Budget Rent A Car New Zealand Anmeldelser 

Like other stories here, I returned the car with a full tank but was charged $NZD200. Fortunately I'd taken a photo of the dashboard showing the full tank and kms driven. The kms could be verified against the speedo reading when returned. I booked through Flight Centre Australia and they were onto it. Even though solid evidence was provided, it took five weeks to get my refund. Never again!

Poor Explanation of charges, customer service tried his best not to answer question.
Was overcharged on fuel, drove a hybrid and mainly used electricity, only used less then a quarter tank, but got charged $150 for a Full tank of fuel.
Ripped off

I just got charged $1500 twice for renting a SUV via budget.co.nz and did not even receive a booking confirmation! Now I am out of $3000 and no car. What the hell is going on? Sent a complaint to their customer service that will take 10 days to respond. Now I have to spend more money to call them from overseas. Unbelieve bale!

I am extremely disappointed with my experience with Budget Rent a Car. I was charged $1,267.39 twice for the same rental — once on 21 March 2026 and again on 16 April 2026 — even though I only rented one vehicle and returned it on time. Both amounts were processed as completed transactions on my card.

There was no additional rental, no extra service, and no explanation for why a second charge of $1,267.39 appeared weeks after the original payment. This duplicate billing caused unnecessary stress and forced me to open a dispute with my card issuer to recover the second amount.

A company of this size should have reliable billing systems and proper checks in place to prevent duplicate charges. Customers should not have to monitor their accounts for unexpected repeat debits or spend time correcting errors that should never occur.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Budget. I hope they review their processes to prevent this from happening to other customers.

They invoiced me, at the end, 45$ as airport fees. Never showned or discussed before. At the resevration, it was clearly detailed that no fee will be added for the pick up.
Thieves, who take their customers for cash cows. To flee.

I returned the vehicle with full tank however I got charged for addition fuel service which was around $300! I have been following up since 10 days but still have not received my refund even after providing evidence for the fuel purchase. At the first place why do I even need to provide a receipt for this? The car was fuelled up full tank which in itself is the proof upon returning it. Worst service. Making me run for my money! DO NOT EVER CHOOSE BUDGET RENTALS! THEY ARE CHEATERS!

Booked an EV five months in advance, which was confirmed. Arrived at Auckland Airport to be told that there were no EVs and they had given me a small Kia, for $100 more than I could have booked it originally. Was told to complain to Head Office. Four weeks later and still not response. Will not touch this company ever again ...just a rip-off and take no responsibility for their actions.

I will never use this company again. While the people I dealt with at the front desk were polite and friendly and tried to help, the surprise charges and rip off extras were completely unreasonable.

We booked a Budget car via booking.com . On arrival in Auckland, we paid for additional insurance, pre paid for petrol. Told all we had to do was leave the keys on return. That night we got charged an extra $220 . Called customer service, no explanation or refund. Made an official complaint- told it would take 10 days- no reply so contacted them. Got 5 emails asking if we had included the extra information- We never got asked for additional information. The absolute worst car rental hire company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. Avoid at all costs

A budget client had an accident with my property in October and they do not care! They originally told the customer there was no insurance for my damage, despite her paying for $0 excess , and Third Party cover is always covered!
Now there is no-one to assist and no complaints department. Judging by my experience it should be their biggest Department. If you rent through them beware, as they will need to keep your bond for months as they do not assist in the case of an accident.
I tried to speak to someone about this but theynhung up!

DO NOT GO WITH BUDGET RENTALS! They double charged me $1,300 and almost 2 months later I'm still trying to get my money back. They keep blaming my bank - The bank is saying no, Budget Rentals is holding my money. Ridiculous.

Literally the most ridiculous customer service ever. My travel plans changed, so I asked to pick up the car three days later than planned - same pick up and drop off, same car, not asking for a refund. Got told they had to generate a new offer for this, which ended up being double the price. I reiterated that nothing was really changing, I would just pick it up three days later but they still insisted. I said ok I will cancel the booking (as there was only a NZD 80 fee) and go to your competitor (Sixt who were amazing) and they said fine. This was over a month ago and I’m still emailing with them to get the refund sorted. Keep being told that it’s under review and being cleared, despite the fact that I had an email at the end of November saying that I should have the full refund within two weeks. Absolutely rubbish, would not recommend at all

Do not use this company. We paid an extra $240 bond for our car and they have not refunded it. They are ignoring our emails and their customer service team on live chat refuse to help you. They just tell you to call a number even when we say we cannot call it. The car rental person even showed up 40 minutes late to give us the car!! Absolutely useless company. Avoid at all costs.

