Advantage - Lax Information, Car Rental Instructions & Policies

Like: They didn't have the car I reserved so I was automatically upgraded.
Dislike: The only I would change would be to have online access to my reservation to make adjustments such as change of pickup time or be able to add a driver.

Like: After I payed for my car rental through advantage before leaving for my trip, a couple days later is when I looked at the reviews and man, they were terrible. It made me wanna cancel my reservation, get a refund and rent from somewhere else. But I just said I'll give it a chance because I didn't wanna go through the hassle. Got to LA, and it ended up being a very good experience actually. I had no problems at all. As soon as I went outside to wait for the shuttle, it arrived literally like not even 2 minutes of waiting. Got to the place and waited in line for like 8 minutes. The guy was quick and easy. He wasn't very smiley and friendly though, which is what I like to see in people, even if it's fake haha. He tried to get me to get insurance and I told him no and then after trying to push a little harder, he stopped. After being with him for about 6 minutes, he gave me the contract or whatever you call it to sign, then I went to my rental. It was very nice and in good shape. I read a lot of people complained the car they got was in bad shape, or dirty and/or smelled, etc. Nope, I got a 2018 Toyota Camry and it was beautiful! There was a few scratches and a big scrape towards the bottom, which it wasn't even visible unless you really looked hard, but I took pictures of everything before the guy inspected it, then I left. I had it for a week. Dropped it back at the time I said, the girl did a quick inspection and said everything was good and I went to the shuttle and the guy took us right away to the airport. I was worried also because a lot of people said they would get charged for random little charges that the employees couldn't explain after bringing it back. I made sure the car was full of gas, cleaned, wiped down and vacuumed before I returned it so I wouldn't be charged for bs cleaning charges, but it's been a week and I haven't gotten any charge taken and I got an email from advantage with my inspection on it, the contract with all the info and then it

Like: it was great to have insurance included, gives a piece of mind and safety
Dislike: it was not sparkly clean

Like: Quick friendly service
Dislike: Car had no power. Very slow for a Camry.

Like: Loved the car. The lady who checked it in for us was so friendly and helpful. We loved the GPS/pocket wifi, highly recommend it
Dislike: Nothing

Like: Super comfortable performance car. Just drove itself on cruise control and GPS. Very powerful. Felt like a movie star driving down wiggly Lombard Street in SFR with all the tourists running to get a shot of this car coming down. Masses of room in the boot too which was not affected by the hood being down. Easily fits 2 big cases and our small bags.
Dislike: Nothing

Like: Everything was perfect.

Like: Vehicle was clean with no problems. Plenty of room for the car size rental.
Dislike: Not enough agents available to assist customers.

Like: Greatest car I have ever rented! Perfect in every way

Car was very nice. Mechanic had 50 PSI in 3 tires. so wasted time in Resolving that issue.

The car was excellent! However the steering was not aligned, it veered to the right, but due to time constraints , we r unable to drive back and change , but we loved the car! As we travelled more than 4200km across 11 days,

Very rude counter staff at LAX. Not helpful at all, pressure selling insurances and other products

I will never hire a car from Advantage due to the counter staff and his supervisor tried to sell me SLI “ supplementary liability insurance “ and refused to give me the car unless I pay for the SLI which is already included in my insurance CDW/SLI. They insisted that my policy does not cover it.

