A Hertz customer rented a car for a month and drove it 25,000 miles or about 800 miles per day which is genuinely impressive and might be some sort of world record.
He had an unlimited miles rate – most rentals in the U.S. from major brands say they include unlimited miles, but not all rates do. 100 miles per day with specific charges for overage used to be more common. Unlimited miles seems lucky in this case!
Except that when he returned the car, Hertz was not happy – and said they were going to charge $10,000 miles for the excess driving. Here’s the interaction, as shown in video:
Customer: You’re going to charge this to $10,000 to my credit?”
Hertz: “Yes.”
Customer: “When this literally, that’s not even allowed. I never signed…”
Hertz: “You show me where it says I can’t charge it.”
Customer: “Right here, it literally says I won’t get charged anything, it says miles allowed, free miles, it literally says to refer to this if there’s anything extra. I’ve never signed anything saying I can only go 100 miles a day, or anything like that, or that I would have to pay more.”
Hertz: “But you also never signed anything saying you were going to be allowed to drive 25,000 miles in a month.”
Customer: “No, unlimited is 100,000 miles.”
Hertz: “No it is not.”
“Unlimited” is a weird word for limited, I think. The customer might as well tell this manager, “I demand you pay me $10,000 because you never signed a paper saying I can’t charge you $10,000.” The whole exchange is absurd. But it gets worse.
Hertz: “Dude, we’re done. Please leave. You can either leave or I will have you arrested.” (Dials phone.)
Customer: Wow. Now you’re going to call the cops on me, ok.
@lifeisfun3000 Unlimited means a reasonable amount? @Hertz #scam #rentalcar #hertz #fyp #viralvideo ♬ original sound – Life
In rental contracts, “unlimited mileage” generally allows renters to drive without mileage limits or charges. However, rental companies sometimes apply “reasonable use” policies or terms implying “excessive usage” could lead to additional fees. These aren’t always transparent and may only surface in cases with extreme mileage during a rental like 25,000 miles in a month. They may justify the fee by referencing maintenance or vehicle lifecycle concerns.
It seems to me that when specifying unlimited mileage is included in the rate, if unlimited does not mean unlimited then this,
- cannot be in a separate policy outside of the contract
- needs to be clearly disclosed up front to the customer
- needs to be in as prominent a placement as ‘unlimited’
As a result, I would love to see this litigated. Part of me wants to see Hertz out of business for their poor business processes, policies, and customer service.
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.
At the same time, I want Hertz to stick around because like competition in the segment of the market that purports to compete with Avis and National. Hertz regularly seems to have lower pricing. They have to, because smart consumers won’t rent from them. This helps to keep down pricing at the better alternatives.
Even better companies have shady practices, too. The rental car industry really does seem ripe for disruption. The problem seems to be that car rentals are almost an afterthought in trip planning, so they mostly get a pass for being awful.
And considering the Hertz toll scam, arrests, and Hertz refusing to admit its mistake lest the police stop believing them when they file false police reports, it’s probably best just to treat the $10,000 charge as prepaid bail?
(HT: One Mile at a Time)
God invented cancer so Hertz execs could suffer from it.
How do you even drive 25,000 miles in a month????
Don’t you need to sleep?
Where are you going?
Isn’t it cheaper to take a flight to China instead of driving?
If you drive so much then buy a car, no?
Also, shouldn’t the limit be in small writing?
He needs a good attorney.
A Judge needs to tell Hertz that unlimited means “without limitations” and therefore if you offer unlimited miles for a price the customer can drive 1 mile or 100,000 miles and it’s the same price.
Probably driving Uber or something.
A lot of people do this with rental cars. (Go to the Avis in downtown Atlanta on a Friday and it’s all people renting to drive for the weekend). Cheaper since no paying for wear and often get a rate including insurance.
What’s the oil like after that?? i do think they have a case about not taking proper care of it.
Something does not seem right with this claim. 25,000 miles in a month, 800 miles per day? Unless this person is some kind of alien in another dimension this is impossible. You would have to drive at 460 mph to do 800 miles per day. If Hertz is renting jet cars these days it MIGHT be possible. Are we a little late for April Fools day?
