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They DO NOT MAINTAIN their vehicles and HORRIBLE customer service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ORLANDO, OHIO -- 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.

Not to mention that when I lifted the hood the cooliant and windsheild wiper fluid was low. Something that should be checked after every use. The parts under the hood look duct taped and the battery was CLEARLY corroded.

The lady at the desk at the airport told me they would have brought me a new car BUT NO ONE OFFERED THAT to me.

Never again will I rent from such a scum company.

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Never Again!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- I rented a car from the San Diego airport location around July 4th of this year. The day before our return the check engine light came on so we filled the car with gas and exchanged it for another car. Because we had an early flight the next day, we filled the tank of the new car with gas (a whole 2.6 gallons) the night before and then drove 6 miles to the rental car return in the morning. When I looked at my credit card bill the next day, I had been charged the $138 for the original rental and then also 2 additional charges, one for $11.38 and one for $200.

I waited a week to have the charges removed as I knew I had returned the car (thinking the $200 charge was for the deposit they told me I would be charged when I rented the car and that it would be credited back once the car was returned). A week later, the charges were still there so I called customer service and they said the charges were both for refilling charges on the second car. It had only been driven about 6 miles after filling it so even at their ridiculous refilling fee of $9.99/gallon, it could not have come to $211.38.

I find it interesting that the $200 deposit they said they would charge my card, never showed on my card and that one of the fuel charges is exactly $200. I called customer service and the first person I spoke with said she could not help me and that she would have the location contact me. I asked how they would contact me and when I could expect to hear from them. She said they would email me and that I would hear within 24 hours.

A week went by with no email, phone call or removal of the charges from my credit card so I called again. Again I was told she could not help me unless I had a receipt which I said I did. She said I would have to call the San Diego office. I explained they were supposed to have already contacted me and I wanted to speak with a supervisor. She said there was not one there and then went on to say they rarely have a supervisor there when I asked when one would be there. Incredible! No wonder they have such poor customer service if they don't have anyone managing the call center staff.

I had to ask her 3 times to take my phone number and name so a supervisor could call me back before she finally asked me for my phone number. I have strong doubts she actually wrote it down considering her reluctance to even take it or agree to have anyone call me. I hung up with her and tried to call the San Diego office directly but that number is not on the rental agreement (only the 800 customer service number is) and when I Googled it and called, it says that number has been disconnected or is no longer in service.

I have rented many cars in my lifetime and this is by far the most frustrating and horrible car rental experience I have ever had. I will never again rent from them and I strongly recommend anyone considering them to run to the nearest competitor. I have rented from Thrifty, Budget, Avis, Hertz and Enterprise and have never experienced such incompetence or poor customer experience.

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Horrible Experience
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- I have had the worst experience here. I'm talking to my attorney and I'm in the process of filing a suit against them for threatening me at their location. I reserved my car online from May 5th to May 8th. When I went to pick up the car, there is no signboard to show the entrance to their parking space. They are renting some space in a parking garage, and do not have any directions.

When I was lost trying to find the place, I called the people. I had gone past their "address" and reached the lot of a different rental agency. I told them where I was, and I was told "I do not know where the Budget/Avis lot is. Just follow the address on the maps. I cannot guide you here". She didn't even care to tell me that I should look for the parking garage's signboard. When I went to the counter, I was forced to take an upgrade, due to "shortage of resources". Why did they overbook if they didn't have the resources? Ended up paying much more than I had reserved the car for.

When I returned the car at night, I had mistakenly left my apartment key with the car key. I called the office 10 minutes after I left from there. Told them to check the car and the keychain to see if they can find my keys. The response I got was - "Sir, the car key didn't have anything else, otherwise I would've noticed it when I took the key from you. The car will be cleaned in the morning, & we will search for your key at that time”. I said that I need the key to enter my house. Requested him to check the keychain just once. Very confidently, he said that he doesn't have to check anything. I had to stay at a friend's place that night.

I called next morning to ask for the key, & they found that my key was attached to the car key. I told them to hold the key & that I would come and pick it up in the evening over next 2 days. I went there next evening at 7pm. The lady on the desk told me that the "lost & found" dept. leaves at 3pm & she can't help me. I requested her to just check around once, but she said that she doesn't have access to lost and found items. I requested her to call someone from that dept. or her manager. She said "We respect the privacy of our employees. I will not call anyone who is not at duty right now. You will have to come back before 3pm to collect your key”.

There were a couple more employees on duty. I told her to ask them if any of them had seen it. She said that none of them had worked for the last one week. THAT WAS A LIE. I had seen one of those girls when I picked up my car. I stepped out of the office & saw the girl. I asked her whether she was there a couple nights ago, & she said "I work here all the time”. Before I could finish talking to her, the lady stormed out of the office, started yelling at me & said "I will not let you talk to any of my employees. Leave our premises or I will call the cops and get you arrested”.

I was never threatened like this before. I come from a respectable family. I'm in the process of filing a suit against them for threatening me at their location. Next morning, I called their customer care & told them about my experience. They promised to get the key shipped to me immediately. The store manager called me & spoke to me irritably. She agreed to send the key same day. It has been over a month now & I still don't have my key!

