Hertz developed a reputation for sending customers to prison for stealing cars that they actually returned.
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.
Usually what seemed to happen is,
- A customer changed vehicles or extended their rental
- The changes didn’t get reflected properly in Hertz’s systems
- So it looked like the customer didn’t return the vehicle when they were supposed to
- Hertz reported it to the police
- And stuck by their story even as they continued to rent out the vehicle to other customers. And sometimes it was those other customers getting arrested for driving a vehicle reported stolen.
It seemed like Hertz really got this under control, after bringing in Palantir to help track its rental fleet. So it was pretty jarring to me that a reader recently received the scariest letter than anyone who frequents this blog can get. They rented a car from Hertz. And Herts wrote to them to say the car was missing.
This had been a one way rental that was returned, and the letter came after about a week saying that it hadn’t been.
He called Hertz and fortunately the agent said that the letter was “sent in error.” How does that even happen? Hertz showed as having the vehicle back in its inventory, “though they had the wrong return location listed.”
However Hertz would not send written verification that the vehicle was returned. It was one thing for an agent to assure this on the phone. But this is Hertz and they also sent a letter saying the vehicle had never been returned. Which one to trust?
Quick thinking, the reader asked the Hertz agent if he could record the call? She agreed. Then he had her confirm that the vehicle was properly returned and in Hertz’s possession. If the police come, he has some evidence from Hertz that while they may wind up reporting the car stolen, they at least also say that the car wasn’t stolen. Since in the past Hertz has refused to withdraw false police reports saying that if they did, the police might stop believing them. Meanwhile, a man spent 5 years in prison because Hertz wouldn’t produce the receipt that proved his innocence.
I don’t know that the reader had to ask to record. Most states are one party consent states, and I believe this reader lives in one of them. Even if the call center were in a two party consent state I’d think that either federal law, or the state where the recording actually took place, applies (NOT LEGAL ADVICE). But it can’t hurt to assume that the most restrictive law possible applies, especially when dealing with Hertz. Can’t you just see this down the line from them? “sure, he didn’t steal that car, but he violated wiretapping laws getting us on the record that the police report we filed was false.”
Wow!
Scary stuff!
I was a 35 year customer mostly in the presidents club. Had many years with 50 or more rentals and over a 125 days on the road.
I got sick during Covid in ICU, had family sick and die after a long illness which kept me from renting.
Hertz deleted all my miles accumulated over a bunch of years.
Will never use Hertz Again
I finally had it with Hertz when a local branch charged me a $200 late fee even though I returned it on-time. They refused to return multiple phone calls. I disputed it with Chase. Chase wouldn’t stand up to Hertz. I status matched from Hertz’s President’s Circle to Avis President’s Club. No going back to Hertz.
– Reader didn’t need permission
– Law of the state where the recording took place is applicable
Source: friends who are partners at Cravath; Skadden; Wachtell.
I’m looking at a rental in late April and early May. Hertz is not competitive but the others aren’t either. It looks like I will test a theory that taking Uber will be cheaper even with a couple of $70 rides. Of course, there is still time for things to change but I will not be renting the Hertz delivery van that is relatively cheap.
I have also gotten an email asking when I was going to return an overdue car from Hertz. I had never even rented the vehicle. I cancelled the reservation a few hours before the pick up time! Luckily it was cleared up pretty easily but I can definitely see how people get arrested from this.
I don’t care if Hertz ever gets their act together. I will never use them after none of their employees saw prison time for their criminal actions falsely accusing thousands of customers of crimes and getting them arrested.
Happened to me during my holiday rental at MKE airport – it was the first time I didn’t ask for a receipt when I returned the vehicle (early) and the person never completed the checkin process. They started billing me ~$100 per day over the following week. I tried calling the MKE airport Hertz office repeatedly and it rang over and noone ever picked up – I froze my card during that time so the charges wouldn’t stick. Finally I tried the national Hertz center 800 and was told only the MKE team could close the res, the national team did not have visibility and they would open a ticket (!). I asked how long it would take to resolve and was told several days. After 3 more days the final charge was posted to my credit card. However…I did receive the letter in this post several weeks ago telling me the vehicle was overdue. I called the number listed and after checking they told me the res was closed and I should disregard. Awful.
