We took the first flight out to Lihue since we were going to attend a family funeral. We arrived shortly after 6 a.m.(6:15 a.m.) After all the other rental car shuttles came and went, Advantage finally arrived. The shuttle driver was friendly and made conversation. Hubs checked and TT opened for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. oooh yay!!! Then oh drats- the Rent A Car doors were locked and they did not open til 7 a.m. Bummer...my stomach was already signaling, feed me. Luckily the antics of the chickens and loud crowing of the rooster helped pass the time. 45 minutes later the door was opened. We were their first and only customers for a bit and the employee said they had no cars, they needed to be cleaned. Yikes!!! Then hubs was told they had a convertible- nope, he didn't want that one. The office was dirty with trash on the floor byvthe counter sign and the trash can was filled to the brim. I saw one man sweeping outside but wondered how come no attention to the inside. When we returned the car there was no one there at 2:45 pm to accept the car and keys. The same woman who checked us in looked like she was leaving work. I asked do we take the key inside? She said someone was supposed to be around. La dee dah... the employee who finally came was on Hawaiian time...sauntering so slowly to the desk... starting to stress, we're not going to make our flight. We waited a bit more for the shuttle to come around...the driver was nice, we both felt the rising heat of the day. Tip: just because the price is cheaper than the rest doesn't make it the best deal when everything is taken into account. read more

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People seem to hate this place, but if you know what to do it's not that bad. Just say no to everything and you'll be fine. Seriously say no to everything and you'll walk out of here fine. Don't expect a brand new car either. If you temper your expectations then you're good. read more

Definitely NOT happy with the entire process here. First off our reservation was $179.55 so we were going to split the cost. Then come to find out they don't have a car ready so not only do we have to wait in line for 20 min to even speak to someone but when we get here we are told the cost is way more and with the added deposit it's $450+ and we can only put it on a credit card. No dp plot payment and not cash. Ridiculous. And to top it off another 20 min to wait for a car to be ready. Our other party rented from Thrifty and left 20 min ago. This is ridiculous and I'm so unhappy with the service.and how dare Gina say "well you can't expect your car to be ready on time. People drop off their car late." When we spoke with the manager Julia, she was rude and condescending. Will never use advantage again. Total time here an hour and 45 min. Ridiculous read more

Advantage Rent A Car - Gross - Car Rental Near Me - Lihue, Hawaii

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My experience was smooth sailing. We were in and out in no more than estimated 10 minutes. I booked for Saturday at 3pm. Waiting for the shuttle was cool about 3 minutes. We were greeted by the driver and our shuttle filled up quickly. There were four agents focused on helping guests, and only two other guests stood in line ahead of us. I was motioned over and the agent went straight to asking for name on the reservation. He was on a mission to get me out of there. He asked the basic questions of place of stay. I asked insurance questions and he clarified my insurance information. We weren't pressured to make further adjustments/purchases with our reservation. The agent was quick to look for the next available car with attempts to find a Yaris or equivalent as booked. The next available car was an Elantra. He had me sign the terms and agreement. Then he sent us off with our check list. The gas tank was full and car ran well, no issues, a bit of dust on the outside but nothing major. So on top of the reservation total was a $200 deposit which stays pending and returned to your account once drop off was completed. It was also confirmed by the gentleman at drop off that the money should be returned right away along with an emailed receipt. I cannot find this email..completed transaction took a day to update. My only complaint was how I couldn't see Advantage's drop off banner. Other logos were mashed close together, but once you are passed the gate the agent guides you through to park it. He will do an initial check and ask you for any issues if any. I look forward to quick simple booking like that again!! read more

Would post a negative 100 star review but unfortunately I can't. This company is beyond awful. Do not rent a car from them under any circumstances. Below is my experience: My wife and I rented a car for 4 days in January and when they pulled up the 2018 Kia Forte, I immediately recognized that it was in awful condition with large scratches and paint loss all over the vehicle on all sides. I didn't really care too much at the time because we were only going to be driving it around the island for a few days. On the third day of our trip, we were driving on the highway near Waimea and I heard a loud thud underneath the vehicle. I pulled over to look at it immediately and found that the right passenger plastic fender/wheel cover had fallen off the vehicle and was dragging under the tire. I didn't have the right tools to pop it back in so I put it in the trunk. When we arrived at Advantage to return the car, I explained what had happened and the young attendant was really nice. Said, don't worry about it, we'll pop that right back on. He had me fill out a quick incident report and made sure to tell me that it was just a technicality. Told me to just put that the piece had fallen off the car etc... etc... Which was true. 2 months later, we receive a bill for almost $1,500 from a collection agency called Viking Billing located in Minnesota. There is a workup from some autobody shop on Kauai and the debt had apparently been sold to the collection agency. All without ever contacting us. I looked up the part, it costs $30 and takes less than 5 minutes to reinstall. I don't have any faith that the part was ever replaced. This is just a process they have designed to screw people over. It's bordering on fraud in my opinion because there is no way for you to actually inspect the vehicle. We are now fighting them. I have launched a complaint with Hawaii's consumer protection office and told Viking to EAD. A good company would have contacted us directly and we could have worked out a fair payment amount for the "damage." Even if it wasn't our fault, I can see paying $100-$200 to repair this specific problem but we weren't even given the option to discuss this. Shame on Advantage Rent A Car. read more

