An online price booking was quoted in bold print as £22 for a days car hire. Seemed competitive. However closer inspection of small print revealed a 'city centre location surcharge' of £23.50 (Belfast city airport is some way from the city centre). After threatening to charge £850 from my credit card in the event of a scratch upon return, I was foolishly persuaded to part finally with over £60 for a bottom of the range vehicle which did not even have a full tank. When I queried the half empty tank, I was told they 'sometimes don't have time to refill vehicles' and that I would have to guess how much fuel to return it with (or I would no doubt be further extorted). I was barely out of the airport when one bar on the fuel gauge vanished, and had to return in order for this to be verified. When I returned the vehicle in the evening there was no-one at the drop off, and no-one at the airport desk to sign it off - which obviously I wanted to do to avoid further spurious charges. I had a nice day in Belfast and co Down, but this was considerably marred by Budget's calculatingly deceptive pricing system and poor customer service attitude on the ground. Be warned.
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