Advantage Rent-a-car

The 4-​stars is a direct statement of the excellent customer service I received from Customer Service Sales Manager Thuvan Ngo-​Fitzgerald on May 27, 2013.
I had rented an SUV one-​way from Phoenix to Seattle. I chose Advantage because their one-​way drop off fee was substantially lower than all other companies I checked out. The total estimate from Advantage was $ 303 for 3 days which included a $ 150 drop off fee. All the other major companies came in around $ 1,000 — so the $ 303 was a great bargain.
Yes, I too got the upsale when I picked up the car in Phoenix. It’s standard practice, and I politely refused all the additional offers of bigger car, liability insurance, etc. And I was told that there would be an additional $ 200 charged to the credit card that would be refunded when I returned the car — so that was fine. I did NOT however, get a breakdown on the costs before I signed the contract and left. That was my mistake.
When I was getting ready to return the car once I got to Seattle, I checked my credit card billing statement online was was SHOCKED to see that my credit card had been billed $ 844! If you take the $ 303 I was expecting to pay, and add a $ 200 deposit — the amount should have been $ 503. Sooooo — where did the extra $ 340 come from???
I dropped off the car, and went into the Advantage offices, fully prepared for a fight. I brought in a copy of my original estimate, and a copy of my credit card charge to verify the discrepancy.
That is when Thuvan comes in. She pulled up the bill, and after a very moderate chiding about not signing something without reading it (yes mom, I know) — she quickly ascertained that 1. I had been charge an extra day because I had not picked up the car at the stated time. I had no idea that the pickup time was that important. 2. I had been charged the wrong amount for the car — from $ 20 a day to about $ 70 a day.
Thuvan politely and professionally refunded ALL of the extra charges. She also said that she would inquire with the Phoenix office about the fact that I had not had a rundown of the charges when I first picked up the car.
Thank you Thuvan — so very much. My faith that you really CAN get excellent customer service has been renewed.

BEWARE TOLL ROAD SCAM BY ADVANTAGE
Two weeks after our trip to the Northwest, Advantage «PlatePass» charged our credit card for $ 20. After researching the matter, I learned the charge was for a $ 4 dollar toll and $ 16 as a service fee for Plate Pass. I did not sign up with Plate Pass. Advantage signs you up without any disclosure and then charges you for everyday of your rental after there is a toll charge. It is something like $ 3 per day.
Also the agents are very well trained in trying to heavy sell their gas and insurance add-​ons. Advantage is trying to gouge you at every turn.

My husband and I rented a car from this company for a recent Seattle trip that we took. When we arrived at the airport they did not have a car for us even though we reserved it several weeks in advance. They sent us to another car rental company where we had to stand in line for over 45 minutes. We were very unhappy with the lack of customer service. We would highly recommend that you do not rent from this company.

They heavily pushed upgrade, I caved for one thinking I might need to take passengers — I didn’t but because they kept emphasis what if you take passengers. However even with upgrade to mid size only paid $ 12 a day which is great price. The other frustration even though you have to take a shuttle off-​site you still have to pay all the airport taxes.

I’ve had 2 unsettling experiences with them. In the first instance, the woman said she’d be right back with my car… right back… right back… Half an hour later, she returned. She had had to wash and clean the car before she could rent it!
The second was way worse. I’d grazed a pole while backing out of a parking place. I expected to be billed for it, but THEY BILLED ME FOR DAMAGE THAT WASN’T CAUSED BY ME. I don’t know if this is a profit center for them. There’s no way my left front fender damage had anything to do with the right rear of the car. Never again!

I would suggest no one goes here. It seems as if all the reviews here mirror our experience with Advantage. My review is long overdue, but I was not hip to Unilocal when we rented through them. After renting there, they’ve become a running joke (and idle threat) in my family whenever we go rent a car.
Got there at night, they don’t have our car available. The lady instead gives us a Caravan. A Caravan instead of the compact car we reserved. A Caravan for two adults. A Caravan… No good. It’s 11PM, however, we did have a reservation to pick up a car at that time. Why wouldn’t you a least have a car comparable to the one we reserved. Then we were sent out to walk around and mark damage on the car. I’m used to Alamo or Budget where this isn’t a necessary step so I mark the damage, dings and dents (of which there were plenty) with a giant X across the entire front of the car, sides and back. Turned it in to the counter, no big deal. We drive to the hotel (25 minutes away) park and make no further trips in the car that day.
First thing the next morning, we hedge our bets and attempt to trade in the gigantic caravan in the hopes that there is something smaller. There is, finally! Not what we reserved, but not a van. The car return process is a scam. The lady attempts to blame us for a windshield chip on the front of the van. I tell her that I marked the entire front with a giant X because there were so many dings all over, including the windshield. She attempts to tell me that the chip looks «fresh». I ask her to explain what a «fresh» windshield chip looks like. After realizing I’m not going to let her scam us and that I’m not an idiot, she concedes that this probably wasn’t our fault. Yeah? Really?
I’m guessing she got excited thinking that we declined the insurance (because we have full coverage under our personal auto insurance company on rental vehicles and didn’t want the extra charge) and thought she could rip us off.
This place is no good. They’ll never have the car you reserved, they will try to scam you, and the wait is usually virtually intolerable. It’s worth the extra cash not to deal with them and to have a less stressful time elsewhere.

BEWARE!!! This place is not just a dump but the customer service people are cons! They try to sell you up on cars because they have sold out the car you reserved! We were made to wait over an hour, they did not have our midsize car available so they wanted us to pay $$$ to upgrade. Ultimately, we left and went to Thrifty which was so superior in every facet from service, price and vehicle! I could go on and on about the rude treatment, the shock of not having a car available and the attempts to shake us down. Don’t risk it as it is an awful way to start your vacation!