Advantage Rent A Car - Not even close. - Car Rental Near Me - Lihue, Hawaii

UPDATE: This gets even better. My husband stayed a few more days for work. Upon return, while he was throwing out the trash from the car, the girl who was doing the intake for the return had driven the car away. He had planned to do a walk through to make sure he didn't leave anything behind, but wasn't able to because the car was totally out of sight. He realized later on that he left his cane in a car. Is here something that can be done to this injured veteran? C'mon guys. It ain't that hard to keep a good customer service! The star is for their front desk people who showed friendliness and all. But OMG this place is terrible! They kept saying Nissan Versa, so that's what we were looking for. Of course, not having stall number anywhere helped with the search. Someone recommended the panic button, and that's what we did. It was a Hyundai. Whatever. Then I open the passenger side; it's covered in red dirt. And both side door handles were dirty, and it smelled funky. While driving, AC reacts with the break (got louder when we slow down). All in all a very WTH situation. I'm just glad that nothing bad happened. Will never book with this company no matter how much cheaper it is. read more

Advantage Rent A Car - Can this be any messier? Oh and the seatbelt works so well as you can see. Another WTH - Car Rental Near Me - Lihue, Hawaii

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At the beginning, my experience wasn't that great. Yes it is a long wait like everybody else has said. I had originally prepaid for a small car online and the sales person kept recommending to upsell me an SUV because the roads are apparently bad. After driving on the roads throughout my time in Kauai, I've found that the roads are actually pretty good! They're even better than the roads in California! I did not think this was very ethical so I decided to message the owner here on Yelp. The owner is reimbursing me for the upsell charge so thank you for that. The car that I had was good and returning it was a piece of cake. I would originally give this 3 stars but because the owner is reimbursing me for the upsell and genuinely cares, I'll add another star. It's not the owners fault, just a classic pushy sales person. Will I still rent from here? Sure. I got a good deal online, just dont fall for the upsell. read more

Terrible company. First time working with this company (and definitely the last). It took us 45 mins to an hour, standing in the line to get out car despite 3 people working at the counter. Their check in process is extremely slow. Second, they didn't have the car that we actually rented and instead we got a low mpg American car. Third, when we dropped off the car, they told me that I should have taken the car to carwash!!! as there is sand under our feet especially on the front right side. I explained the the car was missing floor mats otherwise it's a matter of just cleaning those mats. They wasted 15 mins of my time arguing that their allowed turn around time is only 7 mins (example of efficiency at this place). Extremely rude management, needs fundamental changes based on all the horrible reviews (which I wish I read about before doing business with them), threatening to charge me extra (upward of $50 for vacuuming some sand). Will never use this company again. read more

BEST Kauai car rental experience EVER!!! Chris & Kimo's customer service skills were EXCEPTIONAL :) Together this Advantage team not only lived up to the EZ name they epitomized the ALOHA SPIRIT... MAHALO PLENTY!!! read more

Advantage Rent A Car - Chris was right about the Convertible CamaroMUST DRIVE!!! - Car Rental Near Me - Lihue, Hawaii

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We headed to Kauai to celebrate my parents 39th wedding anniversary and have a little break from Oahu. My parents came from Australia and since mustangs are an exotic car there we decided to get one as a fun treat for our stay. I booked through Expedia, being a reputable company I thought I would have a nice experience. The shuttle driver was absolutely lovely. The front desk clerk was friendly. Sadly my booking was incorrect. I don't know how it happened but between choosing the pick-up/drop-off times on Expedia and the verification email I received they changed. I didn't notice this at first. However upon arrival at advantage they pointed out that is I wanted to return the car at 8pm rather then the incorrect time of 10:30am (which I would have never selected as our flight leaves that evening) it would be an extra $98 dollars. And the clerk said that was the only option for it. I had no choice. Ok whatever we get to our mustang and we have to do a walk around and fill out a form and give it to them. Which I have never experienced before, usually a staff member joins you. The car was banged up, I'm not expecting perfection, but it was worse then usual. Ok form filled in, handed in. Let's get going. Off we go. We get going and we notice that the car is FILTHY, not just a bit dirty FILTHY! dirt and grim everywhere, clothes got dirty from the red dirt on the seats, someone had sneezed on the windshield interior and it wasn't cleaned, we found candy and candy wrappers around the car. I've attached pictures. We should have gone back, but we already wasted time waiting in line and the car. Drop off was easy-ish. The shuttle driver was helping as it was so understaffed. We won't be back or recommending this place to anyone. read more

