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I helped my sister and brother in law move from Denver CO to Tacoma WA. They went with a budget rental truck because it was available through their Costco membership.

It all started on Wed 9/5 when we first picked up the truck. As we were driving it to the house to start loading, the truck started to lose power and would sporadically cut out when giving it gas. When we got it to the house (only a few miles away), we called them up to report the issue. They sent someone to regenerate the diesel particulate filter. So we already lost 3 hours to start packing the truck. After they regenerated the truck, they assured us that we would not have to worry about it.

Moving day we left around 4am Friday. The same issue happened with the engine cutting in and out when depressing the gas pedal. Just before we reached the WY border, the check engine light comes on. We keep going, however we start losing power just west of Cheyenne. After this another upside down triangle light comes on the dash, then the light for the DEF filter/fluid. Btw, we as consumers have no knowledge of DEF fluid, its impact or importance nor was it ever explained to us. By now, we are very close to Laramie, WY. My brother in law is already on the phone with Budget to explain the situation and get further directions on where we can take the truck to have looked at. We were directed to Warrens's repair and Towing in north Laramie. This was around 6:30 am.

Once we got there, we had to wait for a couple of hours for their service techs to show up. They regenerated the diesel particulate filter 3 times and replaced a differential pressure sensor. We took it for a quick drive to verify if any of these fixes worked, however they did not. Meanwhile my brother in law is constantly on the phone with budgets โ€˜vendorโ€™ for their trucks trying to get a plan of action from them. We sat in the sun at that location for approx. 10 hours. By the time 4:30-5pm rolled around, we had to check ourselves in to a hotel realizing that weโ€™re already going to lose a day and our nonrefundable hotel reservation in Ontario, OR.

Once we get to the hotel, my brother in law is still on the phone with then trying to get a plan together for the next day. Later in the evening, Budget's vendor advises that they will have a new truck to us by 6:00am the next morning and a moving crew of 4-5 to move everything to the new truck.

Saturday morning comes and my brother in law gets a call from budget around 5:45am stating that the truck is going to be 3 hours late. Another ding for them. The moving crew albeit 2 movers instead of the 4-5 show up on time though and just waits around for the truck. They are called away for another job, however they told us they would be back at around the time the truck would be delivered. The truck is eventually delivered around 10:30am and the moving crew returns around 11am. We're not back on the road until 12:45pm that ...a day and a half lost.

The 2nd truck performs OK during the remainder of the trip, however the check engine light again comes on in western WY. No issues though with the cutting in/out, temperature gauges are all ok, so we press on. When we stop in northern UT, just before the ID border, we notice gear oil is leaking from the rear differential on the driver's side. Weโ€™re starting to get worried again that we have another broken truck, but we press on and keep an eye on it.

When we return the truck Monday afternoon, we learn that the DEF fluid is almost out and that we could have had the same issue as we did with the first truck; however because the 2nd truck was ford and the first international, apparently it functions differently. Again, how the **** are we as consumers supposed to know this? The representative marked the truck as out of service. Thankfully this was over.

Budget will never in my lifetime get business from me. My brother in law is pursuing reimbursement for all the additional hotel expenses, lost $215 for the hotel in Ontario, OR, extra food/gas expenses, etc. Heโ€™s also pursuing with Budget to pay for at least 50% of the truck rental cost and working with Costco for the rest.

Budget takes no accountability or ownership for their actions. There is no due diligence on their part to ensure their trucks are properly serviced or maintained. They clearly do not care about their customers, a theme I've read over and over with other customer reviews. How theyโ€™re still operating as a business is beyond me. Costco should also terminate their relationship with them as they are much better than this.

Anyone thinking about using budget for an out of state or cross country move should be aware and spend the extra money to go with Penske or other more reliable and more COMPETENT truck rental company.

Reason of review: Bad quality.

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