Advantage Rent-A-Car

I guess you get what you pay for. They did try to sell me lots of extras at the counter such as a full tank of gas for $ 48 and when I returned the car I didn’t need to refuel it. In total, I paid $ 66 for an economy car for 3 days (not sure how many miles but drove from Oakland and across golden gate, to San Jose, to Santa Cruz and back to airport with a few short trips from hotel to mall and restaurants), I paid $ 30 for gas and $ 11/​day collision but wishing I hadn’t purchased that. The one down-​side was you have to take two shuttles from the airport to get to and from this facility (yes two). You take a «Car Rental» shuttle from the airport. Once you reach the Car Rental facility, you take an additional «Advantage» shuttle to the Advantage car rental facility. Plan for an extra 45 mins for arrivals/​departures to accommodate this. inconvenience. Customer service was friendly.

Update: The manager of the location was very nice, and apologized for the poor experience we had on our trip. I thought it only fair to note that Advantage does care about it’s customers, and obviously doesn’t want the experience we had to be the typical one!

I went to this car rental place on a saturday to pick a car. I reserved it online and I thought I was getting a good deal per day. when I got there there was no cars available and wasnt able to get a another car for 2 hours.
I ultimately didnt get to my very important meeting on time…
Service was horrible as well
I will never rent from advantage again.

Well hello hello, jerks at Advantage! I am back! I see that my original review has been deleted. Well no problem, please allow me to just post this again.
My friends: avoid this crappy operation like the plague. At the Oakland Airport location, they are not even at the main rental car location. So not only do you have to take the shuttle from the airport to the main rental car area, then you have to haul your bags onto yet ANOTHER shuttle to take you to the Advantage location, which is quite a bit away. Who has time for all that, particularly if you are on a business trip? It’s a hassle and totally not worth it.
Perhaps more important, the cars here simply SUCK. My car smelled awful, which I can only describe as perhaps a combination of rank ass and cigs. And on the first morning I had the car, all of the climate control went out on the vehicle. And this was in early February, and I was staying in the Pleasanton area, where it gets COLD. Did Advantage offer to come and correct the problem by delivering a new car? No, no… they told me I had to drive all the way back to the Oakland Airport to exchange the car, and this was not even my fault. And no discount provided either to compensate me for this fiasco.
What a crappy operation. You would have to be a fool to use this company. I cannot even believe that Southwest Airlines lists them as a rental car provider on their website. I think I am going to write Southwest Airlines now and urge them to rethink associating with this outfit.

After having a nightmare of a day, I was pretty confident that the rental process I was about to begin was going to be a disaster, too. First of all, I was over four hours late getting to Advantage. Once there, I then realized I left my debit card at home so had to leave to go get. Upon arriving home, I discovered my bank account had been compromised due to fraudulent activity so my funds had dwindled immensely. At this point, I was ready to give up on renting a car but spending a few (much needed) vacation days away was too important not to try.
Six hours after my appointment time, I return back to Advantage broke and desperate. Expecting the worst, I was more than appreciative of the employees, especially Baba, for being so understanding of my situation. Baba patiently waited while I spoke with the bank about the recent fraudulent activity and my lack of funds. He then figured out a way to charge my card for the deposit and one day of the rental. He would then charge my card daily for the remainder of my week long rental. Doing this would spread the fees out over 7 days giving me a chance to leave with a car and the bank some time to reimburse the fraudulent deductions! Baba then upgraded my sedan to an SUV for just a few more dollars a day. I was stoked!
I left Advantage smiling and humbled by Baba’s kind, patient, and professional attitude. I have rented from many different rental car company’s (especially within the SF Bay Area) and have never had such a positive experience. Baba is a good man and a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend renting from the Oakland Airport Advantage. Thank you for all of your hard work that day, Baba. I’m forever grateful.

It is not often that you experience the sort of customer service that was encountered at this Advantage rental car location. From the moment we walked in, until the moment we left, we were treated with charming hospitality. This was all made possible by Terry. It was obvious that he wanted to make sure that we had the best possible experience and would be taken care of through and through. Because of his actions and care, we will be using advantage as our primary car rental service from here on out. Thank you Terry for making our day. I would recommend this location to anyone renting a car at the Oakland Airport location.

