A Hertz customer accomplished a new feat in the annals of rental car company disservice, actually being charged for a red light ticket before even renting the vehicle.
They rented the vehicle on May 15th at the Calgary Airport for a period of six days, starting at 10:30 p.m. However the agent at the airport logged the rental as starting at 10:30 a.m.
- They were hit with an extra day’s charge, beyond the period they actually had the car for
- And the previous renter “ran a red light at 2:33pm.” But since the system now saw them as having the car at the time, their credit card was hit with $436.50 for the bill.
It would have been impossible for the customer to have had the car at 2:33 p.m. because they were inflight on American Airlines. They provided copies of their boarding passes. Hertz agreed with them about the rental start time – they removed the extra day’s charge – but they still refused to budge on the red light ticket (or the extra fees associated the with the extra day – Hertz removed only the base rental charge). And now Hertz has refused to communicate further, it seems.
Much of the advice to this customer has been to just dispute the charges and that’s fine if you do not plan to rent from Hertz or any of their affiliated companies again. Even a righteous dispute might get you placed on their Do Not Rent list. Hertz has even been known to ban a customer’s descendants, too.
Considering the Hertz toll scam, charging customers who rent Teslas for failing to fill up the gas 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 charged for tickets written by police before you rented the vehicle doesn’t actually seem that bad in the scheme of things?
One Customer’s Idea: A Custom-Wrap In Case Police Show Up
In fact, isn’t this the least you expect to happen to you when you rent from Hertz? And it’s not even their first example of imposing time travel on a customer. 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.
Really ? Renting from Hertz, after everything we know, is exactly the same as voting for Felon Trump : INCOMPREHENSIBLY DELUSIONAL THINKING.
This isn’t political. Hertz is run by bunch of dumb, greedy, conservative MAGA corporate hicks in Florida, and that’s ok.. You know this by how they went crazy buying up every EV on the planet, then hoping to cash out on high resales values – that is until Elon Musk snuffed out that fantasy for them by drastically lowering the sticker prices on Tesla’s.
And I don’t blame them for their political leanings – just the absolute, total incompetence and utter failure to run a consumer-facing business, in a method that is best for both their customers and shareholders.
Not everything is political. And I do live in Florida, and also a registered independent voter, like 40% of us are these days. ps: Remember to act like a TRUE Patriotic American: Register To Vote NOW + VOTE Nov 5th
Hertz does not exist. If there is no car but a Hertz car available, there is no car available. Until Gary declares the problems are solved, I will look for other companies, transit, Uber/Lyft, or walk.
Fundamentally Hertz has found a way to make money by being shits to their clients.
Matt Soleyn says:
> Sue them in small claims court for fraud
There are options. All the stuff above… that’s the TL;DR. Enjoy.
Stuff below, well, enjoy that too. I am not a lawyer.
Fraud is a criminal offense. Prosecutors bring these actions. It can also be sued in civil court. However, in small claims court the only thing you can sue for is money damages. Damages must be proved. There are no injunctions. Depending on jurisdiction there’s no recordation, no class status, and no precedent.
So yeah if you want to waste your time and money you can sue them for your $200-$400 thingie and maybe YOU will be “made whole” but don’t count those chickens.
What to really do if you’re not a schnoozlazydoodlebug:
1. Write their legal department a nice professional letter. Have it served on them. (If you’re wondering “which email address should I send it to” just give up.)
2. GIve them a deadline. 5 business days is unkind. 7 regular days just as much. 30 is reasonable.
3. File suit against them in civil court. Request class cerification for anyone similarly situated. Ensure you ask for both statutory fees and penalties and anything else the court will award. Request a jury trial.
4. Once dates are assigned and your “meeting with opposing council” is set, ask for it to be virtual OR for them to come to you. If you got your venue&jurisdiction right it’s where you sat at your desk and made the online reservation, NOT where Hertz wants it to be because you hit a button that says “I agree” without reading the text. Which you did.