If the Hertz company is gonna pull such shady tactics like this,then maybe they need to be investigated for such bad actions
I’m not sure if this is real or a skit. If it is real, unlimited would be something like 70 mph x 24 hours/day x 31 days. That isn’t even including rest times, bathroom breaks and refueling all of which would reduce the maximum. It also doesn’t include possibly higher legal speeds in some areas. 800 miles a day would be tough but I have made it from Los Angeles to Buffalo in two and a half days solo in my personal car and that was when the maximum legal speed was 55 mph. One thing that should be noted is that there are sometimes only a limited number of states that a rental can be driven in. If more states are going to be part of the journey, the rental agency has to be informed up front. Another thing is that rental cars can be tracked. I wonder if the information was recorded and kept. It would be interesting to find out where the driving took place.
Renting from Hertz is like visiting North Korea. You are an idiot for doing so.
What I don’t understand is how a some airport board or authority, who rent space to Hertz as a concessionaire, hasn’t taken action? Likewise, I don’t understand how some state attorney general or a state consumer protection division hasn’t taken action. There have been so many documented incidents here.
I also don’t understand how airlines continue to partner with Delta or companies continue to use Hertz for their employee rentals.
The next thing theyre gonna say is you cant use a rental cars to swap out tires and brakes… not that Ive ever done that 20-30 times in my life.
Hertz is bad but this is just a goof video by someone with a new TikTok account trying to rack up likes and followers fast with anything that might go viral. Don’t help this joker and just ignore it please. Gary really should do at least a teaspoonful of due diligence before helping these SM leeches.
Hertz also charged a customer for “fuel” when the vehicle was an all electric.
@Don Smith, your math is a little off…
At 460 mph, it would take about an hour and 45 minutes to go 800 miles, lol.
At 70 mph (typical interstate speeds), it would take about 11 and a half hours to go 800 miles.
That’s still a heck of a lot of driving, but not completely impossible.
Just realized something. Mr Leff doesn’t actually care about accuracy or validity of the anecdotes he relays in his articles. He’s just looking for clicks. Basically trying to leech off the leeches. That’s unfortunate.
“70 mph x 24 hours/day x 31 days” is 52,080. You know the device you are using to post probably has a calculator app. Still, 25,000 miles is 16 hours for 31 days at about 50mph.
@Don Smith, you need to recalculate your math. When I was younger, driving between Arizona and Michigan I would drive 16 hour days and travel about 1100 miles each day. Each stop would be bathroom, food, and gas at the same time.
Made up click bait
To DON SMITH! DO NOT POST YOUR MATH SKILLS ON THE INTERNET! WE ONLY FEEL PITY FOR YOUR SEVERE LACK OF THEM.
:: One does not require half the speed of sound to hit 800 miles per day by car. Driving at 80mph (miles per hour, for you Don), it would take 10 hours to drive 800 miles. There are 24 hours in a day…
I wonder if the customer had all the maintenance done. He owes the $10,000
@ Gary — Better competitors? Who? Please tell us?
Get it right Gary. He was threatened with arrest when he wouldn’t LEAVE. Not “refuse to pay” as your clickbait title displays. They already have his credit card. Have you ever rented a car before?
Can’t believe that this company is still on business after defrauding, and accusing customers of car theft.
Why anyone continues to rent from this godawful company is beyond me.
