Advanced Car Rental

1 star is way too much for this place. Avoid at all costs. Worst car renting experience I’ve ever had. It was the closest car rental office to the hotel I was staying at. So I made a reservation. When I got there, after they charged my credit card, I was told that there will be an additional $ 350 on hold. Which was an absolute shock considering I am only renting the car for two days. Yet, I said ok fine. Then we go to see the car. She gets me in a car that was completely dead. Wouldn’t even start. Then goes back to the office and gets another key for a different car. The second car was another piece of junk. Bald tires, shakes every time you peddle gas, and to top things off, it had an empty gas tank. Never in my life have I rented a car where the tank is empty and you’re supposed to fill it up yourself. All this while having the daily rate ridiculously high. 39.99 daily rate for a piece of $H!T. Oh and if you are late 20 minutes from the return time, you are charged for a full extra day. Also they do not explain to you everything before they charge you. I found out it’s not unlimited mileage. So many hidden fees. Worst price of crap car rental place you can ever go to. Worst customer service worse cars and worst headache you can give yourself. Avoid this scam place.

I agree with the other writers. Advanced Car Rental is a bait and switch. I received a confirmation of 34.99, but was told since there were no cars available in a particular category I would need to rent at higher rate to get a car. I spoke with Brian Rivas at the 1160 N. Vermont location.
It is important to notice too, the business car name «Advanced Car Rental» and website differs «Advanced Rental Car». I suspect due to shady business.

I had a similar experience to the other reviewer — BEWARE!
It seemed simple and easy, as I was staying at a hostel which advertised a $ 20/​day hire car company who would come pick you up. Looks good on first inspection.
When we rang for the rate it was $ 45 per day but we chose to go ahead anyway as we were pushed for time and wanted to get down to San Diego. We should have asked what kind of car this rate would buy us and what the inclusions were at this point in time. Not my biggest gripe, we could deal with an older model car which had 200,000 miles on the clock, stained upholstery and absolutely no bells and whistles (not even power windows)
When we picked up the car, the gentlemen told us with great gusto that we could drop the car back at LAX with ‘absolutely no problems at all’ and handed us a card with the address on it. We didnt enquire if we could, but we were told 2 or 3 times through the paperwork process. No mention of any additional charges was made. In addition we were pushed to buy insurance, which I wasn’t sure that we needed but for an extra $ 15 a day we decided to be safer than sorry.
Everything was seemingly fine — we dropped the car back at LAX at 11am on the final day of the rental (before the 11:30am time we had to return it by). We were advised by the doorman of the hotel that the Advanced attendant was out and would be for a while. When I asked for the transfer to the airport that we were promised, I was pointed towards a taxi. I asked to wait for the attendant but the doorman was really pushy and said everything was fine and that we could go. Lesson learned — make sure you get a receipt when you return a hire car — I was far too trusting.
I didnt have a phone that worked in the US so couldn’t call them to double check — otherwise I would have, they knew this fact and I think they prayed on it.
I got home and checked my credit card statement to find an extra $ 160 in charges which I was not expecting at all. Upon contacting the company, it took several emails to even get an invoice for the charges, and even then they hadn’t explained what they were for. After a while it was established that there was a drop off fee for the airport location (fine, I could have copped that one as it was my reponsibility to check) but they had also charged me an extra days rental at a higher rate and another days insurance fee, even though the car was dropped off on time. I was charged for an extra 20 miles, but this was legitimate so no problems there (although 100 miles a day isnt a great deal so shop around).
Contacting the company to no avail, they have refused my request to amend these charges as the car had been returned on time.
Looking back on my experience now it certainly seems that my trust was abused by a dishonest company that does not act in good faith. I took their word that returning the car to LAX would be ‘absolutely fine’ and I got stung. If you use them, make sure you get proper documentation for everything.
I recommend argus car hire — new cars, brilliant rates and they include fully comprehensive insurance and NO EXCESS on most rentals — give these guys a miss. You will get charged unfairly exhorbatent prices for third rate vehicles by a dishonest company that obviosuly prays on tourists. Shame.

