Avis Rent A Car

Terrible. There were 7 people ahead of us in line 45 minutes ago and now there are 5 people ahead of us. With three gate agents, I would expect more.

No sense of urgency and slow-as-molasses "service". Unbelievable. Definitely pick any other rental car company. Avoid at all costs.

Located just outside the airport, Avis is easy to get to. I pulled right in after filling up on gas at a station really close. I got out of the car and a staff member took my keys. Super fast!

There are restrooms inside in case you need them.

SCAM Alert!
Protect yourself at the DCA Avis rental car (recently moved to 2600 Richmond Hwy, Arlington, VA 22202). I recently rented a vehicle and two weeks later received a notice for a $250 cleaning fee. I asked for photo documentation which showed all kinds of trash that was not mine. Fortunately, the pictures provided also showed the odometer reading which was 2000 miles above where I returned the car (shown on my receipt). Until I pointed this out, the Avis customer service was no help in getting these fraudulent charges removed. Apparently this is becoming a trend with Avis (see links below). Protect yourself by taking pictures before and after!

https://www.reddit.com/r/TravelHacks/comments/oodhqk/psa_avis_rentals_acting_scammy_but_they_respond/?rdt=47399

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g188057-i389-k4269011-o10-Warning_Avis_car_rental_scam-Geneva.html

Beware that this is NOT a legit Airport rental car location.

Airport locations have 24/7 vehicle return... this location does not.

I had a 6:00 a.m. flight out of DCA and I arrived at this location to return my vehicle... only to find it closed... with no after hours accommodations to even drop off your keys.

When I initially picked up my vehicle the onsite staff confirmed they were open 24/7... obviously a total lie.

Avis apparently lost its contract on site at DCA. Now it's offsite and absolutely awful. Rent anywhere else.

Avis charged me a $125 fee for "Excess Dirt - Sand" for a business rental I had at DCA two weeks ago. The return agent didn't tell me that it was an issue. Until I got a letter and a bill in the mail 2 weeks later. When I called the 1-800 number on the letter, they refused to take off the charge. Please see the attached photo that they assigned to the claim showing the "excess dirt - sand" and see for yourself. An absolute scam and abysmal customer service. Let's be realistic. This right here is nowhere near $125 of "dirt". I could shake that out with my hands and vacuum it out in 10 seconds. I don't know how they stay in business.

And all honesty I was hoping my experience with Avis would would've been much different than the disaster I had with Enterprise. I'm just amazed at this stage in life that some of these companies are still functioning or at least some of these local locations. I know you cannot please everyone but I tell you, I am so no frills, you know , just smile properly. I'm cool. Show me what I'm paying for I' cool I had issues with Avis when I first arrived in to DC that passed it by the show three times and considering it was a busy weekend. It was stressful. It was crowded at the airport on the shut up bus stop because people are picking up. Passengers were rushing to load up the cars, Stopping in the middle of the street lotta pedestrians in the road. Anyway, I called the 800 number cause I can't find a local number. And they were checking to see if the shuttle would still be running past 10 I was still waiting on the shuttle at 10:30. Finally made it to the rental center got the vehicle the Chevy blazer it's pretty cool I never drove one is bigger than my regular car. I'm not used to using a key fob so that was interesting. That was a good experience.


So now I'm looking over my bill and Avis actually charge me $80 for fuel even in California with all our triple taxes it doesn't cost $80 well it did last Summer 2022 so now we're back to normal and our gas is like $4.50 or $5 so anyway, I called and asked him about the gas charge and because I did it completely wrong they gave me a slight discount. The issue was me saying "I will fill the tank before I return the vehicle or I will return the vehicle without refilling and you guys handle it". Apparently I signed up for the charge for them to fill the vehicle because my flight was leaving so early. I did not think I would have time to stop or it'll be so much traffic on a weekday rush-hour time to get gas. bottom line it was my fault, and I'm grateful that Avis had a soft heart towards me. I've come full circle, challenging experience, ,ending with a good experience.

Don't rent a car here! they charge unfairly for "excessive dirt" fee for normal usage of $450. Employees are rude and very unprofessional please don't rent here. Hopefully this Avis location gets reviewed. $450 for normal daily usage is ridiculous and should never be charged. A car wash is no where near that price. The cars already come somewhat dirty, they mentioned it was clean and it barely got vacuumed and barely washed. Please do yourself a favor and don't rent from here

I reserved a car for the Shenandoah Airport in Staunton, VA. I was not allowed to pay for the car ahead of time because it was their policy. They are the only car rental in this tiny airport, so I had no choices. When I got there they had no car for me. They said my credit had a "freeze" on it, which was baffling to me because I had just had a successful car rental recently from Enterprise. Apparently Avis does a full credit report, and this showed up from Equifax. No calls or explanations from my bank or anything else I could think of would have any impact with these extremely detached and judgy employees. The fault is the Avis policy, not the employees, but the employees were very uninformed and not empowered to do a single thing to help me. I was marooned there alone in the airport for 2-3 hours while I called taxis, Ubers, and Lyfts. No shuttles or anything available. I finally got a Lyft to come and take me to my hotel, where I called an Enterprise NOT at the airport, and got a car. It was an absolutely terrible experience. Avis should not be the ONLY rental car agency in an airport! They are awful. Their side partner, Budget, is in cahoots with them and just the same.

Picked up vehicle in the DMV near Regan. WORST service of all time. Zero clarity and nothing in writing that states CC is required and what, if any, deposit is required.
We were nearly turned away after having already reserved weeks prior, due to only having debit available, and no CC with us. (Again- there was nothing stated in our reservation paperwork regarding this apparent "policy.")
Rude, and misinformed, as we have used this company to rent in different states without ever having issues before, but we're told time and time again that it's the companies policy and there was nothing I could do.

Note that this is for the location on Richmond highway, they moved off airport grounds several months ago.

They were bad before they moved off of airport grounds and now they're worse. Rent-a-wreck cars with 40k-70k miles, never cleaned inside, often scratched and dented, sometimes with mechanical problems. No shelter for pickup or drop off, good luck if it's cold, hot, or raining. Half the time a bus if full on pickup and told to take the next one.

You're not allowed to choose a car at this location, I think that's one reason (among many) the location has gone downhill since they moved off airport grounds.

FWIW I'm a decent tipper and still get crap cars. Just generally not good.