Hertz is also somehow combined with Thrifty and I also had a recent “dust up” with them on a recent car rental. It didn’t pertain to mileage, but with the added coverage that rental car companies try to push on their customers. when at their desk at the vegas airport, the Hertz/Thrifty rep asks me if i want roadside assistance coverage at $9/day. I answered “no” as I am a AAA member which would cover me if their rental car broke down. But I added to her that if their rental car broke down, that should be Hertz/Thrifty’s responsibility to arrange to get it towed to wherever they have their fleet vehicles fixed. So then she asks me if i want the collision coverage, which had a significantly higher rate. I told her “no” as I am covered via both my own car insurance and the credit card I was using. Then she does not have the fullsize car that I reserve and gives me a smaller car. When I ask if she is going to give me a credit or reduce the daily rate since the car was smaller than what i had reserved and paid for, she says “No”. I replied, i understand you don’t have the car i reserved. but at the very least, you shouldn’t charge me for the full-size car and give me a smaller car. but she just handed me a slip of paper and said the smaller car was located in stall 319 and basically dismissed me. clearly she wasn’t going to adjust the daily rate. But what really annoyed me was she had this new electronic signing process. its one of those deals where you sign on a pad. but you don’t really see what your signing. I asked where the contract was and she said they will email it to me later. So they basically have you sign blindly and to have trust in them. Not wanting to argue with her after a long flight, i just took the smaller car and left. So i drive up to my destination in southern Utah and I check my emails to see if she sent me the rental contract. the contract came in. but she added the collision damage coverage and roadside assistance that I told her I didn’t want. I immediately called Hertz/Thrifty to remove these coverages as they were totaling about $200. The representative answering the phone said not to worry and they would remove the charges. I asked her if she could send me an email to confirm that. she said she couldn’t as her computer doesn’t allow her to send out emails. But i was told not to worry and they would strike the extra charges. A few days later, when returning the car, they didn’t strike the charges. And I had to call back in to their 800 number again. the man said he would email the Vegas desk and ask them to remove the charges. I found that odd since the previous rep told me they cannot send emails. But after several days, they still did not remove the charges. So i called again! this time I am directed to send an email outlining what happened to some department of theirs along with screen shots of the phone calls to their 800 number. I did that and so far no answer. My next step is to file a dispute with the credit card company and file complaints with BBB and post this incident on as many travel websites as possible. So to anyone needing to rent a car, don’t use Hertz/Thrifty. they commit unscrupulous and unethical actions toward their customers. So the article’s story about them trying to charge miles on a car rental with unlimited mileage is not surprising. But the man didn’t get a sales contract agreement while at the rental desk at the time of the rental, they basically can substitute whatever contract they want after you give them your electronic signature on that pad. If they cannot or will not give you a paper contract outlining the terms of the rental agreement at the time you leave with the car, then go to another rental agency. I also recently rented from Avis and they still have the paper document to hand to you when you leave with the car. Make sure you read it reflects what the counter sales rep stated were the terms before you leave that desk. Obviously, this is impossible to do with Hertz/Thrifty if they only email it after the fact. So I would avoid Hertz/Thrifty altogether.
@jns…why would you be in such a hurry to get to Buffalo? Most ppl I know are in a hurry to get out of Buffalo.
25k miles and he didn’t change the oil Charge him for a new engine.
I’ve rented a car for a whole year. I did have to bring it in regularly to a local vendor to have the oil changed and the rental company (National) was charged. My option was to swap out the car for another. I drove 30-40,000 miles a year. Local Enterprise agent told me they had a renter that was a traveling salesman that drove 2500 miles a week. Perfect use of a rental as far as I’m concerned.
Clearly his usage of the car was for Lyft or Uber and therefore a violation of the rental contract terms and conditions. 25,000 miles in a month is on its surface not reasonable use.
Sorry, not buying the story. As many have pointed out, its impossible he could have pull in that much mileage. Besides, if he really did without even an oil change, shows you the kind of inconsiderate douche he his and really deserves to be charged for a replacement engine.
Hertz used to be the “Superstar in Rent-A-Car,” but that was before OJ was charged with murder. Since then, it’s been “murder the customer at any cost.” I rented from Hertz in Thailand last December & my experience was excellent. Maybe you have to deal with Hertz in other countries & not the USA…lol
There’s got to be more to this story. The video provides about 1 minute of the exchange and was taken by the renter. There’s no apparent reason for Hertz to call the cops, but who knows what happened before the video recording started.
Driving an average of 800 miles a day is possible, but it’s unlikely that a single driver would push themselves that hard for a month. There were probably other drivers rolling up the miles. Were all of the drivers listed on the contract? It’s possible the contract was broken by the renter if there was unauthorized use. So what if Hertz tries to apply a $10k overcharge. Dispute the charge with the bank and if Hertz can’t prove it’s legit, then it will be removed.
@John Burkholder, my first trip back home after moving to Los Angeles after completing college. Too poor to fly and rent a car (no credit card) plus I could also take a lot more stuff west on the return trip. Great trip. Went to visit a friend from college living next to Boston. From there we went to Cape Cod. Back north of Buffalo had great meals at home with my parents and siblings. It was summer so many crops had produce to eat. Then drove back to Los Angeles. It was fun. I no longer have the stamina to do such a trip. Some of my high school class scattered but some also moved back. Western New York has lost some population but percentage wise not near as much as Buffalo has.
