Kyte.com Reviews 

Terrible customer service. I was sent incorrect codes via SMS and spent my entire holiday trying to unlock a car. After two hours of trying to resolve the issue with no effective assistance from your support team, I ultimately missed the opportunity to travel to my destination. And to make matters worse, you still charged me for the service!

This is the worst car rental service I have ever experienced. Extremely frustrating and completely unacceptable. I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.

Terrible customer service. They will keep charging your credit card weeks after your rental was over with no proof of what these charges are for. I received a charge for $85 three weeks after my rental was completed for an apparent "ticket" i got while driving the car in a "school zone" mind you, this was on a weekend. When I asked for proof, they said they did not have any. Avoid this company at all costs. Do not ever give them your credit card details.

12 days after dropping off the car without incident, I received an email about damage to the car, and my card was charged directly. The before/after photos provided to me as evidence didn't show any clear damage, and instead looked like glare on the driver's side door. I disputed the damage report on the grounds that it wasn't damaged by me, nothing was reported at dropoff despite a walk around, and it took them 12 days to even notify me that the car had an issue. They sent me a new image as proof that showed what looked like a smudge in a different location on the door. It was clearly a scam, so I demanded a refund, but they ghosted me. I disputed the charge with my credit card, but the card denied my claim because of their dubious "evidence" and I cannot appeal. This company is SHADY. Avoid at all costs. I would rate them with negative stars if I could. It's a great reminder to take your own pictures of the car before and after.

Horrible experience. Sent me a car that looked like it had large patches of chocolate or blood stains in the backseat, filthy front seat (gross to the point I did not want to sit in it). When contacted customer service, response was they'll give a new car if I PICK IT UP. First problem: response was received after I returned car. Second problem: people who rent from Kyte usually need a car right away. I had a meeting that I would miss even if they had sent a replacement immediately. Customer service offered a $10 voucher for next Kyte rental.

Scammy company with incompetent customer service. Deserves to go out of business, which it soon will.

My experience with Kyte bares sharing. Due to convenience of location and costs, I gave Kyte a "test drive"

But for one specific issue, this would have been a stellar review. In fact, I had already posted a glowing review elsewhere. But a serious issue came up. Their reaction was unexpected and unfortunate. Because it's a safety issue, I hope this makes a difference.

Up until the return, everything was great but what came next would sour my experience.

I rented a 2023 VW Atlas for one day. For one short trip within the city of San Francisco.

I had been given a vehicle with 6/8ths of a full tank of gas.

Prior to returning it, I noticed that the gauge was too low after driving 26 miles. I called to report this problem. I noted that I had only driven 26 miles at the time of that phone call and that the vehicle needed to be checked. I was already on my way to refuel before returning it. But I wasn't going to pay for fuel that I had not used.

According to VW, this vehicle's fuel consumption is 21/25 MPG. It has an 18.5 gallon fuel tank. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that after driving only 32 miles total - as the odometer would confirm, I would have used, at most, just over 1 gallon of fuel. Well, that vehicle used up about 9 gallons of fuel after having driven ONLY 32 miles! That is what I reported when I called.

Returning the vehicle was easy. I did explain the situation to the attendants and left somewhat satisfied until...

They charged me $54 to refill the tank on a mechanically defective vehicle that was also not new as I was lead to believe.
This vehicle was a 2023. Not 2024.

So, I wrote to them and explained that the vehicle consumed too much fuel and it must be defective. There is no way a "new" vehicle, in California, is going to burn through 9+ gallons of fuel in just 32 miles. It worked out to about 3.4 MPG!

Even the dashboard had shown an average fuel consumption of 14.2 mpg just coming direct from the gas station about 1 mile away! Something is most definitely wrong with the vehicle.

Their reply was that they checked the vehicle and did not find any issues with it. So they charged me...

Given that VW is actually infamous for this very issue, it seems that the problem begins there. But Kyte only exacerbated the problem by denying it even existed.

This could have been a stellar review. It WOULD have been one. It SHOULD have been a stellar review. But to basically call me a liar or ignore me when I called in to report a problem with THEIR vehicle and to actually charge me for something I DID not use, is outright theft.

Had they listened and accepted that I refilled only what I used, I would not have been able to sing higher praises.

But for this, I am writing to advise everyone to avoid Kyte. Just because you are a young company, doesn't give you an excuse to treat your customers poorly or steal their money.

I am going to inform the appropriate authorities about my experience.

It's one thing to steal from an unsuspecting public. But allowing said public to operate a potentially dangerous vehicle is a completely different matter.

Note to Kyte: When a customer tries to help by letting you know of a serious defect that can cause a fire... LISTEN TO THEM!

I stand by my review and given the mileage I put on the vehicle, I am willing to testify under oath if necessary.

Thanks Kyte.

Registration was super easy through their app. Check in, hand off, verification, were all super efficient and easy. Car was the new model from this year and came very clean, communication was clear and had fast responses. Would recommend!

i needed a car for a trip to the mountains with my friends & honestly the whole process was a breeze. getting the car for the trip was as easy as ordering groceries for our airbnb. the surfer showed up on time, he handed me the keys, took a few photos and i was good to go. no up charges or upsells, no time wasted. i will be using again.