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Most Unprofessional Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

HAWAII, HAWAII -- Beware of this company. Worst car rental experience of my life. Arrived at Honolulu at 11:30pm, half hour late due to flight delay. They close at 11:30pm, but staff had left already. With 3 kids and grandparents, was forced to rent a car for the night from next counter at high price (all of which were still open by the way). Returned the other car next morning and pick up the already paid car from Advantage and ask for compensation for the night before's rental. Denied any responsibility and says I need to contact Priceline since I paid through them. The website booking requests for your flight number, so you would expect their staff to check if there were anymore bookings that night and check the status of those flights. To add to this, they gave me a booster seat instead of a child seat which I paid for.

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VIOLENT UNPROFESSIOANL AGENT
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ELMHURST, NEW YORK -- We rented from this company and took off on 10/17 without knowing potential charge for pet hair. As we returned the vehicle on 10/22
***published here https://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/advantage-rent-a-car.html***

at 7:10pm, We were told that there will be a $350 for dog hair in the car. So we agree to clean the car ourselves before 8pm when the rental window closes. After we cleaned the car, the inspector was still "unsatisfied" and the agent walked into the back room without saying anything as if she no longer wanted to speak to us. We were confused with the attitude and did not get a final invoice information. So we walked outside to find the agent and tried to get a final word. The female manager and inspector were hanging out in the back area when we found them and refused to let us clean the vehicle while we still had time. Another agent then started taking off his jacket as we tried to reason with them. And he threaten to beat us if we do not leave. We were forced to leave without an invoice of charges. Until now, we are still trying to reach the company as all oversea reps can only report cases instead of providing any solution to us. We finally obtained an invoice after reaching to Expedia, which was their partner we booked through. The invoice includes a cleaning fee of $85, duplicated concession fee and duplicated state and rental taxes.

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Lied About Fuel Price
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

DENVER, COLORADO -- We rented a car from Advantage at the Denver Airport. I was told by the person at the rental agency when we went to pick it up, they were running a special on gas - $2.27/gallon because the beer festival was going on and they wanted to get people in and out. When I checked final charges there was a 94.00 charge. The gas was over 50.00 because they charged me 2.73. The guy said I signed a contract and they cannot help me. I told him I was lied to and to let me speak to a manager. He would not let me speak to a manager and put me on hold. I waited over 30 minutes and hung up. The customer service rep's name is Daniel. NEVER DEAL with THESE LIARS! YOU have LOST MY BUSINESS and WE TRAVEL A LOT, SO YOUR LOSS!!!!

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Advantage doesn't honor Expedia agreement
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

EL PASO, TEXAS -- In planning a trip from El Paso, Texas to Tucson, Arizona, I made a rental reservation through Expedia for an Advantage rental car two weeks in advance. This rental included unlimited mileage. Three days before the trip, Advantage called me to let me know that they would not honor unlimited mileage for Texas residents. For a 3-day rental we would have 300 free miles, and each mile after that would be $0.55 per mile, more than doubling the cost of the rental. I canceled the rental, however with only three days left before we leave, all car rentals from all sources are sold out throughout the city. Expedia customer service couldn't help me and Advantage wasn't interested in doing so. I prepaid for my hotel and for the event we're attending, so my only choice is to take my 12 year old compact stick shift on this long desert drive. I used to routinely rent from Advantage, I had forgotten why I stopped. This is been a harsh reminder that I will never do business with this company again. Advantage is a dishonorable company and I do not recommend them to anyone.

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Paid Over Double What I Had Set Up on-Line
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

DENVER, MINNESOTA -- The agent at the rental counter was not clear when stating the upgrade charges, so when we left, we didn't realize we ended up paying double what we had ordered online. It was really bad customer service when we HAD made it clear to the agent that we were trying to stick to a budget. He continued to ask us about upgrades and then stated the charges in such a way that by the third car price he rattled off, we thought it was only about $5.00/day more for the upgraded vehicle instead of $5.00 more than the original car cost. Unclear right?

Original + $5/day = not a bad deal. Original + (original +$5) = over double the original price we ordered on-line. BAD deal. The total we would pay was written on our statement, but we signed nowhere near the total and it was never verbalized out-loud at the counter for either of the 2 in our party to hear and notice the enormous upcharge.

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Long waits, unfair toll admin charges
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY -- 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 contacted Advantage customer service. Their customer service representative claimed the admin fees are charged by the toll agency--a blatant lie as I know from experience with my own vehicles that the agencies do not charge anywhere near a $25 per toll admin fee.

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May Never See Refund of Deposit
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- When asked why I never got my refund they keep saying wait another 3-5 working days. It is now over 14 working days and still no refund of deposit which they keep blaming the bank for not releasing the funds which is ridiculous. Bank says they never got the funds. So much run around and I doubt if I'll ever get it. Last agent tells me it was a computer glitch and now he has to do it manually just because the previous agents didn't do it. Never rent from these guys. Like what the other reviewers say, this is one of the worst scam that you could get. Take your business somewhere else.

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Advantage Rent A Car Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.0 out of 5, based on 40 ratings and
61 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Advantage Rent A Car
25 Brae Boulevard
Park Ridge, NJ 07656-0713
1-800-777-5500 (ph)
www.advantage.com
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