I rented a car in Europe for a week, 3000 km, guy was shocked at return, but unlimited means unlimited. Zero extra charges.
25.000 miles is 65 miles a day for 12 hrs a day.
Uber or Lyft? Pick one
Bangor ME to San Diego CA is only 3.300 one way so 7.5 trips 47 hours each 360 hrs total
If you do get one of those plate pass. shut it and crazy glue it shut.
Hurts tried to charge me for smoking in a vehicle after I returned it. I didn’t smoke, their employee was in it to check the milage said nothing then. I refused to pay, they won’t rent to me anymore and I use their competition. They actually showed me that Budget with their Fastbreak program is better and cheaper than anything Hurts has to offer. Thank you Hurts for driving me into the hands of your competition!! (What fools).
i stopped using hertz ever since they scammed me with unauthorized euro conversion into us$ in france years ago.
Once a month I volunteer for a dog rescue to drive rescue dogs from San Diego to Seattle. I drive about 1300 miles in 24 hours. Been doing it for 12 years and Enterprise has never said anything about it.
800 miles at 65MPH only take a little more than 12 hours. Maybe this guy had a 6 hour commute just to do a few hours worth of work. With a coworker, you could share the driving and make up for any lost sleep in the back seat. This is very doable.
Well, this is exactly what the “less regulation” people want.
“Keeping the government out” gives you exactly this. Even if Hertz doesn’t win in court, this guy’s next six months are going to be full of court appearances, form filling, fees, and lawyer costs. Logically most people forego this, leaving the door open (by the “market!”) for companies to just keep on grifting. You know, markets need law and order too!
800 miles a day?
25,00 miles a month?
Some idiot above can’t do math and sai 460MPH?
Stop blaming the victim.
Put the blame all on yoursel if you don’t understand “unlimited miles”.
Two words. Kida like what he will tell Hertz in court.
I have two words. F*** Hertz. Don’t blame mei if you can’t read a contract.
Don’t blame the guy who rented the car. Go look in the mirror. There’s the a******.
[quote] Don Smith says:
November 3, 2024 at 9:32 am
Something does not seem right with this claim. 25,000 miles in a month, 800 miles per day? Unless this person is some kind of alien in another dimension this is impossible. You would have to drive at 460 mph to do 800 miles per day. If Hertz is renting jet cars these days it MIGHT be possible. Are we a little late for April Fools day?
[/quote]
That’s the funniest comment I’ve read in a long time. That *IS* April Fools day!
He probably shared the car with two others that each did an 8 hour shift as an Uber driver. Not hard to do those miles in that scenario. But also not hard to believe Hertz would previously if they can prove it.
Hertz is run by grifters. They should be arrested and prosecuted but probably greased some politicians.
Learned that people really lack basic math knowledge or how to use a calculator in the comments.
One claim that you would need to be an alien driving at 450mph to hit 800miles a day, another saying that 24×70=800. In the first case, presumably they are also on an alien planet where a day has fewer than 2 hours (can they really not do 420mph x2h =900mi?) and the second case just really bad at math I suppose.
Something about this site makes people unable to do math. I came here to say that and then I said 420×2=900 instead of 840.
someone needs another class action
there is only 2 situation that will cause 25K mile usage.
1.you use it for commercial purpose for delivery.
2.you use to for delivery drug.
Simple explanation, it is a You tube or tic toc prankster
He rented the car and put it on some kind of car treadmill device and let it run for 25000 miles so he could film the reaction when he returned it.
No math required
Hertz and their sub companies are the worst. I booked a car through amex travel. I paid in full, through amex. Upon returning the vehicle they claimed that I requested additional coverage. I did not. Amex even called them on the phone with me. It was clearly fraud but they refused to admit they were caught tacking on a $230ish fee. Amex refunded me the bogus charge, but Hertz kept at it with threatening letters. They finally went full psycho and said I’m no welcome to rent from them or any other of their subs for eternity. I wish I saved the letter. They didn’t threaten my children and grand children like I have read from some other people, but it was still a very petty letter. Many many times I requested proof, and to speak with any kind of manager at the call center. It never happened. The fact that it never got reported to a credit agency says they knew it was BS. Never rent from Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, or Firefly. They are all the same company. It’s just an illusion of choice
I was charged $75 for the Zurich airport location to process a $50 fine, which was sent directly to mwe (and I paid directly to the local authorities online). They threatened to have a collections agency go after it – but only after I finally received a letter from them telling me of the charge. Didn’t even give me any time to respond. And for a 3 week 2,500 rental. Terrible company.
