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After years renting with Budget for local trips out of Los Angeles, we tried Advantage as their rates were too good to pass up. Thru their website, we secured a basic car for $19.95 per day for a four day ski rental. Using our Miles and More Lufthansa MasterCard, we resverved the car and declined all the extra, expensive coverage. We reviewed our credit card agreement carefully with regards to their car rental insurance and learned some important things. First, to be covered by MasterCard, we needed to decline any and all insurance offered by the rental car company. We also noted the coverage was only for vehicles worth under $25,000., which may disqualify a great deal of cars and four wheel drive rental vehicles. Always review your card agreement carefully if you plan to use your card's insurance coverage. Once you know your agreement, confidently decline the coverage, even though the counter agent will give you a song and dance about how your card doesnt cover enough (it does) and how worthwhile their worry-free coverage is, usually at a cost of 30% of the rental fee. Don't fall for it. I only say this for people using Amex or other major travel credit cards which offer rental car coverage. If you don't have this, the coverage offered by the rental car company can offer peace of mind, at a cost.
The Advantage location was at LAX so we took the subway from our downtown Los Angeles location to Union Station, where we caught the Flyaway Airport bus direct to LAX for $15.00 roundtrip. Once at LAX, we got off at Terminal 1, and went downstairs to await the Advantage shuttle. We called the office, and the shuttle was there in 5 minutes. It was 1 pm on a non holiday Wednesday afternoon, so the office was empty, we were in the car and away in 10 minutes.
The car was a 2010 Nissan Versa and performed fine for a small econocar. We took the car to Big Bear to ski, read the article coming soon. The car was returned without problem, and we were charged the quoted rate. We took the Advantage shuttle back to LAX for our return home. |
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