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December 2023 by Laurie B.
Way too long of a line!!! After waiting for luggage then waiting for shuttle to rental location... you can add almost 2 hours after getting off your plane. Definitely Uber next time to resort.
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November 2023 by Alex W.
Worst operation ever. One employee working with line out the door. Harass people to buy extra insurance, even after they said no. Terrible! Pay extra and go with a competitor in Kauai.
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October 2023 by Tag Spilman
I am writing this review based on my experience at this location; with one big caveat. We arrived right after our plane landed and we were ~3rd in line. It took 30-45 minutes to be seen and get our car. By the time we were at the counter there was a line out the door, likely at least a 3-hour wait. We declined insurance because we get it free with our credit card. The parking lots in Kauai are extremely cramped. I'm surprised there aren't door dings everywhere. Be careful!As for the car itself, apparently island weather isn't kind to cars. There were less than 30k miles on the dash and I'd have guessed it was over 70k. The interior was a little dirty and the glass was so oily it whited out at certain angles. Thankfully there were no hidden charges other than the expected taxes.
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October 2023 by Gracie Grace
Very disappointed with my rental car.Extremely filthy with sand and dirt. To top it off the gas wasn’t filled. The staff was the best part of my rental. What happened to the days of renting a clean car?
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October 2023 by Gina Reeves
Waited over an hour and a half to get a car. Car had scratches and dings, didn’t seem clean. What’s the point of completing a review when they ain’t going to do anything about it. It’s like you’re stuck cause you need a vehicle so you are forced to wait. They need to hire more employees. If you’re landing on Kauai after 4pm this is normal to wait. Even the employees said this is the norm. This ruined our plans and not a great way to start a hard earned vacation.
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October 2023 by Troy L.
The longest I have ever waited to rent a car bar none. If I read these reviews prior I would have not rented from here. This place is the worst. Slow doesn't even describe how long this process even took.
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October 2023 by Chuck D.
I've never had an issue renting at Budget Lihue Airport. I've rented from them about 5-7 times in the last handful of years. All my rentals have always been SUVs for 10 -15 days at a time. The agents have been nice and helpful especially because I have to add an additional driver each time. Take a shuttle from the airport to Budget. From baggage claim, use the crosswalk to the pickup location. The various shuttle buses from the rental companies all pull up here. Avis & Budget are usually the same bus. Usually an older gentleman (Uncle) is driving the shuttle. Have patience. He will help you with all your luggage... FYI. Kauai moves at a slower pace than other places. Be patient.... It's just a very short ride to the Budget office. Tip the Uncle a few bucks if you can. Yes, there's usually a line. No, it's not always bad. You're on vacation. Take a breath and you will be on your way soon enough. Not everything is gonna move at the speed of light for you. That's life on the island... I've had rental vehicles ranging from a GMC Terrain, Kia Sportage, Mitsubishi Outlander, Ford Edge, etc. and they have all been great for our stays. No complaints there. Yes, red dirt will be on the tires and undercarriage. This is Kauai. Welcome to the Garden Isle.If you still have complaints after you return the rental and spending time on Kauai, maybe this island isn't the place for you. Better you dont come back.
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October 2023 by Jennifer W.
10/15/23 Painfully slooowww process, it's like pulling teeth, but hey I'm on vacation, but C'mon, chop-chop buttercup! Gotta get my hula ON Even as its prepaid, and we tried several times to expedite the process by using the QR code to do just that--it's the most useless thing because it reads didn't make much of a difference. It kept telling me the driver's license is not entered. Tried 3 or 4 times, nope. The line grew longer & longer. It's like vacationers were ordering fries & a milkshake with their rentals. At the very least when it was our turn, staff was friendly. Then, came time to get our vehicle. We used to be handed the keys & pick out the car, not this time. Another staff drives it to you.Our car is driven by a heavily tattooed guy with "0 F#€ks Given", except it's actually written out, unlike mine right here.Not sure if we'll rent from them again
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September 2023 by Rich H.
If I could give this less than 1 star, I would. I have rented twice from this location. Both times we got off the shuttle to a Budget Office with a line out the door trying to rent vehicles. To complicate the issue, there would only be like 2 or 3 agents helping. Since it took more than 5 minutes for each rental, we were in line for over an hour each time. I REPEAT, over 1 hour. And when we did finally get up to the counter, the agent didn't even apologize for the long wait. Terrible customer service. That is insane. What a terrible start to a vacation. The price may be cheaper than other places but I don't think it is worth all the hassle. Go somewhere else!
