Advantage Reviews 185

Advantage offers lower rates than several other rental car companies, but after my most recent experience, I'm not sure it's worth it. First, The elapsed time from waiting for their shuttle bus to getting our rental car was over an hour. Second, their options for handling tolls are very expensive. Option one: activate their EZ Pass at $25 per day for the duration of the trip. Yes it covers unlimited tolls, but for an 11 day rental, the cost would have been $275...and we were only going to be on toll roads twice for a short distance each time. Option Two: Pay $25 admin fee + cost of the toll for each toll incurred. While better than paying $275, $50 in admin fees for $7.90 in tolls is usury and ridiculous. Furthermore, the day after incurring the tolls, I attempted to pay the toll agencies directly using their "pay by plate" system, only to learn that Advantage has a block on their plates so the consumer can't pay their own tolls.

I rented from the MCO Orlando Airport. My car would not start the next day. My car died on me 3 times in 4 days. I called customer service and they just told me to take it back which would have taken me 4 hours of my vacation. I had to buy jumper cables in case I was stranded somewhere in the FL heat with my 85 year old grandfather. My hotel staff jumped my car on several occasions. Advantage does not maintain their vehicles and did little to help with the situation. I had the battery tested at Advanced Auto parts and they confirmed the battery was bad. They told me I would have to pay $52 per service request to have someone come out and jump my car even though it was their fault. When I returned the car they only gave me half my money back and did not take any blame for not maintaining their vehicle. I would NOT RENT FROM ADVANTAGE. They do not care and they do not maintain their cars.

DO NOT RENT FROM ADVANTAGE! Same thing happened to us at the Las Vegas airport. We did not want the OPTION of CDW. The clerk said that it was a state requirement and basically threatened that I HAD to take it..."just initial here". My daughter and I both questioned this several times and clerk repeatedly said it was REQUIRED. Talk about pressure. We had proof of our insurance that we were covered under our current policy and did not want what girl said we HAD to have. The employee LIED and misrepresented the facts of what was required. The Las Vegas airport agency is disreputable in their dealings to generate revenue. Their underhandedness cost us over $120! I have emailed them but have not gotten any satisfaction. Now, they are just ignoring my emails. Please do NOT use Advantage. Next time, I will gladly pay more to rent elsewhere. The main reason I rented from them in the first place is that, on the website, it said that they were located at the terminal. The other rental agencies listed said you had to take a shuttle to get to theirs. This is a lie as I, along with grandchildren and luggage, had to take a shuttle to the Advantage location.

Rented in FLL airport terminal on 7/3/19 a.m. Had to wait only 2 agents on the day before the FOURTH !! It wasn't even busy yet imagine when it is busy. Very slow !!

Romel, the service agent couldn't crack a smile if he even tried. Very poor customer service interaction; actually no interaction at all. Had an attitude b/c I wanted to verify the charges.

Appauling customer service.
Booked via AutoEurope.

We told our server Jose from the beginning that we did not want any extras he then told us to sign "here, here and here" and we could be on our way.

Much to our shock we were charged $169 extra at the end of our trip. Of which we told Jose that we did not want.

We challenged this with AutoEurope and Advantage due to the mis-selling of this extra insurance. It has taken almost 6 weeks for a response from either party. Without an apology or ownership of their mistake. The customer service is appauling from both companys.

Car we recieved was hardly road worthy - didnt even have a back wind screen wiper.

If i can help 1 person not to be stung in the same way that he have.

Dont believe their cheap prices because there is always an added extra that you will be stung with.

My wife and I are frequent travellers, and we rent cars often. We have used a variety of different companies. In June, for the first time, we used Advantage EZ Rent A Car at The Denver International airport.

Note* We know that some companies train their employees to try to get extra sales from each customer transaction, so we are careful with what agents say and the offers and fine print that they provide.

LORENZO, our agent, convinced us to take an upgrade which worked out fine. But he also pressured us into taking the E-Z Toll Pass with the rental ($9.99 USD/day x 9 days=$89.91 USD).

We declined but he persisted that it would be very difficult to avoid the tolls which have very expensive penalties if you go through even once. He specifically said that besides the toll charge each time you go through there is a $25 penalty if you don't have the E-Z Toll Pass. Which, FYI, I just went onto the Colorado E 470 Toll Website to see if that was accurate, and it is not. It is a $5 late fee, not $25. The $25 is if you don't pay after several notices and months of tardiness. So that was lie #1.

LORENZO said that "if you don't go through any tolls, the amount will be refunded." Based on that condition, we accepted and agreed on the rental.

WE WENT THROUGH NO TOLLS; WE AVOIDED ALL TOLLS DURING THE TRIP.

Upon returning, we awaited our rental invoice watching to see if that E-Z Toll charge would still be on the bill. Sure enough it was! Which we had a feeling it would be. So we phoned the 1-800 number on the invoice and spoke to a representative to file a complaint and ask for the refund.

After explaining the situation, the agent was not able to authorize a refund. So I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager to resolve the issue. He escalated the complaint to a Denver manager (Natalie) to make a decision. He gave me a complaint number, and said the Denver manager would phone us back outside of 48 hours. We left us at that on Thursday evening.

