Advantage Rent A Car

Worst costermer service. We stood in line for over 2 hours. We had found online that this company was cheaper, but when we paid they added «service fees» were more than 100 dollars. On top of that they did not have the car we reserved and had to be upgraded (another 80 dollars we weren’t planning on spending because they miss calculated they invintory.) On top of that the company’s policy is so messed up that they force spouses that want to also drive the car to pay 20 dollars extra a day. Most other companies allow spouses to drive for free. THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST CAR RENTAL COMPANIES OUT THERE. THEY LIE ABOUT HOW MUCH A CAR IS TO RENT, DONT GIVE YOU WHAT YOU RESERVED AND MAKE YOU PAY FOR THEIR MISTAKE. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM!!!

I want give zero. I live in Boston without my own car, which means I don’t have automobile insurance. This weekend I booked a car throught Priceline. They refused and cancelled my car only because of its company policy, which local customer must have automobile insurance wiht their own car. It is ridicuious, right?

The rental car itself was fine, but the experience and service was horrible. I returned the car and they told me everything was fine. They then charged my CC $ 70 for gas — $ 9+ a gallon for gas that was in the tank. I tried and tried to get in touch with them over the phone but every time was put on hold for more than half an hour. I left voicemails and emails, but have heard nothing back. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM.

The worst ever experience. I was late and rushing in renting a car and driving away. The car had obvious and terrible scratches on a driver’s side door. The staff told me that she already checked and marked in the rental agreement and I was good to go. What a sham. I know I can blame only myself, but I was cheated. As expected, there was no marking of those scratches in the rental agreement, and I had to pay for it $ 800! I will never use it again even if they give a free rental car. I am convinced that their business model is not to make money from rental. It is by fooling and scaring renters. Their rate may look cheap. But, one will end up paying a lot more!

Stay away!
Counter people were pleasant but:
1) Demanded proof of insurance from me before renting. When I mentioned I hadn’t been told that, they said «it’s on our website.»
2) When I declined insurance, they said, if you have an accident, there’s loss of income charge. When I then said «Huh», they said that means you keep paying for renting it while it’s in the shop being fixed.
Stay away!

I would give them zero stars if possible.
Rented a car here online, but I goofed the day (totally my mistake) and accidentally rented the car a day earlier than i needed to. When I showed up, they told me not only was my old rate for 3 days no longer available (even though I needed the car for LESS time), the new rate was $ 655 instead of the previous $ 300. For renting a car for a day less.
Needless to say I informed them I wouldn’t pay more than a local quote I could instantly pull up from their competitors that were 50 feet away. This got me a more reasonable quote around $ 280. They charged my car $ 200 extra ($ 480) stating they needed a deposit, which I haven’t had to do in the past.
Once I performed the vehicle inspection I found a shitload of scratches on the side of the vehicle, as well as the rear that were undocumented on their inspection forms. This reeks of them aiming to pin damage on customers who don’t fully inspect the cars on their own, in depth.
Also upon return, they were completely clueless, and chatting among themselves while I pulled in. I’m getting ready to leave for a flight, waiting for them and nothing. They don’t even bother looking over at me waving.
I had to shout them down to get them to come over, and when I went to give the person my slip, she simply walked past me ignoring what I said as well as my actions.
Get a clue.
I’ll never rent a car here, ever again.

Never ever rent a car from this place!!! They tried to charge us almost 400 dollars for renting a car for 24 hours!!! I am so mad, their service was terrible and after asking how long they were going to take to refund our money they said it was going to be up to 21 days!
Please please dont rent from this company!

I would give 0 stars if I could.
I reserved a 7 passenger mini van from Advantage Rent A Car at Boston’s Logan Airport. When I arrived, they said that there were no cars available. The agent handed me a card that said «We Apologize» and sent me away to hunt for another company that might have a vehicle available. It was midnight and I was traveling alone with three kids. As I was waiting in line at another rental company, Advantage turned away several other clients that had made a reservation for vehicles – some of the clients had even pre-​payed for they vehicle.

I would give 0 star if I could.
I rented a car online with Advantage, read about the bad reviews while I was looking for an address of the car rental place. I thought it’ll be fine– it is not summer yet, I don’t live within 50 miles of airport, and I reserved well in advance. It turns out I am wrong. They came up with another policy not lending me the car. They will need not just any flight iternary, but one from hours ago. I had to book from other car rentals nearby with double of what I paid for with Advantage.
Do yourself a favor, if you have made reservation, pick some other car rentals. You don’t want to run into emergency situations.