Is it just Hertz, or do Dollar and Thrifty do the same?
I’d say just use Natioanl but they don’t ever have cars available.
People, people. Stop. Renting. From. Hertz.
Problem solved. It’s that simple.
@Rich, MKE is one of the few airports I visit where most, if not all of the rental car companies are franchised. This limits the type of autos available as well as resolving issues at the corporate level. Be extra careful renting in this market. Document everything.
Dude! Now I’m angry all over again!
At least this time they sent a letter and not the cops.
This time…..
This has happened to me, but with Budget. Each time, I dropped off after hours. The first time was GRR..they claimed that I returned the car in FL, so they charged me additional days and a one way fee. Took months to clear it up. Luckily, I still had my boarding pass proving that I had taken a flight that day, a copy of the original rental contract (I changed vehicles) and a photo of the keys before I dropped them in the after hours drop box, showing it was a different vehicle . Second time ORD. Returned a Tesla after hours.. took a video of the car, parking garage , and me dropping the (expensive) key card in the box. Got my final bill and was charged for a late return and missing key. I was able to contact the mgr at ORD and informed that that I had a video of myself dropping the key into the box. His response …we have the key. Asked for an updated statement and he complied. This rental was an extension. ALWAYS….take a photo/ video of your vehicle/ keys after hours and returning to the employee.
Hertz is a complete disaster after covid and bankruptcy. So many issues vs none before these times.
Refuse to use them, use National or Avis, both far better.
Complaining at the local level, while important, obviously isn’t fixing a systemic problem. There’s a hedge fund firm called Knighthead Capital Management which, according to a quick search, owns 44% of the Hertz Global stock. If contacts were made with them or other major stockholders about what was going on someone with skin in the game might notice. Ideally they would put pressure on the management to get their act together or be replaced.
Hertz are pigs. Dont rent with them. Had a problem with them many years ago when an old one car bridge damaged a car because it had not been maintained by the city/county. Subsequently one night(no additional lighting on bridge) the suburban we had rented struck a large metal hinge like piece of the bridges construction that had been damaged and was protruding into the already very tiny lane. We had all the insurance through them but they insisted we pay the deductible. We refused on the grounds that they refused to go after the county. After the accident we took photos of the whole situation and you can definitely see it was negligence on the city/county’s part. Never looked at them again as a rental choice and that was 20 years ago.
@drrichard … +1 .
Take a selfie of you returning the car. I take a video of the car to document damage, take a picture of te fuel gauge when renting ad returning also then attach all to an email I send to myself…just in case.
Recently I made the mistake of not asking Hertz for a printed receipt in S. Cal. They took the keys, but apparently forgot to check it in. $100/day charges to the card started the next day. I called. They said “you still have the car”. Fortunately, someone else rented the same car after I returned it. Remarkably, after all of the problems Hertz has had, the system at Hertz still allows the same car to be rented to multiple customers at the same time. That saved me. Next, the agent grilled me about if I really returned the car on time (you have to be kidding). Finally set the total back to what I originally owed. No apologies. I wrote to corporate explaining that they might want to modify their software to not rent the same car to more than one party at a time. No response. I’ll never walk away without a printed receipt again, but sometimes they make it very hard to get. All of this, and I was President’s Circle (top level).
I got one of these letters in 2020. In Marco 2020, Hertz was offering their cars up for free to healthcare workers. They had virtually no reservations and nowhere to park their entire fleet. I picked up a car in early April downtown Toronto, for a free month. Taxes and insurance, all free. Amazing. (We were so trying to avoid public transit at the beginning of the pandemic.) A month later I got a call asking if I wanted to keep the car another month. I agreed and that was that. Then I got one of these letters. I thought it was funny and posted it on Facebook.
