Arrived at the Denver Airport Avis facility at approximately 12:45 am on Saturday October 18, 2025. The line of 50 customers was wrapped around the waiting area (think Disney ride line). Avis had 1 (one) agent on duty. A second Avis representative came out and addressed the crowd of customers by stating “We don’t have any cars but we can rent each of you a 15 passenger van. You can come back tomorrow and try to exchange it if we have any cars by then.” The customers became irate. Many left but many, including me, stayed because there were no other viable options at that time of the day. 2 hrs later I was issued a vehicle. I received an email from someone claiming to be an Avis representative at that facility the night before my rental period was scheduled to end. They asked for photos of the key fob and vehicle information since they didn’t know what vehicle I had been issued. I called the Avis national call center because I suspected that the email was a phishing attempt. The representative recommended that I not respond to the email and that the branch could contact me by phone if they had questions. I returned the vehicle at approximately 4:00 am on Monday October 20, 2025. The parking lot Avis representative scanned the vehicle in and told me that I would receive my receipt by email. I phoned the Avis national call center multiple times after I returned the vehicle and finally received the receipt 6 days after I had returned my vehicle. Interestingly enough, I also received a second email from the branch 6 days after I returned my vehicle asking for the same information about my vehicle. This was the single worst rental experience in more than 40 yrs of renting cars.
The pickup line took 45 minutes, which really needs to be addressed. The staff were very nice and helpful, and drop-off took only seconds, so it’s clear the issue is with the pickup process itself. I had already filled out all my information in advance to expedite things, but still ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes. It seems this is a common problem, yet the technology exists to make this process much faster and more efficient.
Systems were down and they offered 0 solutions in getting a car.
Horrible experience. It took almost 2 hours at the counter to pick up a car and then also I received a transit van instead of the SUV I had booked (agent said even this won’t be available of if I don’t decide quickly!.
Avis had a huge line of customers and only three individual serving them. We waited between an hour and a half and two hours and then decided to leave and take a Lyft when we realized we probably at least had another hour left to wait. This is Unacceptable.
I tried getting a ride from the airport and as I was walking up to the bus the driver closed the doors I was knocking on the door and they drove away. When I got to Avis they informed me that they couldn’t rent to me because my current license had a hole in it. Even though I showed proof that it was still a valid license on the DMV’s website. And I got charged for insurance on a car I never got.
