U-Save Auto & Truck Rental

Reserved a car at their Somerville location, which it turns out doesn’t exist (despite information on their website to the contrary). Had to bike the 4 miles to the Allston location where the car was, and was treated with unapologetic, slow service. Will not be renting from them ever again.

Second time using this location, and both times (2010 and this past month) went smoothly. They’re super efficient — during my last rental I was in and out pretty quickly with my truck, even though it was a Saturday at the end of the month. Customer service is above and beyond! I had left my phone in the taxi I took to get there, and the representative who worked with me was kind enough to let me use his to track it down and have it returned. Will definitely use again if I’m moving in the area!

Would give zero stars if possible.
They lie about vehicle availability, will bill your credit card with false charges days after the rental that they refuse to remove. On top of that they are extremely rude. DEFINITELY never rent from here, I will never do so again and will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau immediately.
There are multiple other great options in Cambridge and Boston and spending slightly more at Hertz, Avis, or elsewhere will save you hundreds of dollars in false charges that U-​Save will add on for bogus reasons.

Negative stars!!! Terrible service, they overcharge you for giving you a car far more expensive than what you reserve. No matter who’s at fault in an accident, they always charge customers. The definition of a rip off. DO NOT EVER USE USAVE.

I sincerely advice everyone NOT to rent cars/​trucks from this place!!! I repeat, DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY!
There are over 33 reviews that are not factored into the rating. If you scroll down the page. You will see those reviews. I advice everyone to go through those reviews as well.
My friends and I had a trip planned out for the 4^th of July weekend. The day before, we had a slight change in the plan. so, i give this car rental company a call, the day before, to modify my reservation. To my astonishment, they had already cancelled my car reservation 2 days ago without notifying me.
After almost 30 minutes into the call, the manager (Pat) tells me there’s nothing he can do. So, i call up their headquarters to explain them what happened and to see if they can get me a car from a different place. After, waiting for almost an hour, some guy (from the headquarters) tells me that they have resolved the issue and that i should call up the Allston branch again to get the car.
This time around, i was hoping that i will get my car and everything will go smoothly. Oh boy! i was wrong!!! This manager (Pat) picks up the phone and as soon as i say my name, he starts to freak out. This is what he said and i quote «I don’t care even if you call up the pope. I told you there’s nothing we can do. I don’t even know if we have a headquarter. Probably, its some guy in Mexico answering your call. Try again next time.» And, hangs up on me.
It is so much better to pay a little more, then to be humiliated and treated like this!!!

It was nothing but stress and disappointment since arriving at U-​save. After wasting about $ 40 in cab fare when we could have gotten a direct shuttle from South Station, our initial destination, I was denied my rental for not having a regular credit card but a pre-​paid. My girlfriend and I didn’t get to eat any decent dinner since by the time we caught a cab and after all the wasted time there was nothing decent to eat by the hour we unloaded our baggage at the hotel. We eat organic and vegan, not fried bar food which is all that is available by 10 pm. It was impossible to get to decent food in time without a rental or an expensive taxi ride. Getting around on foot in the bitter cold and icy sidewalks was practically impossible. I spent $ 147 on a hotel room that I would have never stayed at. I only got to sleep just under four hours since I had to get up early in the vain attempt to still rent a car. I could have visited my parents in Virginia longer. I do not travel by air so it would take another long train trip cross country and time off work for me to have the opportunity to see my grandmother again. I am severely upset and considering some sort of legal action. I acted in good faith upon a car reservation that I would be able to visit my 93-​year old grandmother who cannot travel. On top of that my reservation is non-​refundable so I paid for something that I didn’t even get! I want a refund at minimum and would like damages for my trouble. After being told I could change my insurance to in state and leave a deposit equal to my full-​collision deductible the policy wouldn’t go into effect until midnight after they closed. I was only in Boston for 18 hours just to see my grandmother and spent most of the time frustrated and hemmoraging money for nothing! U-​Save ruined the hell out of my trip. The staff was callous and indifferent on top of it all.

If it wasn’t for this company, our holiday would’ve been ruined. After being mucked around by another larger car rental company and after much searching for another 7 seater car at the last minute (being the first weekend of summer vacation) we finally came across U Save Car Rental, who helped us out. They were very accommodating and even delivered the car to their other location which was closer to us. Unlimited miles and they had no problems with us taking the car to Canada (unlike the other company). Friendly staff too.