I called Hertz and they said it was a mistake. Then I heard about customers in the US getting arrested. I don’t think the police in Canada were getting involved. I called again, they extended my rental for a third month,, and I took screenshots of the authorizations on my credit card.
In the end I didn’t pay a penny, and stayed out of jail.
Terrible situation.
Hertz’s licence to do business should be revoked.
This is why we use Turo. Never had a problem picking up or dropping off a peer to peer car rental and had every feature we needed on the vehicles we pick.
Several years ago Hertz claimed I returned a car with some damage. They charged me for fixing the damage and for business lost neither of which I was responsible for. It struck me since then a single such charge could obviate any savings from car rental vs Uber/Lyft and now I strictly use Uber/Lyft! One benefit is not having to wrestle with parking!
@Jerrynofool, @MsBenita, et al
Absolutely. I always do a complete 360 exterior video when I pick up, a pic of the odometer and tank when I drop off, a 360 exterior video when I drop off, and a video of me dropping off the keys. Sounds paranoid, but that is what it has come to, folks.
These horror stories just won’t stop. I’ll echo what others have posted – why rent from Hertz when you run the risk of being arrested? I was a Hertz guy for years, but now use National and it’s Emerald Club. No problems to date.
I returned a car in Atlanta. It wasn’t after hours, but no one was available to print a receipt from one of the portable machines and I didn’t want to stand in line at the counter. When I eventually got the bill, they had added a $125 exterior cleaning fee. I called the corporate number and they said there was nothing they could do because I had to contact the local branch. I had taken pictures of the car since I couldn’t get a receipt on-site. I told the CSR that I was happy to provide them to an attorney and have them contact the company. They issued a credit on the spot. Always. Take. Pictures.
Hertz is incompetent at best. Dropped a car off at the Buffalo airport, they never checked it in and rented the car again. It ended up at BWI days later. I got hit with a $1,700 bill that took endless hours to clean up. Guess I was lucky it was resolved without being arrested. I even got hit later with all the plate pass tolls the other person racked up. Had to call and battle those. Complete waste of my time. I still dumbly use Hertz, not sure why I tolerate their BS like showing up and they don’t have cars.
Doesn’t the Hertz IVR give express permission to record? Usually it says something to the effect of, “this call may be recorded for quality or training purposes.” It does not specify who is to do the recording.
I must be living under a rock and had not heard about this. I rented from Hertz a few months ago. When they finalized the payment, I had two unexpected charges. One was hidden fees, even though I explicitly asked if the amount they told me was going to cover all cost and fees I would be charged, baring no penalties for anything I did. Another was them charging me an additional day for returning it late. I returned it hours before it was due. The rep I was talking to was pretty rude and trying to be unhelpful, but I dished it back and luckily got it corrected. I will never use them again.
Hertz did this to me years ago. However, at the same time as accusing me, one of their employees filed his own police report that said it was stolen from him at a gas station (hours after I returned it.) I was able to dig that up, and with the contradictory reports it was dropped. (Did the police care that one of the two reports was a lie? Nope.)
Despite this, Hertz did continue to send me letters threatening to sue me for the car. I must have spent 4 hours in that office with paperwork going over it with them. They just shrugged.
Alert, to answer what I believe is your question: Knighthead is at:
280 Park Ave, New York, NY 10017, United States
Phone: +1 212-356-2900
I just got 2 of these letters from them! After renting from their LAX location about 10 days ago. I called them and they said to ignore it and everything is fine now. I told them ok I’m never renting from you again. I’ll try another rental company. Hire people who can process car returns!
How about after figuring out it was a mistake, the police arrest the actual employee that filed the erroneous police report?
Might make hertz employees slow down when looking to accuse someone of grand theft auto.
(1) Never rent a vehicle from Hertz. Ever.
(2) If you must rent a vehicle, never return it without receiving documentation that it was returned. Ever. Take photos of the license plate and geolocate.