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Worst rental company ever. A linen out the door and 2 people booking cars and it takes them 20 minutes per car. Pay the extra 10.00 a day and go with a real company read more

I've rented cars at many different establishment an this is by far one of the worse experiences I've had and what's sad is that I live on the island and got shitty customer service. We arrived off the shuttle after meeting up with some friends who arrived and told them we needed to get a car for a few days since ours were down. The shuttle ride was pretty good, the driver was a nice local uncle who was friendly and welcoming. However, once we stepped off the shuttle and entered the check in area, we caught nothing but attitude. We were walking toward the glass doors and could see that there was two young ladies working at the counter. We entered and both looked up and continued their conversation. I approached the front of the line and neither of them acknowledged me or greeted me to to assist me. After about two minutes of waiting in line, mind you no one was there, someone waved me forward. I didn't think that there conversation should have been more important than helping or assisting customers, especially when no one else ( customers ) were in line but me. I approached with a happy attitude since I was excited to rent from them for the first time. I had pre booked online and was hoping this interaction would go smoothly but boy was I wrong. She barely made eye contact, asked me questions about coverage with an attitude like she was better than me and when I told her I didn't need most of what she was trying to sell, her face screamed with annoyance. This was a huge turn off and pretty much left a bad taste in my mouth. What was worse was that my boyfriend who was accompanied me could see and hear her unprofessionalism also. So we leave to go outside to find the car and to do the inspection and the car is dirty. Why is the cars that are being given to customers dirty on the outside?!? Do you not have a place to rinse it down? If you can't clean the outside what image is that giving your customers? That you don't care about the product you hand out. So to do the inspection, j had to wipe areas with my finger to mark the pre made scratches on the car so I was not found responsible for them. Overall, the best experience I had with this company was returning the car. It was fast and easy and we were finally getting the heck off the property and giving the car back. I will never rent from this car place again, nor will my family. I think if you want to have a good representation of your company you need to hire better workers who like and want your company to do well and who can do their job without attitude. read more

Advantage Rent A Car - Our car, as soon as we got home, we rinsed it off since we were given it dirty. - Car Rental Near Me - Lihue, Hawaii

I'm not sure if the people at this place know how customer service works... Anyways, my friend had made the reservation for a car for 10 am considering the majority of us were landing around 9 am. However, when we got to this establishment, things didn't go as smoothly as we thought it would. I mean, how hard is it to reserve a car, pick it up, and go on with our vacation in paradise? VERY HARD. When we went to pick up our car, guess what they told us? Apparently our reservation was set for 7 pm. Well, that's great and dandy. My friend was pretty sure that the reservation was for 10 am since half of our group arrived in the morning while the other half arrived at night. But I suppose that isn't the point. Our concern was, we needed a car for the day and we voiced that to the people there. Heck, I believe it was the manager of that location that helped us. When we asked what we could do cause we needed a car now. All he suggested was upgrades and how more expensive it'd be and how it won't be a good deal. Okay buddy. I wasn't asking about upgrades but thanks for the information. You can do some awesome math. So we asked if we could just rent a car from 10 am to 7 pm, then pick up our regular reservation at 7 pm. Once again, he said the upgrade would be expensive and not as good of a deal as our original reservation. I'm sorry, you're not answering my question or helping me at all. In fact, you're not even trying to help me. You're trying to detour me from getting a car. Also, I never asked about pricing. I asked about options. Thank you for caring. Funny thing was, one of our friends actually went online to their website and we could have rented a car right away for the day right her phone ... for like $15-20 without a problem. They weren't booked up or anything but why didn't we get the help that we wanted? Instead, we got a bunch of excuses. I think the manager just got enough of us or something to that matter. He gave up and just handed us back to one of the other associates to deal with us. In the end, they just gave us the reservation. We didn't understand what happened and no explanation was given to us. We were thoroughly confused and I was completely irritated. What kind of customer service was that? No help was given to us to try to solve our problem at all. And since you gave us the reservation anyways, it wasn't a problem at ALL to begin with. What the hell?!?!?? So you were just trying to turn us away or take more of our money? And if you were trying to take more of our money, why did you keep telling us that upgrading is a bad idea because it'd be more expensive? I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Oh and here's the REAL kicker. We needed to rent the car for another additional day than what we reserved for. So we called them and asked if it's possible and if it is, how much extra would it cost us. What did they tell us? "I don't know." I'm sorry? You don't know? YOU DON'T KNOW? You work there right? Okay, so if you don't know then please kindly redirect this line to someone WHO DOES KNOW. Of course, the only response we got was... "It depends on how tomorrow goes...the rates and how many people/cars etc etc blah blah idiocy in a jar..." Yeah. We hung up and said fuck it, we're just going to keep the car for one more day. Clearly no one knows anything of any sorts. But I suppose you get what you pay for. We should've went with Enterprise instead. But yeah, reserve at your own risk. Can go fine or can go bad. read more

