Car hire at Chicago O'Hare Intl Airport

Not worth the hassle

Pros: Newer vehicle

Cons: Had to wait 30 minutes for shuttle from airport. And 20 minutes for shuttle back.

Run away!! They are crooks!!

Pros: I booked with Routes and got a terrible feeling about the entire experience. First, they refused to rent to me without a physical car insurance card (which was safely in my glove box in my car at home). Getting said proof was not easy in a pinch. Second, I witnessed them accuse a woman of damage she claimed she had not done to the car. I got the feeling that that is how they make their money. The whole experience felt slimy to me and the cars were not that great. I walked away and you should too!!!!

Cons: Unprofessional, slimy, and unreasonable

Slow shuttle + not enough employees + POOR customer service = DISASTER

Pros: price savings (although it was minimal)

Cons: Shuttle from airport to car rental was a 45-minute wait between vans (they said there were 3). Upon returning my car, we had to wait in line to DROP OFF KEYS for more than 45 minutes, along with dozens of others waiting only to rent or retrieve their own cars from the adjunct park and ride service. Employees continually answered phones (which never stopped ringing) from customers instead of dealing with those WAITING IN LINE IN PERSON. The counter employees - to their credit - were polite, but overwhelmed. I always believe in helping those in person before catering to a phone call. Many people were waiting for the "next" shuttle to get to their flight and were worried about missing them.

Better Service Organization needed at Pick Up

Pros: Price and the Jeep that we were given.

Cons: I had errored on the vehicle return date when completing the reservation online...totally my fault. When we tried to change the return date at the Routes location while picking up the care, it took approximately 45 minutes to complete this change to the transaction. Our rep was accomodating, but a new employee, and did not know how to process this change. Furthermore, when we did make the change to return the vehicle one day earlier then originally requested, the rental fee amount increased over $200 the original quoted rental amount (?). A supervisor had to complete the revised transction but it took much too long for this change to be completed. Again, this was my fault for not executing the arrangement correctly, but I was very surprised how long it took the Routes team to process this change.

Horrible! Would never use again!

Pros: Value of car itself

Cons: Everything else! Where to start...Location is WOEFULLY understaffed. Literally 1-2 people running the whole operation. (btw, you better have proof of personal LIABILITY on you or you’ll be forced to buy theirs—that was a first for me). Same person checks you in, goes and gets the car, checks the car, does the billing / contract / checks the car when you return, etc. the problem? There is 1 (at most 2) of them! With a line out the door, the person kept juggling 100 tasks. It took me over 45 minutes to get my car and I was 1st in line! Omg the poor souls that were 15 people back (line out the door). The same occurred on returning the car! Thank goodness I was an hour early. Normally when returning a car there is someone outside at the drop. You pull up, seconds later they walk around the car—print you a receipt, you jump on the shuttle and your gone in under 3-5 minutes. Not here. Pull up the car, walk in and get in the SAME LINE as all those people above. Finally I called out “Do I need to be in this line if I’m just returning?!” “Yes”. Uh....ok. Luckily someone finally broke away from other customers to help me (though given it’s the same person the people RENTING a car are now being neglected, as the staff member at the desk had to go outside to inspect my vehicle, leaving no one helping those in line renting). Then, I had to wait over 30 minutes for the shuttle. It was parked there, waiting, but refused to leave until the other shuttle showed up. I told them my flight leaves in 1 hour. Didn’t matter. waited in the shuttLe for 30 minutes. No other people processessed in that time, finally shuttle left without the other shuttle arriving. Driving complained about / acknowledged horrible management. From the time I pulled up in my car, to the time the shuttle left was about an hour. An HOUR! To DROP OFF a car. Ludicrous. Would never use again regardless of price. No concern for customers, and no basic business sense. Note, I used location next to Chicago O’hare. May or may not be generalizable, but next to such a large airport—if the company had ANY quality control these issues would be fixed.

Pros: The jeep

Cons: Worst customer service. Employees don't care if customer misses airplane. I will never use them again. Employees are rude

Pros: Nice jeep

Cons: Terrible customer service. Very slow. Over worked. Had to take Uber to airport. Waited 45 minutes and only one shuttle came. It was full so had to wait for another.

