Advantage Car Hire (booked through Carjet) at Malaga Airport

Aahch

Thought I'd share my experience of Advantage Car Hire, booked through Carjet, with you all. I've read they're part of the Hertz group, but clearly offering a very different kind of experience ..... You have been warned !

Here's me e-mail to Carjet (sent on Monday, not replied to yet by Carjet)

"Dear Carjet,

I wanted to provide some prompt feedback to you about my booking having experienced the singularly worst collection and service experience ever by any car hire company. !Indeed, based upon my usual experience of Carjet and their suppliers, I'm now wondering whether you've taken a step too far in your quest for value for your customers ?

So, first, what was good then .... For the first time I was handed my rental agreement, in Spain, written in English. !Usually these have been in Spanish and I take a bit of a flyer in signing them but I was pleased to be presented by a copy in English - well done !

Now, what didn't I Iike then .... The Advantage team are confident and forward and I was expecting the up-sell when I arrived. !I didn't really understand the rental agents accent when she was trying to explain to me 4 times that her top up insurance was €75 and,unless we took it, they'd have to take €400 from my credit card there and then (I.e. actual cash and not a pre-authorisation)

I objected to this, pointing out that the T&Cs said a pre-authorisation of €300 was all that was appropriate. !After some rather pointed behaviour on her part, and standing firm on mine, a pre-authorisation of the €300 was taken but they pointed out that I was liable for the first €400 of damage. ! Please advise where in my T&Cs this is noted as I seem to be unable to find that bit please ?

At that point the behaviour of the agent changed somewhat and I really felt persona non grata ! !Indeed, i politely exchanged that i felt she was rude and the overwhelming feeling wasthat i was being held to randsom for their insurance - not up-sold.

I then started to check the car over and regretted booking with advantage and Carjet !

The car, an old Skoda (circa 5-7 years old with 60,000+ kms on the clock), has, frankly, seen more hits than the Beatles and doesn't even have an aerial left on the roof ! !When I checked the condition of the car against the "car condition form" there was little that agreed between the photos and videos I took and the declared damage by Advantage. !This includes undeclared damage to mirrors, roof (aerial), rear lens cracked and, where absolutely no damage was declared, the wheel trims look "trashed".

As I said, I took some photos and video and have sent these to my work email account to time stamp them for authenticity. ! In the event that Advantage embark upon any spivvy or fraudulent charging for damage, !will post these online so that you, MasterCard, Advantage and prospective customers can see for themselves the risks of booking with them.

Right now I am wondering whether I will be subject to inappropriate or fraudulent charging and am finding it hard to relax. !I'm also somewhat concerned about whether my hire car is up to the task of ferrying about me and the family for the next two weeks as it indicates a need for service, regular warning lights and some rather concerning noises.

This is not what I expect from Cajet. !Having booked with you many times before, and recommended you countless other times to many friends and family, I feel cheated. !I work in the travel industry and have favourable discounts with Hertz and Avis. !In this case they were marginally more expensive than Carjet and, in recognition of how you handled your cancellation of my booking a few years ago, I chose to show my loyalty and commitment and book with you. !I regret that decision.

I request that you investigate my concerns. !

I am concerned over the quality of the vehicle I have been given, it's poor and I'm worried it will fail. !The Advantage team haven't told me what to do if this happens and, based upon my experience so far, I've little confidence the response will be swift or helpful. !Please provide your view about what I should, reasonably, do"


Comments welcome, especially from Carjet or Advantage as the direct approach doesn't seem to have been successful.

TakeThis

I have to say, that I rented a vehicle at Malaga airport directly with Hertz and secured a brand new Volvo with 500kms on the clock.
At the same time my car was presented to me, a couple from the Advantage car booth were collecting their car.
I thought there must have been some mistake. The car amply fits your description. It was a battered old blue car.
I told them to go back to the booth in order to refuse to accept the vehicle. If you were driving such a thing in the UK, you would be pulled over in an instant.
Their attempts failed and they came back to their jalopy. I felt sorry for them.


I should have taken a picture of their car. It was a joke.

This is a picture of mine, booked directly with Hertz:

MisterT

I'm just back from two weeks in France where I hired a car from Advantage via carhire3000. It's obvious their cars are ex Hertz rentals passed on to Advantage when they get too beaten up and manky to be rented by Hertz.

When we arrived the car were offered had faulty aircon and as south west France can get a bit warm it's an essential. The gut doing the handover admitted he knew it was knackered when we pointed it out but he'd have been happy for us to drive off.

He couldn't or wouldn't offer an alternative other than a downgrade to a smaller car but this was no use as we needed the luggage space.

The only option was to return the car the next day and swap it for another which we duly did - 300km round trip.

On return they charged us a 15 euro "cleaning fee" as they said the car was dirty inside - that was a joke given that it was two years old and manky anyway and as we'd been kept waiting for 20 minutes I didn't had the time to argue to long (and the person behind the desk lost their hitherto excellent command of English as well!)

Lesson learned - you get what you pay for and sometimes a bargain aint what it seems - be warned!

Aahch

Well, after re-sending my mail to Carjet, they finally responded to say that they'll get back to me within 4 weeks .......

Sorry to see there's more tales of woe here too .... There's also a 300 post thread on the Malaga forum of Tripadvisor about Advantage too ..... a couple of which talk of a good experience

Be careful what you order folks !

TakeThis

The full to Empty is a barely concealed confidence trick. The car in post #2 had a Full to Full policy. 40 Euros filled the tank. I filled it to the brim to make sure it was full when I took it back, but simply could not get 42 Euros worth of Diesel in to the tank.

So these charges of 80 to 100 Euros for Full to Empty are just a joke.

Don't just go for the cheapest deal. Do your research.

mcfisco

It's obvious their cars are ex Hertz rentals passed on to Advantage when they get too beaten up and manky to be rented by Hertz.

Isn't Advantage a Hertz brand? - the cheap seats if you will

Aahch

My reading is that Advantage is a Hertz brand, but from xperience of both that's about all they share.

abhi206

Car hiring is a popular way of providing transportation for people to travel a long trip with convenience and comfort. The concept of car hire has been brought about by the evolution of the car business. There are several car hire company to choose from especially online that offers discounts, low rates, and best package deals. All you need to know is to compare different car hire company quotes, analyze them properly, and go for the best.


Mohit

melb

thanks for that contribution - it all makes much more sense now