As of Monday evening, we had not yet received a call back (surprise surprise), so I called the 1-800 number again.

The new agent informed me the Denver manager had made a decision on the complaint not to honour the refund. He didn't have a reason to the decision or why they hadn't returned the call.

So, I explained the details again to him. He didn't seem to care. I asked him if he thought it was okay for Advantage employees to lie to their customers? He was quiet and didn't know what to say. I asked to speak to his supervisor.

It took over 30 minutes, and the agent kept coming on saying she was busy but could I hold. Eventually, he even said the supervisor authorized a 20% refund. I said it was 100%, or I wasn't getting off the phone. I was transferred to a Sara G. (she wouldn't give us her last name), but her employee number is #30661. She was the top supervisor. But who knows if anything they told us is true. She was very hard to understand, the sound was quiet and muffled. She quickly went into a long 'fine print' rant saying the contract was already closed, and the Denver Manager had made the decision not to give a refund, and that she could only offer us a 50% refund on the charge. I declined.

I again asked her if it was okay that the Denver agent Lorenzo straight up lied to us? She didn't address my question... We didn't use one toll, and in fact it was really easy to travel around Colorado and the Southwest without going through any tolls.

This is a really short version of everything that was said, but in short an employee lied to us, the company didn't honour their commitment, and don't care that they are scamming customers.

In the end, she gave us an ultimatum: take the 50% refund, or the call would be disconnected. How is that for customer service?

We took the refund, but we will absolutely, 100%, NEVER USE Advantage Rental Car Ever Again. Customer retention is important in business, android word of mouth. No matter how big the company is.

Such a pathetic company. I delivered the car to them with a completely filled tank and they think it is fair to charge me 165$ to fill the tank with 16.6 gallons of 9$/gallon fuel?! Even if the tank was not filled, everywhere in the area you fuel up for 2.4$/gallon. Next to that they stated on the form that I would only have driven 104 miles while that should have been at least 2500 miles. They probably cheat with the milage on the cars too. Filling in a form is not their strongest part apparently... milage is wrong, level of the tank is wrong, the only thing they did get right was the time I delivered the car.

They are just a scam that try to get some extra money out of you and probably do it to dozens of customers so that if some don't take action they can steal some money of us. Do yourself a favor and NEVER rent a car here.

DO NOT.. I REPEAT DO NOT USE ADVANTAGE CAR RENTAL. IT is a TOTAL Rip Off. Here is the NEW PLOY. The CON artists at the front desk will tell you their gas is cheaper so just bring it back and they "will take care of it". I told them I was only going to use the car for about a quarter of a tank. "Thats OK.. we will take care of it". They took care of it all right. I bring the car back with a 3/4 of a tank. I get my bill and they charged me $40 dollars for the gas. In other words, they charge for a COMPLETE tank, no matter how much you use.
In addition, there are other HIDDEN charges that they don't tell you about, for instance, a Concession FEE of 7 bucks, CFC charge of 8 bucks. You get the drift? Stay away from these CON Artists. It is a TOTAL SHAM and RIPOFF. USE UBER. It is a whole lot less expensive.

I rented a car with them through expedia. It was for a pickup in Germany. The problem was that no one at the airport knew who advantage car rental was. I called customer service for advantage and they flat out told me that they did not care that we were stranded in Germany. All they did was to give us a local number in Germany which is a bit confusing to use on an At&t phone from the U S. We spent an hour and a half in Frankfurt trying to find out who if any would handle our reservation. DO NOT USE ADVANTAGE CAR RENTAL.

I should have read the reviews on Trustpilot before I hired a car from them:

GOOD STUFF

The standard of the car was good, their charges were lower than other competitors.

BAD STUFF

I hired the car from O’Hare in Chicago and was given an EZ pass for the toll roads, I was charged $12.99 a day for a six day hire for this DESPITE me telling them I was travelling outside of Illinois in states with no toll roads (WI & MN) - so it resulted in charge of over $90 which I didn’t need to pay...

Emailing customer service got me nowhere and they refuse to see that they mis-sold me the EZ pass. Their customer service representative ended their email with the line I hope we will get the opportunity to serve you again... Guess what? No, no you won’t!!

I rented a car from Advantage in April 2019. The car was returned on time and I was given the receipt. About a month later I received a bill for outrageous toll charges. When I picked up the car, I declined their toll pay service since I had my own portable toll device for Florida where I rented the car.
I called them for an explanation and could not get one. They passed me onto a separate company or division called Ecare. I called them and waited on hold for more than an hour but eventually I got through. They told me to give them a copy of the Toll Authorities bill, which I did. Nothing for weeks but after I disputed the charges with Amex, I got a reply saying they would refund me $50. Eventually, I got credited with only $25. I reopened the dispute with Amex. After four emails to ecare I have not gotten a response.
I believe they are forcing people to use their WAY overpriced toll service and then make it almost impossible to dispute their (late) bill).
I was lucky that I was in the US so waiting on hold for one + hours didn't cost me anything except time. I pity anyone from overseas that has to deal with them after the fact.
DO NOT RENT FROM ADVANTAGE OR EZ CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had rented through orbitz, and when we arrived at the rental counter is was incredibly busy so we quickly went through the paperwork. After driving away, we noticed that they had added collision insurance to our bill (which caused it to be twice as much as quoted by Orbitz!) without confirming or asking us. We called, requesting to get it removed (since our car insurance covers rental cars) but they refused and Orbitz said there was nothing they could do.