Wish I checked reviews before renting here. It was terrible. The line to get the car took forever. We stood and waited, and waited, and waited some more. I was there over an hour. My flight was only 45 min. IT LITERALLY TOOK ME LESS TIME TO FLY FROM MAUI THAN PICKING UP A RENTAL CAR AT ADVANTAGE. So bad. Their office is beat, falling apart, moldy. After 45 min of waiting, another customer came up to add on another driver so they cut the line in front of us. It took the employee another 15 minutes to do that. The car I received was dirty, of course. The inside looked like a child smeared dirty muddy feet all over the seats and doors. I can tell they didn't even bother cleaning the interior. Way to go advantage. I won't be renting here ever again. read more

We reserved a minivan, for about 80-90 bucks a day for a week and paid in full at least three months ahead of time. We got a minivan but it was a POS that was 3 years old. It had a broken drivers side mirror, the door lock malfunctioned and made a god awful noise every time you unlocked the door, waking my baby up every single time. The change oil light was on the whole time. The guy pressured us into insurance, and also took a deposit on top of it being paid in full, PLUS the taxes and fees. He also tried to get us to get insurance for the keyfob, that if it got wet it would be $500 to replace. Nickel and dime you every second and the guy at the counter was a complete d!ckbag. We put all our flight info in when we rented thinking we would have it during that timeframe but NO. We had to turn the car in about 3 hours earlier than we planned on going to the airport so we get to sit in the airport for 4 hours now. Yay. Why did I put the flight info and pay three months ago for that time if we weren't going to be able to use it? I've had great experiences with every car rental I've ever had from other companies.. we will NEVER rent from Advantage again. read more

The Lihue office of this company is staffed by some very friendly people. I am a frequent customer of this office, and because of the staff, I stopped using Priceline, and started using Advantage directly. I think I've rented all the full-size vehicles and all the standard-sized vehicles. The customer service is unparalleled. My only complaint is there are no golden retrievers. But absent that, no complaints! read more

I'm not sure why people have left negative reviews, but from my recent rental experience on Kauai with Advantage Rental car, it was anything but bad. Oh well. I had found a great deal on orbitz for $20/day, so I booked it and they assigned me to Advantage rental car company. Upon arrival at Lihue regional airport on Kauai on a recent Friday night, I waited for the Advantage rental car shuttle bus, which took about 10 minutes to come by the rental shuttle pick up spot at the terminal. The driver was friendly and we made small talk to the car rental facility, which was located next to the airport, along with the other major rental companies. It was past 8:30pm when I walked in, but the customer service upon pick up was good, even though it was rather longer than I had expected. Guesstimated that the check out process took maybe 20 minutes to complete. The car assigned to me was a Mazda 6, which was recommended to me by the agent - and she was right. It drove flawlessly. It was one of the few times I drove a keyless. Just press the button. I got the LDW insurance waiver, which was $24/day. That was the standard price within the industry - plus or minus $5 to $10. The facility itself was relatively clean and good. The agent was professional and courteous, although the check out process was longer than normal. I was helped by an agent outside when I was told to check for dents and damage on the car before driving off. She also was professional and nice. Once that was good to go, it was off to explore Kauai with wheels. Upon returning the car, the process was quick and professional. After gathering my belongings, the agent in charge checked the mileage and see if the fuel gauge is returned full or not. After getting my receipt, I boarded the rental shuttle bus and proceeded to the airport terminal. The ride was so short, than you could really walk there, but most people would like the ride anyway. The entire rental process was good, but average. The experience here also good, but average. What made it more pleasant was the small talk that was exchanged during the entire transaction. It made me humanized the process and know that these agents are awesome. Thanks Advantage rental car for a good car rental experience - especially with good rates for your vehicles in Lihue! Too bad though. Those airport taxes and other fees charged on top of the rental fee really sucks. Happy with my decision to rent from Advantage rental car for my recently vacation weekend in Kauai. Recommended if you like low rates for your rental car, but be advised to shop around for the best deal before committing. Support local! B+ read more

Not surprised by the lack luster reception when we arrived. I set the expectation to low for a budget rental and received exactly what I got. We rented a mini-van and unfortunately it was not very clean and still had remnants of cigarette smell which we requested a non-smoking car. They claimed to be limited on cars, so we settled. The price I paid for giving up my loyalty to National, never again. read more

Thank goodness I was the first one off the shuttle bus. The rest of the people around me didn't seem to know what mode of transportation they were even interested in... Pre-rented a car. Cheap. Used Expedia. I wasn't expecting anything glamorous for $122, but a freak Kia SOUL? And an orangish-red one at that? Barf. The best part was the counter lady handing me the key and telling me to walk into the lot and press the beep button to find the car. Nice. After 10 minutes I gave up and went back inside, where I had to cut in line, and she had to come and find the car... which was in the process of being detailed. I then had to circle all the problems on the car. I pretty much drew one giant circle around the whole diagram because the thing had dents and dings all over. Then I got in the car and drove away in my gutless Kia. The best part of the car was the fact that it was impossible to lose anywhere we went. What an obnoxious vehicle. read more

