Avis Reviews 

All had been a fantastic experience. No issues hiring multiple times from this company Avis, in Heathrow Terminal 5 Rental Office. Great polite, smiling staff, very fast service. Recommended for future rentals.

DON'T LISTEN TO THESE NEGATIVE REVIEWS, SO MANY WHICH IS NOT TRUE, SAYING AVIS IS TERRIBLE. My experience has been great.

The vehicle provided to me was in very poor condition. It had visible damage, missing parts, and multiple warning lights on the dashboard related to tyres, engine, and oil. The fuel tank was also almost empty, despite the contract indicating it should be full.

Shortly after starting my journey, I experienced a serious tyre failure. After only a few kilometres, the tyre lost pressure completely. Upon inspection, I found two screws embedded in the tyre, which caused the puncture. I had no choice but to arrange and pay for the replacement myself in order to continue my trip safely.

Although I had purchased full insurance and roadside assistance, the support was practically non-existent. I called the emergency numbers repeatedly with no answer. When I finally reached someone (Johana), I was told to handle the situation myself as Avis could not assist at that time.

The handover process was also unprofessional. The vehicle was left in a parking area, and the staff member disappeared immediately after giving minimal instructions, leaving no one available to report the issues.

I have full photo evidence of the vehicle condition, dashboard warnings, tyre damage, and fuel level.

Overall, this experience was unsafe, poorly managed, and far below the standards expected from an international rental company.

I strongly advise caution when renting from this location.

Terrible experience .
Car was dirty , underpants left in the back seats. Staff at airport tried justifying it saying they don’t always have time to clean every car !

That was the least of my worries with them….
I am left well out of pocket.

I was charged an additional £150 pounds on my credit card on returning car.

5 phone calls , and several emails, know one at Avis could tell me what the additional charge was for .

Email replies are generic , written by Ai . not one email addressed my concerns.

Eventually I was instructed to ring US Avis as Uk Avis couldn’t help.

US Avis also useless , 5 calls , absolutely terrible customer service! No one could give me an answer for extra charge .

Eventually I worked out I was quoted £650 for car hire , Avis in US didn’t convert the amount I paid in Uk to dollars. They only deducted 650 dollars off car hire . Then charged me a further 150 to make up the difference .

So to sum it up - avoid Avis . Go to another company . Crooks or incompetent or both?!!!

I eventually got a refund from them when I pointed out the error they had made in converting the payment.

£150 back in my bank, one small win .

BUT all the calls to US Avis have cost me £170 ffs!

Did a quick check-in with car full of fuel at Glasgow airport, but didn't get any documents. End up with a £30+ credit card charge. Called customer service about this, and other charges, and told completely incorrect information. The only thing I was told , by the customer representative, was that this has happened before, which I can believe.

AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID
I booked a car for the 12 of May 2026 on the reception the bad experience started when I took all the relevant documents with me and a lady at the reception said we need to do certain checks i gave them my licence as a proof of address and my passport as a proof of ID and she said she need to talk to her manager after that she asked me provide another proof of address and luckily I open my credit card app and download the a statement and provide as a proof of address, she gave me the keys and asked me to check the screen it shows the damage signal it for me and she said you can take the car, and hold £302 as refundable deposit, when I came the next day on the 13th of May at 1pm there was another gentleman waiting the agent from Avis came out he checked his car and told him about a wheel damage which the gentleman denied he came to check my car and showed me a scratched on the alloy wheel I told him this is old damage you can tell then he said may be because of rain it look old I told him check the weather forecast there was jo rain at all here in leed and Luton and also I did not touch any kerb while I was driving the Avis car, I'm 50 plus and a very careful driver, I told him it's old I made a video of the damaged alloy which clearlyshows it's old damage, on the 15th of May they took £304.44p from my account I called to ask why they said you will get it back in 5 working days after 5 days called again they said by the 2nd of june you will get it and when I called on the 5th of june they said there was a damage on the car and that's why we took the money luckily I bought the extra insurance via 3rd party who I booked the car through so now I'm claiming my money back.
Avis is a thief company who steel people money keep it with them for months and use it for their business, and I believe it must be in millions each month.

