Avis Car Rental — Local services in New York

My husband and I recently returned our car yesterday after renting it out late Thursday night because literally had to drive three hours down to check my father in the hospital. We had a bunch of issues with our rental. We told the guy at the counter very specifically and CONFIRMED it with him that we didn’t really need the unlimited tolls every day fee because we were only getting down there coming up and doing local roads really and probably wouldn’t hit $24 a day so we asked him to put us on the $9 a day service where we would just pay each toll after And he said OK awesome. I’ll add that to your bill and we confirmed this with him. - I am now getting text messages from toll boots or toll systems, saying that we have a bunch of unpaid tolls after dropping off the rental and I even noticed on one of the tolls that we had to go through to get off the island my dads on that it said “toll unpaid” and we were like that’s really weird. We ordered the whole thing and I tried to call Avis and was left on hold for 30 minutes and then it hung up on me.

the second issue is I don’t think anybody inspected this car in anyway before we were given it. It was filthy and we didn’t even notice how bad until the next morning outside of the cat litter all over inside of the trunk. The doors were all sticky and there were dead bugs inside.

my third issue and why we had to drop the rental off an hour late is you can hear in the video and see in the picture that part of the car is broken. We noticed it after we had gotten on the highway and picked up speed that the thumping was in fact not in our music, but it was the car itself, and by that point we couldn’t turn around because we were already slated to get to my father at one in the morning. I called Avis again and was left on hold for a little over half an hour to absolutely no answer. We didn’t even notice that part of the car was down until we are coming back from buying my father groceries before driving home to nyc to drop off and a nice guy pulled up beside us and said hey part of your car is hanging down and we immediately knew that must be what the noise was. We literally loaded up the car and tried to call Avis again to see if there was a swap that we could do, once again receiving absolutely no answer after 40 minutes on hold, so we drive to the Atlantic City airport Avis BUT because of the storm, they had absolutely no electric and couldn’t even help us out. Not even check the toll issue because their entire systems were down and the only reason they even had lights on was because of a generator. So we had to get back on the highway and do the 3 Hour drive with this part of the car still hanging down as it had been the whole trip.

So now we’re out a whole bunch of money for a car that we we were scared to drive, potentially and a TON of tolls if the singular guy that was working at the counter, didn’t bother to put this on our bill after we asked for it multiple times and confirmed with him.

What’s absolutely insane is that I just had to go and create a whole account just to put in a ticket and the ticket system doesn’t actually allow you to upload photos or videos which seems incredibly sketchy so I’m going to upload them all here

They need to do something to fix it. First of all there’s no way I’m paying crazy fees for all these fucking tolls. I will pay them the nine dollars per day of rental plus the tolls themselves of course if they tried to like scam us out of tolls or some shit and didn’t put that on our bill, I’m gonna lose my mind And there’s no way you can rent out something as unsafe as this like come on really???

Check out date: Feb 13,2025@09:14 PM Check in date: Feb...

Avis Car Rental Review – February 17, 2025

My company booked a rental car through Avis due to an existing agreement with them. On Monday, February 17, 2025, I took an Uber to the Avis rental location at LaGuardia Airport. The check-in process was smooth, and I was able to provide my confirmation details and sign the necessary documents without any issues. However, my experience with the actual vehicle rental process was far from satisfactory.

Finding the Car

Locating my assigned car in the B section of the rental lot was a challenge. The signage was unclear, and the area appeared run-down. The weather that day was also extremely windy, making the process even more frustrating.

Vehicle Issues

When I finally found my rental, it was a Toyota crossover SUV that resembled a Subaru. Upon inspecting the vehicle, I quickly realized that it lacked a standard USB port, offering only a USB-C port instead. Since I use an iPhone 12 Pro, which requires a regular USB connection, this was a major inconvenience. I double-checked the car for any other ports but found none.

I went back inside to notify the staff, and they offered me a replacement vehicle—a Chevrolet Malibu. Personally, I viewed this as a downgrade, as I am accustomed to driving higher-profile vehicles like Jeeps. The Malibu, being a low-to-the-ground sedan, did have a standard USB port for my phone, but its features were still disappointingly basic. It lacked adaptive cruise control, which is something I heavily rely on for long trips. Given that I had a four-hour drive ahead of me, this was a significant letdown.

Additional Concerns

Another issue I encountered was the tire pressure. I noticed that the air pressure on the right side of the vehicle was inconsistent compared to the left side. When I returned the vehicle to my local rental drop-off location, I reported the issue, but the staff simply shrugged it off without any concern.

Final Thoughts

Would I recommend Avis? Most likely not. This experience was disappointing on multiple levels—ranging from the difficulty in finding the vehicle to the lack of technology and overall vehicle quality. Every other rental company I’ve used has offered more advanced features, even in their basic models, such as adaptive cruise control. The lack of attention to customer needs and the overall condition of the rental location only added to my dissatisfaction. I will strongly consider using other rental services...

Rented out of LaGuardia over Thanksgiving weekend. The vehicle was FILTHY! We picked it up at night (the lighting in the parking lot is NOT good) so we couldn't tell how bad it was. Had we picked it up in daylight, there is no way I would have accepted it. There were stains on the seats, dirt and debris on the floors, smelled faintly of cigarettes - but the worst was the "forehead prints" on several windows. Disgusting! It was so bad we took it to a full service car wash as quickly as we could. Also the windshield was very dirty - inside & out. The outside would not have been a big deal but there was no washer fluid! NONE! So I bought a jug at the car wash because the weather forecast called for rain - and I did need the fluid when it did rain. The inside of the windshield had the kind of film that builds up when it hasn't been washed in months, and/or someone smokes in the vehicle. AND, the day after we picked it up, a notification came up that it was PAST due for maintenance! When we dropped it off, I went to the pick-up counter to explain the situation. The first person barely acknowledged my frustration & quickly passed me to someone else. This person initially just said I could submit a review (as I'm doing now) but that was it. She eventually, and reluctantly, deducted from my bill the amount I paid for the wash & the fluid plus a little bit more - an actual total discount of a fraction of a percent. Her apology did not seem at all sincere - even after I explained this is the second time in 6 months we've had a similar experience at the same facility. Then we waited a very long time for the shuttle to the terminal. Outside in the cold because the shuttle pickup lobby was closed and was cluttered with "junk". The driver barely acknowledged us & when dropping off did not make much of an effort to announce what airline was serviced at each stop - I had to ask him to repeat it 3 times. Avis was my go to when I traveled frequently for work & I've continued to be loyal even though it is never the cheapest option. As I mentioned, this is two times in a row we've had a bad experience with this one being much worse. With this kind of service, Avis is not worth the extra cost. Might be time to try...