U-Save Car & Truck Rental

Be verrrry careful as this place is a scam and they are PROFOUNDLY DISHONEST! I have even filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau! 0 stars is not an option otherwise that is what I would give them! BEWARE WHEN YOU RETURN YOUR CAR, MORE SO IF YOU DROP IT OFF AFTER HOURS! One of their employees crashed the car I rented and I got a call from them the next day after I dropped it off and they blamed ME for the damages when I know I dropped off the car IN IMPECCABLE conditions! With them U don’t SAVE! There are hidden fees and their dishonesty should SCARE YOU! Unless you want to end up in small claims court DO NOT RENT ANYTHING HERE! I agree with the person that said they should be called U SUCK AUTO TRUCK RENTAL instead!!! Unilocalers beware of this business, the owner and the employees!

RAGE!!! (Spoiler alert: U-​Save Somerville location is out of business!!!)
I have used U-​Save many many times. I always say «U-​Save for a reason». But i feel like it was worth the problems for the price.
Until this weekend, that is. I had booked a car to get me to my cousin’s wedding in Salem, MA. Booked the car 2 weeks in advance using the online reservation tool. Two days before the wedding, I received a confirmation for the reservation. I got myself over to Inman, sauntered up Prospect, and what did I find? NOTHING! No cars, vans, nothing. Just a note on the door saying «U-​Save Somerville location is out of business, Call [this number] for rental information.»
Irate, I called the number. And they hung up on me. HOLY SHIT! I now had ½ hour to find an available rental in the city, get myself to the pick-​up spot, and get back to my house to prep for the wedding. Saying that now, I can’t believe I did it, but I did. Avis to the rescue! That and excellent MBTA bus luck.
So, obviously DON’T use U-​Save Somerville because they aren’t there. But also, don’t use any U-​Save location. So unreliable.

I made a reservation with this company at their Somerville location… only to get an email the day before I was to leave town that their Somerville location was closed and I could pick up my car in Alston. Believe it or not, this is really inconvenient, especially since it was the day before. I called the office and spoke to a man who was really flippant, told me that the Somerville location had to close immediately due to the building being deemed unsafe for people to work in. Ok, so this isn’t necessarily the U-Save’s fault. However the fact that this guy was so disinterested, no apologies for the inconvenience, no nothing. I was able to cancel without a fee (gee thanks dude for offering that, considering it wasn’t my fault you had to move buildings either) and got a car from Enterprise in Central Square. And believe it or not, it was almost $ 60 cheaper to go with them. Sure glad I did! I’ll never use U-​Save again.

I had no issues with getting the vehicle I needed from this location-​unlike the first time I rented from them. However, the problem I have comes from their lack of customer service. I spoke to two different representatives today.
Here’s my issue:
I visited NYC with this weekend and went through the toll on the Henry Hudson Bridge twice. As of Nov 10^th this bridge became a cashless toll. If you have EZ Pass you are fine, but cash customers will have a bill sent to them. So with a rental it will go to the company and they will charge me an additional $ 50 for each time I went through the toll and didn’t pay because of the work it requires on their end to rectify the situation. I asked if they could give me the bill and I will pay it directly? I pointed out that it wasn’t my fault, but apparently they lump anyone that says it wasn’t my fault into one category-​liars.
The terms and conditions clearly state «You will also pay us, the appropriate government authorities, or a third party collection firm of our choosing for all parking, traffic and toll violations, citations, fines, penalties, forfeitures, court costs, towing and storage charges and other expenses involving the Vehicle assessed against us or the Vehicle that you failed to pay to the charging entities.» There are many reasons why my issue doesn’t fit this description, but the main one is that I didn’t violate any tolls-​I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I would understand if I just blew through a toll or accidentally went through an EZPass lane, but I had no choice but to go through because it is a cashless toll.
Their customer service is ridiculous and patronizing-​Kim and Pat Walsh should really have a training in what customer service is.