I would give them 0 stars if possible. This company charged me over $ 300 for a 12 hour 10 passenger van rental (Driven from Providence to Weirs Beach, NH and back.)
They double charged me claiming I was late to drop it off… If only I thought, on my birthday, to take a second and photograph the TIME that we dropped it off (two hours early after being told by Pat Walsh (feel free to email the jerk:
) that we could take our time) maybe I wouldn’t have been charged a late fee of an entire additional day’s charge.
Two weeks after I rented the van they charged $ 60 to my card. Thankfully I was able to send them an email of proof through my bank account statement that I filled the tank at the gas station beside the drop off point… apparently that did not save me from an additional $ 75 dollar fee for dropping it off with what he claimed was «¹⁄₈^th tank of gas.»
This company is a rip off. Never rent a van from them, for any reason. Stay away from them all together.
Pat Walsh is a scam artist. He hardly responded to me and never explained any charges.
I made a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.
I would make 20 if it would mean they’d shut these people down.

I’ve used U-​Save for both work and personal rentals (vans, trucks and cars). I’ve always had good service, competitive rates and super fast service. The staff has always been friendly and professional with me, but then again, you get what you give… U-​Save is my «go to» place.

What a shi*****. After 4 months of renting a pickup truck, I receive a bill claiming I was responsible for damage in the amount of $ 1100. So I call them up and ask them, did you suddenly wake up after 4 months and decide to send me this bill? They say, «we called you but you didn’t pick. not our problem.» So I tell them that they are lying and they say, «we’ll see you in court.» A point to note is that even after 4 months, they didn’t bother calling me. They just emailed me a bill with a message, «Please call us asap.» My phone records show no call, no voice mail and my email inbox shows no other sign of correspondence.
So I have written to their CEO and asked for an investigation claiming that this kind of behavior reflects poorly on the parent company of which they are a franchisee. The dept of operations replied saying that they will investigate the matter.
They are a bunch of liars, and if you have an option then don’t go with them. If you do, document the condition of the car in detail and fight any fictitious charges that they try to pin on you.
Good luck dealing with them.

I was afraid by the others’ reviews, BUT everything was fine, not the most friendly people here but fine…

Rented a truck in July to clean out my mother’s house after she passed away. The truck I reserved was waiting for me, clean and ready to go. The employees were helpful and got me on my way quickly. No hassle returning the truck and the cost was as agreed when I resrved the truck.

After reading all the horror stories about U-​Save I was seriously concerned about renting a vehicle from them. Despite that fact they were the only place around with a Conversion Van to rent and I needed the space/​comfort for a 23 hour car ride to Orlando. My fears were completely unwarranted. Everyone we dealt with was in a great mood and I didn’t see any of the attitudes that other reviewers mention. We received the exact type of car that we had reserved. I should mention that we actually went there and reserved the car in person, because we wanted to make sure it would meet our needs. The final price was exactly what we were quoted and we were in and out of there in a matter of minutes. Overall it was a good car rental experience and I would certainly rent from them again.

Garbage. The car was filthy inside and out. The tires leaked air. The check engine light was on. I got charged extra because I was driving outside of New England (this was buried somewhere in the fine print of my web reservation). Guys, New England is not a country.
In return for my annoyance, I got a 10% off coupon for my next rental. Which will never, ever happen.

This is a mixed bag of goodies and baddies. Need a basic car for a day or two at a reasonable price? Woot. Need a van or moving truck? Boo.
Their prices for vans and trucks are way too high, especially when there is a Budget down the street that is so much cheaper.
But, for cars, this is the only place I go! Good cars for the best price in town. The people are really nice and the check out is pretty painless. When renting on a day basis, this is even cheaper (or around the same price) as Zip Car.

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT RENTING HERE! The General Manager Pat Walsh is a super prick. If you have an issue with anything the answer will be SORRY. My story has to do with the fees they charge for Fastlane malfunctions. $ 50 per incident if your transponder does not work while renting one of their cars. I had my transponder properly registered with fastlane prior to renting the car. For some reason of the 15 times I used the transponder it did not trigger 2 times. I got a bill from U Save for $ 100 for this malfunction. This is ridiculous. The rental was $ 110 dollars and the fees they charged me for the fastlane malfunction is $ 100. Never will I rent from them again. And dont you either! Pay $ 5 more and go to a decent car rental place where if you have a reasonable issue, they will work with you and not just say… NO.

