Budget Rental Services FAQs

A. A Credit card is required at pick up to secure funds for the rental. At car return customers may have the option to pay by cash, please enquire with your selected return location.

A. Budget accepts the following credit/charge cards for the payment of a vehicle rental:

- Budget 

- American Express 

- Diners Club

- Mastercard, and 

- Visa. 

Budget accepts any debit card for the payment of a vehicle rental which:

- is issued by a bank or other financial institution; and

- displays the MasterCard or Visa logo; and

- has the customer's name and card number on the card.

At commencement of rental, Budget does not accept a prepaid or reloadable 'stored value' card, a travel money card or an EFTPOS card. A credit or debit card as outlined above must be presented at commencement of rental. Upon completion of rental, some Budget locations will accept a prepaid or reloadable ‘stored value’ card as a form of payment.

A. Your travel agent can sell you a prepaid voucher that you can use to pay for rentals at various locations within and outside Australia. In some cases vouchers do not cover taxes, surcharges, additional coverage, extra days, upgrades, etc. Therefore, you should carefully read the voucher information to understand exactly what is included. You may also be asked to present your credit cardwith your voucher and drivers licence. 

A. Most rental locations in Australia will accept cash, a traveller's cheque, or a debit card as payment for a rental. A personal cheque or money order is not accepted.

When paying by Visa or Mastercard debit card:

At the start of your rental a hold will be put on your card for total rental charges plus an additional pre-authorisation of $400 that must be available at time of pick up (i.e. if your rental charges total $90, a hold of $490 will be placed on your card).

Charges will be processed after completion of the rental and if applicable the unused portion of the authorisation will be released.

Budget will send an electronic message to your bank on the day you return your vehicle requesting the release of any holding amounts. Depending on your bank, this may take up to 10 working days to release. 

When paying by cash:

For details on 'cash qualification', the required pre-payments, refunds and the time required to process qualification applications, please call Budget Reservations in Australia on 1300 362 848.

Note: if you have paid a cash deposit any refund will be issued via cheque, this can take up to 14 working days.

A. Rates are subject to change based on supply and demand, much like the airline and hotel industries.

No, for security reasons we cannot take payment over the phone.

A. Car rental pricing is like airline pricing -- if you travel at off-peak times or make a reservation seven or more days in advance, you often get a better deal. Also, watch the Hot Deals section on the Budget web site.