1. We were not aware that the reservation we made was for a pickup far away from the airport. When we went to get the car from the airport, the agent was unhelpful in helping us getting a car there, and we had to take a taxi to the other site.

2. The other site's pickup was great, with extremely nice agents, helpful and courteous.

3. A day before departure, while being in Queenstown, I had a heart attack and was flown by a medical helicopter to Dunedin. My wife had to drive to Dunedin to get to me, unknowing how long I would be hospitalized. Your agent was unwilling to help with this serious situation and extend the car rental for a few more days.

My wife had to waste time, and instead of driving (tge 4.5 hour drive to the hospital), she was made to drive to the airport, return the car to Budget, a day before, get no discount, and had to rent a new car from Avis, at a much higher cost.

So, bad service in Budget Auckland AND in Budget Queenstown!!! It's not a singles occasion. It's a trend of bad service!!!

This is totally disgusting and inappropriate for an international company like Budget!

I'd love to hear back from you about this treatment of my wife, during a very difficult time and situation!!!

Ordered IFAR 2.0L to 2.5L 4WD Intermediate SUV RAV4 or equivalent months before start of 4 week holiday in New Zealand.
At pick up they supplied 1.6L Front wheel drive car! All they had apparently!
Had no option but accept it.
Proved as expected not big enough and not a happy vehicle on hills ... rolling backward s in D position disconcerting!
Budget now claiming the supplied meets the order as in equivalent to a RAV4 ... dream
on!!
Never ever will I use or trust Budget in any country.
Be warned!

Rented a car through EconomyCarRentals.com who turn out to be a subsidiary of AvisBudget. I have used this company before, however this time a charge of $127.40 was taken from my card before I had even picked the car up. No explanation for the charge and a receipt was sent and voucher issued for remainder of rental balance. However when I called to change my pick up time I was told that there is insurance excess of 4k, so I purchased additional waiver which is the only thing not covered in the policy. Doubled the rental cost. Meanwhile no idea what the 127.40 was for? Nothing on receipt to say what this fee was for. Last time I was made to pay a 200 bond. This time no bond, but no refund of random 127? The subsidiary company has no phone or direct email only a webform, and they have not answered. They did however send me a survey about the rental car but nothing in it about service fees and excess charges.

Almost impossible to get through to the counter for phone assistance
When I finally got through person who answered was absolutely useless
I have been a Budget customer for years but last time I rent from Budget

When I picked up car in Christchurch New Zealand it didn't have a satnav and it an automatic which I haven't driven before. So I asked a man on reception to help he gave me a satnav car. He explained how to start it but I still couldn't start it. He did come out to help and a young lady too. So I was pleased with the customer service here. At Picton I dropped off this car and when I returned a few days later to pick up a car, I was given a different car with no satnav. So I asked for a satnav car. The older lady receptionist was not helpful at all. She said Budget had taken satnav out of their cars two years ago. Well,how did I get a satnav car then? So then I had to get roaming for my mobile which cost me £25 for 7 days. I asked to use Budget's WiFi but she said there's no WiFi here. I had to walk to Info centre to use their WiFi. And i asked her if there was a petrol station at Christchurch when I dropped car off. Yes,she said. But when I got to Christchurch airport,there was no petrol station there. Fortunately a very helpful man from Budget helped me and gave me great directions to fill up at the petrol station. But when I got back to UK Budget had charged me £88 for not filling the tank up. Fortunately I had the receipt and got my money back! That's why this is a poor review.

I recently got a car from this rental but find the communication wasn’t so good also still haven’t received my 200 deposit that was said I would get back when I return the car??

I was very impressed with Budget Rental Car at Taupo Airport!
Our flight was delayed from Kerikeri, which meant we would not be in Taupo on time to collect our rental car. The service from the lady helping at Budget Taupo airport was amazing! Very friendly, and went out of her way
to help us, and sort something out so we had our car on arrival.