1. Budget Can Save You Up to 35% When You Select a Pay Now Rate.
Wouldn’t you rather save up to 35 percent (Budget) than 10 percent (Alamo) or 15 percent (Hertz) when you choose a Pay Now Rate for your next car rental?
How will you know whether a Budget Pay Now Rate option is available for your rental car? That’s easy. You'll see a Pay Now Rates link on the car selection page (step 2) of the online reservation process. And even if you don’t choose a Pay Now Rate, you can still prepay your rental and get a free gift* by selecting the pay online option on the final step of the reservation process.
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2. Budget Gives You More Prepay Locations.
When you want to pay in advance for your rental car, wouldn’t you prefer to choose from over 1,000 locations (Budget) rather than 64 U.S. locations (Alamo) or 30 airport locations (Hertz)?
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3. Budget Welcomes Most Credit Cards.
Budget makes car rental easy. It’s fine with us if you use one major credit card to prepay, and another at the rental counter. But Alamo requires you to present the same major credit card to prepay and to pick up the car.
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4. Budget Welcomes Your Debit Card.
Want to use your debit card to prepay your rental? Budget lets you use a debit card to pay toward your rental online. Alamo and Hertz don’t.
Many Budget locations are also happy to accept a debit card for your rental hold. Whenever renters pick up vehicles, all rental car companies (including Budget) must place a hold on a debit or credit card to cover the estimated cost of the rental. For Budget locations that allow a debit card to be used for this hold, the hold amount is usually $400-500 if you have not prepaid. However, if you prepay your rental on budget.com, the debit hold is reduced to just $100. While these funds are held, they are not available to you to spend. And since your bank may take up to two weeks to release hold funds after your rental is complete, paying online for your rental makes sense when you use a debit card for your transaction.
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5. Budget Makes It Easy to Change Your Reservation.
Budget doesn't lock you in after you’ve prepaid. Other car rental companies and third-party Web sites might require that any rental changes are made within a few hours of the reservation, and then they won't let you make further revisions — or they will require you to phone in your changes. Until your rental pick up time, Budget.com lets you change most things on your prepaid reservation (car type, options, dates, most location changes, etc.) at any time, even multiple times, with no fee! And when you get to the rental counter to pick up your car, you can make more changes, such as adding a driver, with no penalty. See pay online terms for details on changing your prepaid reservation.
If any of your changes to your reservation affect the total rate, it’s no problem! Your prepayment amount won't change — we’ll just credit it toward your final rental charges. Any underpayment will be handled at the counter at time of rental return, and any overpayment will be automatically refunded to the card you used to prepay a few days after you return your rental.
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6. Budget Makes It Easy to Cancel With Less Risk.
If you try to cancel your prepaid reservation with some car rental companies, you could be in for a surprise. Cancel more than 24 hours before pickup time with Hertz, and you’ll face a $25 fee. Cancel with Hertz within 24 hours of pickup, and you’ll be assessed $50. If you don’t cancel your Hertz reservation prior to scheduled pickup, and you don’t ever pick up your car, you will forfeit the entire prepaid amount. But Budget is easy to do business with. Cancel anytime before your scheduled pickup time and pay just $10. And if you don’t pick up your car as scheduled, just cancel on budget.com within 6 months of your pick up date and we’ll refund your entire prepaid amount less $50.
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7. Budget Lets You Return Early.
Need to return your prepaid rental car early? That’s fine with Budget. We’ll simply recalculate your rental charges based on your new rental time period and refund any overpayment. But Hertz doesn’t refund. And Alamo may or may not refund, depending on the location — and they might even charge an “early return fee.”
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8. Budget Gives You More Flexible Prepay Terms.
Wouldn’t you like the option of paying online for any rental you choose? With Budget you can pay for any rental regardless of length, type, or rate. Not so with Alamo or Hertz. On those sites, you can pay online only when you choose a certain rate or when your rental meets specific criteria. And, with Alamo, you can’t prepay for a one-way rental or for rentals that exceed 30 days. With Budget, you can prepay virtually your entire rental amount upfront. Renters like Budget’s online payment process because they can pay early and forget it. But other companies, like Hertz, let you pay only a portion of your rental fee up front, with a big percentage still to be paid at the rental counter. We think that defeats the convenience of prepaying.
Satisfied Budget prepay renters list so many reasons to pay before they pick up their rental car. Don't you want the same flexibility?
- “I like to pay it and forget it.”
- “One less detail to worry about before vacation.”
- “It’s one less bill to pay after vacation.”
- “With Pay Now Rates, I can save up to 35% on my rental.”
- “Helps spread out trip costs over time.”
- “There’s a lower debit card hold on my account after check-in.”
- “Budget lets me make changes to my prepaid reservation, with no fee.”
- “If I revise my prepaid reservation and it makes my rate go down, Budget credits me for the difference.”
- “Providing prepay information up front means less hassle at the rental counter.”
- “Now I can expense car rental charges in advance of my business trip.”
- “I prepay to get a free partner gift*!”
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9. Budget Allows you to Prepay for Options like GPS and Provides a Single, Simple Receipt.
Customers especially appreciate paying online towards their rental because they'll pay in advance towards their rental car and optional equipment charges such as a GPS navigation unit or child safety seat. Some companies, like Hertz, don't allow prepayment for charges other than the car rental. If additional items such as GPS navigation or safety seats are needed, those charges are due at the rental counter and Hertz provides two receipts – one for the prepaid car rental amount and another for the balance paid at the counter. Budget provides one receipt with all rental charges, simplifying record-keeping and expense-reporting.
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Now You Know!
The more you compare car rental companies or prepaid car rental sites, the more you’ll see that Budget makes it extra easy to pay towards your rental online. With Budget, it’s easier than ever to rent like a genius!
Reserve your rental today.
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