We can solve this quickly and easily, Gary.
Post a link to the currently-used Hertz rental agreement form. Then we’ll see what, if any, exceptions exist to “unlimited” miles.
Out of curiosity I read my entire Budget Rent a Car rental contract from a week ago to see if there were any limits on unlimited mileage. There were none but the term unlimited was not defined in the contract (I did searches for unlimited, mile and mileage afterward just in case I missed something). A Hertz contract is not the same as a Budget contract but should be somewhat similar.
Remember when Verizon and AT&T sold Unlimited data. None of you balked at that. Now look at you.
Engine (motor) oil is an interesting subject. Driving 25,000 miles will cause the check engine warning light to come on several times if it is turned off immediately after it comes on. Possibly a person could run afoul of the contract if the check engine light was just turned off. Many vehicles have a recommended changing of engine oil every 7,500 miles. Some synthetic motor oil is sold with the claim of lasting 15,000 miles. Generally you change your oil filter every oil change or every other oil change per the manufacturer’s recommendations and the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations. Some people change oil and filter at 5,000 miles and some change oil and filter at 3,000 miles. With those ideas in mind, the question is how long does engine oil last. In tough driving conditions, it should be changed more often but few people do that. On the other hand, if there is a good quality synthetic oil in the engine, it may last 25,000 miles with no harmful effects such as excess engine wear, depending on the usage (this is my opinion). Topping off any time the oil got down a bit would be necessary, preferably with the same exact oil. Averaging 800 miles a day doesn’t leave a lot of time for condensation of water in the oil to occur (causing sludging among other problems) when the engine has cooled sufficiently. If the driving was almost all at moderate highway speeds, say 50 mph to 70 mph, the oil shouldn’t break down too much. If the car is fairly new, only a limited amount of carbon should be in the oil at the recommended oil change mileage. A brand new car will get tiny metal particles in the oil that are left over from the manufacturing process. Some people recommend the first oil and filter change at less than 7,500 miles, even with a few recommending the first change at 1,000 miles. After that, many fewer tiny metal particles are in the oil and filter so longer periods are ok. By the way, diesel tractor-trailer trucks have long oil change periods because they have gallons of high quality oil in them and have superior filtering mechanisms.
Bet the whole thing never happened. Scam. Stunt. Fake.
Unless there is something redefining “unlimited” in the documents, this is a clear breach of contract by Hertz. If the bill showed up on my credit card I would backcharge it and then deal with Hertz on the phone. Also there may be some lawyers out there preparing a class action lawsuit against Hertz.
Reminds me of a similar problem I had with Avis at Heathrow this year. I had already made a reservation so all the money was set out. The agent tried to add a daily charge for GPS although the car already had it and the car was specifically identified in the reservation. I have only paid extra for GPS when you need to rent a portable model, as I did in Ireland on the same trip. He backed down. Then the car was downgraded from a mid-size Mercedes to a smaller BMW. I didn’t complain because British country roads are so narrow that a small car is easier to drive anyway. When the credit card statement came, the bill was $1,400 over the reservation price and included a charge for an upgrade. Avis refunded the total sum after I called them.
You have to wonder if some of the agents have scams going on to collect the overcharges for themselves.
I am surprised the Hertz check in even cared! I don’t use Hertz, preferring Alamo, but when I turn my car in, I drive up, give them the keys and walk away….Sometimes – I even get a quickie slip, most of the time the conversation is just confirming my email address.
There’s an interesting attorney that can be found on YouTube. His site is listed under Lehto’s Law. I have heard him talk about Hertz’s more than once. It’s unbelievable what a company can get away with.The one thing I have learned is to never rent a vehicle from them.
I rented a car from Enterprise in Las Vegas many years ago and put almost 5000 miles on it over the few weeks I had it. I went as far north as Montana and as far south as the border with Mexico in Arizona
I was camping and driving (carefully) on a lot of gravel roads (a no-no) and the car was so dusty I wiped it down inside before returning it. When I dropped it off, the attendant asked if I’d had any problems (driver’s power window was intermittent), looked at the mileage and never batted an eye