Ridiculous customer experience. I booked a trip and submitted pics of my license and selfie on September 13. Was told on September 18 that my trip was cancelled because they could not 'validate my account,' which doesn't make any sense. Do they mean validate my driver's license? Identity? Address? How can you validate my Kyte account, I already have one. Anyway I asked why and what could be done about it, and I got a very terse, dismissive response saying it's done by a 3rd party (Stripe) and they couldn't give me any specific info. So incredibly unhelpful. I then looked at their requirements for 'account validation' and I meet, not joking, EVERY SINGLE ONE. I then asked to speak with a manager, and this is real, was given a generic support email address and told to reach out. Is that what you do when a customer asks to speak with a manager? I then sent an email to that address and was told the same stock phrases. I guess it's just an arbitrary process and no one knows why any decision is made. What a bad customer experience.

I’ve used Kyte for car rentals in PHL several times and it’s been a great experience. The surfers are smart and usually punctual. In my last rental in late August 2023, my aircraft was late and I wanted another 15 minutes of cushion to ensure I got to the pick-up area after I got through baggage claim. That cost me $25. Turns out I had more than enough time, but the surfer was >15 minutes late from the new, later time. On top of this the car had 3/4 of a tank of gas. Not a big deal if you knew how many gallons the gas tank held. I overfilled it to be safe on the back end, so another $10-15. I texted customer service, but all I could get was a $15 credit on my next rental. Since Kyte is now about the same cost as Avis with my employee discount, maybe it’s time to pivot and be sure to get a car on time and full of gas. Lines at check in maybe problematic, but I get points and inc natives going forward. Hmmm.

I rarely leave a review, but felt compelled to warn others off this company. It is the most appalling company I have ever come across. From my experience and seemingly that of others from reviews of a very similar nature across the web, it appears their business model is to make money by charging customers for damages/other costs that they aren't responsible for.

I rented a car from Kyte in April 2023. It was delivered to me with low tire pressure. Upon noticing, I put air in it, but later discovered it had actually been delivered to me with a puncture as the tire was completely flat by morning. I had to add air to the tire 3 times across 2 days. This is not only very inconvenient, but also dangerous. When I informed Kyte of the issue upon returning the car, I was offered no apology or compensation whatsoever. I was asked for proof of the $6 I had paid for air, and was offered only this as a refund. I was also incorrectly charged for a full tank of gas, despite having returned the car with a full tank (this was later refunded at my request).

Weeks later I was then charged $75 (by immediate direct charge to my card) for repair of the puncture! It took 2.5 weeks of continuous emails/web chats until I finally managed to get somebody to refund me the cost, but only because I had undeniable photographic evidence of the tire pressure warning light being on when the car was delivered to me. Before providing the evidence, they actually tried to argue that the tire pressure warning light had not been on upon delivery to me.

Avoid Kyte at all costs- the slightly lower prices than other companies are not worth the risk.

Everything went super smoothly. The pick-up/return at your door makes it infinitely simpler and more convenient than any standard rental company. The surfer arrived on time, took 1 minute to scan my license, no surprise charges and no insane paperwork (and huge plus, they accepted my debit card - which proved to be an impossible hurdle for other companies/brokers). We received an upgrade b/c they were out of cars in the class we had rented. The app worked well and changing the return date took less than a minute (and we received a prorated credit that we were able to use for refueling!). Return was equally simple - the surfer showed on time, took the keys, and disappeared. The only thing I would have wished for was for all the charges associated with my rental to be easily visible in one place and for more transparency around refueling costs (this doesn't appear in the app - instead, I received several separate invoices/receipts via email for tolls, the rental, and credits received for an early return but no summary + seem to be missing invoice for fuel). Since everything went so smoothly, I can't comment on how they perform when issues arise, but based on this experience, I would definitely rent again from Kyte.com.

The address for pickup was incorrect via google, you only have a 10 minute window to meet your "surfer" and if they are earlier they constantly call you to ask where you are...the car we rented was due for an oil change and they wouldn't swap the car unless we met them in the service area (hours from where we were staying) and the only compensation we were offered was $50 in credits to Kyte (no thank you!). Customer service overall unhelpful. Cheaper than a regular rental but not worth the stress and hassle in the end. Stay away!

This is a fine service as long as nothing goes wrong animi you have a flight to catch. For me I got stuck in traffic for my return- I would have been fine, but there is a 2 hour mark on the app that if you get stuck in traffic and can't make that change because you missed the mark (how did you know you were going to get stuck at 1:50 minutes??)... well you are going to have nothing but Trouble from them! You'll try to text support- because that is what the app tells you to do (while inching bumper to bumper- solo). Then you'll be put in queue.. forever! Then your surfer will call you and say he's there waiting and you'll say.. gee I'm still on text hold.. for 2 hours now.. and he'll say sorry bye! And then they'll charge you $25. Then- depending when they get back to you.. from that minute that they finally get back to you they will tell you that you must give the surfer 2 hours notice. Well you are in the return destination by now- a huge city.. and you've got to now park this car for 2 hours or if you have a flight to catch... you're screwed. So yea.. It's great if you don't have any trouble and a flight to catch.

Booked a car through the Kyte app.
Got a confirmation and all seemed good.
Then, less than 12 hours before delivery, they cancelled my booking.
Reason?
They had oversold.
No compensation offered.
Stay away.

Days after the dropoff they sent me a picture of a "scratch" and decided to keep my $300 deposit... for a scratch that wasn't even caused by me! It's a scam, they make money by not refunding the deposit. Plus they charge extra if you are 5 min late.