I’ll admit the place looked a little shady when we first pulled up because it’s a tiny lot off-​campus in kind of a run down area.
That said, the car was new and in excellent condition (although a bit dirty from winter weather) with a full tank of gas. For our 5-​day trip they easily under priced the competition online for a mid-​sized car.
Staff was courteous and efficient upon arrival and departure.
They will take a debit card with an extra $ 200 hold. I’ll let you know if I have any trouble seeing that come back, otherwise silence is satisfaction.

tl;dr: I would have given them 4 stars due to reliability and cheapest rates around, but my most recent experience wins first place for worst car rental experience I’ve ever had. Something’s amiss with the Boston rental office.
The Full Review:
I rented from Advantage on several different occasions since they’re typically the best price in town when booking online. The cars are usually not luxurious, but have been reliable, and a late night arrival would often get me an upgrade. As other reviewers mentioned, the [former] location is actually a good ways from the airport, and although they usually [did] have two shuttles running to and from the airport, the wait time for a shuttle is [used to be] much longer than for Avis, National, Alamo, Thrifty, or Enterprise shuttles.
Here’s the notes on how things unfolded:
Day 1 (Pickup):
— Waited for 35 minutes for the shuttle to arrive, and upon arrival at rental office, indicated that I was a repeat renter, and asked why the shuttle was so late. The manager was kind enough to reduce my rental rate by a bit. Drove away in a Nissan Altima.
Day 2:
— Called the Boston rental office, and indicated the Nissan’s brakes were squealing (worn brake pads), and that I’d like to exchange. They only had one full-​size rental car available on lot, a Chevy Malibu.
— Started to drive in the Malibu up to NH. The car was really gross (sticky patches everywhere on the door and steering wheel), smelled badly of smoke, and wheels were unbalanced. Wheel vibration was so bad at highway speeds, I could barely hear the radio.
— Pretty upset, called the Manchester, NH office since it was closer to my location, and was persistent in asking for a car that worked. Manchester office had no cars available, but did a great job of reaching out to Boston office, and provided the regional manager’s contact info.
— Called the Boston office, reached Tatiana, and she indicated that they would have a manager contact me.
— Drove back to Boston. Called the Boston office several times up until 11 PM, indicating each time that no manager had contacted me. Tatiana was very apologetic, and indicated that she had emailed everyone that could help resolve the situation. She let me know about the managers that would be in the next morning, and that I should call first thing in the AM.
Day 3:
— Called at 7:30 AM, and the manager on site asked me to go to the office to get a better rental. Upon arrival, she was very apologetic and indicated that neither car should have been rented to me. She took an additional amount off my rental, and gave me the newest car on the lot, a Chevy Captiva SUV.
Day 4 — Day 7:
— Loved driving the Captiva, and was basically happy with the rental experience, in spite of previous headaches.
Day 8: Car Return
— Arrived at the rental office at 6:30 AM; plenty of time to make my 8 AM flight.
— All gates around the office were locked, with a big sign on the gate indicating, «We have moved!» The sign showed the address of the Advantage garage, as well as their new rental location being at the Logan Airport Car Rental Center, but the wording seemed to indicate two different locations for the garage and rental office. A number was provided on the sign, 617.567.4140, indicating to call with questions.
— Tried calling several times to figure out where to go, but no one answered.
— Really upset about potentially missing my flight, I started driving toward the airport rental center, trying to think of where I could leave the car in case I couldn’t find the new drop-​off location.
— After getting to the Logan Airport Car Rental Center, I started looking for a place to leave the car, and finally found a sign with the Advantage logo.
— I parked the car at thew new drop-​off location, and angrily asked the attendants why no one had picked up the phone. I also indicated that no one told me there would be a new office/​drop-​off location, and that I was in danger of missing my flight. They apologized, saying that none of their systems were yet connected (phone, Internet, etc.). They kept telling me to wait while they worked to get a wireless handheld car check-​in system working.
— I finally lost it, telling them this is the worst rental experience I’ve ever had. I gave them the keys and my contract, and told them to figure out how to return the car, and that I wouldn’t wait any longer. In spite of my temper, one of the attendants was kind enough to direct me to the Logan shuttle that would get me to my terminal.
— Made my 8 AM flight, barely.
I guess that sums up everything. The Boston office seems to have real problems with management and organization, and the stress induced by multiple mess-​ups on their part — especially the change of the drop-​off location without informing current renters — equates to a well-​deserved 1-​star rating.

STOP DO NOT RENT FROM THIS Company They provide the worst customer service and rental experience I have ever endured. They were more expensive than Alamo, tried to give me less of a car and the hours that they are open didn’t work with my flight schedule. It cost me 3 hours of my vacation just to figure out that they suck!

