Rental Car Center — Local services in San Diego

I used Sixt and let me tell you NEVER EVER use this company. First time I’ve ever used this company and I will never use the again and I mean NEVER. Landed at the my airport and had to get a shuttle to the rental agency. No big deal it’s common for most car rental places. Got to the car rental place. It look nice basically breaks new, sort of fancy looking place. Only had one person helping customers so it took a while before others came in to help. Ok it was at 11:30pm but still. More service agents was needed. Filling out the paperwork and the service agent helping us asks if we would like to upgrade our reservation to a bigger we said no because we didn’t want or need a bigger car. The service agent then said oh well I’ll give you the upgrade for free as we are out of the midsize car you had ordered.

So let me get this straight you just tried to get me to pay more for a bigger car because you don’t have any cars left in the size I ordered. Um ok not a good move. Strike one. So go over everything in the order that we had ordered and we had said we wanted a car booster seat. Which we had paid for it’s on our bill saying we were to have one. They didn’t give it us even though they had said we need a car seat and our order said car seat on it. Wasn’t in the car and never gave it to us even after asking for it. So we called the next day to fix that issue. Strike two.

The car was fine brand new make and model for the current year. But day three into the trip and the car started having issues with the battery. Not starting at all or turning over when Turing the key in the ignition. This happened a few times to the point where my husband always stranded in a parking lot by himself in a place he doesn’t know. He luckily managed to get a jump from a local. He called the service number three time. You heard me THREE times and no one answered. He finally just called the customer service number said he was having issues with the car and that he needed an exchange. They told him to bring the car in. Um hello your car won’t start but WE have bring it to you. Strike 3 in my opinion. Let’s give up an hour of our vacation to fix your busted car. After my husband had finally gotten the car started he drove it straight back to then rental place for an exchange which he was told would be called that he was on his way. So they would have a car ready. Surprise they weren’t called. Go to exchange the car and start telling him that he needs to fill the car up with gas. Hello. You want us to take your broken car that doesn’t start 99% of the time to a gas station fill it with gas and get stranded because it won’t start again. Um no and they tried to charge us. Sorry not paying for gas in a broken car which was hardly driven. Strike 4. Was told the manager would be calling us to talk to us about our issues. Let’s just say I’m still waiting for the phone call.

We got a new car in the original size that we had asked for. And everything worked fine with the new second car. Returned that one without any issues but had to wait until a supervisor was available on return to ensure that we would get refined for the car seat and other charges they were trying to make us pay for the first car. All around a totally miserable experience with this company. First time I’ve used this company and I will use them again. And I will advise anyone needing a car to never use them as well.

Four strikes in one experience is basically the final straw for me. At this point refunding my total payment wouldn’t make up for the poor service I received from this company. Use this company...

10 HOT TIPS FOR SAN DIEGO AIRPORT CAR RENTAL

San Diego airport car rental center is located 10 minutes west from the airport. Shuttles run every 10 minutes from the airport and from the rental center. If you're at the airport you have to walk to the shuttle location. Shuttle is free. Give yourself a 30 minute window.

There is a very good coffee kiosk at the car rental center.

Verify with the specific car rental how much is the car deposit hold. This can range from $100 to $500 plus the car rental fee.

All of the major cars rental companies in one location. Check your car rental confirmation for the street name 'admiral blvd'. Other rental companies will have San Diego airport but located off-site and the car rental shuttle will not take you to an off-site rental agency.

Gas is up to .75 or more cheaper in Old Town or Point Loma.

Take pictures of the cars dashboard with gas gauge and a quick video of the entire car upon your departure.

There is a protected dog relief area near the rideshare at the San Diego Car Rental.

Bathrooms are clean, sanitized and spacious.

Don't get confused and drop the car off at the airport. Return it to this location.

Gratuities are accepted for the shuttle drivers. Cash is still...

Very nice facility but the customer service staff at Budget Rental are not very helpful and unprofessional. The young lady that helped me issued me a vehicle that was clearly in an accident and I returned to the rental counter the manager greeted me but failed to help me in a timely manner. I had to wait a long time before receiving another car. Once I git to my hotel, I received a digital copy of the rental agreement but it was fir a totally different vehicle than I was driving. I called the customer service line and had to navigate the very long automatic answering service before finally speaking with a real person after 35 minutes. I was tital that they understand my situation but could not help me. I was instructed to go all the way back to the airport, which was an hour drive away, to resolve this issue. I ask a service manager on the phone this question, "what if I get pulled over by the police and the information I on my rental contract doesn't match the car I'm driving?" She stated that I could be arrested and the car would be towed. She didn't seem to care and got angry and yelled at me before hanging up. Very...