I have nothing but great things to say about Advantage Lihuee airport. We arrive at 8:45 am on Friday. The shuttle right across the street from baggage claim comes every five minutes and our driver was so friendly. She (driver) even told us to avoid swimming on the east shore for the day due to surf advisory and gave us some good recommendations for Waimea Canyon. Picking up our reserved vehicle was so easy. Sherry (desk employee) made small talk with us and gave us an upgrade from economy to a midsize car since we are Hawaii residents and could use Kamaaina discount to get the same price as our economy size car reservation. She also told me to have a happy birthday after my husband let her know we were in town for my birthday weekend getaway. (Shoots, little does hubs know that we actually celebrate me for a whole week or more). Sherry did not have to let us know about the Kamaaina discount so this was very nice of her. Mahalo to Sherry, she is the best! Dropping off the car three days later at 1:15 pm, was so easy as well! We pulled in and were on the shuttle to the airport for our 3 pm flight home to Honolulu within 5 minutes. The male driver who drove us back, not as nice, didnt pick up our bags, etc.. but this was okay since our bags were not heavy. If you're looking for easy-breezy car rental at Lihuee airport, Advantage is the place for you. We found a great rate on "Hotwire" and booked and paid about three weeks before our trip. You will have to use a credit card for a $200 deposit when you pick-up your car, but will get the deposit back a few days/weeks after dropping your car off (so long as you dont ruin the car doing crazy things). read more

29 min grace period sucks. You get dirty cars here. They offer you an exchange, otherwise they are 1 star, but since you are on vacation here you don't have a chance to come back and change your car. No time to waste. After the Oahu Advantage car experience and this one i will never rent from Advantage again. Pay few bucks more and rent from somebody else read more

After waiting in line for a LONG time we picked up our car and proceeded to inspect it. We photographed the numerous scratches and dents and noted the dirty interior. The car drove perfectly for the few days we needed it. We had an early flight out and since the location hours were 7-5 on the website, I called the company office and was told that we could drop the car any time after 5 am and catch the shuttle. At the Advantage office the next morning, no one was present so we dropped the keys and waited for the shuttle... and waited and waited, no shuttle. Finally another company's shuttle driver took pity on us and gave us a lift to the terminal. My advice, even though Advantage is a bit cheaper, use a car rental company that is more professional. read more

I had to travel to Kauai twice within the week and I had previously reserved a car online as to make sure I had a vehicle when I got in. When my husband and I got into Kauai, we waited no longer then 10min before the Advantage shuttle came back around to pick us up. Got to the Rent a center and was greeted by Makana at the check-in. He was so friendly and easily striked up a conversation of why we were visiting Kauai. He offered some suggestions as to where the great food spots were which was very helpful. Within 15min of getting paperwork done, we were off to grab our car and on our way around Kauai. Our second time back to Kauai within the same week, we were happily greeted by Makana again seeing that we were back again. It was great to see him again and this time we chit chatted on those eatery spots he suggested and he again recommeded several other spots to try out. We were suppose to return our car that same evening and head home to Oahu when things changed and needed to stay overnight. We drove back to the Advantage rent-a-center and spoke to Makana on extending our vehicle another night. He mentioned the price would be higher then what we paid when we checked in. He spoke to his Manager and came back and told us, rates will stay the same for our extension. Makana is the best!! If you're traveling to Kauai and renting a car from Advantage, make sure to get that Aloha customer service Hawaii is known from by speaking with Makana!! read more

What a nightmare. We got to Advantage 45 minutes before our scheduled pickup and they told us we had to wait until noon. Fair enough. Noon comes around and they say the car has just arrived and they need 10 minutes to clean it. With no sign of a car and no one coming to update us, we go back in at 12:30. Again, the woman at the counter says 10 minutes. We are finally given a car (the "Manager's Special" aka a hunk o' junk) after an hour and a half and we fill out the form where you mark previous damage. Basically just circled the whole car. Dents and scratches everywhere, dirty on the inside, stains on every seat. Whatever We leave. Cut to a few days later. Suddenly the engine is taking a long time to turn over when turning the key in the ignition. We didn't think that much of it, just hoped it would be fine for the next few days until we returned it. NOPE! The day we were leaving, we were at Lydgate State Park (so beautiful!) and the car wouldn't start. We tried and tried and eventually called Advantage customer service, who told us we would have to pay for a tow truck because we didn't buy the roadside assistance insurance. So WE have to pay because THEIR car is broken?! Anyway, after 10 minutes of being on hold, we eventually get the car to start ourselves. We drive straight to Advantage without stopping for gas like we had planned because, ya know, the car might not start again. When we show up to drop off the car, it goes well enough. We explain (nicely) about the issues and the gas and the poor worker who was just being yelled at by another unhappy customer tells us she understands and will waive any gas fees. We should have gotten her name because she was helpful and the only bright spot in this whole ordeal. In conclusion, this place is trash. Pay the extra $5/day to go to a real company that will only screw you over a little. Meanwhile, Kauai was spectacular and we loved the chickens! read more