Absolute SCAM! I wish I could give 0 stars! Made a reservation and was assured the price was increased over that online because they were going to pick us up at LAX. I even called back and was assured that we would have a pickup and to just call when we arrived.
When we arrived, I spoke with a «manager» who said it would be an extra $ 65 to pick us up! Additionally, the original reservation was for an «intermediate» and was told it was only for a compact! On top of all this the cost was going to be an extra $ 80!
A total bait and switch with the low prices but don’t trust anything they say. You’re better off getting a car from a legitimate car rental agency. We’re now stranded in LAX during the holidays while all the actual car rental agencies don’t have availability. Thanks for ruining our holidays!

its a scam, he charged me $ 70 for a day, after quoting $ 37 for the rental. And there has been no response from him ever since. I even dropped the car at the same location. Its a scam. I reached here searching if others had a similar experience and this place is full of negative reviews.

SCAM ALERT
I wish I’d seen the other review before renting here. I stayed at the Hollywood Hotel, where they have a desk for this car rental company. I asked the rental company agent what the rate would be to rent a car and drop it off at LAX. He quoted me $ 34.99, and I agreed. He then charged me $ 47.39, explaining the additional cost was «taxes.» I told him that I was quoted $ 55 as the cost for a taxi, so any more than $ 47 and it wouldn’t be worth my while. He assured me that was the total cost.
He knew I was taking the car to LAX, and even gave me a business card with the LAX drop-​off address circled.
The car I was given was old, and in rough shape. The engine had a loud rattle to it. The car never stalled or anything, but it was definitely not a car that is being well-​maintained.
When my credit card bill came, I saw that I was charged an additional $ 78.50! I called and was told that the extra charge was $ 55 to drop off a car at the airport, plus taxes, plus a fuel surcharge.
I drove the car only 27 miles, and before dropping it off, I added enough gas to bring the fuel gauge back to ⁷⁄₈ full, which is where it was when I got the car.
No one has been able to help me resolve this on the phone. I’m always told the manager is not in at the moment. I was given his email address and wrote to him, but have not received a response.
DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY!

COST MORE THAN DOUBLED BETWEEN BOOKING THE CAR AND PICKING IT UP! They advertise that they rent to 18 years old and up, so I booked a car online for my 19 year old daughter. The reservation was confirmed, a price of 207 dollars for 5 days. She got there to pick it up, and suddenly they want another hundred dollars for the car, PLUS another 150 «deposit». A 207dollar bill more than doubled. A total scam. Avoid this business at all cost!

BEWARE HIDDEN FEES!
stayed at a hollywood hostel that was affiliated with this service. Their rate
was advertised as being 19.99 a day. Hard to believe, but that’s what it said. When i called and inquired, I was told the rate was actually 34.99. I figured that was still cheap so i went along with it, but i should have known then that something was up. I was picked up and driven to a hotel down the road to proceed with the paper work which i thought was a nice service to provide. I inquired if i would be able to drop the car off at lax when i was done with the car, assuming the service had other pickup and dropoff locations. The attendant said yes and gave me a business card telling me where to leave the car making NO indication that there was any problem with that. I then signed a contract that had all of the fees listed in order and I inquired about each one specifically so i was sure that there were no surprises. I drove the car off the lot not giving any second thought to what i would be paying. The car was fine, despite having extremely squeaky brakes, but I never felt unsafe. After 3 days i dropped the car off at another hotel at LAX. The attendant there refused to give me a copy of my contract explaining it would be emailed to me. I begrudgingly agreed to this which was a huge mistake. When i received the email there was an additional $ 55 dollar charge for dropping the car off at LAX. Obviously this was a huge surprise to me and I immediately called the company. I was told it was MY mistake for not asking and that he was very surprised that i wanted to drop the car off at the airport. he did say he would try to have the charges taken care of but as of today the charge still exists on my bank statement. Do yourself a favor and use a requitable company instead of trying to save a few bucks like me. You’ll end up eating it in the long run.