Budget Car Rental Ireland Reviews

I hired a car through a separate rental company, which was to be supplied through Budget at Cork airport. When I collected the car, their representative asked me to sign an iPad but did not notify me of the additional as l charges. It was only 24 hours later when their email came through that this was noticed and by then we were miles from Cork airport. I have tried calling all the numbers (they do not exist or answer) and had many email conversations with their so called customer service department. They have basically washed their hands of it and are not responding at all. Do not, I repeat do not use this shockingly user unfriendly company, as they will take your money and run.

Good efficient service, and the cheapest of all the car rental firms from Belfast International. Car was new and clean, staff were efficient and friendly, I would definitely recommend Budget

Never again ill use This rubbish company Never got deposit back We rented car for 5 days then went back to Dublin spent 3 hours to get there to extend for 3 days l. we agreed with them we will return car around 2pm we returned at 1pm , they said we can't get deposit back as we suppose to return before 12pm I'll take it further and out of principle get my deposit back as it wasn't our fault !!! Scummers

Easy and quick pick up at the desk in the Belfast International arrivals hall. James was a very efficient chap and got us under way quite quickly. Car was fine, clean and well presented. Return was okay but would have liked a receipt for final charges like others issue at this airport. Always apprehensive using new car rental companies especially at airports but Budget were great at BFS.

Excellent service, highly recommended.

They actually conned me into buying insurance I’d already paid for and have t refunded my petrol money… now they won’t speak to me..

Always friendly and helpful staff on pick up and drop off…..

Highly recommend Budget Staff all very friendly at Belfast international Cars always clean and very reliable

Checked review sites and was apprehensive to go with budget going by their ratings, but being far cheaper than the rest I bit the bullet. Booked a car from Dublin airport for the day. At the booth which I signed for the car I was sent an email for the agreement, checking the attachments it showed current 'damage' to the car. Only charge was a deposit for fuel which was about 130 euro. There is a shuttle service outside the terminal that takes you directly to the rental lot, and back again when you drop the car back off. After giving the car the once over there were several scratches not included present on the bonnet. When booking I paid the extra 20 eruo for excess damage for peace of mind in case of issues like this and had no charges afterwards. If you don't return the vehicle with a full tank, expect to pay a premium from your deposit for them to refill it. After reading all the horror stories was expecting the worse, but has been anything but, will happily use budget again when I next visit Ireland.

I have always found carhire a little stressful and the collection a longwinded faff. Budget made it all so easy. Sensible proof requests, clear per-booking information and a very friendly desk.

Wish I had read the reviews before booking! Picked up car at Dublin airport - you are made to sign the check out report in the terminal building and then are emailed a copy - so no chance to actually inspect the car before you sign off. We gave the car a once over, but it was parked close to another and we managed to miss some damage to the wing mirror on the passenger side. There was quite a bit of damage to the rest of the car, including paint scuff marks that matched those on the wing mirror. Nevertheless we were held accountable when we checked back in. Despite insisting that the damage was not due to us, and that we had not had an 'accident', we were made to fill out a form. The excess cost was then charged to our credit card without any effort from Budget to follow up with us or notify us in advance. TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS!

The most dreadful car rental I never experienced. Unfriendly staff, car in a poor conditon (broken rear shelf, that doesnt fix to the booth door anymore hence gets very bulky in a car with luggage + 3 years old child)...which would have been fine if we would not have been charged an extra 30€ without reason and have had a deposit of more than 2600€ instead of 2000€ held on our credit card. Impossible to check the charged costs & deposit as Budget does not even provide is with a proper invoice!!! More than 14 days after we gave the car back in the exact same condition we collected it, Budget is still holding the 2600€ on our credit card without any explanation. I would certainly never recommend this company to anyone.

I bought the car hire through a third party for 116 Euros. I have now been charged 325 Euros for additional costs that we did not agree to - but by signing the form for the return of the vehicle we have inadvertently agreed to them. DO NOT USE THEM.

Disaster! Never again will I use this company for car hire in Ireland. They charge for everything possible, be warned!

