Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

[Amati]

If you have reservations for Advantage Car Rental in Hawaii (or your Christmas visitors do, yikes), they have closed their business.

http://http://www.starbulletin.com/b...perations.html

So I'm now in the market for an affordable car rental for the weekend after Christmas for friends coming to Oahu. With this short notice, and during high season, the usual $40 rental is $110.!

[leashlaws]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

I was rear ended by a BMW a couple weeks ago. My car is in the shop and
I have a rental from Kaneohe Enterprise. The place was packed with
people renting cars due to theirs being ruined by flood water and mud.
I've never seen a rental car place so crowded!

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

sigh! Another sign of the times that we are in a serious recession, for anyone who may still have been in denial.

I was rear ended by a BMW a couple weeks ago. My car is in the shop and
I have a rental from Kaneohe Enterprise. The place was packed with
people renting cars due to theirs being ruined by flood water and mud.
I've never seen a rental car place so crowded!

Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than a brief spurt in business (whether it be due to the holidays or some other special circumstance) to sustain a rental car operation.

[Amati]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

sigh! Another sign of the times that we are in a serious recession, for anyone who may still have been in denial.
Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than a brief spurt in business (whether it be due to the holidays or some other special circumstance) to sustain a rental car operation.

The agent told me a contributing factor was the problems with the Big Three, in combination with the credit crunch, had affected their fleet. Which makes me think that they perhaps leased their cars, on credit, which dried up?? Whatever the reason(s), it is bad news that they folded.

[Nords]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

The agent told me a contributing factor was the problems with the Big Three, in combination with the credit crunch, had affected their fleet. Which makes me think that they perhaps leased their cars, on credit, which dried up?? Whatever the reason(s), it is bad news that they folded.

Maybe it's because they run a crappy business.

We had such a bad experience with them in Houston that we decided "never again".

It took us two hours to get a car that we'd "reserved". (Remember the Seinfeld routine, "But I have a reservation!"?) Instead of admitting that they'd been caught short, sorry folks, we'll save one for you, come back after lunch, here's a free upgrade and our apologies-- we were told to sign up on their waiting list and have a seat. The floor soon filled to overflowing, and contestants had to be present to "win".

Same disorganized mess upon return. We couldn't even figure out where they wanted the car parked among all the spaces shared by other companies.

Maybe Advantage's Oahu staff are consummate professionals who run a crack show. But if the Houston franchise is any indication, the company was hemmorhaging too much business for Hawaii to keep it afloat.

When I'm looking for a rental car, I've learned to avoid the two cheapest quotes... there's a reason for the price and you end up paying it one way or another.

[Amati]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

Maybe it's because they run a crappy business.

We had used them, and were very happy with their service and the nice car. Funny how all the built-up good will goes out the window when a business screws up.

My friend was trying to leave on a mainland trip with ATA just about the time it was going under. Of course, none of the passengers knew at the time there was just a day left that ATA would be in business. ATA knew, of course! Their service was lousy the day before they dropped out, leaving scores of passengers stranded which could have been somewhat avoided.

Maybe you had the same warning signs with Advantage.... they were struggling with their business? Although, they are keeping some offices open for now, but not Hawaii's.

[Amati]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

I posted about this recent bad experience with Advantage in Honolulu, but I'll repeat it here as a warning. The Honolulu airport location only has ONE shuttle bus driver in the morning until 9AM. The single driver must do all of the airport pickups from both the mainland and interisland terminals. Ditto for getting customers back to the airport, that same single driver handles it all.

So, even if you catch an early morning flight into Honolulu, you can have a long delay in getting picked up at the shuttle bus location. And, if you need to return a car for an early morning flight, good luck! You better plan on an hour just for the car return process and shuttle to the airport.

[Bobinator]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii

I guess they were "disadvantaged"...

[treb]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii ??

I see they are back on the web and open for business. Does anyone know if they are for sure open for business and are they reliable? I've read many comments on the web about bad service and wanted to verify they are worth the low price of their rentals.

[tutusue]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii ??

[...]I've read many comments on the web about bad service and wanted to verify they are worth the low price of their rentals.

I don't know if they're open for business or not but, if so, I'd base my decision on user reviews.

[Amati]

Re: Advantage Car Rental closes in Hawaii ??

I see they are back on the web and open for business. Does anyone know if they are for sure open for business and are they reliable? I've read many comments on the web about bad service and wanted to verify they are worth the low price of their rentals.

Ask yourself, what good is a cheap price if you do not have a satisfactory rental experience?