If Budget Rent A Car Doesn’t Like Your Credit Score, It Won’t Even Let You Pay Cash
But if you already paid in advance, they'll send you a refund within two weeks after they cancel your rental
Three weeks after Budget accepted my payment in full for an 18-day rental, I arrived at the counter to pick up the car. That’s when I was told that my credit score wasn’t good enough for them to give it to me.
Wait a minute. My credit score isn’t good enough for them to accept cash? I was sure there must have been some mistake. But wait a minute again – I’d already paid for the car. And it was parked right outside. I wanted the car, and I would accept nothing less. But the guy at the counter didn’t want to hear it. He simply told me that I had no choice and that he would give me a full refund.
And that refund would take up to two weeks. And that was that. I actually didn’t have a choice. Budget wouldn't budge. But they were nice enough to waive the cancellation fee. Here are the ugly details:
On June 18, 2022, I rented a car for an 18-day vacation in July and paid the full amount in advance. Three days before the July 7 pick-up date, I received an offer from Budget to “SAVE TIME AT THE COUNTER” and do a “Digital Check-in”. It sounded like a great idea, so I took advantage of it. Just walk up to the counter, show my ID, and get the keys. Simple as that.
What could go wrong?
Well, as it turns out, just about everything. After I gave the guy at the counter my VISA debit/credit card (to match the card number with the payment?) and driver’s license, he asked for my Social Security number. That sounded a little weird, but I ignored my Spidey-sense and gave it to him. He pressed a few buttons on his computer, and…presto! I was rejected. He showed me the error message on his screen: “Do not rent. [then something about contacting Equifax]”.
He gave me the customer service number and I called it. When they told me that they would send me a refund and that it would arrive within two weeks, I went ballistic. The guy at the counter told me to watch my language because this was a place of business. Lucky for him, the (decrepit and musty) office was devoid of customers – I was beginning to understand why. I ignored his demand and continued with my colloquial English. He then pretended to call the police. I called his bluff by giving him the number to 911 and he gave up the ruse, putting the phone down.
Finally I got a supervisor on the line, and he did me a favor. He said, “Look. I could charge you a cancellation fee, but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to give you a full refund.” He even cut the timeline to a week. Thanks a lot. It must be a lot harder to put money back into somebody’s account than to take it out, because they took it out in a day.
I had rented a car from Budget in 2019 without a hitch. And my financial situation is not much different from what it was back then – perhaps actually a bit better. So I’m at a bit of a loss as to what’s changed. But if you think about it, a lot has changed. For one thing, multi billion-dollar corporations have a much stronger lock on things since the multi trillion-dollar bailouts of 2020 that continue to this day. Nowadays, airlines make more money on their credit cards than they do flying people around. So they seem to be able to cancel flights with little or no recompense to the passengers. And with impunity. Perhaps it’s the same with rental car companies. I don’t know. But it seems that these days, big corporations can get away with just about anything.
I don’t know what can be done about all this. Any ideas?