Car rental at Washington Reagan-National Airport

Pros: Very convenient location.

Cons: My 1st car wasn’t ready and the 2nd car was rather dirty on the inside.

Headache in DC

Pros: Nothing

Cons: We got to the car rental area and there was a line of over16 people in the Avis line. There was only one person at the Payless rental counter. We went to that line and was told that there was a combined Avis/Payless line (16) people for two rental car agents. We used our Avis Preferred and booked a car through them. I’m afraid we would still be at the counter today if we didn’t.

The car was old.

Cons: You needed an actual key, no remotes. You needed to open drivers side to open any doors. The seats had cigarette holes in it. The entire console was sticky and clearly has not been cleaned. This was the oldest and grossest car I ever rented. Never again.

Pros: The drop off person

Cons: I rented two cars. I requested Corolla but got none. One had 20k and the other 40k. The shocks were gone on one. The other was dirty..The gas gauge on one was not completely functional. Payless get less. No more.

Payless

Pros: The car worked well and had no problems.

Cons: The checkout process was dreadfully slow. They had one person working. We had a person being helped when we got there. I had reserved 2 cars. It was over an hour wait from the time I got to the counter until I was able to leave with the 2 cars.

Cons: I booked full size sedan, but they said either wait or offered a cheaper small suv. car was not clean. at return, was asked to go to the counter. was charged more than i was quoted for.

Payless should pay more attention to customers

Pros: Car was in good working order.

Cons: Staff not present either upon arrival or dropoff. Had to be called to take care of renting car (and never showed up for dropoff - an agent from another company felt sorry for me and handled it). First agent did not know how to charge my card and at one point had me call my card company about possible fraud which they said was not the case and that he should try again. That time it worked. Gave me a GPS that was only marginally still working yet cost 12 USD per day.

Intermediate sized car really was a small compact car-way too small

Cons: Husband at 6' could hardly get into car and had ver poor visibility. Told the car was "fully loaded", but didn't even have push button key locks. Very basic car.

Pros: Good response at pickup counter

Cons: They did not provide a receipt when I returned to the car -- they sent me back to the pickup desk, where there was a long line.

Inexpensive but a challenge

Pros: Very inexpensive rate for suv.

Cons: Wait time at check-in was 20 minutes when I was first in line. The 20 minutes was for someone to come to the counter at all. Car was not in good shape. The oil change light went on every time I turned on the car, and it felt like it needed a good tune-up.

Cons: When return, even though I filled the gas, attendant went ahead charging the pre paid option and that took some time for refund

Ok

Pros: Easy to drop off

Cons: Car was not clean - including a sticky interior and smudges on seats. Car also had lots of dents and scratches. Car had no cruise control and seemed "cheap" when driving.

Cons: Car was exceedingly dirty, as if it hadn't been cleaned (inside and out). I had to wait a while before someone came to the counter. The associate was off chatting with someone from another car rental company

Do not use this company!!'n

Cons: When I arrived at DC, no one was at the ticket counter to give me my car. There were at least six other families in the same boat as me! Do not use this company, they are horrible! Luckily, Avis was fantastic and rented me a car immediately!

Bait and switch

Pros: Car was clean.

Cons: I ordered and paid for a Jeep Cherokee or similar (i.e. a mid-size SUV that could hold five suitcases), but Payless tried to give me a Jeep Compass (a compact cross-over) and claim it was "similar" - not even close. The Compass hold four duffle bags, not five suitcases. After a lot of complaining on my part, they "upgraded" me to a Ford Escape, which is what they should have given me in the first place. I spent an hour total in line because they were trying to give me the runaround. Then I had to wait in line again when I dropped off the car (rather than just leaving the keys with the parking attendant, as usual) because the system couldn't locate my rental agreement. Total of 1 1/2 spent in line due to their nonsense.

Clerk was a jerk

Cons: Have rented many cars in my life, few if any delivered by a clerk who palpably cared not at all for the customers. Real jerk. Terrible marketing for Payless.

Cons: No attendant at the desk for 20 minutes. When they arrived, Avis agent processed 12 people in the time it took to get my contract. Very poor directions to vehicle location.

Lack of Selection - No EZ Pass

Pros: Drop off folks 9:30 pm 6-17 were very courteous and helpful - pointing me towards terminal

Cons: Reserved a compact car for pickup at Reagen National Tuesday June 15th, 2017 close to Midday. But was given a gas guzzling Chevy Impala (they said they didn't have any compacts to give me). Was also told at the rental counter that my car would have an EZ Pass for tolls. But when I took possession of car - no EZ Pass. Attendant in garage told me, "I don't have any EZ Pass cars to give you." Not having an EZ Pass is a major inconvenience in the Metro DC area (slows you down and you have to have exact change). Finally, when I took possession of the Impala, it had several significant scratches on the front and rear bumper. Asked garage attendent for car diagram to document the scratches (BEFORE I left garage). She said, "the attendent at the rental garage exit point will help you." But when I saw the last attendent he didn't have the diagrams either and seemed irritated that I was requesting a diagram to document scratches (so I wouldn't get charged for scratches upon returning car). Drew up a diagram myself by hand and the attendant seemed irritated When I asked him to sign diagram (once again - in an effort to protect myself from liability). He signed the hand drawn diagram in an illegible fashion (making me feel uneasy about taking car). But I was in a rush so I left garage. About an hour or 90 minutes later I called the customer service toll free number on the Payless sleeve that contained my rental agreement. After a 15 minute wait on hold , woman on hold told me I'd dialed the wrong number (she told me to call road side assistance. Called and put on hold again. Filing a claim was a long and terrible experience. I will rent from Hertz now. Will never rent a car from Payless or Budget ever again. And I will never fky into Reagan National again. Will fly into Dulles.

Interesting Business Model and Rental

Pros: Price was good. Always wanted to try a Fit which is a nice car. Interesting business model - Avis is the new cars, then they go to Budget, and finally to Payless. This one was a former Zip car, you could still see where the logo was removed. Fellow at the rental desk was very nice. I might try Budget next time.

Cons: Car smelled faintly as though someone had smoked in it. The cargo cover was missing.