Budget Car Rental Ireland Anmeldelser 

Efficient, friendly and quick service. Car was ideal. It was a first time rental for us, the service provided was effortless and trouble-free.

All the people I dealt with at this company were extremely helpful and pleasant. 5 star awarded from me.
Thanks.

We ordered a rental car through a 3rd Party (Finn.no i believe), got quoted a price at 426EUR for 3 days rental.

When we showed up at Dublin airport to pick up the car we were told they'd need to reserve EUR 5000 on the driver's credit card. The driver didn't have 5000 limit and we suggested using another one in the groups credit card, that was a NO GO and not accepted. The only other option which we were forced into was then to pay for daily insurance. We accepted this but was annoyed. This was approx 35EUR daily.

After ending our trip budget ireland subtracted 3 days at a daily rate of 299EUR! We were at no point notified about this and contacted our bank to stop any other future payments from this, as this was not the contract we've agreed to. We have also asked for but not received a contract that shows the new price. We were 2 people speaking to the clerk and she never told us of this major price hike. I would actually deem this as scam.

We've tried contacting local budget employees, but they say that budget ireland has a class c licence which seems like some sort of franchising solution.

I feel we have been scammed by budget ireland, and can not understand how they can run business in this manner! We have never been told what or how this has happened. I strongly advise people to avoid using budget ireland!

Good service and friendly/efficient staff.

Great prices and service, I use Budget frequently.

The service I received was great, however... The single member of staff at the booth was under uneccesary pressure given she was the only person on duty. She was incredibly polite, courteous and patient whilst trying to cope with an ever increasing queue from the inbound flight. There was apparently a mix up with one person's booking, which took over 20mins to resolve. This caused enormous frustration for those waiting as there was no one else available to assist. The person who gave me the car (Frances) was likewise incredibly helpful, but also under pressure with people waiting. I understand the need for efficiency savings, but leaving your (brilliant) staff shorthanded when you know there's a flight arriving with bookings could have been avoided. The car was great, as was the price. My only other criticism was the deposit, which was considerable at over £2500, though I understand you need to cover losses. All in all would definitely use again.

I got exactly the right car for my holidays, I was very happy with it. The people in the office were friendly and competent. The bus transfer at Dublin Airport was slow comming, maybe 1 big bus is not a good idea.
Waiting interval is too long, too many people in the office at the same time. I was so happy with the car I was driving , I can forgive the slow bus. I had the car for 8 days.

Quick and hassle-free service at Budget Dublin Airport. No unnecessary delays, car in great condition, and the whole process was smooth and efficient. Highly recommended!

I have used Budget about 3 times this year. They are my preferred choice as each time the process has been very efficient with collecting and dropping off.
Car are always clean and usually new or quite new.
Staff are friendly and helpful upon arrival.
While money is always reserved against my card in respect of excess insurance the block is removed
within a day or two of return which is helpful.

Professional staff easy book in and drop off ..economical and car chosen was what we recieved.
Great experience

Flight diverted due to weather conditions, car hire accommodated at new location, hassle free. Excellent customer service 👏

We left a bag at the rental counter and did not realize it until the next day. I began calling Budget and spoke with Sean. He said he would begin the process of locating and bag and within a short period of time, Sean alerted me that the bag was found and provided directions. Sean saved our trip and we are thankful.

Always a great experience hiring from your Company. Staff are welcoming, helpful and professional. I particularly enjoyed the car I received on this occasion. Return was straightforward and swift. Brilliant all-round really.

I rent cars on a very regular basis, but I’ve never received a vehicle in such an appalling condition. I regret not taking photos, but honestly, it was enough to make you cry. After driving roughly 100 km in an Opel Crossland, the engine cut out due to oil pressure issues. Upon inspection, there was no—I repeat—no oil in the reservoir. The coolant level was so low, even an ant couldn’t drown in it. The rest of the engine block had more rust than metal.

