Payless Car Rental Reviews 

Don't bother, it's a scam, unless you want to pay more than what you originally agreed.
As others have mentioned, they will find a reason to refuse the rental unless you pay extra.
I booked a cheap car through Booking.com, but on arrival at their counter I was asked for an extra €20/day, as none of the four different credit cards I had on me were embossed. They have a line in the terms and conditions saying they require an embossed credit card, which is a trap in the small print. Most banks don't even issue embossed cards anymore, so this requirement is nearly impossible to meet.
In my case the extra wasn't a huge amount, but I refused to encourage such practices, so I made alternative travel arrangements.

⭐ **ZERO STARS – VERY DISAPPOINTING EXPERIENCE WITH PAYLESS ZAGREB**

I strongly recommend that people think twice before renting a car from **Payless in Zagreb**.

I reserved and **paid for my rental car online one week in advance**. When I arrived at the airport at around **10:00 PM**, I was suddenly told that I had to pay approximately **€40 extra per day** for additional insurance. I had already arranged and paid for insurance for the rental.

This felt extremely misleading and unacceptable. When you arrive late at night, after travelling and especially when you are in a foreign country, you are in a vulnerable position. You need the car and you don't have many realistic alternatives. Leaving customers in that situation and putting unexpected additional costs in front of them is, in my opinion, completely unacceptable.

I have also looked at the online reviews and noticed what appears to me to be a very concerning pattern: many negative reviews seem to come from international customers, while there are also many very positive reviews. This raises serious questions for me about the consistency and fairness of the customer experience.

What makes this even more disappointing is the relationship with **Ryanair**. Ryanair is a major and reputable company, and I cannot understand why customers are being directed to or exposed to this kind of rental experience through such a well-known airline.

For me, this is not the way a professional car-rental company should treat customers.

**Zero stars if I could give it. ⭐ 0/5**

I will also be contacting Ryanair directly to ask how this company is connected with their rental-car offers and to report my experience.

**Be very careful, read every condition carefully, and make sure you understand exactly what you will have to pay before arriving at the counter.**

I will never use this company again. Took an unauthorised payment from my credit card saying I returned the car late. I sent them proof on my Life360 app that I actually returned it 10 minutes early. But they didn’t enter it onto the system until later. Still waiting for a refund they have not replied to my last two emails. Avoid.

If I could put zero I would. Shocking customer service

Not recommended at all. I rented a car in Croatia for one week, with the rental already being very expensive, and they held an additional €500 as a security deposit. We returned the car in perfect condition and with no issues whatsoever, but a month and a half later I am still waiting for my money to be refunded. A very disappointing experience. I feel scammed.

I would never rent from them again.

Booking number: 27957305. I am still waiting for my €500 refund.

In my opinion, pure scammers! Not friendly at all, not solution-oriented, and I did pay but didn't get a car. Terrible!!! Never ever again!

Rented a Honda Accord out of JFK on 9/24, heading to an event out on the Island. As we drove, noticed a slight vibration and thumping sound. Arrived at the venue and spent several hours there. Afterwards, started driving to the hotel and the vibration got much worse. Pulled over and noticed 3 lug nuts missing from the right rear tire with the 2 remaining very loose. Called Payless roadside assist and was sent a link. Called again and the agent advised me to DRIVE the vehicle back to JFK for a replacement rental. I informed them that was unsafe. The agent then advised me to call for a tow and that I would have to ride with the tow back to JFK. Neither option was reasonable so found the tire wrench in the back and removed 3 lug nuts from the other wheels and made sure all tighten. Had a tight schedule, so visited a Honda dealer and purchased 3 lugnuts. After the rental was over, the counter refused to reimbuse me and indicated that I should talk to customer service. Have submitted the receipts photos, the packages that contained the parts from the dealer but the customer service rep said that the receipts were not legible as I had used a pink filter. In fact the dealer printed the sales receipt on pink paper and I scanned the receipt on a scanner. Further the rep indicated that there was no record of my calling about the issue. It appears that Payless rents a vehicle that was either sabotaged or a maintenance employee was neglegent. Further Payless is doing everything possible to not reimbuse the renter for making the rental car SAFE for someone else to drive. If we had ignored the symptoms of the missing lugnuts, the wheel likely would have departed, possibly injuring occupants, causing an accident, and rendering the vehicle unusable. Yet Payless seems to ignore the risk and the only concern is NOT reimbusing the renter for parts to make the vehicle safe. Will not be using this company again with corporate profits prioritized over safety.

