News and notes from around the interweb:
- woman refuses to pay $440 fine to Hertz after AI scanner flags ‘small scuff’ on wheel (HT: Gary C)
I do not believe at any point that I damaged their vehicle or did anything wrong. I will not succumb to $440 for a scratch, which, even if it exists, is not a feasible price.” “It appears to be a small scuff on the wheel that allegedly was not there prior to rental.”
..According to her, the company persistently sent texts and emails multiple times a week demanding payment, which she described as “harassing.”
She wrote that the company sent messages “not only to my phone, but also to my wife’s phone, which was listed as a backup contact on the account.” Paixao said her replies went unanswered.
- Southwest never used to be this way. Now they’re customer-unfriendly just like everyone else.
Seriously @SouthwestAir – you made me check my bag with THIS MUCH space available (and this is just right across from my seat)?!? And you let a guy running behind us on with his bag? Terrible. pic.twitter.com/Pry8kB7a5p
— Elizabeth Bushelow (@elizbee7) October 6, 2025
- If I lived here in the Phillipines I would probably move? A Fly Guy’s Cabin Crew Lounge tells flight attendants “Be cautious with this one on the welcome announcement…”
- Oops.
- Hotels.com testing new feature that lets you steal your employer’s money and probably get fired – increase the price of your hotel room, pocket the difference in rewards cash (and presumably take reimbursement for the full amount).
- Ex-American Airlines CEO Doug Parker again co-hosted Airlines Confidential. On Elliott Management’s changes at Southwest Airlines, Parker correctly notes that the stock isn’t up in the year since Elliott invested – while the “S&P 500 is up 17%.”
I really do wonder if he looks at the $30 billion decline in shareholder value at American and seriously questions his own leadership. After all, he says about the Spirit Airlines bankruptcy “as a management team, you should be admitting failure.” Parker does point out that over the past year American has underperformed, though he’s no longer at the airline.
Airlines like United up 60%. Delta and Alaska up 16%. The only airline of their size that’s done anything close to Southwest is American, who is struggling still with their revenue issues. up 1% year over year.
Hertz has lost, my business, I refuse to play their games. Their loss not mine.
Jet star is placing the blame on Swiss but it is the pilots who backed out of the gate with the light on
When ever I drive my car I make sure the doors are closed before I get on the roadway. I do not rely on the nanny or lawnboy to shut the doors or trunk. There is a warning light in the car Door open idiot
But then again I am not paid $500,000 to drive my car
From jailing car thieves, who actually had returned the cars with documentation to prove it, to charging for minor scratches, Hertz has proven itself a company which deserves to go out of business.
Thank you, as always, Gary, for reporting on these scams and the scamming scammers who scam. These greedy, selfish schmucks really get me going.
We each, individually and collectively, must fight back against this nonsense. Hard. Like, please use their own ‘deny/delay’ tactics against them; if they automatically charge your card, dispute it, escalate, appeal, never give in. Ever.
If you reside in the USA, and they attempt to send you to ‘collections,’ deny and send your ‘cease and desist’ letter certified mail, tracking, etc., in accordance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which limits their ability to call, mail, etc., lest they face fines, $1,000 each time. Keep evidence. You may need it. Can be a money-maker for you. Shame on them for harassment.
At that point, they need to literally sue you to continue their claim. Then, lawyer up, win, make them pay your attorneys fees. Or, lose, appeal, and keep appealing, until you reach the Supreme Court, then give the justices their ‘gratuities’ in accordance with Snyder v. United States (2024).
If you don’t ‘win’ after all of that, know this: You fought the good fight. If we all did that in the aggregate it’d simply be too costly and timely for them to even try these games against us. You’ll be doing yourself and all of us a public service. Keep fighting. You are not alone.
@Robert Boltz, @bhn — It’s not just Hertz; sadly, this is proliferating. Received something similar from a Sixt franchise in Europe recently. Bad practices are copied when even 1 out of every 100 pay-up out of fear. Victims will think, ‘Oh, it’s just $440, and the fee may increase if we don’t pay…’ No. Don’t do it. Resist the urge. Don’t live in fear. As the late-great veteran commander, Admiral Ackbar of the mon Calamari, once said: “It’s a trap!”
Hertz didn’t break out the handcuffs? I’d say she was pretty lucky.
How is Hertz still in business?
I’ve used Hertz for many years without issues but these reports give me reason to question their tactics. I quit using Budget after I returned a car in Edinburgh with a teeny (I mean pin head size!) little nick in the windscreen that was unseen during the departing walk around with my camera while in the pouring down rain! I had no intentions of paying the $750.00 nor allowing the credit card insurance to pay. They finally quit harassing me when I told them that I’d fly to Scotland and meet them in court. Sixt…they are sleazier than Hertz. I managed to get my company to drop them as a preferred vendor as others reported their nasty upsell and customer “no service” issues.
