Avis Reviews 

The collection service was good and the cars were also good, but unfortunately my experience was ruined by what happened afterwards. I was charged a significant amount for damage to an alloy wheel that was already present when I collected the vehicle. I raised this with the employee at the branch and was told that a refund would be issued. Weeks later, I still have not received the refund. I contacted Avis customer service and was then told that there is no record of any refund having been initiated. Being charged for pre-existing damage is bad enough, but being told by a member of staff that the charge would be refunded and then discovering weeks later that no refund was even processed has caused me to lose trust in Avis. I now will probably have to travel back to the Liverpool branch simply to discuss and resolve a problem that should already have been dealt with. It is a shame because the collection process and the vehicle itself were both good, but after this experience I would be very reluctant to use Avis again.

Absolutely unacceptable experience. I was overcharged and customer service failed to respond to six consecutive emails. The complete lack of engagement has left me with no confidence in Avis. I will not be using them again and will be recommending that my colleagues who travel for business blacklist Avis.

What an awful experience. Rude customer service from start to finish. I was given something to sign, I was told it was just confirming the hire. What I was actually signing was to agree to all the 'optional extras' including windscreen protection, super damage waiver and 'additional products'. I would NEVER and I mean NEVER use this slimey, horrible company again.

We had paid the £962.93 for the rental (paid in advance through brokers Canadian Affair).

We were not able to take the rental car for our Canada road trip holiday, as I forgot my Credit Card PIN (presenting a credit card is a requirement of AVIS, I did present the card but had forgotten the PIN) we had other cards but that was the only credit card, and they require a credit card only.

We went with Alamo who thankfully rented us a Car through our Debt Card, and I understand that the £962.93 wont be refunded to me, other hotels on that trip allowed us to use the credit card with having to enter the PIN, so AVIS were not at all helpful in finding a solution for us.

Absolute disgrace.

Charging for a DAILY rate for E-Tolls, even though not been through a toll.

An absolute joke. Received a bill for £300 even though used 2 toll roads over 2 weeks.

Never ever ever use them - absolute joke

We hired and prepaid for a car in Washington DC via Holiday Autos (AVOID) but the supplier was AVIS. On arrival at the Avis branch we were told the car was not ready - a smaller EV alternative was offered but we opted to wait as we needed suitcase room and didn’t want to have to locate charging points. We were told to go away for a couple of hours and come back, which we did. On return, no one at the desk, eventually someone returned and told us that their system was down so they couldn’t release the car to us. We waited another couple of hours but then decided there was no sign of us getting the car. We contacted Avis by phone and as they were unable to give us a car they cancelled the hire. however, we are now in a situation where Holiday Autos won’t refund - the only document proof we don’t have clear evidence of is our time of arrival (I mean, why would we have needed this as this was not the issue!). Avis did not give us anything to time stamp our arrival and as this branch is in a basement and their internet was down our phones did not record the location. They are looking for any excuse not to refund the money. DO NOT USE and definitely do NOT prepay.

Renting in Croatia I paid in full in advance. When I picked up the car I was told there was a "Ferry Surcharge" of €15 a day on the whole rental just because I was taking the car on a Ferry for 15 mins going to an island. This is a new way of extracting more money. Avoid.

1 star too high a score.
For a 1 day hire they (Chester Avis- do not use them ) took a preauthorisation payment of £2070.99- which I queried but was assured was just a random number and would not be taken out of my account. 6 weeks later I realised from my card statement it had been so I contacted them- eventually after several contacts over a few weeks, I was told the car was damaged and the repair would be £1300.00. It absolutely wasn’t. No evidence was offered. No inspection carried out when I returned the car as it was a bank holiday and no staff were there. I have since tried many times to get someone to provide the evidence and have still had no monies returned. I feel I have been scammed. I am now seeking legal advice. The worst car hire company I have ever used.

Avoid! Even as a regular preferred plus customer I have sent in the same complaint 5x with no response from customer services.
Useless service.

Avis has a large rental network, but the amount tied up can exceed the advertised daily rate. Some locations place an authorization hold that a bank may take up to two weeks to release, and renters under 25 can face an additional daily surcharge. Those terms deserve attention before booking.

Wish I had read the reviews before booking through BA we were also ripped off with charges on our return from Palermo that we hadn't agreed to, I have contacted AVIS who were unhelpful and said they didn't do refunds. AVOID AVOID AVOID

Dreadful company, avoid. I would give zero stars if it was possible. My wife made a booking under the name “Debbie” as opposed to the name on her passport (“Deborah”). They refused to give us the car, and they refused to allow us to pay extra and add me as a driver. They also refunded none of the £400 we spent. Their employees in the airport were automatons / jobsworths / “computer says no” types, and they did absolutely nothing to help us. An absolute scam of a company.

Just arrive in Sardinia. When to pick up the. At and they told me the booking is denied, although the reservation shows perfectly fine on the app. Cannot offer me any car. So now I’m stuck without car, need to be at the other side of the island in the next couple of hours. Customer services takes 45 minutes to answer to tell me there is nothing they can do. Surely never again.