We picked the car up from your branch in Drumcondra. The man we were dealing with was very unhelpful and rude. The car didn't excellerate properly. At first we thought it was just as it hasn't a powerful engine. But it woyldnt go over 60 or 80 at times. When I tried to overtake I had to quickly go back as it didn't excellerate. It was dangerous. Even going up steep hills it struggled. When we turned off the car and back on it seemed to rectify the problem was probably that we had a limit on the speed without knowing. We tried contacting budget a Bout the speed through phone and online chat and couldn't get through. We were going to be slightly late getting back. I eventually got the drumcondra branch and explained about the problem we were having with the car. He still wouldn't wait a few minutes and said we had to go to the airport. I presumed it was similar to the drumcondra branch. When we got to the airport I realised it wasn't. I went to the budget desk in terminal 2 no one was there. We got information of someone else where to leave the car. When the budget personal came back he was nice. But I was in the wrong place to return the car. It took us nearly 2 hours to get airport and return car.there were hidden cost also the price was extortionate 350 for 2 days.

I rented a car from budget.ie online! I paid the amount stated. I didn't see any high deposit or anything that would put me off renting from them. When I got to budget Shannon airport. I was asked to leave 2000 Euro deposit and another 75 euro additional. The customer service agent was cold and had a bossy type attitude. I got upest I decided to cancel. Although I was willing to pay for that day! They said they will not refund me... Anyone wanting to rent from them please make sure to read the small print and don't pay up front...

I rented a car last weekend from Budget. At the office, the agent asked me to sign an agreement on his tablet with my finger, which I did. He told me the car was downstairs and to bring it back there later (I only needed the car for a few hours). When I got downstairs, I didn't even know which car park I was in so I had no idea where to come back to but I assumed there would be signage - oh no there wasn't. Anyway, first thing I did was video the whole car and then got on my way, drove to Wexford, parked in a private space at my mothers with no other cars and then drove back to the airport. When I approached the airport there were no "car rental return" signs. I left the car in T1 in a budget space having seemingly picked it up from T2. I looked everywhere for a budget rep to check the car, there was no one. I went back to the office with the keys, handed them in and asked if someone wanted to check the car, the agent said no, it, he would get someone to pick up the car. I said I had no idea where to return the car, he said I should have received a slip but I didn't. I returned to the UK and 4 days later I received an email from budget saying I had damaged their car. They attached a form basically asking me to admit the damage. I had to ask for photos which they sent me later. Firstly, the photos were taken nearly 2 hours after I left back the car, secondly, my video showed the damage was on the car when I picked it up. I have explained all this to them but they have not replied and they have taken my £2000 deposit, thirdly, it was only when i got home and looked at the contract they emailed me, that I looked through, scrolled down many pages to find a damage report which the agent never told me was there when I picked up the car. If I had known it was there, I would have checked it meticulously. By the way, the car was covered in bumps, scratches etc. It had very high mileage, the air con didn't work and the fuel tank wasn't full but they charged me for it. Since writing this report they have refunded my deposit and the lady (Alice) I have been dealing with has been very pleasant throughout. Seemingly they are piloting a new system and there was an error that told them I had damaged the car.

I landed Sept 4th 2021 for my grandmothers funeral with intentions to get a bus to Galway, Air Canada lost my bags enroute in Toronto so i was against the clock when i found out. I decided to rent a car and went to Avis/Budget in T2, told them my story how the funeral was that night and i needed to head west to rent a suit etc. He set my up right away for the week with an Opel car that was in the terminal (didnt have to get the mini bus to their depot) and i headed west. I cant recall the workers name but he set me up and ensured the process was seamless. Thank you.

Hi all went fairly smooth at Dublin Airport on collection and return until I returned home and looked at credit card statement to find I have been charged £107.25 for fuel which I was not aware of at the time of agreement , I returned the car with half a tank of petrol and the chap who looked around the car was made aware of this . When does this get reimbursed

Be extremely careful! We've been charged 2573 euros without previous notice for a 2cm minimal scratch art the front of the car (that we didn't do). Without previous email or explanation or invoice of any repair. Still trying to get the money back.