Pros: The price was the only good part

Cons: The vehicle was not at all what I reserved, I reserved a RAV4 or equivalent and I got a Jeep Wranger that was not designed for road driving, it handled horribly on the road, was very difficult to drive. These vehicles are no where near the same class at all. The process to check in and out was very slow and laborious

Kayak Deceives Regarding Pricing- Buyer Beware

Pros: Nothing- extremely disappointed with Kayak

Cons: Kayak gives you an inital price saying it includes Taxes and fees- but when you get the invoice it's up to 50% higher than the quoted cost!

The worst experience

Pros: Typical horror travel story.

Cons: Searched for a car on kayak. This place was the cheapest and offered through priceline. Reserved it a week ahead of time for a road trip. Called the morning of pick up day and they inform me their cars are only used to go to the airport. So the car I reserved a week ago to have for 8 days is only used to drive to an airport? Why on earth would that car be offered for my search criteria? And why would I not be notified of this? Completely ridiculous and no help or sympathy from priceline or the rental place. Terrible service. Will never ever use either again.

BEWARE THE EXTRA$ & Bring your car insurance card w/you!

Pros: Pickup at ORD actually went smoothly.

Cons: Everything else after pickup went poorly. I watched all the people in front of me in line have fee after fee piled on to their rental agreements. Thankfully, I carry my insurance card with me and avoided needing to pay for their expensive coverage. I have never needed to provide this to any of the premium national chains like Hertz and Enterprise. These guys want physical proof- having your info is not enough, apparently. To me, they don’t appear to have a strong grasp on the concept of customer service. I would skip these jokers if you have any other options.

Pros: Nothing I ended up canceling.

Cons: Girl that works the phones at around 8 am on Mondays is absolutely terrible with customers.

Routes Car & Truck Rentals should not be on kayak

Pros: I don't have anything good to say

Cons: 1. not an easy transaction. 2. you are forced to take things. 3. not so flexible. 4. did not give me ice scrapper in chicago winter 5. i left my scrapper in car but no decency to pay for it as a courtesy 6. very very unprofessional people behind desk 7. bad customer care NEVER GOING TO RENT FROM THEM AGAIN........................

Better bring $500 w/youThey wanted a deposit

Cons: They wanted a deposit of $500 despite the credit card hold and payment.

Cons: The rude and unhelpful clerk lost my contract and would not let me leave until he found it and i signed it. The shuttle then left and I was forced to wait for the next one and sit until they filled it. If I had the 40 minutes that was wasted at the office I would not have missed my flight. Routes is the reason I missed my flight

Weird driver policies, charged despite saying I'd get full refund

Cons: Routes car rentals does not allow locals to rent their cars, which is a bizarre and discriminatory policy. This is also the kind of thing that should be made very clear before you make the reservation, but it wasn't. I had to cancel last minute and find another way to travel the day before Thanksgiving. I was told I'd be given a full refund. Later I noticed a $20 charge from the rental company, and when I called to ask about it, I was kept on hold for 20 minutes. I got angry and hung up and this is still unresolved.

Would not use again

Pros: Cheap. Car was clean.

Cons: Speedometer was broken on the car. When we called to inform Routes, they told us they were aware of the issue—then why are they still renting the car? At the very least, why weren’t we informed? Shuttle driver was a very aggressive driver and the radio was blaring.

Not at all what I ordered/reserved

Pros: Nothing

Cons: I reserved a 7 passenger Checy Tahoe or similar and I was stuck and given a Jeep Wrangler and for the same price.

Misleading and rude—stay away!

Pros: Absolutely nothing!

Cons: This company does not rent to everyone—only people from out of town with flight itineraries. The lady at the desk claimed that this was prominently displayed on the booking page (it is not) and that I should have known. It is also not displayed anywhere on the confirmation page. I made a trip to their office on Christmas morning only to be told that I could not rent from them. The lady was dismissive and rude. I ended up going to Hertz—well worth the additional money! Stay away from this place!