Pismo Beach Car Rentals

Cons: When I asked if I could pick up the vehicle an hr earlier than scheduled, it took 4 phone calls to get someone at the location to answer the phn. I was able to get the vehicle early but it meant I had to go to another budget location for the car. Upon my return, noone was at the counter working even though they were "open:" and I waited an hr before giving up and leaving the keys in a drop box. Also, Budget charges an additional full day of feesa if you come bk even 30 min past your original rental pick up time!

Cons: The office was filthy, dirt on furniture, floor, all surfaces. It is a ramshackle, tiny office with no working toilet (my two year old needed to pee!), and my kids literally touched the door and windowsill & had black hands! The service manager was on the phone when we arrived, didn't even acknowledge us with eye contact until the phone was replaced, then said, "I'll be right with you, this is an important call," and disappeared with his cell phone into a back room. There was nowhere for my kids to be safely and the office was SO dirty! Gravel parking lot directly out the door with large rental trucks coming in and out...scary for children. Then when he came out he was reluctant to expend any effort...the minivan had huge damage spots "Well, it's a rental car," he said. The interior was dirty too. There is NO short or long term parking on site, so I had to put car seats in while huge trucks are arriving and leaving. He didn't show us anything about how to work the seats, song was there for an hour and had to go get him twice to explain things. Then had to drive around the corner with my own car to search for street parking...horrible. Drop off was bad too - he literally just took the keys, but didn't do a damage check in front of me and I'm afraid he'll claim things that I didn't do because the whole operation there is chaotic and seems sheisty. And we hardly saved any money for all the inconveniences.

Cons: The drop-off at the airport is extremely inconvenient. There is no public transport to that location. The pick-up was in one place and the drop-off was in another which is a major hassle with all rental agencies that use this situation.

Cons: They try too hard to up sale you. If you refuse the up sale offering they use a negative psychological sales remark like "is that too much for you"? If you refuse all their up sales, they assign you the worst car on the lot. The car I received had a very bad hesitation when accelerating from a stop and had terrible road noise.

Cons: We were the only people at the rental desk, and it took over a half hour to get the car. The poor counter employee had only been working for a day or two, but was left on his own on Christmas eve, and had no clue how to rent a car. When we finally got in, the car reeked of marijuana, the seats were stained, and it had less than a quarter tank of gas in it. We didn't have the time to go back and argue, so we had to drive to our house with the windows rolled down to keep the baby from getting stoned. We returned to the airport later in the day to exchange the car for another. The manager did give us a 15% off coupon for our next rental, although I'd be pretty dumb to take him up on the offer.

Cons: Wait time while clerk assisted another customer, left counter to walk customer to inspect car. No customer assistance to inspect car - handed keys, given general direction to parking lot with "oops, parking spot not indicated, you'll need to check license plates. If you spot any damage, drive the car back to and let us know." Found car in dark, non secured parking lot, alone, with two bags - startled by sudden appearance of another person. Clerk assisted next customer with walk to parking lot.

Cons: No window washer fluid, I bought some. The inside front windshield was very dirty.

Cons: I wasn't informed that I didn't have unlimited miles

Cons: Cost

Cons: The location on the website is WRONG. Totally unacceptable. It took me an additional 10 minutes to drive around confused, park, look up the phone number, then back track to the correct location. Ford Focus = terrible car