Academy Rentals & Tours

Thank you for such an awesome visit to California Chris:) Renting buggies in the desert was the highlight of our trip and Chris went above and beyond to make it such a great experience. This was my first time in Cali, from Jersey and I didn't know what to expect but Chris not only planned a great day for us, he also gave us recommendations for other things to do, and everything turned out to be a success.\r more

Do not use this company! Chris is a complete liar and ill leave you stranded without a care in the world. Avoid, avoid, avoid!!!! more

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. We bought a couple of living social deals because we were going out to California. When we called to reserve he tacked on all sorts of fees to the tune of $200. When we called back to amend our reservation and possibly add more people he started changing prices and fees and being extremely rude and aggressive. When I got fed up I told him to cancel the whole thing. He refused and said I signed a contract. When I informed him we signed nothing and did everything over the phone he still argued. Finally he relented and we agreed to a cancellation fee. After several emails and phone calls he still refuses to refund my money and I have had to dispute the charge with my credit card company. Chris doesn't know how to run a business and is extremely shady. Absolutely do not do any business with him or this company!!!!! more

This was our first ATV ride... While going there we thought its gonna be hot and messy and we won't be able to last for more than 2 hours in the desert.. But when we started the ride it was all fun and we did it for almost 4 hours. In the begging we didn't want to take a guide but Chris was very funny and we decided to take him along and i think that was the best decision. You can easily get lost in the desert and he was an excellent guide and very patient. So our advice would be to always take him along. All in all it was a great experience for us!! more

First time on the ATV...Chris was very helpful and patient with our group. Chris gave us an awesome deal and made it a lot of fun for us. more

Chris sounded pretty straight up on the phone and offered our group a serious deal for day of rentals and a tour, way cheaper than any other place I found. I pestered him with about a hundred emails trying to confirm our reservations and make sure we were all prepared for an 8 hour desert ride and he always responded in a timely manner. We showed up at the designated time (9:00) and everything was ready to go. This was my first time ATVing , so I can't really attest to the quality of the vehicles, but I can tell you they go pretty damn fast. Chris was cruising on his bike and we were racing behind him trying to keep up. I thought this was the fun part of ATVing. This guy is an ex-Baja racer and likes to go fast ( and so did we), but he stops when he gets ahead to let us catch up so we would go at our own pace. We had an awesome barbecue lunch at Chris's private ranch and a leisure ride back. Our thumbs were killing us from pressing the throttle all day, but overall it was a great time. I would highly recommend Chris if you are organizing a bachelor party or just want to do something different for the weekend. If you are the adventurous sort, Academy Rentals is the way to go. I would definitely go again when I move back to SD. The only small hiccup was that I was not told we needed to pay in cash and I came bearing a credit card. Luckily, between us we scrounged enough money so no biggie. more

We rented dirt bikes from these guys and had a lot of fun. Our whole experience from renting, instructions how to ride, etc. was great. My friend already knew the area, so the bike handled the terrain perfect. We're coming back out before summer and already made reservations. Fun times, guys. Thanks! more

I hadn’t been out in the desert for a while and decided to head out last week. A friend told me about Academy Rentals and Tours, so I gave them a call. I mentioned to the owner I never been in a dune buggy out in the desert. I purchased a two-hour dune buggy tour out to Superstition mountains. Boy! Did I have a kickass dune buggy experience! The owner drove and I sat in the passenger seat. He took his time, didn’t drive insane and did some awesome maneuvers over dirt hills. On the way to Superstition, we passed empty bombshells that exploded and left…in the desert! I thought that was awesome. The Ocotillo cactus was starting to bloom and the scenery is incredible. Once on the sand dunes, the dune buggy ride got better. The owner stopped to let out some air in the tires and the dune buggy ride up and down the dunes was amazing! Going across the razorbacks was phenomenal! I give the owner huge big ups for taking into consideration I’m a female and didn’t try to hot dog it while driving the dune buggy. I’d highly recommend taking a tour with Academy Rentals and Tours on a weekday when hardly anyone is out riding their dirt and/or sand dune vehicles. more

I have a gift certificate from academyrentals that was given to me because we had paid to ride the full day about 2 years ago, but only got an opportunity to ride half the day due to their fault. We had specifically asked for 3 bikes. We got 1 bike 2 quads. The driver arrived with the vehicle late almost 4 hours while we waited on the side of the road. I have not had the need to use them, but decided to rent an additional bike since i need a 3rd one for this saturday. I was trying to do a father and sons ride since i don't get to see them much. The gift certificate does not have an expiration date nor does it have any specific limitations of when it can be used (holidays etc). I called academy rentals to use the gift card and rent a dirt bike for 01-01-2011. I was told on the phone by Chris that these gift cards could not be used for that date because it was a holiday weekend. I was told that these ""limitations"" are posted on the website. I checked the entire website and don't see any limitations clause anywhere. I was hoping that there could have been an exception in our case due to the fact that these gift cards were not bought but rather given due to the fact that we could not ride for the time we had paid for. If i had been told this at the time, i would have made for other arrangements. The fact that i was on the phone with Chris for 10 minutes and he stated he had a ""short temper"" after which he proceeded to shower the conversation with colorful language totally made the company's customer service experience very poor. As a customer, I was not expecting to be on the phone getting blasted by Chris and according to him ""I was busting his balls"" when in fact, all i was trying to do was see if there were other ways come to a solution. It comes down to how a business is being conducted and it's customers being treated (spoken to on the phone). Anyway, just posting my experience and venting a little. If you need to rent, try letsatv (i have not used them, but their prices seemed more competitive and bike selection is better). more

Don't Use this guy, he will charge your credit card for the max amount. Don't pay cash, Just don't use him unless you want a bad time. Check him out on BBB. He is also known as San Diego ATV Rentals. He will promise to have what you want but will not deliver. Pros: Cheap Cons: Doesn't deliver, late, overcharges credit card more