Avis Car Hire - London

Unfortunately, I had quite a few logistical issues with my first Avis rental in December 2020. They are a U.S. company, so perhaps the standards of service aren't so great abroad, but that gives a poor impression of US companies if that's the case. First, the counter agent misinformed me of the young driver fee. She told me it was £44/day plus VAT when in fact it was only about £25 plus VAT for my vehicle. I’m a USAA member and in the States I always receive the fee waived. My quote initially implied the fee would be waived (as opposed to the rate with the fee shown when I got a quote without inputting my member number and code). It was added at the counter, which I do understand since it isn’t the States (though there's nothing saying USAA doesn't work abroad), but being misinformed of the price wasn’t acceptable. But, why would the website waive it if it wasn't actually waived when my age was input correctly? I shortened my rental period to just 2 days rather than the week originally planned when she told me of the higher fee. Later, I looked at my invoice and found it was nowhere near what she disclosed. I decided I’d be okay paying the lower fee actually charged on the invoice and wanted to extend my rental back to the week originally reserved. I spent 2 hours on hold on the phone with Avis and no one picked up. Eventually, closing time rolled around and I was kicked off. I called the next morning precisely at opening time and waited 50 minutes. No one answered. By that time, it was actually time to head back to Heathrow and return the car. This was the correct number mind you as I called Avis U.K. corporate on my UK cell phone and they informed me I had to call the number on my invoice of the location I picked up. It’s really unfortunate that no one answered as I was prepared to spend more money with the company. Again, this was my first time with Avis and being unable to get through to someone to extend my rental and provide the company with more business, I’d hate to imagine what it’s like should I have a more pressing concern or even an emergency! In addition to all this, I waited 15 minutes at the exit gate at the lot on pickup day. No one was there to let me out. Also I found an entire wallet with bank cards in it along with a very nice pair of sunglasses INSIDE the rental car when I first hopped in. Supposedly Avis is completely cleaning and sanitising all vehicles between renters during the coronavirus pandemic. If they missed an entire wallet and a bulky sunglasses case, they’ve probably missed a whole lot more. Good thing I'm an honest person and turned it in before I even left the lot rather than head off to buy coffee or something! So based on this experience, again it was my first with Avis, I’m afraid I can’t recommend Avis to anyone. I come to the U.K. multiple times a year for long stays for work and friends/family, so will definitely be renting more cars especially during coronavirus times. In fact I'll probably rent another while here. But as of now, it won't be with Avis. In the States, I rent around ten cars a year due to frequent work travel and long distance family/friends. Had never used Avis, so thought I'd give them a try here since I did know of them from the States. Guess that was a mistake. If someone from Avis customer service is reading this, yes I would actually like to be contacted regarding this experience.

The attention has not been anything positive. The staff made me waste a lot of time, despite having a Preferred account (for being Key Worker). In addition, surcharges suddenly began to be charged without warning (£ 200). Even after returning the last car, damage is invented for an alleged incident that I did not commit (£175 more). I think it is a lack of respect for key workers: I think I will not use Avis again, next time I will look for a rental in the competition 🤦🏼‍♀️

I lost my job abroad due to Covid so I flew back home and had to drive from London to Manchester as London was the only emergency flight destination. As a previous customer of Avis of many times I decided to rent again driving to Manchester and then drop off at their local centre the next day. I had taken pictures of the car to cover my own back. I drove back home without any stops and parked it on a secure drive overnight. There was zero opportunity for any damage to occur on the vehicle. I returned the car and was told after being a checked over it was all ok and good to leave. Over a month later after receiving zero communication whatsoever, I had £188 charged to my credit card from Avis. After calling them multiple times I finally get an answer informing me that there was damage to the wall of a tyre. Between this the photos were deleted because everything seemed ok due to the length of time passed. After trying to appeal through management with only an email to contact them on, this is still ongoing without any update from their end almost 4 months after the initial rental. I haven't received an email for over a month. I understand the current issue is causing disruptions and people are in need of money but there are absolutely no excuses to charge for something that hasn't happened and without providing any proof!! * UPDATE * 6 months after initially being charged, multiple emails and phone calls later I have finally been refunded. Never again.

Wish there was nil star option. Used your services for the first time to avoid train journeys and atrociously ruined my trip. Rented a car from Heathrow, broke down 2 hours later at M1 Northampton services due to faulty clutch. Refused replacement at Birmingham same evening. Ended up having train travel 2 Leeds and back. Got charged for 3 days, excuse being that cars have 400 parts and may breakdown!! Wow!! Even though used the car for only 2 hours, Customer service pathetic, no support and one lady shut the phone on us. #faulty #rentalcar #AvisClients Update- we did get a complete refund for the damaged car they supplied but our holiday was destroyed so stay with my star rating.

Good service, take bus from terminal