Simply DON“T GO!
I rented a cargo van last week at this location. Way too expensive compare to other rental companies. Rate starts at $ 130 (1 day) for cargo van! Also, there’s an old guy (I don’t know if he’s the owner or manager) very very very rude.
I will never ever go back again!

Can I give zero stars?
My boyfriend has rented cars from u-​save a couple of times– without problem. This past weekend, we had problems galore. He reserved a compact/​economy car a few weeks ago for saturday-​sunday. He showed up on saturday to find an empty parking lot — no cars. First thing they say when he walks into the office is that they don’t have any cars. Turns out they did have a BMW, but didn’t want to rent it for the compact price.
Instead of just apologizing and trying to resolve the situation, they then told him that he needed his passport (not a u.s. citizen) to rent the car, despite never needing this in the past. So, 30 minutes later I’m in the office with my license. Then they say if it’s my license, then it has to be on my credit card too (that just doesn’t make sense… as long as it’s paid for, it shouldn’t matter who’s paying for it), so fine, here’s my license and my credit card. At this point, the boyfriend was not in a good mood (and the girl in the office had just taken a call and said that the BMW was rented to someone else).
The guy (maybe the owner) of USave then said, «you know what, I’ve had enough of this, I don’t want your business, have a nice day.» An hour after the car pickup started, on a saturday afternoon at 1:30… still no car. We called the somerville location to see if they had a car, and they were completely sold out. I asked about the other offices, and she said, they didn’t have any cars available at all in any location. Interesting…
20 minutes later, we ended up at Enterprise in the Pru garage. Plenty of cars, incredibly nice staff, no question whatsoever about the non-U.S. driver’s license, 10 minutes after walking in– we drove out and were on our way.
Issues:
Not enough cars available to fill reservations.
Made up policies (that haven’t been enforced before) on the spot.
Rude, rude, rude.
Lesson learned:
Back to enterprise… it may be $ 10 more a day or so, but the hassle-​free process and nice people are so worth it.

STAY AWAY.
I dropped a car off in perfect condition on a Saturday night. Two days later, they called to say that more than $ 1,300 in damage occurred to the windshield while I was «contractually responsible.» If it happened before Sunday morning, why didn’t anyone call all day Sunday? (Yes, they’re open from 7am to 5pm on Sundays.) They wouldn’t answer, nor would they provide the names of staff that worked Sunday, nor would they acknowledge any obligation to notify customers of damage in a timely manner.
Just know that the risk of doing business with these guys FAR overshadows the minimal savings.
Edit: I just read Robert B’s review and I really pity him; they pulled a very similar scam on me and told me essentially the same things.

I went here for the first time before I moved to Allston. I also had just started working in Boston, and was not familiar with the area.
My purpose here was to rent a 12 passenger van for work to tote some people around town and eventually to New Hampshire. I took a cab out there from our office downtown and wondered why the F someone would live way out here and in such a sketchy neighborhood. Seriously, I was scared for my life waiting there at 7am on a Friday.
The guy showed up to open the store on time, which was a relief for me. I showed my out of state license and gave him a credit card that had someone else’s name on it and received the keys shortly thereafter. I came out with him to inspect the vehicle and watched him extract several tiki torches from the rear of the vehicle. There were also a few bottles of Ice House back there. Nice.
Other than the post-​party mess inside, the vehicle was in good shape. I returned it with considerably less gas than I got it with and they didn’t say anything. While in possession of the vehicle, I got a ticket (not my fault, the guy in front of me said he’d pay the EZ-​pass for me and didn’t…I’m planning on stealing his stapler next week while he’s at lunch) that they charged my company $ 50 for the ticket and $ 50 for the «processing» … which made no sense, but I didn’t pay it so I didn’t really care.
Overall, good experience, though would have liked to see a cleanout prior to my renting the vehicle.
I walked by this place recently and realized it is in my neighborhood. Where did my hopes and dreams go?