Avis Rent A Car

Not the best, not the worst. Car ran well, was clean.

Just a warning for anyone renting a car. DON“T USE AVIS! We have rented a lot of cars from a lot of different places and Avis is absolutely terrible! We rented a van at the Baltimore airport in April. It had overheating issues and we were nearly stranded on two different occasions. We had to find gas stations and put in antifreeze in the middle of nowhere. The really frustrating part was there was a jug of water tucked away in the engine compartment, so they knew there were problems BEFORE they ever rented it to us. We called their roadside assistance twice and were told to drive 200 miles out of our way to trade it in for another one. 200 miles? With a check engine light and overheating issues? We should have done it and seized their engine. It would have served them right. When we turned the car in, we requested some money back for all the problems. Their «preferred customer service agent» said they’d credit us back $ 190. She couldn’t get her computer to do it right, so she took me to another terminal. While dealing with all of this, we missed our flight! When we got home, I found out she never did get it processed right. After about 8 phone calls and hours and hours later, they finally credited back the card. Then a couple of days ago, they recharged the credit card! Every person I talk to has a different story. What a pain. Just because they keep your card on file doesn’t give them the right to keep charging it whenever they feel like it.

Better than a airport location as this is a desk at a hotel. Just be sure for pick up you have lots of time I have waited up to a hour multiple times for them to bring your car around. Staff is friendly but only have two people working one at the desk and running cars.

DO NOT RENT FROM AVIS!
THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS AWFUL
I rented a car to visit my family over for the holidays. I reserved a car from Avis on ¹²⁄₃ directly through
. Specifics of my reservation were: 12pm pick-​up 12/​24, 12pm drop-​off ¹²⁄₂₇. I paid in advance and my pickup location was the Baltimore Harbor Hotel.
The morning of 12/​24, I viewed my confirmation email the morning of 12/​24, I confirmed the location hours, Mon-​Fri 8am-​6pm (as stated on
). I arrived at the Avis counter at the Baltimore Harbor Hotel at 12:05pm. Despite the confirmation email, the sign on the desk at the Avis location, and the Avis website, all stating Mon-​Fri 8am-​6pm, the office was CLOSED! Five minutes after closing there were zero employees in sight.
I was not the only customer. When I arrived at the pick-​up location, at 12:05pm, I immediately noticed a family of 3 already there and dealing with the same situation. The family also had a reservation for 12pm, they too were not notified this Avis location would close at 12pm. The father of this family was already on his cell phone with an Avis customer service representative when I arrived. The father said Avis would be sending a representative there momentarily and to «stay put». We waited. Roughly fifteen minutes passed, no representatives arrived.
I called customer service and spoke with a representative then was transferred to a supervisor named Daniel. I will omit the conversation with the first rep as it mirrored the conversation with the supervisor, as well as the cancellation representative as it is irrelevant.
Supervisor Daniel told me there was nothing they could do. The office closed at 12pm, because I arrived at 12:05pm they were in no way responsible as the website shows the office hours. I explained to the supervisor, I confirmed their hours earlier that day in the confirmation email and l had no need to go on their website. I would later find out that the 10am-​12pm office hours were not listed on the website.
I asked Supervisor Daniel, what should I do? What are my options? Would Avis honor my original reservation at the BWI Airport? He said Avis would not honor the original reservation; I would need to enter a new contract. My original reservation was for $ 106.71, Supervisor Daniel estimated my new contract would be $ 430. At this point I was disgusted and requested to transfer me to a representative to assist with obtaining a refund. After the call, I informed the family of 3 that no representative was coming out, and recommended they contact Avis once again and request a refund.
Supervisor Daniel was clearly lying here or at best fabricating the facts when he stated «website clearly stating the hours» but remember I granted Supervisor Daniel this fact as I hadn’t viewed the website that
day. Again why would I have?
Why would Avis permit a pick-​up time for the very minute that they shut-​down shop, and five minutes later not a single employee is in sight. Even less than five minutes, because if you recall the family of 3 was already in the lobby.
This was my first experience with Avis, and I all to say to other car renters out there is DO NOT RENT FROM AVIS. I am going to go even one step further to acknowledge the assistance and support I received from the representatives of Enterprise, specifically the Baltimore City branch located on Security Blvd. After leaving the Baltimore Harbor Hotel location I contacted my sister while I was waiting on the city bus to ride home to figure out; «What do I do know?» My sister contacted Enterprise, they offered a 3-​day rental for $ 115. I was relieved. However, the acknowledgement doesn’t end there. After sharing the afternoon I had, my experience with Avis, Enterprise took it upon themselves to provide me with a 5% discount, as well as upgrade my vehicle two times.
I appreciate the time you have spent reading this story. I sympathize with anyone whom has dealt with a similar predicament.
–Andrew D

Complete disaster, the rental agent promised a discount and lied. I am Avis Preferred and this was a personal rental. I have 60+ days in their rentals. The rental agent left at 1:00pm and the car was returned at 2:00pm. They charged me through the entire weekend. I contacted customer service and the basically told me to pound sand. Liars, poor customer service GO SEE ENTERPRISE!!!