5. Have a list of what you want them to provide you in “discovery”. At the very least “Any and every record, database entry, email, call, recordings, or any other documents” which are “relating to this rental, any rental ever held by me, my family, my household, people at my address” and “everyone else possibly similarly situated.” Dont’ forget to add “Provided in a human or machine readable format, on a free public document sharing website such as Google cloud, etc. AND ALSO acceptable on a USB flash drive formatted to be readable without extra software on Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS, and Linux
6. Deadline that one. Again 30 days is cool.
7. Serve it on them
8. FIle same with the court
9 On day 31 (see #6) file a motion to compel with the court.
10 Let the court have its time. If it doesn’t work quick enough for you, 7 days past #9 file an order to show cause (OSC).
That’s al ethical, reasonable, and likely to get your damages removed and some penalty added. Depending on how the court sees it you should ask for an injunction preventing Hertz from doing this again, adding penalties if they do, etc. Some courts won’t see it that way.
If you really want to be the “special” litigant, start asking for business records in discovery. How many claims do they file annually? How much money do they get? How much is returned back? How often are they sued.
Puzzling.. The Hertz ticker forecast is that Hertz stock will at least double in value during next year (????)
I had the same thing happen with the same company. I was charged a toll, a processing fee, and a service charge totaling over $50. It was 3 hours before I picked up the car.
In January 2024, a woman who was driving a Hertz rental, was on her phone chasing her boyfriend that was in another vehicle. She hit me and then slammed in to my friends car that was in front of me on a street with 45 mph speed limit. She was speeding and I’m pretty sure she was intoxicated. The cops never questioned me and did a below subpar job processing the scene. They didn’t want to be there doing their job. So, even though photos of damage to all 3 vehicles told EXACTLY what happened, not to mention her story/excuse changed 3 different time while at the scene, the inadequate report the rookie cops made was all Hertz went by to deny paying the damages to our cars. When the photos obviously showed who is at fault. My friends vehicle is totaled. Her insurance took the hit and she’s paying a huge increase on it now. My damages were estimated at almost $3k and I’m paying out of pocket so my insurance don’t go up. Hertz sux. Hertz is a tyrant of a company and with as many complaints as they have, why are they still in business? Someone needs to sue the crap out of them and put them out of business.
They seem to have a real issue with getting the right time. I got charged two extra days once because they put the dropoff in as Monday when the car was dropped off Saturday. The office was even open Saturday so there was no “oh it was the weekend” excuse.
When they screw you, and they will, the first time it Hertz.
There’s a reason Hertz has lost my business. They’re a trash company, and they know it, which is why they don’t give a hoot if their brand suffers damage.
Hertz has proven time after time that they have no idea where there cars are at any given time, stolens cars rented to customers a regular occurrence. They are in such a pinch for cash they will charge you and take months to credit it back to they count it as revenue. That questionable practice of showing revenue growth started years ago.
Your best bet stay far away from Hertz. Avis Budget group and National Enterprise will cover your needs needs. Want this practice to stop the only answer is boycott, refuse t9 rent and then things might change.
People needs to report hertz to BBB ASAP about the charges they charge people with that makes no sens
This sounds like Hertz. I used them in Baltimore earlier this year. Gassed up less than a mile from the return— full tank. They went ahead and charged me $80 for an empty tank. Took 2 hours of arguing to get the charge reversed.
Lawyer, get a lawyer. I do not see how this could be legal. Make them pay for their arrogance and your lawyers fees.