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September 2023 by brandon Harrison
The experience my family had with renting the vehicle was horrible. There was a long wait time to even speak to the counter representative. And not to mention the extreme cost to renting the vehicle.Our plane landed at 2:00 pm we didn't leave the Budget for another 3 hours. Two hours were spent just waiting to be seen. Then the counter person did speak very well. And offering insurance to a vehicle that doubled our rent. Which cost us over 2186.88 dollars. We added the insurance, because we were told if anything happened to the vehicle we would have to pay for the time the vehicle was out of service. We were also told it takes about 8 months for a vehicle to be fixed. So, we went with the insurance. We then had to wait another hour just to receive a vehicle that was not what we ordered it was smaller and not able to carry 4 people and luggage. My family and was not going to sit in line again for 2 hours to speak to a representative just to be told no or wait another hour to receive something else, not to mention the vehicle was scratched up horribly.Other customers were tipping the staff just trying to get their vehicles in a timely manner but that didn't work either. All I can say is wow this place did not embrace the aloha spirit.Ps.We reserved the vehicle back in February 2023.
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September 2023 by Lyle O.
So we arrived in Kauai on August 10th, (Thursday) 2023 during the Maui fire tragedy when everyone was evacuating Maui. I suspect tourists whose vacation plans needed to be altered began transferring to other islands so they could continue their vacation plans (my guess of course).In any case, yes, the budget rental lines were extremely long and the counter agents were plugging away the best they could. It took me one month to write this review as I really wanted to digest my experience and provide a non emotional review for others.Under those circumstances, my experience wasn't that bad at all. My only suggestion would be that it would've been a good idea to have a door person instructing customers where to line up and thank them for their patience during this extreme time.Otherwise my experience during the check in process was good and my return process was excellent. The agents working the counter were doing the best they could but there were many many upset people complaining to them at every corner. That would get under my skin after a while too, just to be fair.Also Budget rental is associated with Costco which didn't help the situation with the abundance of customers wanting rentals.
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September 2023 by Jose Luis
Don't ever rent from these people.Long lines at the counter to wait for a vehicle. And I was upsold on a very expensive insurance.Worst experience we've ever had. Had to change the first vehicle because it has safety issues. The second vehicle was even worse and really bad tires.Go somewhere else.I would give them no stars if that was an option.
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September 2023 by Sammie Yee
I was quoted about $230 for a compact car for 5 days. When I returned the car, I didn’t speak to anyone. There were a lot of people retuning cars at the time. They just yelled “leave the keys in it”, so I gathered my things and left. I was later emailed a receipt saying I was charged $495 for the car with a $174 miscellaneous mystery charge. I tried to reach out to budget via email, but never received a response. Not a good experience. The car itself was fine. Just a little Kia Soul to putter around Kauai. It was fine, but next time I’ll go with a different company. The deception in pricing was not cool. They made it look cheap then tagged on extra charges at the end.
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September 2023 by Mikella S.
*Update*After waiting for my rental, mind you I had a reservation at 3:30. FINALLY got my rental car and I have no words on just how horrible this place is. AVOID AT ALL COST. Not only do you wait in this super long line, you'd think you'd be done and get your car after checking in. NOPE you wait even longer outside in the heat took 45 minutes to have the car pulled up. Finally after waiting three and a half hours, this is how I receive my car.... ABSOLUTELY NOT. Will never again rent from budget, wasted my first day in Kauai. Sand all in the inside of the car and bird crap everywhere on the trunk and the lady said she couldn't wash it again. Unbelievable they better give my back my $250 deposit for this crap. Deserve a full refund after that nonsense still can't get over this....
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September 2023 by Elizabeth Webb Larson
Staff are working hard and all the staff I interacted with were so super pleasant. They are doing great work. However, Budget needs to figure out how to make this location more efficient. My husband and I were lucky that we didn't check bags and the first shuttle we approached was full so we just walked over to the car rental area. We were able to beat the second wave of people which caused a line out of the door. From the moment we got in like to when we were driving away in our car took maybe under an hour which I think was lucky compared to most people, but definitely not our experience with other car rental places. Our car was actually nice- had less than 30K miles, was clean, almost a full tank of gas... The return process was fast. I had no idea it would be that fast of a drop off- I thought I would have to get in that super long line again so I budgeted a ton of extra time to arrive to the airport and I didn't need to. There is a separate care return area where you just leave you car with the keys in it, grab your stuff, and head to the shuttle pick up area. Wish I had know it would be so fast but getting to the airport early is never a bad thing! Overall, staff are trying their best and do a great job but Budget management needs to hire more people or rent out less cars so it is less demanding on this location.
