Darren Lynn Bousman is the director of Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, and several other horror films. So when he went to rent a car from Hertz – over Halloween week – well, you know where this story is going. He passes along,
When the Saw franchise is inevitably rebooted I want Hertz’s customer service team to be the new Jigsaw.
Bousman flew to Kansas City and went to the Hertz lot to pick up his rental. It took 30 minutes of paperwork and he was assigned to an EV. As he left the lot he “notice[d] the car is only 5% charged and the nearest charging station is 18 miles away.” That’s not going to work.
- He rang the Hertz location, but they were closed.
- He called their Roadside Assistance but got no answer
- He Ubers to his destination and back
Hertz Tesla Model 3
The next day he has the car towed back to the Hertz lot at the airport. He was charged $600 for the rental and the tow, plus he was out the cost of his Ubers. In his view, these expenses fall on Hertz.
After 90 minutes on the phone he managed to reach a supervisor. He’s told to pound sand – this is all on him. So much for what’s obviously his favorite holiday of the year.
My take though? He rented an EV and this time Hertz didn’t charge him for gas! You laugh. They did it to this customer and to this one. It’s impossible to fill up a gas tank on an EV, which means you can’t avoid fees for failing to fill the tank.
Hertz made a huge blunder with their EVs. They’ve proven much more expensive to maintain than the company expected, and much less desired by customers. They are very good cars, but they take some adjusting to – which isn’t something you want to do for a single trip. Plus charging takes time, and you don’t want to go out of your way and spend 25 minutes charging on the way to the airport.
If you’re familiar enough with EVs, go ahead and rent one. Just check the battery charge while they’re still open! But don’t buy a Hertz Tesla, and not just because buying used ex-rental cars is always dicey. Rental cars get beaten up by drivers and even by staff and aren’t as well cared for as a car owned by a single individual.
The condition of Hertz Teslas is apparently worse in particular for battery wear. These are high mileage vehicles for their age and when I rented one it was charged to 98% at pickup. Recommended battery care is charging to 80% for regular driving and 90% for occasional long-distance driving. Plus nearly all charging will be done with high speed chargers on a rental vehicle.
Ultimately, isn’t what happened to this horror film director on Halloween the least you expect to happen to you when you rent from Hertz? Earlier this year I wrote about one person who tried to rent from Hertz for the very first time and found they’d already been banned by the company. Hertz has even been known to ban a customer’s descendants, too.
One elite member chalked up 4 arrests spending 30 days in jail, where she suffered a miscarriage. And a father and daughter were held at gunpoint and arrested for renting from Hertz.
Considering the Hertz toll scam, and of course a history of customers getting arrested just because they rented from the company – and Hertz refusing to admit its mistake lest the police stop believing them when they file false police reports, just getting an EV without charged battery so you can’t take it far enough to get arrested seems actually not so bad in the scheme of things?
Never saw Saw.
Name should be changed to Hurts
Airport authorities and commissions with Hertz as a concessionaire could theoretically do something.
So could a state attorney general or a state consumer protection division.
And yet, somehow, no governmental agency or politician seems to care.
How has Hertz not been dragged up to Capitol Hill for a congressional hearing?
So, he spent 30 minutes in the office doing paperwork, walked out to the car and didn’t notice the 5% charge? And when he did notice “as he left the lot,” the office (which I assume was the airport location) closed minutes before? Sure.
I only rented from Hertz once…10 years ago. Now I completely avoid them!!!
I’m sorry Gary but no EV is a “very good car”. They’re an abysmal compromise and only work for a select few. As for Hertz only a moron would rent from them given their record.
Because you might be assigned an EV is prime reason to not rent at Hertz.
FYI – to your comment on charging to 80% – in early 2022, Tesla changed their battery chemistry and started recommending charging to 100%. We’ve had our Model 3 for just over two years, charging to 100% when the battery gets low (typically about once a week) and have lost about 1% range over that time.
If an EV is the only option, then I find another option.
I have seldom accepted one as a rental car… when I have, it’s been Avis and they made it worth my while. Once in Joplin, MO where they told me they’d comp me the one day rental if I charged the thing to 80% (since they didn’t have a charger and there wasn’t one exactly close by… they had the car because they’d been mandated to buy X number of EVs). That was simple enough to spend like $12 and get the car for just that.
Hyannis, MA gave me an EV since I had a one-way to Logan. They wanted to get rid of it. Told me don’t have to charge it, and knocked $20 off the bill. Just to have it go away.
Rental EVs also tend to be roach infested especially in the south. They love the ambient heat.
Maybe EVs are not ideal rentals in the the US , but in many other countries you pay a premium to rent one! Why? Because gas/petrol is so much more expensive.
Despite all the moaning about gas prices by US dinosaur road warriors, your gas is cheap!
Getting back on point, the lesson is never rent from Hertz, ever.
@NedsKid “Rental EVs also tend to be roach infested especially in the south.” Source?
“They love the ambient heat.” Since EVs generate less ambient heat than an ICE car, this makes no sense.
I am currently dealing with Budget on a tow charge for $879.00 because their Tesla wouldn’t hold a charge. They had it towed from WY to Denver and charged me for the tow because their car quit. The infotainment system crashed, cruise control crashed and then traveled 58 miles on a 111 mile charge. I had to rent another car to get to the airport the next day.
Having to plot out recharging options is an inconvenience.
Reminds me of the need to check the car recharging options at or near the AC Los Angeles South Bay hotel in El Segundo for tomorrow and Saturday for the post-Boo Do.