Confirmed and paid booking (BGPI000000680) for pickup at Mexico City airport. A few hours before pickup they tell me they don't have the vehicle, despite everything being paid, including last-minute cancellation insurance that already covered this exact situation. Zero availability, zero solutions, and on top of that they try to refund less than what I paid, and as e-wallet credit instead of to my card. A company that doesn't honor what it confirms.

We feel completely misled by this company and strongly advise other customers to be extremely careful when renting a car from them.

We had already purchased insurance online before collecting the car. At the rental desk, however, we were pressured into cancelling the insurance we had already paid for and taking their insurance instead. We were told that their insurance would be a better option and that it would not be particularly expensive.

What they failed to clearly explain was the actual total cost and additional charges associated with their insurance.

After we had returned the car, they charged our card an additional approximately €400 / SEK 4,600. This charge came AFTER we had returned the vehicle, and the full cost had not been transparently communicated to us when we were persuaded to take their insurance.

If we had been told upfront that choosing their insurance would result in an additional charge of this size, we would never have agreed to it. We would simply have kept the insurance we had already purchased online.

The whole situation feels extremely deceptive: first convincing us to cancel insurance we had already paid for, then selling us their insurance by making it sound like a better and reasonably priced option, while failing to clearly disclose the additional costs — and finally charging us thousands of kronor after the car had been returned.

This is absolutely not the way a trustworthy rental company should operate. Make sure you read every single detail of the contract and ask for the complete final price in writing before agreeing to any insurance they offer at the desk.

We feel cheated and deeply disappointed by this experience. We will never rent from this company again and would strongly caution others to think twice before accepting their insurance.

This place should be called "Paymore Rental" the company payless for upkeep on their vehicles. They almost pressure the insurance on u which is 39 bucks per day. My mom wanted to get the insurance. They dont do a good job cleaning their cars. And the vehicle they gave me had slight damage on passenger side like it was side swiped. Why pay the insurance if ur not even fixing the vehicle? The tires are almost bald. These people charge all this money while placing you in half ass upkept cars. I will not use these people again

We Rented a full size car for a better experience . The KIA was not like the many other cars we rented. Our Apple phone did not fit the charger. We had 0%. It put a damper on our trip with 0 % on phone. Also , it was not as safe due to poor visibility on right side and rear.

Took $263.00 from my account never gave me the car. Said they never charged me. Well here it is sep and I see this enormous charge when I was refused the car. Sending my proof of payment over and over but they never got the email. Too late to do it with my bank. The people will go through hell. I'm going to get my money back

This car rental company is overcharging me for an upgrade that THEY GAVE ME because my reserved car wasn’t there. And, they are adding gas surcharges for a full tank already put in. Management is ignoring me. Sorry, but the one star is earned.

I rented a car from Payless in Bratislava and had a minor accident that caused damage to the front bumper. I fully accept responsibility for the damage.

However, Payless subsequently charged me EUR 1,500 for the damage, plus administrative fees. The documentation provided described the damage as “chassis/undercarriage” damage, although the documented damage was to the bumper.

I disputed the charges through my bank and Mastercard. The dispute was ultimately resolved in my favour, with EUR 1,050 refunded. UniCredit specifically stated that Payless had:

• not provided an actual repair invoice;
• charged EUR 1,500 as a fixed fee rather than the actual repair cost;
• described the damage as chassis damage although only the bumper was documented as damaged; and
• applied an administrative fee that did not correspond to Payless's own price list.

I subsequently offered Payless EUR 450 to settle the remaining dispute amicably, taking into account the damage itself, but they did not respond.

I would therefore strongly recommend checking the damage documentation and the potential charges very carefully before renting from this company.

Split airport. Very rude personnel. Tried to intimidate me to buy their insurance despite I already had full insunrace via bookign com. Charged me extra for nothing for which I raised ticket via booking.com (under review). Do not waste your money or time on this company. They said that they do not care what I booked via booking com and started to dictate their own rules and price when arrived.

