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October 2025 by Rich Martin
Night and day compared to other rental experiences. The staff were friendly, helpful, and clearly took pride in doing things the right way. The process was straightforward with no hidden fees, surprise add-ons, or exaggerated charge threats — just honest, transparent business.
It’s clear Budget focuses on customer experience rather than squeezing every dollar out of the transaction, and that makes all the difference. Five stars for the way they operate — though if I’m being honest, it could have been just a bit more affordable.
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October 2025 by Vanessa “NessaGoesPlaces” Stone
The car was great. The walk from our cruise ship was manageable. However, waiting outside in line in the sun with no shade was rough.
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August 2025 by TC Squires
UPDATE: After reaching out to Budget, there solution was an apology and a partial refund of $20.
There’s a reason Budget is the cheapest rental option on the island, and unfortunately, it shows in their customer service. After flying in from Oahu and having made a reservation over a month in advance, we arrived at the Budget desk at 8:00 a.m. Only one attendant was on duty, and there were about six families ahead of us.
By the time we reached the front of the line, it was 8:40 a.m., and the attendant informed us we would be second in line for our rental car. We didn’t leave until 9:00 a.m., wasting a full hour of our limited 10-hour stay on the island. There was no way to check in to indicate we were present, and despite a parking lot full of rental cars, none were immediately available for us.
Overall, the experience was extremely frustrating. For just a few extra dollars, it’s worth choosing a different rental service to save time and avoid this headache.
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August 2025 by Jennifer Lambert
the shuttle transportation was great getting the car took minutes when we arrived, quick and efficient
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July 2025 by Flame Morita
I hate to say this but I will never go thur you guys again . First and last time . Pick and drop off was good but now I’m having to call to find out why I haven’t gotten my full deposit back and i keep getting sent to the mainland instead of to the place where I picked it up from .. further more the rental I had looked like it wasn’t clean or even wiped down .. there was so much dirt inside and outside of the rental . I had to wipe down the mirror just to see and even then there is water spots .also trying to call and keeps sending me to the mainland to where they won’t help me .
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July 2025 by Wes Am
We were looking for my nephew's wallet which we thought we might've left behind when we returned the Jeep a few hours ago. JAYDEE met us with a sincere willingness to help. While there was no guarantee since it's been a number of hours. Additionally, my family and I couldn't find the vehicle in the lot anymore, but we were hopeful that the vehicle wasn't given to another customer to rent. The clerk at the counter then notified me that the vehicle was driven to another lot for repairs. Within 15-20 minutes, JAYDEE returned to the airport rental counter with my nephew's wallet and everything in it.
For the staffs' efficiency, honesty and wonderful customer service, especially JAYDEE, I would use their services again in the future.
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July 2025 by Timothy Jones
I returned the car in the pouring rain and the worker behind the desk made me return to the car to write down the mileage. Guess they can’t handle that on their own.
They later charged my card for fuel even though I filled it up about a mile away before returning, and I had to spend 20 minutes on the phone with customer service to get that reversed.
When will AI replace these jobs? I can’t wait!
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July 2025 by Ali Akduru
On July 4, 2025 at 4 o'clock the lady at the reception was very disrespectful and rude. The first person we met when we landed in Hawaii was a corporate company like Budget, who got on our nerves during the car delivery and ruined our day. We gave up renting a car and rented it from another company.
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July 2025 by marcelina pineda
Awesome service. Our car was ready, clean and off we went. After the 3rd day returned car with a full tank.
We be back again soon
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July 2025 by Zhen Zhang
Had reservation, waited 45 minutes in line (and others waited way longer off my plane) to be told I'd have to wait over half an hour for a car. The email confirmation said that a car would be waiting, horrible experience.
The workers were really stressed too from all the frustrated customers - not their fault.
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July 2025 by Michelle Hayes
What we thought started out as normal rental process now has us shaking our head. We rented a jeep with a daily rate of $109.99. Returned the car 12 hours later and returned it full only to be charged extra. The customer service call center (not in Hilo) was difficult to understand (I even had to ansk if he was speaking English because I couldn’t make out anything he was saying) and kept telling me that because I had my own insurance it changed the daily rate. The lady that got the car for us was very kind. Sure the jeep was dusty and the windshield had to be wiped down on the inside but it had 57,000 miles on it so it’s been around a bit. The sneaky up charges is where my frustration lies. Charging for extra time when I barely had the car for HALF of a day???? Will think twice before renting with Budget again.
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June 2025 by Pennyk19
UPDATE: It’s now been 3 months, still no response. I called the corporate number again, they stated they could do nothing to help.
They obviously don’t clean their cars. We rented for half a day then returned our car. We accidentally left out handicap card and other documents in the car. I called an hour after dropping the car off to notify someone we had left it. No answered the phone (4:30pm) called several times and always got a message to call back, could never leave a message. I tried the National customer service number but unfortunately we were on Hawai’i time and the office was closed. I tried the Hilo office the next day, same thing. I called the customer service number and explained my situation, somehow they were able to speak to someone in Hilo but was told the car was already rented out again and nothing was found in the car. If the car was cleaned a handicap plaque would have been seen. I was told once the car is returned, someone would look for it and call me with the results. I filed a lost and found form. It’s now been 2 1/2 weeks and have never heard from anyone. I know it’s my fault I forgot it, but there’s proof they don’t clean or look inside the cars once returned.
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May 2025 by annabeth stoffal
Wow! The fastest check out and check in processing EVER!!!!!!
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May 2025 by Maya Waterland
We booked a 1 day rental, prepaid for the car, returned the car early with a full tank of gas, only to find out at dropoff time that actually they have a 26 hour minimum rental time and we were going to be charged DOUBLE (they charged us for 2 days). Why are we allowed to make a 1 day reservation at a certain rate… only to find out later that there’s a minimum rental time and we’d be paying double?? There was no communication about this whatsoever. Would not recommend. The front desk lady was unhelpful and rude. Also, the car we got was an older model and not as well maintained as other rental cars I’ve had.
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April 2025 by Frankie Berdecia
I initially reported one start, but the budget team jump in and help me out with my issue and made it all better. Great customer Service super fast and understanding. Thank you
Don't know much about gas consumption but apparently I spent 3 gallons of gas from the gas station to the car return parking. Budget was good but if this charging $7 gallons and apparently they track it with GPS and all i have is my fuel pump gas poring out. (My word) to prove it then I will try to take my business with someone else.
Just FYI this vehicle Nissan Altima is somewhat rated for 27 mpg. Meaning in would had to almost go to KONA in less than 10min from the time I fuel up.