I have two complaints about this place. The big one, where the hell is it?! You go online, you look at a map and you think you know and then you get there and you look around like «Huh?» We were staying at the hotel across the street and the morning I was to return my car I went on a walk to try and look for any form of signage that said there was an Avis location anywhere around there. Nothing. I wound up convincing myself that it was actually located across the street because that seemed like the only thing that made any sense. That leads me to complaint number two, the non-​responsive staff. I called on 3 or 4 occasions on 2 different days to try and ask where the heck they were located and not once did anyone answer. Great, thanks. Real helpful.
Finally after looking at maps and the address, i decided it must be in or around the hotel at that location. I pulled up to the valet and asked if there was an Avis around and they told me to just pull ahead and head into the hotel lobby. THANK YOU! Maybe the Avis website should tell you that. Or perhaps they should answer a phone call when you call to ask them that.
When we dropped the car off, the woman working the desk seemed pretty disinterested in us and rather dismissive. We got our receipt and that was that.
If you are staying at the hotel there or the Lord Baltimore next door, the location is actually pretty handy, just as soon as you figure out where the hell it is. But they need to answer the phone, not be dismissive in person and maybe put something on the website about location in the future.

Have rented here with Preferred status twice now. First time got a Ford Explorer and this last time it was a Volvo V60 Turbo. Both nice cars; one more fun than the other.
Service is great and the cars are in perfect shape.
Price isn’t bad when you use a corporate discount.
Would rent here again.

This was my first experience renting a car under my own name – I’d only ever gone with my parents when I was younger to rent cars while we were on vacation. My experience with them were long lines and somewhat unfriendly attendants. This experience, however, was fantastic. I made the reservation online a few days in advance. I scheduled a pick-​up at 7:30 a.m. in Virginia and I was in the rental car, a Toyota Corolla, by 7:35. I was shocked by how easy the pick-​up was. The car was clean and full of gas. It drove well.
When I returned the car the next day in Baltimore, at this location, I received a $ 2 refund because my reservation had overestimated the actual cost. I think I paid $ 90 for a day and an hour of driving, as I couldn’t return the car until 8:00 a.m. in Baltimore. Had I not needed the extra half-​hour, it would have only been something like $ 50, which was far less than the other companies I looked at.
The attendants at the hotel and the Avis representative inside were all very friendly and helpful. Great service, great car, great price. I highly recommend!

At the last minute, I needed to rent a car on a Sunday so I booked online, crossed my fingers, and headed down to the Sheraton on Fayette Street, site of this Avis Rent-​a-​Car. I was pleasantly surprised by the service. It was very quick (quickest rental ever — 5 minutes?) and they bring the car around via valet. Returning the car was just as simple. Just ask the valet where they want the car. I usually rent from the Enterprise near my house but you just can’t beat the service here. I would go back here in a heartbeat. The car was a brand new Chevy mid-​size. I loved it.
Tip: check your credit card. If you have rental car coverage, make sure you decline ALL insurance coverage via Avis. (You don’t want the minimum coverage — you want ZERO coverage.) I don’t rent that often so I didn’t know.

I went to rent here, and the employee at the counter told me that the MVA had banned my driver’s license number from renting cars at any location. So of course, I started to freak out. However, I talked to two people at the MVA, and they said that my record was «squeaky clean», and that they did not even have the ability to ban people from car rentals. I was able to rent from another company with no problem. Also, the person at the counter didn’t believe I was over 25 at first, even though I showed her my license with my birth date on it.
I have no idea what happened here, but I can’t recommend these guys as they wound up wasting a lot of my time.

My daughter is a graduating student at Morgan State so I’ve been visitng Baltimore for the past few years… renting from various car rental companies. Once I found this location, situated in the Sheraton, I have been VERY PLEASED with the vehicles and the friendly, personable, professional service I’ve received. On my most recent visit, Kelly and Gordon gave me the VIP treatment arriving and Tierra was super pleasant on my return. NIce!