The check-in process was a nightmare. Each rental car company at the Phoenix Airport had a long line of at least 10+ guests. Only Payless had a short line of 3 people; I was the 4th. We arrived in line at 10:45am and did not get into our vehicle until 1:38pm. There was another party ahead of us whom had been waiting until 10am and still did not get their vehicle when we departed. Only 1 employee was working the desk (her initials are LL) and she was excessively slow. She carried on conversations with guests for an average of 45-minutes each. While I can appreciate the sentiment and her being friendly, she needs to read the room and realize the situation that she is holding up the line. Within the first hour, every other rental car company had resolved there line and had no guests waiting... except PAYLESS! Our line was now 15+ people long and was not making ANY progress. Another guest whom had lost his patience asked her why it was taking so long and she flipped her lid on him and called a manager to keep him at bay, even though his complaint and his reasoning was entirely valid. He did not raise his voice or do anything rude; it was her who overreacted. Mercifully, another employee arrived at 1pm. He cleared about 5 customers almost immediately before LL had moved on from 1 customer. But even then, he said there was a delay in his queue because vehicles were not being washed fast enough. This was a complete disaster to have wasted almost 3 full hours waiting to pick-up a rental car which was pre-paid, pre-organized and apparently in-stock and on the lot. I have had issues in the past with rental car companies when picking up from isolated locations, which has led me to always book at an airport because their stock is typically higher and efficiency is better. This was NOT the case for Payless. There were at least 10 parties of guests whom had to wait 2+ hours to pickup a pre-paid vehicle!

Now that I am writing this review, I can see that the 1/5 stars rating and this type of customer service (or lack thereof) is common practice for this company. AVOID AVOID AVOID

I would not recommend this company based on my extremely disappointing experience at Slovakia airport.
I specifically pre-arranged a vehicle inspection during standard office hours at the company's airport office so I could be present when I returned my car yet the office was locked and unattended upon my arrival.
Because no company representative showed up to honor our inspection arrangement, I was forced to leave the car in a hotel car park, as directed by a notice on the company’s locked office door, The hotel was some distance from the airport and I needed to arrange transport at my expense back to the airport. The time I waited at the airport office for someone to arrive plus additional time to drive to the hotel then taxi back to the airport meant I almost missed my flight, a very stressful experience.
I was subsequently charged €400 for a scratch that I believe was not present when I left the vehicle in the hotel car park, as my own photos confirm.
Failing to honour our confirmed inspection times and then charging for damage that likely occurred when the car was no longer in my possession is not acceptable business practice

The worse experience I ever had with any company i rented a car from. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Even though it might look cheaper but you will pay more belive me. I wish I never rented from them. I rent a car in Cluj in Romania.

Absolutely do not rent a car from them. We rented a car at Belgrade airport (Serbia) and returned it in perfect condition and clean. An hour later we already got an email saying there was damage to the car. They didn’t respond to emails, phone calls, etc. The payment was also just taken from my Mastercard. 985 euros!!!!!
Luckily, I could reclaim the amount through my insurance, but I would like to sue them for fraudulent practices.

Scam! Scam! They are the biggest thieves there are!!!!

We rented with Payless at Bratislava Airport and had a genuinely dangerous experience. About 15km outside the city we got a puncture. When we checked the boot, there was no spare wheel and no repair/inflation kit — which is a legal requirement in Slovakia. There was also no emergency contact sticker on the windscreen or dashboard, despite this being standard and required.

We called the number we could find for technical support and were told assistance was only available until 16:30 — it was 6pm. No help, no alternative number, nothing. We were a group of 7 (British, Portuguese, and Slovak) stranded on the roadside in extreme heat for around two hours until highway patrol arrived. The officers themselves confirmed there was no repair kit in the car.

We had to arrange and pay for our own towing and tyre repair, and missed our first night of pre-paid accommodation in the Tatras as a direct result.

Since then, we’ve called Payless multiple times asking for compensation. Each time we’re told a response will come by email — it never has. Genuinely poor disregard for customer safety and basic legal compliance. We would not rent from Payless/Avis at this location again and would strongly advise others to check the boot before driving off.