I don’t know who comes up with the policies for these people but their shit. I was online on my way to the Dominican Republic on United airlines using the internet before I land it I saw the car that I want it it was $34 today and they asked you if you want to output the extra insurance I chose no because it’s already an insured vehicle otherwise they wouldn’t be able to use it for renting I know how to system works it’s a gimmick. Now whenever it came time for me to pay the price went up because of taxes and fees to something like $50 a day okay that’s fair enough I’ll pay that so I went ahead and paid that. Whenever I arrive went to their little calendar there The guy checked all my information he wanted extra proof of my birthday for some reason. But then whenever it came time for me to get the car he told me that I owed them $1,700 and something dollars I asked what the hell I’ve already paid for this What are you talking about he said oh well since you’re not going to get the insurance then we have to cover the cost of whatever damages might happen the vehicle I said you already have insurance on the vehicle there’s no need to pay extra insurance on a vehicle that there’s that doesn’t make any sense. I asked are you trying to tell me that you have to have two types of insurance to cover the vehicles cost there isn’t that included in my cost and the guy said well we’re not responsible for anything that happens to the car and while you’re in it said you okay but you have insurance on the car in other words you walk me around in circles trying to make a circular argument that didn’t go anywhere and I understood that and I told him well I’ve already paid for the thing so you’re telling me that what I pay for online you’re not going to honor here and he said try to give me some other rigmarole crap and basically I just said okay screw you I’m walking out I found somebody else local who I charged me $24 a day didn’t have to pay extra insurance and I got to drive around the class of vehicle that I wanted. That’s another thing they did not give me the class of vehicle that I paid for they wanted me to give me a lower class vehicle I didn’t care if I had the exact car that I wanted as long as it would fit the amount of people that I had but they wanted to play games and he said okay to hell with it and I left it and I will never deal with her to ever again.
Hertz is a parasitic company. Feeding on the backs of it’s hosts. Disgusting Hertz.
Yet another reason never to use Hertz. (There are already so many.)
Company owned by vulture capital preys on customers. Film at 11.
Seriously, how much more proof does anyone need that this is systemic. You are all tax cattle living in an economic zone consisting of various scams, rackets, and money laundering schemes. But keep thinking everything is fine and normal.
I just rented a car from Dollar, owned by Hertz. We reserved the Managers Special, an EV with a 200 mile range between charges. I said no, I wanted a gas vehicle. They said that was an upgrade and with add one more than double the original quoted price. We eventual got some of that removed. When we keto actually get the car there was a ding in the windshield, a scratch in the door and rows of black electrical tape across the hood of the car. We said no, we want another car.
You rent from them and they screw you, you have no one to blame but yourself. I cannot fathom that the authorities and regulatory agencies have let them go scot free. Credit cards get me top status with them but no thanks!
No Thank You, Automatically put me on the never rent from Hertz list. Company is mismanaged, extremely poor customer service, riddled with problems. Anyone renting from Hertz is doing so at their own risk. There should be warnings at the door that warn you that you will be subject to false and misleading fees, subject to getting pulled over for driving stolen rental vehicles. You might even be putting your own life in danger by renting from Hertz.
Years ago returned hertz car to a 3rd party vendor. Thank the almighty I kept the drop off receipt. Weeks later I get a $2200 repair bill and 2 extra day rental.
The Boyz at the return place joy rided the car and tried to stick it on me. ALLLLWWAAYYSS check your credit card statements and charges every week. I got a two day rental coupon for my inconvenience WOO
WOO
Take them to Judge Judy
I guess hertz customers nowadays are like trump maga imbeciles. Down deep they know they will get screwed but still do it.
And afterwards they complain about President Biden…
Why would you even WANT to rent from a company that pulls this crap? Hertz is now off my list. It’s the CUSTOMER who should be putting Hertz on THEIR Do Not Rent list; disputing the charge with their credit card company and refusing to pay the fallacious ticket amount; blasting the company on social media to warn other potential customers to steer clear; AND finally calling their local news or other media outlet investigative reporter or consumer advocate to pursue just resolution of the case. They might also contact the state Attorney General at home or in the state of rental to file a complaint. Don’t take this sitting down!
I to received 2 administration charges €20 each from Hertz for 2 infringements in France exactly 1 hour apart, said the weren’t able to give information about infringements that would come from police. 18 months later still no fines?
So why do I care if this unethical abusive company refuses to rent me a car? I have never been anywhere that Hertz was the only company that had a rental car.
I wouldn’t do business with them, and if you do it’s on you.
Hertz doesn’t need to put me on their banned list. I just put them on mine. Any company acting as they do certainly doesn’t need my money. There are oodles of other places to rent cars from, including Turo.
Our friend in this article should not only contest the charge with his credit card company but also file a fraud complaint against Hertz in the locality where he is alleged to have run the red light. This can be done online in most cities/states now.