In this thread: A bunch of cannibal dinosaurs.
“You’ll never take away my dino juice! You’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead appendages!” wheezed the dinosaur. It gurgled down one last pint of the dino juice, and heaved one final sigh as it collapsed, the last of its kind.
I won’t bother trying to convince anyone who can’t see the writing on the wall. You can argue about timeline, but BEV’s are the future. If you can’t see that, well, it says more about you than it does about the future or anyone else.
EVs are not great as rentals. But you just can’t beat it as an everyday car. Charge at home overnight on a NEMA 50A outlet. Never go to a gas station again. Smooth acceleration, no engine noise, no oil changes … once you go EV, you’ll never go back.
Hertz suxxx
1) Has the pattern of false police reports been seen with Dollar or Thrifty?
2) Has the pattern of false police reports been seen outside the U.S.?
I will not rent from Hertz until Gary says it is safe to do so. Seriously. But I’m wondering if it’s safe to rent from Dollar and/or Thrifty.
I recall some mention of Hertz and Dollar being sued for this kind of falsely pinning car theft onto renters. Don’t recall Thrifty being mentioned in the lawsuits, but I haven’t checked.
For the benefit of others: Hertz owns Dollar and Thrifty, and that is why the concern is about all 3 rental companies.
You won’t see me parking a Hertz rental car at an El Segundo hotel this weekend for the FT DO. Hertz scares me off with its questionable business practices and elevated prices so my President’s status no longer gets any use here.
Hertz spent a ton of money on EV’s but nothing to support them. They should have partnered with Marriott or another large hotel chain to install chargers specifically for Hertz vehicles.
Not renting from Hertz is like not visiting any place in the USA because, you know, LA’s gangs. Someone please write something about the actual stats: how many rentals are completed by Hertz per year? Still with me? Okay, second question: how many people have a negative incident with Hertz that involves law enforcement or accusations of wrongdoing? Now, stick with me: divide the first number by the second number. Nobody anywhere has ever covered this matter this way and until they do, all stories about Hertz are clickbait. I choose any car in the Presidents Circle corral, of which one is always a Tesla, sometimes one is a Polestar, and in SoCal, one is a Mustang Convertible (my usual choice). I’ll take my chances on the dramatic disastrous inevitability of going to prison.
Waiting for Timmy to tell us how premium Hertz is due to their partnership with Delta.
Years ago before the age of Uber and Lyft Hertz had a program in major cities where you could rent a car one way from the airport to local Hertz garage in your neighborhood. In part it was a respond to Zip Car. I would use the service with late arriving flights from LGA where getting a cab could be a real hassle. You paid a flat fee (almost always less than a cab ride) but you were suppose to stop and get gas if the tank was less than 1/4 full (Hertz provided a credit card to do so). One night I got into a Jetta and realize the gauge was on E but it was a engine. No gas stations with diesel. I made it to the garage in Manhattan but the gauge was below E by then. Hertz was not happy with me.
Seems unlikely EV’s will ever be a popular option for rentals, unless companies become able to roll the charging cost into the rental and allow returning on low battery without fees. They don’t have the space/infrastructure for that, and this seems unlikely to change in the near term.
They’re fine as personal vehicles as long as you aren’t one who frequently does long road trips. Waiting around for 25 minutes for a “rapid charge” inhibits one’s ability to “make good time” on a road trip.
Hertz = NEVER !
I rented from Hertz years ago. Never again. Then I heard about all the charges of customers supposedly and falsely stealing cars. Double never again.
How are they still in business?
Hertz better call Saul to help them with this case.
Late for Halloween, here’s my Hertz Horror Story. 3 or 4 months before a visit to JAX I booked and paid in full for a rental. In the meantime, I lost that credit card and had it replaced with a new one. I get to the desk at JAX and the clerk asks for my ID and credit card, which I fork over. Because the credit card number doesn’t match, they won’t let me have the car! Nor will they let me make a new booking even though they have cars available. The clerk tells me no other rental agency will rent me a car because I already have one booked with Hertz! She seems to be highly amused by my situation, stranded at the airport. I spend 3 hours on various phone calls and I’m unable to resolve this with Hertz, so I go give Budget a try. Lo and behold, they’re happy to rent a car to me. My complaint to Hertz resulted in a $50 gift certificate which, of course, I never used.
First mistake, renting from Hertz.
Why? Don’t people read about the horror stories of false arrests?
After being “burned” by Budget in Edinburgh, I dropped them like a hot rock. I ALWAYS…ALWAYS take pictures of the rental car inside and outside with my iPhone…every scratch and dent. I always include the gas gauge and the mileage. That takes all of 5 minutes MAX! The meta data on the iPhone photo is always correct. I do the same thing on return. This assumes that one will not RUSH to leave the car! I, too go straight to Hertz Gold and have never (knock on wood) had a problem. Three weeks ago, I was in KPDX. As I pulled out of the rental car center, I noticed a “whap whap whap” and pulled over at a convenient stop..still on Airport Way. There was a huge bolt with washer stuck in the left front tire. I immediately went back to the airport. Showed the check in attendant my rental agreement (“only 3 miles sir!”), went to the desk in the garage and within 15 minutes (and more pictures) was on my way. No charge (of course!) for the 3 miles!
If a rental car company that is renting Ev Cars is screwing peoples over with their Electric car rentals,then I think everyone should complain about the company. The more it is done by travellers, the more negative reputation will screw the company