I had a good experience at U-​Save.
I had just moved across the country and my car hadn’t arrived yet. I needed a car to get to a job interview. I was able to book an economy car for $ 41 for 24 hrs, on about a half day notice. Pretty great. When I showed up they didn’t have an economy car but gave me a Toyota Corolla for the same price. Double great. They did a thorough walk-​around with me both before and after the rental, and were nice about it. The car was genuinely clean on the inside, and the air conditioning worked great.
No hassle to return the car, and everyone was very pleasant. If you need a cheap compact car in a hurry, I’d recommend U-​Save.

The only reason why this place is getting a 1 star is because 0 stars is not an option. This place just feeds you lies and what not to make you pay more money!!! The managers at this place need to go back to management school. I got charged $ 100 dollars for a cleaning fee when I left the van I rented in spotless condition. I even washed all the windows vacuumed all the seats and floors and still get charged? $ 100??? that’s outrageous. I was also told I could drop the vehicle off after hours and not be charged just to come and find out that I was charged extra and double what the daily rental rate was!!! this place is terrible. Do me a favor and Do not even bother stepping foot in this place!

I have rented large trucks from this site several times. I found the people helpful, the check in and out easy, and the vehicles in good shape.

VERY disappointed with the service at this location.
I booked a mid sized SUV online an hour before I needed the car. I didn’t call to check availability before I went there. They didn’t have one at that location and the sales associate (a college aged man) was quite rude and patronizing. He lectured me about how I should have read the terms and conditions which states that I should have called before making the reservation.
He gave me two options:
Either pay $ 15 extra for a larger SUV which he said usually costs $ 40 more. (He lied. I checked later and it was only $ 15 more). He also said he would limit me to 100 miles and I would have to return the car in about 12 hours and still have to pay for the entire day.
The other option was that he could have someone drive me to another location where they had the SUV I needed.
When I said I wanted option 2, he started making excuses how it was very close to closing time. There was still over an hour before closing. He also told me about the horrid Boston traffic and option 2 wasn’t really an option.
I was ready to walk out at this point but since I am not from town and needed the car within 2 hours. I went ahead and took it at the outrageous price. It would have been cheaper to get multiple taxis.
I rented from here a couple more times and dealt with Bruce this time. He seemed much better and I called ahead so I knew what car I would be getting.
Their website says that they offer a pick up and drop off but I was always given an excuse that they didn’t have anyone around to make the pick up/​drop off.
This place is the cheapest around but the service is just bad.
They have a mix of new and old cars.

I would have given this place 5 stars up until our most recent (and last) visit. We had been using U-​Save for several months and everything was great — good cars, cheap prices, employees always friendly and helpful.
The last trip was uneventful. When we picked up the car, we did all the paperwork and did the car walkaround with the U-​Save employee to check for existing scratches and scrapes — we found none. We also did the walkaround with the U-​Save employee when we returned the car, and again the car looked to be in good shape. The U-​save rep filled out the card that indicated the car was returned with no damages, paid, and left.
About an hour and a half later, my fiancée received a call from U-​Save. The rep was telling her there was a long scratch along the passenger side of the car. Neither the rep nor I had found a scratch when we did the final walkaround. I got on the phone with the rep, and the conversation went like this:
Me: «Hello, I hear there’s an issue with the car having a scr-​«
Rep: «Yeah we found a long scratch on the car after we took it through the car wash and we know you did it.»
Me: «Sorry, you and I did the walkaround when we dropped the car off and you signed off on the car being in good condition.»
Rep: «Look Snake E., you and I both know that you returned the car with a scratch on it. Don’t try to get out of it, I know what you’re trying to do here and you have to pay for the damage to the car.»
Me: (dumbfounded) «Unfortunately that’s not the case. Either the car was returned with no scratch and you damaged it while bringing it into the car was after we left, or there was a scratch that was neither visible to you or I until the car was cleaned. Either way we have signed paperwork indicating that the car was returned in good condition with no damage.»
Rep (speaking loudly and very angry): «Come on man, you can say you didn’t do it but I know you did it, and you’re going to pay! We’re going after you for the full amount and we’ll get our money for you, you’re a dishonest person that tried to pass off the damage of the car and we know it’s your fault!»
We went back and forth like this… for a while. I made my point that the car was left sitting in an unsecured lot with no camera surveillance, open to the street, for over an hour before the damage was observed. Anything could have happened during that time, and the only proof of the condition at any point prior to the discovery of the damage was the signed paperwork indicating that the car was in good condition when it was returned. Somehow this line of reasoning worked, as the rep got off the phone — after hurling a final insult my way.
I have a pretty good feeling the rep scraped the car when he moved it or brought it in for a wash. I don’t have a problem with a dispute of this nature — it happens, and with proper documentation these things can usually be resolved — but the completely unprofessional manner in which this was handled (insults, threats, name calling) was astounding.
Yeah, U-​Save is great in terms of price and convenience. However, this interaction changed everything. Do yourself a favor and go with a big rental shop that is above this level of behavior.