I was greeted right away and given an upgrade on my vehicle. Car was a bit scratched up but the interior was nice. Very efficient and staff welcoming. I did notice they are charge extra for stained seats, extra sand and car in bad condition upon returning but that makes total sense. Who leaves a bunch of junk in your car? They also hold a deposit of $200 which was new to me. Check out was chill. So far so good. read more

Well my personal opinion is the best no problem at all and a was a walk in with No reservations... I got a great deal on a convertible Camaro perfect for Hawaii I did get some rain but a little rain never hurt any body .... Lani the bus driver lady was super nice she was the one who took me to the shop from the pier . After other companies did not want my business. read more

I rushed to rent a car through Hotwire after being told by Enterprise that they had no cars available. The car was shown as a "special". I booked it and proceeded to attempt to pick up the vehicle. The Advantage shuttle was dirty which gave me cause for concern. I arrived at the agency and was told that the car was a compact. The fee seemed high for a compact. Even more concern. The representative said that was their "special". I told the representative that I would like to cancel. That was our entire interaction. Post vacation, I see the charge of $85 on my account. Hotwire says because it was a special, there are no refunds. I just paid $85 for NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. The agency's rep didn't know this? No wonder the company is called ADVANTAGE. I feel taken advantage of. Update!!!!! It was suggested that I contact them. See below. I did and was told that they can't help me. It's all on Hotwire. Hotwire says, "sorry". read more

BE WARNED! If I could give this vendor negative stars, I would. As with most car rentals, the counter agent at check in tried to up sell us at every step. After getting through that (and declining those standard additional charges) we eventually got our rental. The car was an SUV when we booked a compact car. Fine. Then You self report damage and put the card in a little box sitting on the sidewalk--weird. the car was the dirtiest car I've ever rented in the past 10 years. It was clearly showing its age and the interior was stained with the classic kauai red mud. Within a day, the car's check engine light started running. At check out, the woman doing the check out does the most thorough review of the car I've ever experienced, which is surprising since they don't have a human to do a similar review at check in. She "advised" that we'd probably be charged a cleaning fee because there was sand in the car. (There was a little bit of sand, but nothing that wouldn't be easily vacuumed out when the car would be cleaned and no more than in prior years-we go to the island annual for about 10 years now) Surprised, I asked why since they include routine wear and tear in their fee. She responded, "we go to the beach and out cars don't look like that." Hrm, well, 1) are you saying that you expect me to do a car wash on a rental car before returning it and 2) I've never had any rental car question sand ever. I was more taken back by her rudeness. Also, all the employees at the rental car company are running around yelling at each other and so she wasn't paying any attention to the customer. Attached is a photo of the busted bus they use to shuttle folks to the terminal. read more

Advantage Rent A Car - Shuttle van - Car Rental Near Me - Lihue, Hawaii

Reading the fine print and calling the 800 number aren't enough...Renting the car...no problem. Driving the car... no problem... returning the car...AWFUL. The night before leaving Hawaii I was checking tickets etc and noticed that my flight was at 6:20 but the times for Advantage say they open at 6. That won't work. So I called the 800 number. Was told they RENT starting at 6 but that the shuttle runs from 5:15. A little close, but, okay... At 5:30 ended up across the street at Alamo who graciously took me to the terminal. read more

BIG MISTAKE. Pay the extra few bucks per day to go with a more reputable company. We wasted pretty much our whole first day on the island dealing with this rental service. The inside of the place was dirty, dingy, and pretty depressing. We started off and everything seemed fine other than how the car was pretty dirty, wrote down the dings and scratches we saw on the car on their form, took photos of them and drove off. We got lunch and kept driving toward the north shore where we were staying, and something seemed off about the vehicle (2 door Jeep Wrangler). It shook like crazy when stopped at lights, and bounced around way too much when in motion. After 40 min on the road and after reading the horror stories on this page, we decided we didn't want to end up stranded and potentially blamed for any issues with the car, turned around and went to switch out the car for a different one. After waiting in line or 45 minutes for what seemed like no reason, were told that this is just what driving a jeep is like but that they'd give us another one they had anyway. We started the process over. This jeep was also dirty, the rug was ripped in places, and we drove off. It didn't shake when in park or at stop lights, it wasn't super bouncy, so we don't think our first car's problems are "just what driving a jeep is like." We saw them give the original vehicle a once over and rent it right out to the next people in line. On our last day, after zero off-roading, our tire pressure light went on. We tried to fill the tire but the PSI readings didn't change and a tire pressure system warning went on, so we stopped messing with the tire pressure because we didn't want to make things worse. We told the clerk what had happened and they said not to worry about it. Two months later, we get a bill for $77 for "damages" to their property. We called the third party billing company and advantage and were told it was because of the light. We were just happy nothing happened with the first car and paid the bill, but if it was more money, we probably would have fought it. It's clear that Advantage doesn't maintain their vehicles and waits for things to go wrong for their customers so that they can blame the customers for any issues and get them to subsidize the repairs. read more