Advantage used to be my go to for cheap car rentals. Not anymore will never go again. Booked an SUV for a weekend since we were going to the mountains. Made a reservation 3 weeks in advance. Show up and Guillermo who is the manager told us he was all out of SUVs and only had a crappy economy car to give us if we wait an hour. I told him this in unacceptable and he told me that I had no right to speak to him that way. I walked out and found a better deal at dollar rent a car. STAY AWAY FROM
THIS COMPANY. THEY ARE NOTHING BUT A SCAM

Just read the reviews below, it’s evidence enough this place is a complete joke. Not only is it off site and requires 2 airport shuttles, they will charge you for a more costly vehicle if you are more than 90 minutes late for a «reservation». Stick to the real rental companies at the main hub, it’s worth the extra buck or two. TRUST ME.

We waited in line for 20 minutes in a toxic trailer, full of mold and dust. The owner should be ashamed of the working conditions. The poor employees! We caught the next shuttle back to Dollar and paid a little more for the car and were much happier. Except for the chest cold I came down with the next day!

I understand that some people might be frustrated because of the shuttle difficulty, but for my personal experience, I was extremely pleased with the San Leandro office.
For the pick and drop off, I was helped by two different person (respectively Baba and Rose), and they were both courteous, friendly, and customer focused. They answered all my questions, and helped finding the best options.
I will definitely go there again.

The regular airport shuttle does not take you to Advantage. You have to take a second shuttle to the rental site. The office is a depressing, musty, moldy trailer in the rundown warehouse district. The staff looked depressed.
The cars were, to be fair, cheap and we had no mechanical problems with the vehicles.
Why are people giving this place 5 stars because they are amused by the shuttle driver? It’s distorted reviews like that which throw off the entire Unilocal rating system.

This was THE WORST car rental experience I have ever had in my life. That includes the time I found a loaded 22 calibur gun under my seat in an Enterprise car rental in Florida.
First of all, this is an OFF OFF OFF lot car rental. We took the shuttle bus from Oakland Airport to the car rental location only to find out that we had to wait for yet another shuttle to get to Advantage. We had to wait another 40 minutes for that shuttle to show up after calling them twice (as well as other customers calling and waiting too)
Arrive at the location (finally!) and they take us to a Chevy Malibu which was DIRTY! Bugs all over the front of the car, dirt all over and dirty inside. I pointed it out and the woman didn’t care. Didn’t offer us another car or to have the car washed. (and she was fully aware that we waited 40 minutes plus just to get there)
Upon returning the car I expressed our disappointment and they simply did not care at all.
Do yourself a favor, pay 20 bucks more for a Hertz or Thrifty. This place isn’t worth it.

LEFT ME STRANDED AT OAKLAND BEFORE MIDNIGHT. DID NOT EVEN WANT TO ANSWER THE PHONE DURING THEIR NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS AFTER SPEAKING TO THEM TWICE IN THE TWO HOURS PRIOR TO ARRIVAL.
Travelling to the Oakland area from the East Coast, I made a reservation on line for Advantage rent a car. Upon arriving at the airport in San Francisco, I contacted Advantage on the telphone twice to let them know that I was in route to their location and would be there soon (and that I was en-​route from SFO, not Oakland). They said the shuttle would be waititn for me both times. Once I arrived at the Oakland Airport, I took the Shuttle as instructed to the car rental place.
They do not have any space in the car rental area of the Oakland airport so you have to take a shuttle from the Oakland airport to the car rental area and then another shuttle from the car rental area to Advantage’s location.
Upon arriving to the car rental location, the shuttle was not there waiting for me as I had been told. Moreover, when I called, they said that they closed at 11:00 sharp (this was at around 10:35 p.m.). Upon arriving at the car rental place at about 10:45, I called again only this time, they did not pick up the telephone. I contacted the 800 number and was able to speak to someone who told me that they were also unable to reach the local branch and could not help me. They suggested I took a cab (I was going to San Ramon some 30 miles away). I asked for a supervisor and no supervisor was made available. I was told one would call me the following day (never happened).
Long story short, after I made the reservation, received a confirmation email, secured it with my American Express and arrived prior to their normal closing time, they left me stranded at the Oakland International Airport.

