours later we come to pick up the rental but want to switch the credit card that we reserved the car with (realized out other card covers the insurance at no cost). We were told that we had to call the 800 number to do that. We called and they would only do it if they could charge us a $ 35 cancellation fee and then re-​book us. They hung up on us twice after asking to speak with a supervisor. Enterprise is down the street… bring your business there.

I rented a car online (prepaid — they knock $ 20 off if you prepay) and dropped by to pick up the car. It’s a small place that’s sort of shoe-​horned into Clarendon, but the place was clean and the staff was friendly. I was in and out within 10 minutes tops. I had had a bad experience with another car rental place (Budget) a few years ago where they snuck some liability insurance that I had not requested onto my bill, so I made a big deal about the fact that I did not want to purchase any insurance and was assured by a gentleman that I would not pay anymore than the amount I had already prepaid. The car was in excellent condition and I was very satisfied with the rental.
However, when I returned the car the lady behind the counter informed me that I owed over $ 100 for liability insurance. I told her that, not only had I not requested it, I had made a big point of getting assured that I would not be billed for any insurance. She was very apologetic and quickly took it off my bill, but I could tell from the way she acted that this was probably something that occurs all too often.
If not for the attempted insurance billing scam, I’d give the place 3 stars. The parking lot is small, but the staff was friendly and efficient and it’s very convenient to the Clarendon metro. I would probably use their services again, but I’d make a point of talking the manager to insure that I don’t get billed for insurance that I didn’t want.
Come to think of it, this is the third time a rental company (three separate companies, by the way), have tried to add extra insurance fees to the bill without my permission, so maybe it’s typical of the industry in general. In any case, buyer beware!

This is my «go-​to» place for car rentals! The staff and management are really accomodating and friendly, and i haven’t been able to find better rates than i consistently find here. Maybe the previous negative reviews visited on a bad day, or…
I’ve been renting from this place several times a year for 3 or 4 years now. I have an older car, and use this Avis location whenever i need a car for an out-​of-​town trip or when i need something larger than my own. I find their rates better than Enteprise and Zip, and the customer service FAR more reliable than Enterprise (who charged me for damage that occurred AFTER i returned the car). The fact that this AVIS is not at the airport eliminates the airport add-​on fees, and the experienced staff do work with you to identify better rates, if available. They’ve been generous with upgrades, when they have them available… i loved the seat warmer on my drive to Indiana last Christmas.
It’s a franchise operation that is very busy. There have been times i’ve had to wait while they finish up with one of their other customers… but i’ve always gotten the attention i needed when it was my turn. Sometimes, some of the staff are friendlier and more knowledgable than others. However, with each i’ve found if i extend some pleasantries, they do turn into real people who try to be helpful. When i’ve wanted some special accomodation, i’ve learned to ask for the staff who know how to work it.
Twice i found myself in circumstances i had to keep the car longer than i’d expected; which based on my contract could have cost me an arm and a leg. The manager talked with me and helped me work out a strategy that let me keep the car longer at a lower daily rate. I know not all of the staff would have known how to work that out for a customer… but i also knew enough to ask for the manager when i needed to negotiate.
I’m sorry some others had a bad experience. I hypothesize that the problems with availability and related service issues weren’t caused by the agency, but rather by an unexpectedly high demand for cars at the airport, who couldn’t honor the franchise owner’s requests for cars.
As a neighborhood business, and a trustworthy vendor, i give this business a top rating.

Let me start with this — as a whole Avis is a great company to rent a car from. It’s unfortunate that they have sullied their name by allowing this poor excuse for a franchise to continue to do business.
We rented a car from the Baltimore airport and chose to return it in Arlington, VA. We picked this return location partially due to the fact that it was advertised as having «preferred service.» If you’re not familiar, you sign up for this service in advance and are able to pick up a car and drop it off with no lines, no signatures, no paperwork, nothing. Everything is electronic. When we attempted the return the car, we first had to wait for 15 minutes while the single worker moved cars around the lot. We were the only customers at the location. We scolded us for not having anything other than the electronic rental confirmations (part of the avis preferred program) and was not willing to give any sort of pleasantries such as please/​thank you.
The location was very run down and reminded me of a dirty/​junky car repair shop. There were no clear markers for where to drop off or pick up cars and the selection was extremely limited. When trying to find the attendant to help us, we asked some of the other people standing around who it was we should talk to. Apparently he has a bunch of friends hang out with him at work.
I’m glad this wasn’t our only experience with Avis or I’d never go back to them again.

went about 2 weeks to try to rent a car in the morning, while they where open of course. walk in, 3 guys in there and not one acknowledge me. I had to greet them 2 or 3 times and finally I got someones attention. Told him i wanted to rent a car, and he said give me 15 minutes, and which turned to 30 minutes of waiting outside, they guy never showed so I left, very bad customer service. I dont recommend this place at all.

We booked the rental online, showed up, and were in our car within 15 minutes. The lady at the desk was super friendly and helpful (which is a lot to say about someone working on a Saturday morning). Although she did kind of put the guilt on us to get liability and insurance, I was happy we got it anyway. The car we got was between ¼ and ½ a tank of gas and she marked it as only having ¼ so we got a little bonus — much appreciated.
under 25 + SUV + insurance + liability + GPS system = $ 140.
The guy who we met while dropping the car off on Sunday was a bit odd, but nothing to take a rating down a notch.