The process of the car hire and the staff at the Avis centres to collected and returned the car to were helpful and I had no issue.
The issue I have is that the car I hired has received a parking charge for before I collected the car, ie overnight from the day before to the morning of the day I collected the car.
I collected the car at 6pm, but despite the date and time being clear on the parking notice and the time I picked my car up being evident in my contract, they have sent the fine to me.
I have disputed with Avis that this is THEIR clerical error and not for me to challenge the fine, but all they say is I have to challenge it, and keep closing my complaint. They won’t engage on phone, i was on hold for 30+ minutes one day, no one will ring you back, and they won’t accept that this is their error. I have also automatically been charged for the parking fine and administration charge.
Customer service is non existent - I will not use again

If i could give 0 stars!! We booked with Avis for a weekend trip in Italy. All was fine, we returned the keys to a 'key box' at the car park and off we went. This is obviously intentional to remove any interaction between the customer and the agent, as they can inspect the car and charge for damage with absolutely no contest. This is exactly what they did. 20 minutes later we receive an email with a £200 bill for damages, no images, no explanations. Luckily we had pictures of the damage on the 'brand new car' before we drove away. We sent an email demanding images within a 14 day period. Nothing. I called their services line 4 times to be told their systems are down, which is funny, as when i bluffed and tried to book a new car they were more than happy with the systems and were well able to take money from me. Eventually after 4 emails demanding evidence that they actually did 'repair' the damage (idle fees), evidence of the damage, and phone calls where i would not hang up we get an out of the blue email, unrelated, telling us they have cancelled the charge.

I'm certain they purposely damage the vehicles to charge people these fees as it was given to us as a 'brand new unused' vehicle.

Never EVER use this company.

I rented Avis car from stansted airport uk and returned well, but after 1.5 months they charged me for dropping the car from where i picked it up saying you parked it in the wrong holiday inn parking . But actually they are located inside holiday inn and both have the same parking lot. They are even not replying to calls or mail.
They are scammers never rent a car from Avis ever.

Ineffectual company. The electric car I reserved from Heathrow did not have a cable to hook up to household plug - all other electric cars I've hired previously have - was told this was standard package and told me to reserve another car. I was standing at the counter! When challenged, the employee said he could book over the counter. Time passes. I had to extend the reservation and have spend the entire morning being bounced around the various Avis reservation numbers only to be told I need to talk to the Heathrow Avis location directly. All numbers they gave me either push me back to the Avis central reservation or don't work. The last number they gave me which is a mobile number to the Heathrow Avis location in 'unavailable'. So now I'm faced with driving all the way up to Heathrow - a long way - because there are no local Avis locations - just to extend the reservation - at my own cost! What is wrong with this damn company?!

Terrible - border line criminal as with most of these car hire companies.

Turned up to no car despite having checked in ahead of time and done the express pick up option! Had to come back a couple of hours later which wasnt easy at an airport.

Car was good - dropped it off and they managed to find a chip that wasnt there previously. About 5 mm I'd estimate - how much do you think it cost? Over a £1000.

Luckily I have third party insurance so hopefully that will cover it but i have no idea how these companies are allowed to operate in this way.

Booked for Inverness Airport
Booked months in advance
Did all the pre requisites as advised
Car not there when we checked in at the airport. Left waiting for an unacceptable amount of time . Car dirty when finally arrived. Have contacted Customer Services to complain who are refusing to give me complaints department contact . Won't book with them again.

Car hire in USA , They take no responsibility for their errors and and nobody knows what to do when this happens when you make calls to try and sort their errors it cost over £70 pounds when you ask for a managers no one can tell you who they are when you get back home uk and make a complaint all you get it’s all sorted Now no refund for call even with evidence you made these call all you get never mind 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Be aware, fraudulent practices. The company offers a favourable rates, collects personal data and declines a transaction with a message: Sorry, this rate isn't available online right now. Please call 0808 284 0014. (EX016)

I am really disappointed in AVIS, and post this as a WARNING to OTHER TRAVELERSthis, as I was the victim of an additional charge I neither wanted nor asked for.

How this works, is when you go to the desk, the guy will mention he is adding a service to your booking, what he neglects to do, is tell you there is a charge to this.

Its happened twice now, however, the first time I caught it, when in August last year, the sales representative at the desk told me he had added the toll pass to my booking, 'to save me getting fines', it was not until I asked if there was a charge for that, that he said it was $70. I asked him to immediately remove the toll pass, he never mentioned it prior to putting it on the booking.

