Budget Car Rental, State College PA

They had one employee working a line that was roughly twenty deep with people. We stood their for there and a half hours waiting to be helped. The poor man working alone was truly delightful and efficient at his job. He deserves an award!

Everything went very smoothly from the pick up of the car to the return. No problems whatsoever. The 2023 Camry they gave me was a great car.

People behind the did they're job well expected a little shoe like a Nissan kicks or something small like that got a new challenge with unlimited mileage.good deal.

Made a car rental reservation at the same time I made our airline reservations. Our flight was to get in at 5: 22, actually got in 30 minutes early, got to the counter before 5pm and everyone was already gone! Lights out, no keys anywhere with a sign on the desk showing their hours that they close at 5pm on Saturdays when flights are still arriving until 11 pm! Had to get a car elsewhere, now to deal with contacting them to start the refund process.
Update: 4 days and 3 messages left for them and still ZERO response

Alexis was the absolute best she worked hard and diligently to get me in my car even though corporate messed up my reservation. Love you alexis!

They refused to give me the car because my driver license- which I have used almost all over the world, including many US locations- doesn’t say “international”. It’s valid and in English letters. Even though my reservation was made a month ago, they never communicated this silly rule to me prior to picking up the car. The lady in the front desk is not helpful and frustrated, the manager (Terry) over the phone was extremely unprofessional and rude, shifting the blame on me rather than apologizing for their poor communication and help fix their mistake. She told me “you’re not getting a car, period” what kind of manager is this? This”privately owned” branch ruins the image of BUDGET. AVOID THIS PLACE. The photo below clearly says international DL required if written in NON ROMAN ALPHABET.

If I could give it less than 1 star I would.

1. They don’t answer the phones.

2. They just hand out cars even when they aren’t supposed to do when you break down several hours away from home you have nothing but issues and are stranded.

3. If you are stranded and they can’t solve the issue they just leave you there and don’t even check to see if you got it all figured out so expect to be reported for stealing a car if you’re still stuck on the side of the road by the time you’re supposed to return the car.

4. They don’t care about their customers - just their money.

5. This location should be either shut down or hire real/more employees who know how to answer a phone and do their job.

6. They run your credit without permission.

7. They charge your card without permission.

8. They don’t explain the process if you’re new.

9. Did I mention they don’t answer the phones? Oh.

10. Very unknowledgeable.

11. They don’t answer the phones.oh wait I said this? Huh.

12. They ARE privately owned so budget rental corporate CANNOT HELP YOU.

Hopefully you read this review before you go here unlike I did. This was my first experience renting a car and I will never ever EVER do it again and if I do it’ll be far from this company!

We have been sitting here for over 2 hours and NOBODY is here to provide us with the car we rented. We have the confirmation and everything with us. My husband is getting ready to deploy, and this is a very unnecessary stress! I AM LIVID.

Worst car rental experience ever! They were closed when I got there (even though they were supposed to be open for another half hour) no explanation. I called customer service who tried to help but couldn’t do much since the State College location is privately owned. Called this morning and she said they closed because employee tested positive for Covid (which I’m sympathetic to) but they had called everyone- but apparently they forgot me. Called this morning 5 times before they finally answered. Was told they had written up my ticket and the keys were hanging on the back wall. Oh ok I’m supposed to find my own keys and take them with nobody there at the dark counter? Took an Uber to the airport and she gave me the keys and contract but said she couldn’t take off the day I didn’t actually use the car since the contract was already written and the keys were there when I got in. No apology or understanding that a customer might not think they should go behind an empty dark desk and look for keys! She thought it was reasonable that the keys were hanging under a lit up Avis sign and that I should have noticed and felt comfortable taking the car without showing a license or anything! She was rude and cold and needs to find a new job. So I left and had to pay for another Uber and still have no rental car! Budget you need to have more control and association with your privately owned locations. I will NEVER use Budget again!

Very helpful and professional. With no problem extending my rental. Thank you budget/ Avas /payless

I had a confirmed booking with Budget and was planning to pick up my car on schedule when they opened at 9am. When I arrived no one was there and the number left to call for help rang the phone directly in front of me on the desk. After calling the 1800 number and talking to 8 different people (and poor Juan 3 times) none of them could help me contact a local representative. They were all shocked that no one was there. I told each person I could see my key behind the counter and asked them if I could take it. They all said no. I needed to wait for someone to arrive and help me. TWO HOURS LATER I hear back from Tierney, a local employee. She told me, "just take the key, it's there for you". No apology. No explanation. After spending nearly a month trying to get in touch with the management there I received an additional bill for my extra day of having the car. Apparently someone marked that I picked it up a day early.so I guess whoever was supposed to come in for my 9am pick up pre-planned not to show and was just going to charge me for an extra day. After spending 2 hours waiting for my car, my husband being late to work, several hours on the phone trying to get answers I'm getting $50 back. This is not worth the hassle. Pay a little bit more and rent from any other rental company in State College. You'll save hours of your life which is worth way more than $50.

I picked up a 7 seater to drive up to PA to drop off my kid in college. Took 1 hour in line to get the car. Car interiors were dirty. COVID times cleaning I guess is not a priority. Called customer service several times with no response. Not just dust in side but spilt fluids- coffee, hot chocolate what not. There was a note that the car was cleaned and disinfected with EP certified product. Really?

Needed to exchange a car we just picked up from PIT that had “check engine” light on. We are staying over 100 miles away from the airport. Customer service sent us to State College location (60+ miles away) only to find out they don’t do exchanges. Was told that the location is privately owned. Wish we knew that before we drove so far! Attempted to call the location three times beforehand with no answer. Corporate said we didn’t need to call ahead, so we went. Corporate needs to know not to send customers to that location. The person at the counter was not sympathetic to our situation. Disappointing! Still don’t have resolution. Now need to drive 90 miles to another location for exchange. This is only day two of our trip!