What can you tell me about advantage car rental?

[kristinlynn]

Looking for an economy rental (1/12-1/15) and Advantage is much cheaper than any other car rental at MCO. What can you tell me about them?

This biggest complaints I could find from searching the Dis is that they try to upsell you … to save a few bucks, it doesn’t bother me to say no … but my real concern is unauthorized charges and fines … I’ve read some awful stories about EZ car rental.

Also, I’ve had the unfortunate experience of standing in 1hr plus lines at MCO car rental locations, does advantage have a computer check in station, or can I sign up for something that will let me bypass the lines?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Advantage is owned by Hertz. At MCO, Hertz used to operate SimplyWheelz as their brand for price-sensitive leisure travelers. Hertz bought the Advantage brand when that company went bankrupt and changed SimplyWheelz to Advanatge.

Hertz and Advantage share the same fleet of cars, but Advantage gives you fewer choices when you make reservations.

Ignore any reviews from several years ago. Advantage is a different company now.

My experience with SimplyWheelz has been that their system was completely automated. I checked in at a self-service kiosk, which spit out the rental agreement and the location where I would find the car (with the keys in it). I then showed the rental agreement and my drivers license to the guard upon exiting from the lot. There was no attempt to up-sell in that process.

I have not used them since the name change, but my guess is that it's still the same way.

 

[kristinlynn]

Wow, this sounds like its right up my alley then. Has anyone used Advantage since Hertz took it over? Does it work like SimplyWheelz?

Horace Horsecollar - thanks for the input!

 

[Lewisc]

I thought I read that Hertz was planning on assigning the cars with higher mileage to Advantage customers.

Not an issue, even if true.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I thought I read that Hertz was planning on assigning the cars with higher mileage to Advantage customers.

Not an issue, even if true.

That could now be true. Supposedly, it wasn't true when Hertz operated their discount operation under the SimplyWheelz brand.

I used SimplyWheelz twice. Once, I was given a rather beaten-up (less-than-new interior and scratched exterior, but not badly dented) rental car with around 20 thousand miles on it.

I asked an agent if the SimplyWheelz fleet consists of older cars, cast off from the regular Hertz fleet. No, he assured me, it was all the same fleet, and it was the luck of the draw.

The other time, I was given an almost brand-new car. Both times, I received a bigger car than I had reserved.

Of course, it's possible that Hertz is doing things differently now with Advantage. Even if it's a single fleet, a computer algorithm for assigning cars could look at mileage as factor in who gets what.

My experience is that the Hertz fleet is getting older in general, all over America. Back when Ford owned Hertz, the rental cars were all new and shiny. After six months or so, the cars went to Ford dealers as used cars. Now, it's not unusual to get a Hertz car with 20 thousand miles -- but it's unusual to get a Ford product.