I’ve noticed a pattern in the reviews of U-​Save: passenger van renters are unhappy, but car renters are satisfied. I am in the latter camp.
I booked my vehicle online a few days before Thanksgiving. They called me the day before to confirm and were very polite. The prices were excellent compared to Enterprise. Better still, they have a modern fleet. My economy car was a Hyundai Accent with XM radio!
The next time I rent a car for New England travel, I won’t bother looking anywhere else. U-​Save has my business.

I reserved a 15-​person van by phone, and called the day before to confirm. I arrived to pick up the van, and they didn’t have it.
Three more groups of customers arrived after me, all of whom had reservations for 15 or 12 passenger vans, and this place did not have the vans.
After waiting 1.5 hours, hoping one would turn up I (along with most everyone who came in after me) had to settle for a minivan which seated 7. I then had to figure out how I was going to get 15 people to where we were going. My dad owns a minivan… if i wanted a minivan, I certainly would not have rented one. But I was in a tight spot and a bit desperate.
Terrible experience. Reading these reviews, I don’t understand how these folks are still in business. To top it off, I didn’t even get a great discount on the minivan!

We rented an SUV to drive to Florida. The initial reservation was made online and was limited to driving in New England for about $ 575. I called and asked to extend the reservation to Florida and the manager said that it would be $ 675. I said that it was okay and showed up to pick up the vehicle.
What the manager did not say was that it was $ 675 in addition to the reservation. This was a detail that was conveniently not mentioned until I needed the car on December 23^rd. At that point we were stuck since no other car rental place had any cars available.
The SUV was nice and there were no problems with it. For $ 675 USave guaranteed that they will never make a lifelong customer out of me.

Had a great experience with U Save here. Called early in the day to check availability for a mid-​size car when all other major rental companies were out of cars. We were able to get a Toyota Corolla in great shape on short notice. Staff was helpful, price was great, would definitely recommend renting from them!

L.W., we had the same experience… no van even with a reservation… they were not aplogetic that day either. This was a couple of years ago so I guess the place is still chaos… I would hate to work there or be a customer there. gotta be stressful and annoying to work at a place where customers are always upset and spouting complaints at you that you have little/​no power to change if the manager is allowing this to continue…

I wanted to write a more recent review, maybe there is a new manager since that dark day in 2007 when LW needed 2 vans…
I had a good experience here on a sunny fall Saturday when many Bostonians were heading out of town to pick apples, etc. There was a short line when we arrived with 3 helpful employees working quickly to get everyone on their way. I had reserved an economy car but decided we needed something larger. The manager juggled things around to accommodate my request and charged me a very modest fee to upgrade. All this and we got to keep the car until the next morning, rather than hustle to get it back by 4:30 p.m.
I had a good experience, and would go back.

U-​Save? More like U-​Suck…
We needed 2 vans for this past weekend, and three months ago, we reserved them with U-​Save. Someone from my group called to confirm and change the pick up time (which varied by 4 hours on the same day).
Were there vans there when I showed up? Nope. Was the manager the least bit apologetic about it? Absolutely not. He gave them away earlier in the day to «someone who was desperate for vans.» We were desperate for vans– we’d reserved them 3 months ago!
We were able to work things out and take large SUVs instead of the vans, but I will not be patronizing this establishment again because 1) it did not keep its word and 2) the manager was a total jerk and refused to accept responsibility for giving away our reservation.