Steer clear. Upon returning car we had wet seats and sand in Hawaii. We had no towels and rushed to get to our flight. Instead of just saying we are going to have to clean the sand and dry the car for a fee they had manager and two other employees tell us how terrible we were. I get it we made a mistake. We are sorry, but to shame us by three people instead of just saying we are going to have to charge you and we would happily oblige. Please treat customers with respect and tell us you don't want any sand in the car upon return. The car leaked and got wet while raining, but I had no time to tell them since I just wanted to made my flight. Unless you are perfect please do not rent from them. read more

Price here compared to most other rentals seem great until the underline fees you get when you drop off the car. The customer service was not professional. Julia the manager was not helpful and her communication about rental agreements was not clear. Julia will try to offer an upgrade an make it seem like it's a better deal but it's really because they want to get the jeeps out because a lot of people go and reserve the standard cars. But after a few times of her asking if we wanted to pay 32$ extra a day for a Jeep, I declined. And received a Nissan. After driving off the lot we drove to our hotel 7 mins up the road kauai beach resort I parked the car, unloaded and due to the rain didn't want to drive much that day. The next following morning I get in the car and the tire pressure light pops on due to a nail in the front tire. I call advantage and the rep told me to return the car. The car was missing a little gas but I was charge, but due to the tire I wanted to get it back to the shop, knowing I'm not to Familiar with the island just yet and I paid for prepaid gas. I prepaid for gas but upon my arrival with the nail in the tire I was addressed by the manager who wanted to charge me 5.49 and not 3.71 which I originally paid for. I was then offered a Jeep because smaller cars were limited and went out so MALOU gave us "a free upgrade" remember nothing is free . MALOU and JULIA did not mention the extra fees that I would accumulate by taking the "free upgrade" To keep it simple PLEASE GO WITH ANOTHER COMPANY TO SAVE YOURSELF A HEADACHE AND FEES THAT WILL BE JUST AS MUCH AS ENTERPRISE, Budget, Avis these company I have rented from and will continue they have cleaner and better maintained cars. Please be sure to clarify all agreements and DONT NOT JUST SIGN THE PAD READ WHAT YOUR SIGNING JULIA SEEMS TO RUSH OVER FINE PRINT FEES and Costco on the island has the cheapest gas if you have a membership. read more

Destiny went above and beyond to make sure we got the right car. I've had horrible experiences at other rental places. She should be the manager! read more

Please please please never rent a car from this company. The most disgusting cars I have ever been in. We had a 2014 Hundai Santa Fe for our first car. Looked great on the outside. We got in and drove it an hour to my parents place in Princeville. Later, we would find out that there were over 30 COCKROACHES in this rental car. It was daylight and there was no problem originally driving the car. We went out for dinner that night with my parents to a bar a mile away from our hotel. When we came back to our Advantage rental car, 6-7 cockroaches swarmed around to hide in seat cushions away from the car lights that had turned on. I screamed! I have never seen that many roaches before in my life. We put beach towels down and drove the 5 minute drive back to my parents place with the car lights on to keep the roaches hidden in the seats. In the morning we called Advantage to tell them they needed to come pick this car up and bring us a new one. The first representative we got told us this was normal on this island and they can't stop the roaches from being in their cars. I told her my parents live here, I've rented cars over 10 times on this island and I have never had roaches in a rental car. She hung up on me. The second time I tried calling their corporate office to tell them of the issue. They transferred me to the Lihue Advantage instead of dealing with the issue themselves. I talked to another representative at the Lihue Advantage office who told me that they would not pick up the roach infested rental car because I did not purchase roadside assistance. I told her this was not a roadside assistance issue. This was a sanitation issue with the car that they provided. She told me the only thing they could do was have us drive the hour there and back to exchange the car. Overnight we had caught over 30 roaches in the traps that we setup in the Advantage rental car. I didn't want to keep driving around in a car that was infested. Towing the car would cost us $600. We had no choice but to put sheets on our seats and drive the rental car back to advantage. Advantage gave us a 2016 Jeep renegade. It had 8000 miles on it. We looked around the car. Couldn't see any signs of cockroaches. We felt safe. This was a new car! It was from this year. Drove the hour back to my parents place and went out for dinner. Came back out for dinner to find MORE COCKROACHES IN THE SECOND CAR THEY GAVE US!!! We set out traps again throughout the new car. Caught 6-7 overnight - though less than the first car, still incredibly disgusting. Don't risk it. They gave us $28 off our reservation which they told us was much more than they gave other people. Still waiting for my partial refund. We'll see if it even comes through or if they were lying about that as well. read more

