spaarne

I just priced car rentals at LAX for a Friday night to a Tuesday night in December. Advantage Rent a Car rates are about one half of the others. A full sized Chevy is $14 a day. It is hard to believe. Does anyone have any experience with this company? Good or bad?

Barblab

I noticed that too and just think they are interested in not having a lot full of unrented cars like the others. I have rented from just about every company at LAX and they are all the same. You have to take a shuttle to reach any of them, and have never noticed one being better than the other. We have a second home there and rent for several months each year, and always go with whoever has the cheapest rate. If you go for a long time then it pays to rent from a site not at the airport but that only works if the savings is more than the cost of the cab rides. Enjoy L.A.

jlaughs

If I were you, I would do a search for reviews about Advantage Rent a Car. There are bad reviews after bad reviews with several warnings.

I couldn't swear to it, but I think this company had a different name before. I think I rented from them under their previous name and was the ONLY bad car rental experience I've ever had. Luckily, I was renting from them as a mystery shopper, so renting a dirty car with an inoperable front passenger seat belt (wearing seatbelts is required by law) didn't ruin any vacation plans. And, since I wasn't paying for the rental out of my own pocket, I didn't care how many fees they added on. It just all went into my report. But, those are the kinds of things I'd definitely want to avoid if I were actually renting a car for a trip.

Good luck!

Jean

I can't comment on Advantage at LAX, but we rented from Advantage at Phoenix last weekend. We waited in line for more than an hour. Granted, it was Nascar weekend, but everyone in line had a reservation, so Advantage certainly knew how many customers to expect at what time, and only three people were working the counter. Only Fox had a longer line. The car itself wasn't particularly clean, inside or out, but everything worked. We won't rent from Advantage again.

spaarne

Thanks for the feedback. I checked the reviews. It looks like a nearly unanimous "Don't go there!" I won't.

easytraveler

Good decision, spaarne!

I had a really bad experience with Advantage. Got a car SIX hours later (it appears this is normal with them, having to wait for a car). But SIX hours for a one day rental left me completely unable to do what I needed to do for that day.

Furthermore, when I finally got a truck (not what I asked for) there was a large crack on the windshield that could not be seen from the driver's side. Shortly after taking the car out of the lot and only by chance because of the way the light was shining into the truck, I discovered the crack and immediately called them to inform them that there was a crack, that I did not want to be responsible for it, and that I was bringing the truck back. The person answering the phone assured me that, since they had not conducted the normal car inspection upon checkout, that I would not be responsible for the crack and to keep the car until the end of the rental. Unfortunately, when I got the truck back to them late that night, it was a different person and he wanted to charge me for the crack!

Never again!