This rental store is the WORST. Not only employees are liars but they are also thieves under drugs, threatening your life.
This store although named Boston Airport is located about 3 or 4 miles from it, which is an additional cost of $ 20 for a cab.
The employees are claiming there is a shuttle, but they don’t answer the phone, they also ask for a credit check and if you are an immigrant, you can be sure that the transaction is going to be declined (I went to Hertz 5 min after and magically, it was authorized).
Finally, if you complain inside the store, they will tell you that they will punch your face… and I’m not lying!

Advantage is a tiny rental care place 10 – 15 minutes away from Logan Airport.
Don’t use this place if you want a fancy experience. Don’t use it if you’re in a huge rush, because they don’t have a fleet of shuttles running constantly to and from the terminals.
If you don’t care about frills and you have a little time, and you’re interested in saving a little money, then go ahead and use them.

I always cringe a bit when I rent with Advantage. The price is invariably great, but it involves a lot of time at the counter saying «no» and triple-​checking to make sure they didn’t charge me extra. (Hint: don’t let the customer see the whiteboard that tells employees they get a $ 100 gift card for upselling me things!) however, this specific Advantage gets marks from me for the return experience. I got there 1.5 hrs before my flight. They held the shuttle for me, checked my rental and determined that I was eligible for a $ 20 REFUND, and drove like heck to get me to my gate in plenty of time. That’s actual customer service. I’ll come back.

If it weren’t for Joselene — the clerk at the rental desk — I would not likely rent here again. The place has a general feeling of unprofessionalism and inefficiency… with employees wearing sloppy uniforms, acting «overly casual» with each other and just being slow about their business. One of the employees, apparently a newer guy, had nothing better to do than walk around flirting with his female associates while they stayed busy.
The location is a good 10 minutes from BOS, and the shuttle is not at all reliable in terms of timeliness. The lot is small and crowded and not all that clean.
In general, everyone was polite and generally courteous; they just need better training on etiquette and professionalism. Like I said before, Joselene was the one bright spot… sweeping the floor (i.e. cleaning) during her down time, engaging me in conversation while I waited, and displaying a positive attitude the whole time. Plus she was easy on the eyes…
Kudos to her; shame on the fellas!

Dear Advantage,
Thanks for overcharging me $ 250 for car keys that I have not lost. Your claim that I drove for 35 miles, dropped the car keys in a sewer and returned the car 9 minutes after I rented it totally makes sense! I wish that you also included a car chase involving the state police in the story to make it more realistic.
UPDATE: Thanks for accepting that it was an honest mistake on your end although the person on the phone forgot to apologize. But please don’t claim that I can get my $ 250 back in 3 weeks if you are not going to do it in 6 weeks.
UPDATE: After 3 months, I learn that the company decides not to make an adjustment. As an international, renting from Advantage Rent a Car was an invaluable experience as I am now learning how to file a small claim in Mass. court system.

I wish I could give 0 stars.
AVOID AT ALL COST!!!
I rent a car more than ten times a year at Boston AIrport rental car companies.
I picked this one because they were $ 100+ cheaper on priceline.
However little did I know that they will rake up the cost at the end,
charging you for fees you’ve never ever heard of before. I was quoted $ 150, and ended up paying $ 359.
The shuttle bus takes a while to get to you from the terminals and you will see
budget, enterprise shuttle pass by multiple times till you spot advantage.
Not only that, the Navigation system (which I paid for!!!) could’t find any of the
location of my appointments. The car made weird noises, called roadside assistance but since they dont have many locations, I couldnt take my car in.
No apologies, No discounts.

Bait and switch! Avoid this place at all costs. They lie and steal. They double charged us and acted like it was nothing. Yup! That’s 800 dollars for the week. We are infuriated and wish we did it differently. They need to shut it down for good. They have no idea what they are doing. I want minus stars on here. We have never been treated so badly. The last thing you want to have to do is sue someone over something so trivial but you can’t just let people outright steal from you. Do not buy gas from them. I loathe this place. It was hell dealing with this company.
the account they stole money out of was an account we use for bills so we had over 100 dollars in overdraft fees and our electric was shut off when we got home from vacation and the gym was calling me constantly.
this was so much stress it was unreal.
My woman was on the phone back and forth with them from 8 in the morning till 6 at night and then the next day. Hertz suck and so does this branch.
I think they regulate their Unilocal reviews but fer sure they got an F with the better business bureau. thats a fact.
You cant say I didnt warn you. they ruined our vacation.

We saved about $ 100 by renting through Advantage. Advantage is about an equal distance from the airport as any other rental car place, so there was no tradeoff between price and convience. The car we got was clean and ready to go, we didn’t have to wait for anything. The employees were very friendly and polite.
The only downside was the shuttle service from the airport. You need to call them to pick you up and once you do, it takes around 15 minutes to get there even though they said it would take 5 – 10. We had no problem waiting though because the rate was so much better!
If I ever need a rental car in Boston again, I’ll definitely return to Advantage.