Avis review

Who is Avis?

The most-used car hire company in our survey, American car rental company Avis operates in thousands of locations in six out of the seven continents.
Visit Avis.co.uk

Which? verdict

For a company trusted by so many, its high prices, poor value and middling customer service ratings are very disappointing.

Avis customer ratings

If you want to see how Avis measures up against its rivals, read our best and worst car hire companies page.

What's Avis like?

As the most commonly used company in our survey, you would’ve hoped for a more convincing performance from Avis. Scoring a mediocre three stars for customer service, one driver described it as ‘appalling’, after only being sent ‘generic email responses’ when trying to make a complaint.

The car hire giant’s biggest issue was its value for money, for which it scored a lowly two stars. One customer was relatively happy with their car but was concerned that Avis has ‘become very expensive and less competitive’ which was a common theme of the survey responses. 

Avis did manage to bag four-star ratings in some areas, including for age, condition and mileage of cars, how well the description matched the car provided and clarity of fuel policy. But the three-star rating for how well pre-existing damage was recorded was worrying.

However, several customers recommended the benefits of the free-to-join Avis Preferred loyalty programme, which allows you to bypass the rental car counter, which is worth keeping in mind if collection speed is a top priority.

Should I book with Avis?

Avis offers high-quality cars worldwide, and its free Avis Preferred loyalty scheme is well liked, but it loses out to other popular car hire companies like Alamo, Enterprise and Hertz, due to its underwhelming customer service and value for money.