The Best Budget BCD Codes To Save Money on Car Rentals in 2021

I’ve been getting a lot of requests for those that rent cars from Budget and so what I’ve done is put together a simple compilation to make sure you get the best deals.

In the top section, I’ve highlighted the latest Budget BCD codes and have broken them down between the official codes and the corporate codes.  All of them you can use at your discretion.  You’d be silly to book a car with Budget without using any codes.

Best of luck and good hunting folks!

Table of Contents

What is a BCD code?

BCD stands for Budget Customer Discount Code. This is the primary way to save money on car rentals with Budget.

That said, this isn’t the only way you can save money.  Budget (formerly Budget Rent A Car) also has Coupon Codes.  I know it makes it complicated but this is actually a good thing because you can enter two different codes to have potential stacking bonuses.

Using these codes are the best way to save money on car rentals and not on aggregator platforms like Discover Cars and RentalCars.com.  Ultimately car rental companies want customers to book directly and these codes are a way of doing that.

The best part about these codes is that you can use them anywhere around the world.  For instance, these codes would be great to use for a road trip in Iceland, or perhaps even Ireland?

One thing I’ll touch on at the bottom of the post is the disclaimer on using corporate codes.

So which Budget BCD code will save you the most money?

For those wanting the best deal, the truth is that “it depends”.  Some of these codes provide maximum discounts for weekly or longer rentals, some are geared more towards weekends, and for some of the older codes, it’s hard to tell how the discounts are calculated.

What I do when I look for the best deals on Budget car rentals is to test all the codes and see what comes out at the end based on the specific trip I’m looking for.  From there, I pick the cheapest one. 

I know it’s a bit more work but if you’ve gotten this far and landed on this page, you’re clearly committed to saving money on car rentals so you’re part of the way there to finding cheap car rentals!

Best BCD codes for Budget

The below are a list of the Budget codes and discounts that you can find on the market.  Each one offers a different level of discount.  I’ve broken things down between the public codes that are available from Budget and corporate Budget BCD codes for special membership programs or companies.

Official Budget BCD Codes

For those that are weary of using corporate codes, these are a table of legitimate codes that everyone can use.  They offer good discounts but might not be as deep as some of the special corporate codes.

Corporate Budget BCD Codes

The holy grail of discount codes for Budget. These offer pretty significant codes but the caveat is the disclaimer which I explain below.

For many of these codes, it’s not clear what company they’re from but for those that I know, I’ve included them in the table.

How to apply Budget BCD codes and coupon codes

This is a common question that we get and so to make it super clear, I’ve included a few screenshots of where you can apply these codes to get quotes on how much your Budget car rental will cost.

When you’re on Budget’s website, you’ll see the reservation window right at the top.  This is where you’ll enter your pick up and drop off locations, as well as dates.  If you look below those fields, you’ll see Offer Codes.  Click on this to reveal the fields to enter your BCD Code and/or Coupon Code.  Rate Code sometimes shows up here.  You can ignore this.

The nice thing is that even if you enter a coupon code in as a BCD code, it’s smart enough to switch it over for you.

Note that you can only enter one BCD code and one Coupon code.

Other tips on saving money with Budget

Here are a couple of basic tips on car rental savings with Budget.

• Register for Fastbreak – This is Budget’s loyalty program.  It’s a program where the more you rent with them, you’ll accrue for coupon codes that’ll give you discounts.  If you register a new account, they’ll send you $25 Budget Bucks which you’ll be able to use right away.
• Stacking – Remember to try combinations BCD codes and Coupon codes so you can get the benefit of two codes instead of just one.
• ‘Pay Now’ if you’re confident – If you know for sure you’re not going to make a change to your booking, save even more money by paying right away.
• Don’t rent from the airport – This applies for all car rental companies.  Those airport fees add up.  They sneakily call it something ambiguous which is why you’ll see Concession Recovery Fee (11.11%) , Customer Facility Charge ($5/day), and Rental Facility Fee ($3.10 a day).  In parenthesis are examples of the fees at SLC airport.  In this example you’re looking at $123.47 vs $40.52 in extra fees for a one week rental.  That’s massive!
• Week rentals sometimes cheaper than 5 or 6 days – Discounts often kick in when you hit a full week so if you’re close to that, try getting a quote for 7 days.
• Their fuel program is never a good idea – Unless you think you’re going to be in a crazy time crunch, always fill up the tank before you return the car.  Even if they offer you a temping fuel plan, it’ll always be more expensive than you filling it up by yourself.

Are there any codes for underage drivers (under 25)

Unfortunately, there aren’t any codes with Budget to remove underage drivers.  That said, Enterprise is currently removing underage fees during COVID-19.  Check it out in my full compilation of corporate car rental codes.

Disclaimer on using corporate codes

As I talk about in the complete guide to car rental coupon codes, one thing you need to be aware of is that codes from the corporate section belong to corporations generated for their employees or are for members of big box stores.

Using these codes without being an employee or member is outside of their rate terms.  If you do get into an accident, your own insurance may be void coverage if your misuse gets surfaced.  It’s also possible that car rental companies may change your rate during your rental if they find out.  It is also unclear whether if you purchase additional coverage (LDW, PAE, SLI), whether that will be nulled if they find out.

It’s a risk you have to be willing to take if you use a corporate code for your car rental.  If you don’t feel comfortable, you should just stick with the official Budget BCD codes.

Here’s a perspective on using corporate codes that will give you more food for thought on the ethics behind using them.

Does Budget check for ID?

Now that’s the big question right.  How can Budget find out whether you’re an employee or member?  Here’s what I know from anecdotes from other users:

• If you pick up your car from the counter, there’s a chance they may ask for membership.  Of course, you can say you forgot to bring your ID with you and they may let it slide.
• Chances of being asked for ID dramatically decrease if you use Budget’s Fastbreak program which is similar to National’s Emerald Club and Emerald Aisle.  With Fastbreak you flash your license, pick up your keys and bypass the lines.

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Featured image via Flickr by Atomic Taco