Advantage Rent A Car - One of the multiple roach traps we placed in an Advantage Rent a Car in Lihue, Kauai, HI - Car Rental Near Me - Lihue, Hawaii

You need to be cautious when renting from this company in Lihue. The check-in process took about 20 minutes and our experience with the agent somewhat unpleasant. The agent tried to up-sell us on a vehicle that we ultimately received, because of a shortage of compact cars so if we had upgraded at a higher price, we would have received the vehicle that we were intended. He also tried to heavy-pressure us into purchasing collision damage waiver coverage, etc. Then he tried to charge us a fee for an additional driver, a fee that was already included in the rental quote. His explanation of the pre-paid fuel option was convoluted. We were bracing for surprises when we returned the vehicle, but the return went smoothly and I was charged what I was quoted, so that balanced out the initial negative experience. read more

NEVER AGAIN will I rent with Advantage! By far the most disgusting rental place ever. I've travelled to other islands and never had problems with rental cars. First attempt to get the car out the lot, we had to do a visual inspection of the exterior ourselves, just to notice our front bumper was nearly falling off. Second attempt, driving the car out the lot, we notice the car was making some loud noise. So we had to drive back to complain and exchange the car. So now we have a car. One night, my husband had to get something out the car and noticed there were tons of bugs!!! Like roaches! Of course I didn't believe it. Until the next morning, when I saw it myself. By then I was tired of exchanging cars and told him, let's just ride it out till the end of our trip. Bad idea, I had big bites on my leg because of this. I highly doubt they sanitize their cars or clean it. We couldn't shop throughout the day cuz we know roaches would get in our stuff. Even in broad daylight, roaches/bugs would be in the trunk. Sadly, some did get in our stuff. We had to make sure we didn't bring any of that back to our room so we would had to clean our stuff before heading back into the room. What I should've learned was, upon check in, customers were already complaining about the same thing. Yet, I gave it a try... vehicle making a loud noise, bugs in the car, etc. Upon return, I told the guy that the cars needs to be sprayed or something. It was just pure disgusting. Like I felt there were eggs hatching so the bugs kept multiplying. Yah they did offer us a 10% off but that's nothing compared to the nasty bug bite that I got. Just to think of those roaches too... Never again Advantage. I didn't enjoy my stay in Kauai because the car was horribly gross. read more

I can't really give this place a one because they didn't truly upset me. When you get to Lihue airport the Advantage Shuttle takes a while because there is only one shuttle running around. If you can catch another shuttle bus the rental center houses all companies. I got a good rate off of Priceline and usually have good cars from Advantage. When we got there we quickly got to the front of the line on our own. Thank goodness because they were slow. The car we got was ok. But the air conditioning was leaking. We tried to call both nationally and locally. No one was able to help us. The carpet got wet and really stunk up the car. We decided not to change cars because we had a short stay. UPDATE: Thanks to the manager for reaching out and commenting about this review. Shows they care. But I also forgot to mention the car had at least half a dozen roaches crawling around. Can't stop renters from eating in the car I guess. Their reasoning is that when is rains all cars get roaches. RETURN UPDATE: There were "iPad technical difficulties." And they tried to tell us that we made the dings and dents on the car. Word of caution. Use the prior rental cars to identify damages and THEY DO NOT USE A STANDARD MEASURING device for damages. read more

Booking through Expedia and talking with Advantage was a waste of time. The gentleman could or would not answer my 2 questions and just kept saying "well you booked through a 3rd party site". Would not give me a number to their location pick up desk to get the answer I needed. I hung up and cancelled. read more

We had the pleasure of working with Christina during our rental signing. She was so fucking unprofessional it isn't even funny. She would only try to up-sell us and thought that is was super important to get all of there insurances when it wasn't. She also keep her hand over her mouth when she talked so we couldn't hear anything she was saying. Her English was very poor and she kept yawning the whole time we were there. At one point she goes, "terry, can I go home now?" When she was in the middle of working with us. She keep saying " all I want to do is go home and sleep" "only 2 more hours". Definitely not taking her job seriously. She was anything but a customer service representative. She made us feel stupid when we opted out of something they offered and kept saying stuff like "are you sure?" After we repeatedly told her no. She needs to grow up and be more professional when dealing with people. As someone new to Hawaii, she was the first person we dealt with in Kauai and it's insulting to feel that way when you come to a location so amazing like this . I don't recommend doing business here. read more

First time renting with Advantage and I will be back!!! From start to finish, experience was fantastic. Best rate, excellent friendly service from reps, automatic complimentary upgrade to SUV, and CLEAN car....which on the Garden Isle is a challenge!!! Been renting cars for 30+years here in Kauai and very impressed with Advantage over the bigger guys. Cherry on top was car had a small dent (almost golf ball size) when I returned it. Not sure if I missed it in my original walk around or if it happened during my very short rental period. Sweet lady who took my paperwork questioned dent, and was concerned but in the end, she waived me on. Keep up the awesome work guys....you're killin it!!! read more