(3) See #1 and #2.
Seriously why would you rent from Hertz when you could be driving along and pulled over at gunpoint because the vehicle was reported stolen. Is this really worth whatever savings (usually zero) over the competition?
This is absolutely still a problem, it’s happening to my parents right now. My father used Hertz for as long as I can remember. He is a very savvy traveler, and I had assumed he heard about the issues with Hertz and stopped using them. Nope. They rented from Hertz in Boston and Hertz is claiming they never returned it. There is specific Hertz employee they have been directed to talk to, after a week of trying to reach them, they have not heard anything back.
The only way to stop Hertz’s abuses is for us all to stop renting from Hertz.
Stop renting from Hertz for you and everyone else.
Stop renting from Hertz now!
Why are they still in business? They should close down this company for it’s illegal practices. Then again, all car rental companies operate on Mafia logic. …It HURTS to rent from HERTZ..
Rent a car in Luxembourg for two week, he was cheap, but buy time your add coverage insurance ,theft coverage, is more of two week rental
And there charge me for the licence plate .
There are very expensive, car rental will take a moment to look at order rental company in future.
So far, I’ve not had any trouble with Hertz BUT…like “jerrynofool” says, I take a selfie at checkout, and document the entire car before I get in. I take a picture of the odometer and gas gage. At the checkin point, I document the entire car with my iPhone, I put my watch next to the odometer/fuel gage and take that picture too. I ask for a printed receipt when I check in. “We will email it to you.” Eh…no!
@jns – If you are ok with a cargo van, go to Lowes/HomeDepot instead. They have a pickup or a cargo van at most locations for $30/day.
Anyone who rents from Hertz deserves what they get. This information that they are a shady company has been out there for years, yet people keep renting from them. My company had a corporate agreement with Hertz, and I refused to travel unless they allowed me to rent from Enterprise. After a lot of fighting they finally relented, and now we exclusively rent from Enterprise.
And that’s what makes the Hertz “benefit” on my AmEx worthless to me. It’s not worth doing business with them.
Has anyone considered returning the car and letting down all the tyres as a parting gesture?
Its something no-one at the rental location will ever forget
Makes them actually do something before the next hire
@Russ, of course not. The car rental agency could end up renting it out and someone could end up in a deadly accident. Then, if it could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the person tampering with the tires could go to prison. I once rented a car that actually had tire damage and front end damage. The driver side front tire blew at highway speed. Fortunately I was able to control it but wasted so much time returning the rental that the reason to rent disappeared. My before photos got down low enough and at the right angle to see the damage so the company didn’t try to get extra from me (it was lightly raining when I rented from the lot).
I rented from Dollar (owned by Hertz) Jan. 31-Feb. 3. Five days later, received an email asking for insurance info for an incident that they allege I reported on Feb. 7. LOL
I have the confirmation of returning the car Feb. 3. Unfortunately, I only took video when at the start of the rental.
I called demanding to know more, but they couldn’t tell me because it hadn’t been assigned to an agent yet. Waited on hold for a manager for 30 minutes before I had to do something else.
Zero chance I’m giving in to them.
Try being over billed for weekly rentals and payment dates not extending per payment , then on top of this keep getting told call this department , that department says contact local office , local sends a portal link which shows incorrectly hello , meanwhile your just spun to billing that can’t access payment just and no one gets back with you or helps you refuse to pay another bill until they add the money they have already billed and taken out of your accounts correctly and advanced your due date accordingly they act like they don’t understand and then they come take the car while your still waiting for them to get a manager from billing to contact you to fix the overage of payments already paid and yet now your fully overpaid rental has been taken with all your belongings inside. The. They don’t take it to local location so they charge you overage and late returns fees etc., that also doesn’t account for the overage of taxes they charged as well. But do they care nope , submitting charge backs with banks is iffy but we shall see
If you can arrested for making a false accusation to the police why can these corporate employees not be arrested?