I've had the most unpleasant experience during the process of picking up the car. First, It was supposed to be all paid for (I made the reservation through Easyrentcars). The booking clearly said: "amount due to at pick up: U$S 0.00". But out of the blue, the gentleman who received me, told me I had to pay U$S 29 (more or less, I can't recall exactly). After several times I said I didn't have to pay anything, finally I had to accept this unfair charge in order to get the car. Secondly, he told me that the model I booked, wasn't available (Toyota Yaris Hybrid, but any other ecological model would have done it) and that I had to pay U$S 90 more for another kind of vehicle. This, I refused and finally got a nice car (but notghing ecological). Finally, I tried several times to explain the gentleman on the front desk that since I paid my booking with Visa Platinum, I ALREADY HAD insurance and (as instructed by VISA), I should decline the insurance they offered me. At this point, the thing got stopped because Jamen (this was his name) told me it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to take the car unless I pay more or less U$S 130 more for the insurance, or even more for the coverage of car malfunction. Finally, I paid more than U$S 200 extra (not included the charge for prepaid fuel, which I don't claim). So I hope and I expect easyrentcars and/or advantage will fill this situacion.

Great customer service

Worst rental

Car reserved unavailable. Substituted with car with reduced luggage capacity. Was told if I didn't take their extra insurance (US$103) police would seize the car and leave me stranded if I was stopped by them for any reason. Advantage employee at counter lied to me and ripped us off. Never again!

Didn't like the onsite insurance recommendation.

Queued for over an hour to pick up in Los Angeles

The staff misled me into unnecessary purchases, presenting optional towing insurance as a mandatory fee. There were few cars, and the shuttle from the airport to the rental location was also infrequent.

The car broke down! No service for a long time!

The rental company added extra charges

The time spent on upselling was too long.

The vehicle was okay, but the waiting time was too long! Also, the shuttle driver insisted on getting a tip.

Average service attitude

Waited in line for almost two hours.

The line for picking up the car was way too long. I had an appointment to pick up the car at 9:40 PM, but I didn't get it until 1 AM, wasting an entire day's rental fee. The airport shuttle is also very scarce compared to other rental companies that have shuttles every 10 minutes. We waited for an hour before one came.

The service speed on-site is fine, but if you deviate from your reservation plan, the staff might overcharge you, and you will need to haggle in person. However, the shuttle bus service at Los Angeles airport is insufficient. We waited over 30 minutes for a shuttle, and it was just a minibus. Other rental companies use larger buses that arrive every 3-5 minutes. I probably won't rent from Advantage or EZ at Los Angeles airport again.

Forced to buy insurance, very rude attitude

Only two people in line, no delays. Even though the English-speaking service was very friendly, I could only judge by their expressions.

Poor service

Limited vehicle selection, no Chinese-speaking staff, no Wi-Fi on site

1. Waited over 30 minutes for the airport shuttle. There were too few airport shuttles. 2. The third-party liability insurance included on the ZuZuChe platform was not recognized by the rental company, forcing us to pay an extra $14/day for insurance, adding over $1000 in extra costs. 3. No customer drop-off service at the hotel upon return, which I’ve never seen from a rental company. I recommend choosing a larger rental company.

My $200 deposit mysteriously vanished. They claimed it was for toll fees, but even if it were true, the tolls were only about $20. They also added a $100 fee that didn't make any sense. There's nothing more to say. The deposit is already paid, and I'm back in my home country, just left at their mercy.

It took over 2 hours from the start of waiting in line to the end of the process, even though there were fewer than 10 customers ahead of me. There were four service counters, but the staff were extremely slow. They moved slowly even when walking or copying documents. Additionally, two of the counters’ staff took a half-hour break to go to the restroom or rest, wasting customers' valuable time. A car rental company should process things quickly since customers who just landed usually have urgent matters to attend to. The efficiency and capability of the service are simply unbelievable.

After knowing we were Chinese, their attitude became impatient. The wait time was over 15 minutes, and there was only one counter for rentals. They added two extra insurances and pre-sold an expensive tank of gas without explaining...

There were very few staff at the counter, and the efficiency was very low. It took us two hours to get served, which is far too slow.

Poor, very long queue.

1. Long waiting time in line, and less than half the counters were open during working hours. 2. The staff is not very patient with people who are not fluent in English.

Like: Seamless, fast and easy drop-off. Good price, even with different pick up and drop off cities.
Dislike: Wait for initial pickup was pretty long.