Following this incident, I tried contacting Budget multiple times by phone, but after letting it ring several times, they simply hung up. After consulting with a mechanic, I took the risk of adding motor oil myself. When I returned the car at the airport, no one really listened to my concerns, and frankly, I expect this car will be handed off to the next poor soul without any inspection.

They did promise to reimburse me for the motor oil, but Budget—why am I doing your job for you? I’m sure the standard response will be that all your cars are thoroughly inspected before being rented out, but save it. None of your customers believe that anymore.

I used Budget for my recent trip to Ireland 10/09-15/09 (Dublin Airport Branch) and I cant speak highly enough of my experience and so glad I wasn't put off from negative reviews, as this was my first time ever using a rented car. From the moment I got to Dublin the people at the desk I found to be really friendly and weren't in anyway pushy about upselling. Didn't have to wait very long for the bus shuttle and the drop off was just as easy and efficient. My security deposit was also returned to me within a couple of hours after drop off. Even during my stay I had to ring budget to change my drop off time and the guy I spoke to was extremely helpful and nice and changing the time wasn't an issue.

From a lot of negative reviews I see on here there seems to be a reoccurring trend, so I will provide some tips.
DO YOUR RESEARCH. This was massively important for me I knew exactly what to expect from the moment I got the car to the moment I dropped off because any of my queries I emailed budget customer support this way I had everything in writing and knew exactly what to expect. I used the same credit card to book the rental and the same credit card for the security deposit

BOOK ON BUDGET.IE DIRECTLY, do not book through a third party website such as booking.com ect. If you do book on booking.com and you use their 3rd party insurance this doesn't reduce your liability to 0, you must still use a credit card with a high enough credit limit to hold the security deposit. The only way to reduce your liability for damages to 0 and avoid the security deposit is to take out Budgets insurance. Any 3rd party insurance will reimburse you if there's any damages but you must be the one who takes the hit first then make a claim separately with that 3rd party (I personally used Cover4Rentals). If you do it this way and you understand the terms you are under no obligation to use budgets add on insurance. Again from my research I was aware of all this and was prepared to have the 2000 euro security deposit held on my credit card. Also side note they do add a fuel deposit on top of the security deposit I believe this to ensure that the fuel is returned as like for like from when you got it, again I personally took no risks and just topped the fuel tank all the way up before returning

If you follow my above advice I can assure you that you will no problems with using Budget and not be "scammed". If you're ever unsure contact them via their Irish telephone number or their Irish email which is all on budget.ie

I will certainly be using budget again for my next trip to Ireland without a doubt

They use broker called car jet , which is misleading people and they do not take any responsibility for that. Paid deposit and can't get it back...

I was scammed when I went to pick up the vehicle I had reserved.
Since the rental amount (around €1 000) and the deposit (€2 000) were significant, I suggested to the employee that I pay the rental with one credit card and the deposit with another card, both on my name.
The employee, who was rude and arrogant, threatened not to give me the vehicle unless I paid both amounts with a single credit card. This clause wasn't in my rental agreement; it was made up on the spot, late at night, when I needed the vehicle urgently. This forced me to pay for insurance I didn't want (€300+).
My experience with Budget at Dublin Airport leaves me with the impression of an arrogant employee and an unscrupulous company that invents clauses not included in the rental agreement to force customers to pay for additional services.
Never again with Budget Dublin Airport!

I wish I’d have read the reviews before I booked.
Do not use this company they are not transparent at all.
We booked through Cost-Co and wouldn’t have expected they’d sponsor such a poor company.
Basically I booked a car for pick up at Knock airport and it cost £224.
There was one member of staff and a queue of passengers/customers. The staff member said I could leave my credit card details and they’d put a hold on it for £3,5k or I could pay an extra €30 per day which covered ‘everything’ plus the fuel which would be credited back returned full so I opted for that. On rerun home there’s additional charges for roadside assistance and windscreen cover which takes the invoice to £400.
I’ve raised a complaint but they’re not in a rush to communicate they’ve said I signed the document .. which I did. Of course I’ve not read the small print as I wasn’t made aware there was additional charges.
They have total control as you have to leave your card details on picking the car up.
To be clear … the add ons were added at the airport and were certainly not discussed! We were clearly told €30 per day covered EVERYTHING! and they did not
There was one staff member on the desk for a queue of passengers.