reserved car online then picked it up in Las Vegas they told us we were getting a Jeep when we went to pick up the car we got a Jeep Renegade crappy little jeep we bought the fuel there and when we returned it we had only used 1/4 of the tank they refused to refund us any money. I would Recommend not using them and Using Alamo they are 100% better

Was deceived by the agent, was told there was bad weather in Jackson hole and that we needed to upgrade to a 4 wheel drive, it was sunny and in the 60s the whole week. I was also told that there were several tolls that we would go thru and that purchasing the toll pkg would be to my benefit, we DID NOT go thru one toll. The agent knew where we were headed, he asked, so he totally deceived me knowing that I was 100% unfamiliar with the area. Very unprofessional. I will not rent from here again

On 5/16/19 went to the Advantage Chicago OHare location to pick up RESERVED minivan to move my daughter home from college. Was informed all minivans and larger vehicles had been given out. Was offered a compact car instead. I asked what could be done; was told "They could do nothing" and other rental companies might have a same-day rental minivan. I asked what would happen if I was there with 5 children off a flight for vacation. Told same answer because "They had no minivans; nothing they could do". Staff was not rude just matter of fact. Apparently this is Advantage's normal business practice. Never will I reserve a car from them again- BEWARE.

very terrible customer service. Customer service told us adding a second driver was free and then charged $14 per day on my card after.

Every aspect was an issue..I had to walk across the airport to an elevator and then across to the other side of the airport where they kept the full size cars. When I got there he gave me paper work and told me to come back if there was an issue..the car was all smashed up on the passenger side and I told him I didn't want a car that had been in an accident. He gave me another car and it was diesel do had to go back again and then the 3rd car was ok. Returning the car was once again an extremely long walk to the opposite side of the airport. It's not fun when you have luggage and after traveling you have to deal with stuff like this. Won't use Advantage again! oh and i had to go through a toll off the exit bc it was not manned by anyone so i called Florida Turnpike immediately and they told me i could send in the $1.25 so i did right away! she said call your rental car company and let them know. I did and it took me 3 days to get through, when i pressed 2 like it said it hung up. I finally got through to the toll department and she said there is nothing she can do, I will probably get a fine by Advantage...good and i'm probably dam sure I won't pay it! I'll fight it with my CC company!

Never rent car from them Worse car rental experience ever they’ll charge me almost 200 extra dollars saying I returned the car half empty and charge 40 dollars for some bs fees.

We booked a car through EasyRentCars.com at a very good price, we were impressed with the price and ease of making the reservation. We were so impressed we recommended them to our family who also booked through them. Our nightmare began when we got to Advantage Rental Car in Maui, HI. When we got to the counter after waiting approximately 1 hour, we were informed our reservation was Easy Rent Car reservation was cancelled but we had an reservation with Advantage for 3 times as much! I was told by the counter person and supplied with paperwork notating that Easy Rent Car contacted me verbally to inform me that the reservation was cancelled and no money was charge to my credit card. I was informed they had the same problem earlier that week and a manager accepted the original price the customer was charged through Easy Rent Cars. I was assured there was no manager on duty at the time and that I would be contacted within 2 days by a manager that could resolve the price difference. I was given all of the paperwork informing me who would be calling as well as the names of the Easy Rent Cars contact and the Advantage Location Manager. After traveling 8 hours to get there and waiting an hour to get helped the counterperson assured us the difference would be taken care of by a manager in the next few days, we decided to take the car. We NEVER received a call from any of the managers even after I had called and left a voice mail asking the Location Manager to please call me. After receiving no reply for the week we were there, we were very frustrated. When we returned home I discovered my credit card was charged by EasyRentCars.com and Advantage Rental Cars. I warned my family about their reservation and they discovered they would have ran into the same problem so they cancelled their resevation and made one through a reputable rental company. After filling out several negative surveys from Advantage, we never received any contact from them about our experience!

Avoid if possible.

Arrived at Phoenix airport for a 2 p.m. pickup. Did not get the car until 4 p.m

Car upholstery was fabric (not a problem there) but back seat had a hole in it.

When I received my credit card statement, I found an additional $137 charge on it. It took me 45 minutes to get to the bottom of it. Apparently I had signed for collision damage waiver. I had made it CLEAR to the young man that I did not want any additional insurance. I never buy additional car insurance at the counter. He must have still added this and in my hurry to sign everything an finally get out of Phoenix airport I must have initialed it.

When I called to complain a very capable customer service agent by the name of Alfredo agreed to give me 50% off the service I had verbally rejected at the counter. Better than nothing, but I no longer trust the company.

I will try to avoid renting from this company in the future.