Steer clear of budget rent a car! I returned a rental car with a full tank of gas to avoid their outrageous $4.78 per gallon refueling fee. -My credit card bill arrived and showed a $38.24 charge for gas! They claim that the tank was empty!
I rented the car in St. Augustine to drive one-way to Fort Lauderdale. The agent told me the drop-off location was 1575 West Commercial Blvd. There is no such visible address. I stopped at gas stations and stores in the vicinity but nobody was aware of a Budget location. I stopped at "Banyan Air", a company at the small airport there and they didn't know either.
After much frustration, I noticed a notation on my barely legible contract copy that read 'FLL by Banyan Air". I returned to Banyan and showed this to an employee who said, "Oh, yeah... I think we used to rent cars here." He made a phone call and then gave me directions to a site on Perimeter Road.
I drove to a building with no sign. I went to the counter and said I was there to return a car. A woman said "We don't really do that anymore". I told her I had to return the car by 3:30. She said, "Okay, but I can't give you a receipt". She asked ME to go check the mileage. I told her the mileage and said the tank was full. She made a xerox of my contract copy and signed her name. She also wrote an "8" where it said "fuel in". I left, having returned the car at the agreed location and time with a full tank of gas.
I called Budget Customer Service and they told me that I have to give them receipts to prove that I paid for my gas! The first charge appeared on my credit card statement but I paid cash for the second fill-up and didn't get a receipt. What thieves!!! I will never use budget rent a car again ever!!!
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