Hertz will milk you for every penny they can get away with. I had to close my first checking account due to them back in the day. I was just starting college when the new car I bought, had a time chain belt issue, which left me without a car for a week. I was a kid basically, and there was no such thing as a Visa or Madtercard debit cards like they have today. No credit card, be prepared to leave a deposit that you can kiss goodbye, as back then not a single friend of mine, ever got their deposits back. Hertz always had an excuse or fee. With me, I filled out the forms and waited hours to find out they did a credit pull without my othorizatuon, nor told me of any fees for processing such an application. I have only been driving 3 years, no credit history, so obviously they turned me down for a car. Even with deposit . They handed me back the application with my check, and the car dealer ended up loaning me a car.
Few days later, my bank manager called me to ask if I wrote a check for $950. My bank was pretty good when it came to emergencys..If I needed to write a check for more than I had, my bank manager would approve it, long as it was reasonable, and I asked first. That $950 check, would have overdrawn me by $500. Also found out they had presented a $300 that did post day prior. I told the bank manager I wrote no such checks, and even brought the decline notice, showing they refused me a rental. My bank manager refused the large check, and reversed the $300, plus refunded me the $8 NSF fees. After Hertz tried to present them again, my bank manager had me close the account out, and opened a new one, not to mention lecture me on who never to write checks to. Hertz only copied the info. I no clue what the fees were for, but the nightmare didn’t end here. I was about 19 or 20 when this happened. Two months go by, when I get a call from a district attorney over in Hauppague, about several large bad checks I wrote???!!! Yup, when Hertz tried stealing my checking info and failed getting money, plus the reversed $300, they reported me as a bad check writer for prosecution. The DA was very nice. He also helped me a year later with a bogus car insurance seller. After talking on the phone, he had me come down and made copies of my paperwork from Hertz. He also got a letter from my car dealer about the loaner. He mailed me a certified letter that Hertz was at fault, and I was innocent of any wrong doing. Few years later, a collection agency called. Yup, Hertz doesn’t give up, EVER. Gave them the DAs number, and never heard back. As for the bogus car insurance company. State Farm was the company. They had a rep who was putting assigned risk customers, onto adults policy’s without anyone’s permission or knowledge. State farm fired the guy, but at the same time stole $800 from me that I never got back. Kinda strange how I never sued then like everyone else.
First take a pic of the drop-off location; than take a pic of the dash, that shows your odometer reading & the true fuel-gauge (ICE) or EV- hydro -level, as the case may be; follow this up with 1 pic each of the FLQ (front left quarter; the RLQ; the RRQ & the FRQ, and finally another pic if the drop-off location….this tedious process confirms the condition of the vehicle at time of delivery.
If anyhow possible, select “date & time” as photo-ID, then email these photos (re-sized to 30%) as attachments, not embedded in the email-body, to yourself and retain in an eFolder for 9 months (the legal time limit for claims).
We rent lots of vehicles at our company, and this ptocess is the only one which will get you off the hooks in a court of law in Canada as well as the USA!
I think it depends on the franchisee?
Once at LHR I rented from Avis. The guy pushed comprehensive coverage but I declined. He clearly want happy and grumpily have me the keys he picked from a locker.
When I returned the car, it was a 4th or 5th floor garage and badly lit. You know what? The attendant looked at his tablet and went straight for the front left wheel. Said the tire was cut and I had to pay for the damages!
I think it depends on the franchisee?
Once at LHR I rented from Avis. The guy pushed comprehensive coverage but I declined. He clearly wasn’t happy and grumpily gave me the keys he picked from a locker.
When I returned the car, it was a 4th or 5th floor garage and badly lit. You know what? The attendant looked at his tablet and went straight for the front left wheel which was in the dark. Said the tire was cut and I had to pay for the damages!
I got banned from Enterprise and had to use Hertz for the last 5 years. I have had zero issues… guess I am lucky?
Serious question… why do people continue to rent from Hertz when there are many other car rental companies around? I typically rent a car once or twice per year and haven’t encountered any situation where there weren’t better and/or cheaper alternatives to Hertz. I’ve done just fine with National, Alamo, and Budget (and Avis in the distant past).
Which makes me wonder, why do people do it? Are Hertz renters masochistic or the risk-seeking type?