My partner and I used Budget Rental at Dublin Aiport back in early August. We will not be using them again. The previous year we had used Alamo car rental but unfortunately this time they didn't have the availability we needed, in future we will be returning to use them. We were charged an additional days rental fee for returning the car an hour later than it should have been returned. However as explained below, there were reasons why this occurred as a direct result of Budget's customer service.

Budget seem to offer flexibility on their terms, but are unwilling to show flexibility the other way around. This creates total inconsistency. Regrettably, we have been let down by individuals working on the check in desk at arrivals, and those in the car park where you return the vehicle.

We picked our car up on the Friday at midday. We arrived just after 11.30 for a 12.00 start with the car, but the car was ready and so we were able to collect early. Nobody told us this meant our return time had changed... this has only been bought to our attention since contacting customer service. The car we had reserved and paid for was a Nissan Duke as there was 4 of us, however the car we collected was a Citroen...... So flexibility is clearly possible!

We asked the lady at the check in desk what the credit card hold would be having taken our their insurance. The hold would be if we didn't return the car with a full fuel tank. We asked what time the car had to be returned on the Monday. Crucially, she told us that "anytime" on the Monday was fine, but to be as early as possible for our flight because Monday's are busy at Dublin. Later it would become apparent our rental ended at midday. We signed the agreement at 11.40am. By the time we got the shuttle to the office, and collected the keys from a busy office, we were away in the car at around 12.00. What we didn't know was that the rental had started at 11.40. Despite being a mile from the car and in the airport...

We returned the car on Monday to the car park at around 12.45. We were processed before 13.00 waiting for a bus to the airport. We'd stopped to get fuel just outside Dublin. This was after dropping the rest our party to departures to save time for them. Our car was checked by one of the support team for any scratches/ issues etc and fuel was checked, before giving us a slip. We were then directed to a cabin and handed our slip to one of 4 customer service agents... this was checked and again, nothing was said to us. At no point did anybody explain that we were being charged another full day's rental despite the opportunity. This is really frustrating as we could have dealt with the issue there and then.

This was only realised when the credit card had the full amount taken. Thinking this was an error, WE had to reach out to find out why we had been charged the full amount. Despite a number of attempts to call into Budget customer service we couldn't get through, so used the email. Nothing came back for nearly two weeks. We then called the front desk at the airport who connected us to customer service, the line then went dead... We called back and were advised of a new email address and that they would pass our number on. No call came back which I'd requested but suddenly customer service emailed us back.

Various emails went back and forth, with Edel stating we'd broken the agreement and now OWED Budget money... As I pointed out, not sure how Budget would have told us, as we'd only found out 3 weeks later having contacted them!

Most disappointingly, our requests to show some compassion and understanding about the above fell on deaf ears. Customer service pointed out the stated written agreement, but failed to answer adequately some of the points above about advice given, and why we weren't told of the extra day's charge by any of the customer service agents on the Monday.

16 days ago I asked for the complaints policy & contact details from customer service. No response as of yet.

All we've wanted to do is speak to someone on the phone, to no avail.

Don't book with Budget.

I prepaid €219.85 for an Economy car. At pickup (Dublin Airport, 27 Aug 2025) staff said the €2,000 deposit could only be placed on a credit card. I had only a debit card, and was told my only option was Excess Reduction for €330.11 (10 days).

Key issues:
• Budget’s T&Cs show Excess Reduction €24/day, I was charged €33.011/day.
• Debit card accepted for a fuel deposit (€123.75) but not for the main deposit.
• Staff repeatedly said they were “happy to cancel” my booking if I refused — effectively coercion.

I request a full refund of €330.11 and a clear explanation of the deposit/card policy and price difference.
I have contacted Budget directly, but will escalate to CCPC and ECC Ireland if unresolved.