The lack of self awareness by Parker is truly astonishing. If he showed a tenth of the same awareness when he was CEO he would have fired every single person he brought over from AmericaWest then personally resigned in disgrace for the damage he did to a really good airline.
Sixt is currently doing the same thing to me about a wheel scuff. It was picked up by the AI scanning machines allegedly, and i was notified 2.5 months later. I sent a video walk around of the car to show them the proof it was already scratched and they refused to even acknowledge the video and pictures. They continue to harass.
Gary, I’m sure you are aware that AI can’t fine anyone for anything, nor can they try to. So this story is not quite right.
Also to everyone: this isn’t really a solution, but I do have a couple of credit cards which offer a complimentary collision-damage-waiver benefit when I rent a car. I imagine many of you do as well. If you use that, I think that would eliminate any risk of getting billed for any such damage?
Plus, I know we hear about Hertz all the time, but it’s my understanding that their competitors have been doing the same thing with the scanners. Not that that makes it better, but I’m just noting that isn’t just Hertz, so the “I’ll just take my business elsewhere” idea might not work
What this tells me is that the airlines are getting tired of dealing with carry-ons. I still expect to see an airline in the not too distant future require checking (and paying for) all bags other than a single under-seat personal item – it’s only a matter of who’s bold enough to go first.
@Mark — On the credit card benefits and protections, that’s possible, but not always the case; keep in mind, even with the best primary coverage (say, through Chase Visa Infinite on CSR), or secondary coverage (like, Amex Platinum, which may require you to first go through your own auto insurance policy before they will assist you), that they can still summarily decline your claims with their third-party processors. So, while, yes, in some cases, where there is real damage, that coverage can and should help, it doesn’t always. For instance, when the rental agency assigns their bogus claim using AI to falsely accuse you of damage then to a third-party debt-collector, that’s not gonna fly with most credit card coverage, initially. When they get creative, ya still gotta fight ‘em. It’s complicated and frustrating, by design. They want us to get fed up and pay hundreds of dollars, pure profit for them, pure loss for us, all unnecessary.
@Denver Refugee — Nah, not all airlines, just the LCCs and ULCCs who charge extra, and United, which still restrict their Basic fares to denying carry-on (just one personal item.) The ones who don’t charge (AA, DL, etc.) are using that differentiation to attract customers, I would think. Like, if fares, routes, times, etc., are roughly the same, perhaps, you’d prefer Southwest, jetBlue, or even Basic on Delta or American, over United (or Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, etc.), because the former do not restrict carry-on for Basic fares, while the latter do.
It Hurts to rent from Hertz. Don’t do it.
Just remember, next time you vote, Hertz is scamming you because Republicans want companies to be able to scam you. There’s no reason binding arbitration in contracts of adhesion should be a thing.
@ Gary — Hertz is on our list with Marriott and Frontier — use only in case of dire emergency!
@Christopher J Raehl — I imagine you’re saying that partially in-jest, because, in reality, corruption is a ‘both sides’ problem, at times, and we all, regardless of affiliation or ideological preference, should not want scams. Like, I’m no fan of corporate-shill Democrats, either. Once they started taking money from big corporations, both parties were tainted. Gotta get dark money outta politics. Overturn Citizens United. That said, I definitely agree with you that such terms as ‘binding arbitration in contracts of adhesion’ is usually not in-favor of consumers, and it is usually the party with the backing of big business that prefers such bad practices.
Of course it was the ground crews’ fault the door was left open. The pilots are in the cockpit when it gets closed, so the only way they’d know is if someonebtold them or a light illuminated as warning. And, given the standard group of sheperds are a plane backing out, why did the one on the starboard side notice and report. Finally, why did it take so long for the pilots to notice the light? Lots of people should have caught this sooner, which probably explains thecapparent rarity of the event.
uh. lady, you hit a curb. Now is that worth a $440 penalty, no.
But you definitely did that damage
@haolenate — Yeah, and going 41 mph in a 40 mph zone is illegal, but, does that mean you get extrajudicially shot in the head? Nope. Penalties, if any, should be proportional to the damages.
Unless I’m driving the car through the AI scanner as I return it, I’m not paying for AI slop on a car. Once the attendant accepts the car and I walk away, any damage they find on the car is on them. Who knows what happens to it after I hand the keys over.
I used to have credit cards that covered this sort of thing, but they have all revoked the benefit of rental car damage coverage. Probably due to a rapid increase in the number claims they get.
Remember, thrifty and dollar rental are all under the hertz umbrella now.
@Bob — And they’re all owned by Weyland Corp… the consolidation of power and wealth is getting insane!