Twice now, Hertz has issued a reservation to us and refused to honor the price they committed to. Once I was able to get satisfaction by asking to talk to the regional manager. Once we had to pay about double the agreed price. We no longer consider Hertz when renting a car.
Hertz owns DOLLAR and THRIFTY so if you see a deal with one of them but is banned by Hertz you are banned by DOLLAR and THRIFTY too.
Complete ASSHOLES. Money talks… a HUGE class action or Federal regulatory law suit might take a little air out of their sails.
Horrible experience with Hertz. I accepted their Loss Damage Waiver. The passenger side brushed against a fence as I had to back down a very narrow lane in the dark, due to construction. The very minor damage supposedly came to over $600. Then I received a brief statement that the LDW would not cover it, with no further explanation. I fought the charge and at least got the LDW reimbursed by my bank, on the grounds that they sold it to me in bad faith. Hertz continued to pursue me, and now has sent my account to a collection agency. Never, never again will I rent from them. Pure scam artists.
Hertz is a disgusting company who has no morales, values, honesty, entigrity or ethics. The US Government needs to keep Hertz on a tight leash.
Been on the ban list for years.
Had a car that was hail damaged during a business trip. Company I worked for ended up paying $3,000 to fix the vehicle even after taking their insurance. Next time I went to rent, found out I had been blacklisted with Hertz claiming I still owed $3,000 and they had no record of being paid. When I sent them their own receipts their response was to stop responding.
Message received, lesson learned.
@Quo Vadis
I’ve personally had many, many horror stories with Hertz’ competitors (including a recent court-case with Avis) but never any issues with Hertz. And, for me, Hertz is cheaper for high-tier cars (eg Escalade) than Avis, National etc in 9 times out of 10. Thats why I continue to rent from Hertz 🙂
Hertz is THE WORST.I try to warn everybody I know that needs acquired never to go through them especially because of all the nightmare stories of people getting arrested and pulled out of their car whole families because the company has turned the car in his stollen. I’d love to see that company just shut down!!!
Hertz is absolutely the worst!! Another driver backed into the door of my rental and even though his insurance paid for the repairs, I was charged for the loss of use and diminished value for over $2,000. Neither insurance company would pay. I will never rent from them again. My insurance company told me that other rental companies don’t usually charge those expenses.
They are the worst. I will never rent from them again.
Sounds like Hurtz is the equivalent of the UK Post Office scandal. A law unto themselves. Beware
I have been a Gold member for nearly two decades and have not had any issues at all. I read the stories of people having problems with Hertz but to date I must have a Angel looking over my shoulder. For me, the rates are well within my budget and I’ve enjoyed the seamless process of renting and returning my vehicle; however, I’m aware of the issues others have experienced. For now, I’ll continue to rent from Hertz as it has been convenient with no problems.
More than happy to ban Hertz frpm my life for life 🙂 what douche bags
I rented from Hertz once. This past April. Never again. I’ll not detail the litany of thorns I endured, and continue to endure, trying to retrieve my property (GPS, EZ-Pass, cash, etc) which was in the car when they had it towed from the motel parking lot for a computer foul up on my credit card.
How are they paying for the previous renters mistake? I’d be taking hertz to court, that’s low even for today’s shit greedy world
You have a cell phone one you.. Document everything.
Pictures of vehickle at time of pickup all the way around inside and out highest quality.
if possible video of the sign out include time. pictures to.
Repeat at turn in.
Pictures all the way around the car inside and out.
Include pictures of Dash showing gas. picture of recept of gas purchius on the way back.
If a tesla Stop off at a fast charger top up and picture it
Show battery level before shuttind down the car at the return.
When they do this sue them for fraud tampering molisious behavure if you can.
and all the stress for having to sue them.
The paper trail will stop them in there tracks.
Show up in court WITH PRINTOUTS And Copies of the actuial files include timestamps from the META information stored in the picture
Heck before you copy anything take a screenshot of the file dates while there still on the phone.
Note that depinding on how things are setup file dates themselvs will update/change if you move them to a new device EG copy. dosnt mean the meta data changes or the base orginal file creation date but the time listed in the file list will show the last time the file was modefied EG copied