Rental car experiences with Advantage?

I need a car for Jan 26-31. I have rented from Dollar and Alamo before and have been well pleased. This trip, I can get a much better deal (about $100 less) with Advantage. I don't hear much about them. Are they a good company to deal with or will I wish that I had gone with one of the big names?

 

I rented from Advantage when they were associated with Hertz. When I checked this time, there are a lot of financial shenanigans going on right now. See http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303560204579250542894367298. I have no idea how this will affect my reservation for January 16.

 

Used them when they were part of Hertz. I booked them again for Jan 16 to 23, but will keep an eye on the news about their finances and service before I go. See Wall Street Journal or Toronto Globe and Mail articles that outline the recent woes of the company.

 

I have used them before with very little problems. Some problems I encountered before: problem with car (hard to start, damage, gas not at F) but they usually took care of me with a replacement rental. This has occurred probably less than 10% of the my rentals, I probably rented from them about 30 times in the past decade or 2. They were US rent a car in vegas previously but now is part of the advantage chain.

As with the other rent a car compaines, print out a copy of your reservation prior to getting there, especially note the dollar amount and upon rental check your billing statement to make sure they didn't add on any 'extras' to your bill. A dead giveaway is the dollar amounts don't add up with your quote. I would then check with a fine tooth comb to find out why the amounts are different, usually they add on something like a daily lock out charge or towing charge or flat fix or some other charge to jack up your rental cost.

At some companies like ez or payless the clerk may say that they are standard charges or make up excuses; ask to speak to a manager or if still getting the runaround, call their national number to complain about the false charge. Many times they will back out the fake charges. You can also complain to your cc company about the charges and have them remove it. I haven't had any problems with Advantage, once I did notice a daily lock out charge but I told them I didn't want it and they removed it.


Try to check your bill before you leave the counter, even better, do it before you sign the rental contract. The clerks make money when they rent out cars so they don't want to waste too much time haggling with you when they can work on the next customer so they may get rid of the extra charges just to get rid of you.


Some things that I also note: walk around your car and give it the full check up to make sure the car is okay. note all scratches and dents on the form they provide as some companies will charge you for everything. Turn on the car to make sure the engine is working (no sputtering or knocking), radio is working, all windows and a/c - heater is working (once - not Advantage - when I rented the a/c wasn't working, during the summer! luckily I caught it before I left the lot and exchanged the car with another). check for a spare tire just in case.



My comments are for all car rental companies, I have encountered the "extra" charge with dollar and other national chains so it isn't uncommon for these extra charges to come up.


I feel comfortable renting with Advantage over some of the other companies like Fox, payless and ez.


One possible drawback, non national rental companies may not have a big selection of available cars so you may end up waiting for your car. At Advantage I was allowed to get a free upgrade when my size wasn't available. I usually rent an economy car and usually get a compact or larger size car instead. Doesn't happen all the time though but I haven't waited very long (if any) for my car with Advantage.

 

Our company contracted with them a few years ago. The same owner owns the outlet in Vegas today as then. She's a good operator. The vehicles were fine. My problem was always with her clientele. It's more like a fast food line then a rental-car line. I swear, I stood behind people (and there's ALWAYS a line) who would talk and talk and when they'd finally get to an agent, would say, "yeah... what kinda cars you got?" Like they're ordering a taco... no reservation, no nothing. It's a big deal, because Advantage rarely has more than a couple agents open and when they get tied up with yocals like I just described... well.. UGHHHHHHH

I'm sooooo happy to have graduated to National Car Rental and skip all that crap and go right out to a vehicle!

 

I have used them several times with no issues/ Just be aware that they put a hold on your CC not like most company's they actually take the money out and don't put it back til about a week after your rental is returned. I think it was 200 not an issue for me but I know some come to LV with a tight limit.