I echo the other peoples’ complaints about upsale and the long wait for the shuttle. It’s not worth it, and I immediately regretted the transaction afterward.
Of course, you can blame the victim/​customer but the truth is that with two kids in tow and a frustrated wife, picking up and leaving isn’t a great option.
At the counter, I listened to the person next to me get a much better deal (by about 50%) than me. I had purchased through Priceline and thought — wrongly — that the deal was cemented. With hotels, the deal is done and the payment made. Not the case with rentals, hence the upsell.
So, if you want to get off a plane, claim your luggage, wait a long time for a shuttle, have trouble contacting the company by phone to check on the shuttle, wait more for a shuttle, ride 5 – 10 minutes to the company, get the upsell treatment, then have your wife wonder why the bill is higher than expected…

The only down side to my experience was the 30+ minutes waiting for a shuttle while watching all the other car and hotel companies going around and around. I would have chosen one of the in-​terminal rental companies at $ 5 more if I could have skipped standing outside in the cold for so long, thus the reason for the 2 stars.
They offered all the upgrades more than once but I wasn’t buying — I would have upgraded online if I had wanted to. Guy behind the counter was nice and both dropping off and picking up the vehicle was fairly easy. No surprise charges at the end.
The one thing I did enjoy was their on-​site gas pump. Since I knew I was going to use over ¼ a tank I pre-​paid for ~3 gallons of gas (what they consider ¼ tank and the minimum you could pre-​pay for) and I didn’t have to refill before dropping off the car. They seem to round the gas usage off by eighths so even though I used a little over the pre-​paid amount I was only charged the pre-​paid amount (as I used ²⁄₈ of a tank). They charged 40 cents less per gallon, which is another reason I did this.

The ONLY reason this place gets its second star are the shuttle guys. They were so sweet! :) Really helpful and everything.
As for a car? Go here for your LAST RESORT. When a friend and I tried to rent a car here, which we had already reserved, they told us AND the other two people they were currently helping that they did NOT have the car we wanted (an economy-​size). They told us we could either get a van for the same price or an SUV for $ 10 more a day.
I was pretty outraged already that they wouldn’t bump us up for free since we’d already RESERVED the car. Why would we want a cumbersome and less fuel-​efficient VAN? Instead of a discount or something, we could simply get charged more. WOW, GREAT!
So my friend goes back in to tell them we’re just going to go back to the airport to go with another place. The lady calls up another car company, Dollar, and asks if they have any economy-​size cars, but actually laughs — LAUGHS! — when she hears that their 25 and under fee is higher than theirs. She tells him this mockingly, like he’s dumb to go somewhere else. Look lady, you didn’t have our car. We’ll pay more elsewhere to get better service and not have to waste a ton of extra gas money on a huge van.
We chose National instead. SO glad we did. You get to choose your car and everything, and they were quick, with great customer service. More pricey? Fine. MUCH less headache, totally worth it.

As of this writing, I am still trying to get a refund for an LDW I did not approve. I was also charged for gas that I didn’t need, which they refunded at my first call. My LDW refund was approved after a week’s worth of phone calls, but after months of «Gee, that should have already been taken care of» I hasn’t. The other reviews are spot-​on about the passive-​aggressive vibe the half-​witted counter staff gives off. The worst kind of carelessness — active carelessness.

My experience was equally as awful as the other reviews I have read on here about all other Advantage Rent-​A-​Car sites. I had a reservation for $ 171 for 1 week for a compact and they tried to hassel me into getting a midsized with extra BS for over $ 500! Then she kept hasseling me for another credit card and asking me for the amounts on my credit cards! Three cards into it I told her I was done and took the shuttle back to the airport. I got in line and rented at National (green booth) and they charged me a little over $ 200 for the vehicle that I ACTUALLY WANTED in the first place and didn’t try yo tack on extra charges for crap I didn’t need. DON’T RENT from Advantage unless you want to be badgered by someone who is trying to get a big commision check, They were NOT helpful and there customer service was horrible! Go somewhere else please. AWFUL!!!

Car was fine. Prepare for s l o w service and high pressure sales on upgrade, insurance, and gas. Shuttle guys are nice.

get your baggage and drag it to the curb, wait for a bus outside, only to drag your luggage on the bus, to ride a mile plus away only to drag your luggage off the bus into the rental room, then drag your luggage across a open parking lot to your car… in the rain… at night!
fun? what are you nuts!
why go thru this pain when you can get a car in the airport and be on your way instead of wasting the 45 minutes to get a car.
then you got to bring it back to this location and wait for the check out person to resolve the other people’s issues ahead of you because the other debutantes behind the counter are to busy playing grab ass with each other to assist you. the cars are no different than the other servers and they try to push upgrades (and price increase) a little more aggressively, where others give you upgrades for the same price.
using a car rental in the airport is better and quicker, and you should unless you are a poor slob and can’t afford it, but then maybe you shouldn’t be traveling period.

I got a free upgrade because they didn’t have any economy cars but the service was indifferent and perfunctory. Also, the shuttle from the airport to the rental center doesn’t seem to run that often so there was a long wait at the airport. Finally, this is the SEATAC branch of Advantage but you can’t return the car at the airport itself. You have to drive a few miles down the road to the original rental location to return it. I ended up driving through the airport and then back out again to find the right location. It’s worth noting just in case you have to make a mad dash to catch your flight because there will be no dashing involved with this location.