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
Don’t be like us. Do NOT average the high scores and low scores on Unilocal! The lowest possible Unilocal score is still way too high for this half-​baked establishment, and you are better off sticking with a reputable car rental company.
1. We have rented vehicles from many companies and thus we were surprised when employee Tia told us about a «win-​win» arrangement. She said that by choosing the prepaid gas option it didn’t matter how much was in the tank when we returned, that they would pro-​rate and refund us the difference. My boyfriend and I both heard this offer, questioned it, and were assured of its accuracy. However, upon returning the car, the staff on duty told us this was not the case. Tia either lied or was poorly trained or both. Moreover, the manager on duty refused to do anything to rectify the situation. Equally worthless and ignorant of the concept of customer service was manager Guillermo, whom I was told to call the next day.
2. At least at the Oakland airport there are 2 shuttles required to get to the car lot. First you have to catch a shuttle from the airport to the main car rental depot, and then catch ANOTHER shuttle to the Advantage lot. Of course, once at the main car rental depot you must first use an outside phone to call the Advantage shuttle, but the phone doesn’t work properly, so we had to find the local number and then call on our cell phone. If you are trying to get anywhere on time, or are running late, then this is unacceptable. The whole arrangement is a joke, since the cars are not that much cheaper than Dollar, Avis, etc.
3. They will not let you pay up front (meaning a deposit to cover the cost plus the deposit) with a debit card unless they run a credit check! REALLY??? Not that our credit is bad, but that’s not the point. Are they going to explain to Experian, TransUnion and EquiFax that we weren’t buying the friggin’ car? Will they tell the next car dealer where we DO try to buy a car why our credit score took another ding?
4. The car was a fairly new Chevrolet Cruze but it had a broken door over the gas filler cap, and an annoying «Oil Change» alert message that kept popping up on the display, necessitating a constant re-​setting of the display.
We picked this provider simply because it was suggested by the website of the airline we used, but this was the first and last time. Again, consider yourself warned. The old saying «you get what you pay for» could apply here, but since we didn’t even get our money’s worth, a better saying would be Advantage Car Rental SUCKS!!!

Hey. It’s «tryin’ harder» because it knows it’s not number 1.
Great staff doing their best — and they were generous in helping when the designated car wasn’t there. Be prepared to wait — sometimes.

STAY AWAY FROM ADVANTAGE — they really suck. This company is UNprofessional or by the way they treat you, they must Hate Customers.
Don’t be deceived by the Hertz sign out front — they are not part of HERTZ because these people are shady, Hertz wouldn’t want to be associated with this place.
The first time I walked in here the girl and guy working in the evening shift 12÷15÷12 were cursing and talking about their drama in their personal lives. They just sent us out the door to find the car. Basically you are treated like you are at a self service car lot.
Upon returning the car we got the same type of horrible «service» from the lazy employees who also gave us the wrong receipt. So we left with the drivers license details and other personal information of another customer. How convenient to not know what we would be «billed».
To make it worse, the company has not returned our deposit after 4 days. We were told by the lady during the time of the rental that a hold would be placed, not a full blown charge and deduction from our account. Now we’re getting the run around about why we don’t have our money back. Carlo told me there was a «glitch» and that is why but assured me that he had returned the funds to my account and that it should be there by Midnight. Well, that wasn’t true. They are not proactive enough or have any ounce of care for the customer to even call and let us know what is going on. I should be getting paid for doing their job. They are committing fraud somewhere since their billing practices are not up to standards.
I recommend you NEVER EVER rent a car from this place.
I wish I would have read the low star reviews FIRST and will never use them again and will tell everyone that I know that needs to rent a car to AVOID this company. No wonder Hertz doesn’t want anything to do with them.

Courteous and helpful service.
1. cars are in good shape
2. you can reserve 2 – 3 hours prior to pick up
3. location is not near all the other rentals nor do they pick you up (so no 5 stars)
I definitely will go back and recommend.

I have rented from Advantage in Burbank with no complaints, but the 2 shuttle thing at OAK was a deal breaker for me. It adds at least 20 min. Luckily, I was able to get a car from Budget at the last minute for $ 7 less.

They have good rates, and are friendly and helpful. The car was new and worked flawlessly. Also, they were one of the few places that let us reserve a car 3 hours before we wanted to pick it up.
The location is inconvenient though. It’s not at the location where all the other rental places are and where the shuttle bus goes. You have to take a second shuttle to the Advantage rental place (they don’t have a permit to pick you up at the airport).

Service: really good
Place: totally inconvenient
Renting at night? bring a friend
Parking Lot: need more lights
Guard at the exit gate: Err… hello?