Western USA, California San Francisco, Highway 1, 17 Miles, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles

Overall okay

Satisfied

Excellent

When I picked up the car, I had a lot of luggage. The counter staff suggested I switch to a bigger car. I thought the car he recommended was too expensive, so I declined. Then he took me to see a Kia SUV and said it was only $50 a day. Since the price was similar to my original booking, I agreed. But I was shocked to see the final bill was over $800 for 8 days. This is outright deception! It's partly my fault for trusting him because he seemed very enthusiastic, and I didn't scrutinize the documents after repeatedly confirming it was $50 a day. It seems shameless people exist everywhere. I've learned my lesson.

We picked up the car at San Francisco Airport on December 28, 2014. The front desk was an Asian guy who didn't speak Chinese at first, but suddenly spoke it when he tried to sell me additional insurance, fearing I might not understand. We originally reserved a Ford Edge, but it was not available upon arrival and we were offered a KIA SUV. I said I didn't like KIA, so they finally gave us a Chevrolet Captiva for the same price. Later, I realized the Captiva is a compact SUV, while the Edge is a standard SUV, and there should have been a price difference, but we were in a hurry and didn't notice. When driving on Highway 1, a small rock chipped the windshield, but it wasn't noticeable unless you looked closely. We didn't mention it when returning the car in Los Angeles, and the return went smoothly. Overall, I'm satisfied with AVIS, but the front desk service at San Francisco Airport could be improved.