Category Archives for car rental.
Hertz charged a customer $519.80 for driving their rental car through a single $1 toll. Reader Chris had rented from Hertz for four weeks in Stamford, Connecticut. And he went through one toll. That activated Hertz’s ‘PlatePass’ system and charged him for it for every single day of his rental.
You may pay tourism fees; concession recovery fees; customer transportation fees; parking recovery fees; vehicle license fees; energy surcharges; and even tire fees. Junk fees often add 50% – 100% to the cost of a car rental. Car rental companies employ the most creative people in the world at developing scam fees and naming them euphemistically.
Toll tracking is one of the more annoying fees that rental car companies impose.
A reader shared his experience Monday night renting from Hertz at Dallas – Fort Worth. He’d reserved an SUV but was happy to take any car. They had none they’d rent. He’s a Presidents Circle member and was behind 15 others in that top public elite tier line waiting for a car. He reports about 20 people deep in line for Five Star elite. I feel sorry for those without status.
Worse, they actually had cars they wouldn’t give out to customers who’d reserved them. They were premium vehicles available for additional upgrade.
Hertz got huge publicity announcing an order two years ago for 100,000 Teslas. Since then they’ve taken on other electric vehicles as well. The problem, though, is that people aren’t reserving them.
I regularly search car rentals and find that Hertz electric vehicles are often my cheapest option among the big rental companies. Hertz also has a special deal on EVs currently going on.
Hertz in New Orleans refused to rent to a car to a law enforcement officer of 25 years because he’s from Puerto Rico – and only presented a driver’s license and not a passport – because “he was from a foreign country.”
When the man insisted that no, he’s an American, the rental car giant called law enforcement to remove him. That’s when he was threatened to bring over immigration authorities.
Hertz announced a $168 million settlement covering 364 claims against them, at an average of just over $460,000 per customer.
There are perhaps a dozen more customers who are suing Hertz, that are not a part of the settlement. I have to think that in many of those cases the customers believe the egregiousness of their experience warrants a greater cash payout and that it makes sense to get closer to trial.
At approximately 5:22 a.m. on Tuesday, Hertz-owned vehicles that had been rented by President Biden’s Secret Service burst into flames in a lot at the Nantucket airport after they were returned.
A Ford Expedition had reportedly been under a battery recall, but hadn’t yet had the battery replaced. It appears to have caught fire, taking four other vehicles with it.
A member of frequent flyer community FlyerTalk reports being arrested because they rented a car from Hertz that the company had previously reported stolen
You can earn 25,000 Etihad Guest miles per 3+ day Avis rental. This is in addition to the usual base miles earned renting cars.
Don’t let the fact that the offer is for Etihad Guest miles stop you. Etihad miles are easy to get since the program is a transfer partner of American Express, Capital One and Citibank.
Hertz has a problem keeping track of its fleet of cars. Customers return the cars, but staff fail to check in the vehicles. And report them stolen. Sometimes the person who returned it gets arrested, sometimes the next person who rents the car gets arrested for the theft. There are horror stories of cops with guns drawn, and long stays in jail. And Hertz, which has acknowledged the issues, doesn’t withdraw false police reports – saying that to do so would undermine their credibility with police (!).
These stories usually involve either extending a rental or swapping a car, and usually happen at the main Hertz brand, rather than at Dollar or Thrifty which they also own. So the story of a traffic stop of a father and 13 year old daughter – complete with guns and police body cam footage – is just as notable for happening on a Thrifty rental as for coming mere minutes after driving off the rental lot with contract in hand.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