This time, they added additional roadside assistance onto my booking, but neglected to tell me that there was a cost of $141.46, as if he had been clear a charge was being added, I would not have agreed to it.

This sort of sales practice is abysmal from a company as large as Avis, and I cannot believe they are allowed to simply add things to your booking without explaining that such a thing comes with a charge?

Unfortunately, In this instance I did not see the charge added to my booking, I do believe this is nothing more than an elaborate con undertaken by staff on unsuspecting travellers coming in on the back of being travelling for over 16 hours and not meticulously going through their paperwork, and on the part of travellers, relying on decent, honest people being upfront about charges and costs.

I did challenge it, however, Avis / Argus car hire, both 'conveniently' pointed out that the conversation happened at the sales desk, and that it was my word against the sales reps as to how he added the fee.

I WOULD TELL ALL CUSTOMERS TO AVOID THIS SCAM TO ASK THE SALES REP IF HE HAS ADDED ANY ADDITIONAL FEES BEFORE GIVING THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS - RECORD THE CONVERSATION ON YOUR PHONE OTHERWISE ITS YOUR WORD AGAINST THEIRS.

Very sad practice, and something I am leaving a review to stop other weary travellers of becoming victims too.

My wife and I had an appalling experience renting from Avis whilst travelling to Northern Ireland with our young child. We faced a significant surcharge upon collecting the car, paying almost three times as much as we had agreed! What is more, the Avis employee who regaled in demanding this from us at the front desk could not seem to find the relevant information in the terms and conditions to specify why in fact we had to pay this. We were given a customer service number to call, which was out of hours (since it was a Saturday) and left to feel completely helpless in an awfully uncomfortable situation with a toddler in tow. Needless to say, this has never happened to us with any of the other rental car providers we have used, so please beware if you are considering using Avis... The Northern Ireland customer service department have since circumvented my questions to do with this and no longer reply to my emails. I would advise you not to get into the same situation.

I have always used a competitor company however I shall always use Avis/budget the experience I had at East Midlands airport was simply the best. Vartan at reception could not do enough for us he was extremely polite has superb customer service qualities. Very professional. Simply the best b

Misleading, deceptive and predatory behaviour at Avis UK at Heathrow Airport.

I booked and prepaid for my rental in advance. At pickup, I asked whether switching from a manual to an automatic would cost extra and was told there would be “no difference in price.” No additional charges were explained to me during pickup or signing and I was not informed that I was being “upgraded”

Only upon returning the car was I presented with a total price almost double the amount of my initial prepaid booking. When I questioned it the staff informed me there was nothing they could do after the vehicle had been returned and told me to contact support instead.

Concerningly while I was there another customer beside me at the desk was disputing a very similar issue involving undisclosed upgrade charge which suggests this is far from an isolated incident.

Overall, the process felt extremely misleading and poorly communicated. I would strongly recommend against anyone hiring through this location.

Would rate 0 stars if I could.

It should be zero stars but you have to select at least one. My daughter and son in law were left waiting for the day for their car to be picked up in Panzano Italy. It had a flat tyre. Apparently it couldn’t be fixed on the side of the road and we have to drive them to Florence to pick up a new car. Apart from the pickup being late the idea that we have to drive to Florence and back, a 2 hour round trip, is ridiculous. This is after the AVIS online reporting would not accept the car registration of their own car and both emergency numbers provided by AVIS did not work. This is awful service.

From/To London Gatwick South Terminal Very efficient pickup, friendly helpful staff.
Car was an "upgrade", in that it was larger, but I'd have been happy just to get what I paid for.
The car was fine except the clutch was worn and juddering, and the screen wash was empty.
Neither a big deal.
Returned car, not waiting, again very efficient and friendly staff (Davide in particular).
Mentioned the issues with the car and was very apologetic and quick to resolve.
5star service 3star car; but issues were resolved.

Arrived in Bordeaux to be met with a half an hour queue, as 2 people manned the Budget/Avis desk. No quick pass desk open, no key collect kiosk. What is the point of being a preferred customer? Car was soiled with a recent rear seat stain. The supposed full tank showed 750km however when I filled it for return it showed 850km.. No one to receive the car on return, one person manning the desk, so no handover. Not impressed at all.