We booked a 23 day prepaid (via a corporate account card) car rental from Avis Heathrow. On pick up Customer Service said if we are not happy with the car he would give us another. The car was smaller than we reserved, would not accommodate our suitcases, was badly marked and unclean so we asked for another. We were asked to sign a screen which was impossible to read due to circled marks inserted over the charges and at no time did Customer Service state there would be additional charges of GBP2637.92.
On returning the car we noticed the excessive charges and questioned them with Avis UK but was passed from one person to another and given no satisfactory help.
Returning to NZ we immediately informed the Corporate card to stop our payment on the Avis account but was told they had already paid it to our horror. We understood there were 20+ days grace before payment so queries could be sorted!
Endless correspondence from ourselves, the Corporate and Avis NZ to Avis UK got us nowhere.
Eventually we lodged a dispute with BVRLA UK who found in our favour and the money was eventually refunded.
This event went on for months and ruined the memories we should have been enjoying.
A paper print out is often not given on hiring a car these days even on request. Please read any car rental agreement carefully before signing and query anything that is unclear or obscured.

I rented a car from Avis at Philadelphia airport on 10th June 2026, for 15 days. The car itself was great. It was almost new and great to drive.
The check in at the airport, and the drop off on our return, were fairly straightforward, apart from one issue, which really spoilt the whole experience.
On our arrival at the desk we were greeted by a cheery, friendly female, who asked where we had travelled from and where we were going etc. When I told her our route in America she stated that we should purchase a pre-paid toll road pass, which would allow us to pass through any toll roads without having to stop or pay. She told me it would cost 254 dollars. I thought this was quite high and, having already plotted our route, I knew that we wouldn't be using many, if any, toll roads. I declined her offer and her whole attitude changed. She was very rude, saying that if we missed payments on the toll roads we would be charged a 65 dollar admin charge for each one and we were making a mistake not to buy. She continued being rude and, unbeknown to me, brought up my contract on a screen in front of me. I was supposed to check and sign the agreement. When I asked what it was she snapped at me and said I'd had more than enough time to check it! She printed off a copy and I wasn't sure whether the charges stated on the agreement were correct. She rudely stated that we must have turned up early if there was an extra charge. We didn't, we arrived approximately 30 minutes after the time we had agreed. She continued to be extremely rude to us, and again said we were making a mistake not getting the pre-paid toll pass. If I'm honest I got the distinct feeling that she must be working on some sort of commission to sell the pass. Maybe not, but her attitude changed dramatically when I refused to pay for it. It put a real damper on the start of our holiday.
We have been home for a month now and no charges have subsequently appeared on my card, despite her saying that there definitely would be!!
Not the best customer service from Avis at Philadelphia and something which really spoilt our arrival in America.

Another disappointing hire - I’m their highest stays (president’s club) and though the cars and the desk staff are all good, the customer service is utterly hopeless and pretty amateur (both UK, Spain and Italy). We had a couple of issues where they had mischarged for fuel and had missold the hire, and it was impossible to get any dialogue with them - the telephone agents can’t actually do anything, they tell you to email in, and then the customer service team never respond to emails. Only solution was to raise a section 75 credit claim. I recently status matched (by emailing in) to hertz and sixt, and having tested their customer service, honestly I’ll be switching away to Sixt. Avis improve your customer service, ignoring top tier status customers is just atrocious!

Nicky the blonde lady at the heathrow branch was absolutely brilliant thanks so much for your help and support

Highly recommend Avis Lucy who served us was kind, professional and extremely helpful. Infinitely better than green motion who we originally booked with!

I was very disappointed with my experience with Avis at Dublin Airport.

Despite being advertised as an airport car rental, the depot isn't actually at the airport. Instead, you have to take a shuttle bus for around 10–15 minutes just to collect your vehicle. Even more frustrating was the wait for the transfer bus. Avis/Budget claim the buses run every 10–20 minutes, but in our experience it was over half an hour for both collection and drop off. When we arrived, we watched several of the other rental companies' buses come and go multiple times, some had 5 pick-ups in the time we were still waiting for one Avis bus!

The transfer buses themselves also leave a lot to be desired. They were old, noisy, and one even had its front bumper held on with cable ties, which didn't exactly inspire confidence before we'd even collected the car.

The vehicle was another disappointment. The booking showed an image of a VW Golf, but we were given a Hyundai i20 instead. I appreciate that the advertised vehicle is only representative, but the i20 was extremely basic, underpowered, struggled on the motorway, and laboured on even modest inclines. It simply wasn't what I expected from a company that has long been regarded as a premium car hire brand.

The return process was equally frustrating. The staff inspected the car with a fine-tooth comb, looking for the slightest hairline scratch. Yet when collecting the vehicle, I wasn't given any opportunity to report pre-existing damage. When I raised this, I was simply told to record a video or take photographs and produce them later if there was a dispute. That doesn't feel like a fair or customer-friendly process.

Overall, this was a very poor experience from what was once a prestigious car hire company. Between the misleading "airport" location, infrequent shuttle buses, disappointing vehicle, and overly rigorous return inspection, I wouldn't choose Avis at Dublin Airport again.