Hertz IT and business processes seem to be a mess. Their customers keep winding up in jail. The rental giant reports cars stolen that have been properly rented. Or they think cars that have been returned were stolen, even though they keep renting those cars out.
Much of the time, though not all the time, the problem seems to be with cars a customer swaps out midway through a rental (preferring a different vehicle) or where a customer extends a rental and the company doesn’t record the change properly. Hertz’s CEO has acknowledged problems, and claims they’re fixed, but we keep getting new stories about it still happening. And they don’t withdraw false police reports, saying that if they did, the police might stop believing them.
There are several new stories that are coming out about Hertz customers being arrested for stealing cars they had rented. One customer was even arrested three times – although it’s worth noting that’s not a record, since one elite member chalked up 4 arrests spending 30 days in jail, where she suffered a miscarriage.
- Connie Totman, who rented a car from Hertz in South Carolina and returned the car in Georgia. Hertz subsequently overcharged Ms. Totman in error and falsely reported the vehicle as stolen to South Carolina police. Because of this false theft report, Ms. Totman was then arrested on three separate occasions, twice in Georgia and once in South Carolina, over the course of a year. Charges against her were ultimately dismissed.
- Ameerah Singleton, who rented a vehicle from Hertz through State Farm. Despite State Farm handling the rental vehicle’s extensions and payments, Ms. Singleton’s rental was towed by Hertz. About a month later, Ms. Singleton was arrested and jailed for four days for “stealing” her insurance rental car. Charges against her remain pending to this day, more than 1,581 days since her arrest, and she continues to live in fear as she waits for the charges to be officially dismissed.
- Saleema Lovelace, who was arrested at gunpoint two days before the date on which she had agreed to return her rental car to Hertz. Despite paying for her rental in full, Hertz reported the vehicle as stolen after deleting records of Ms. Lovelace’s payment and of her rental extension agreements. Ms. Lovelace remains under ongoing prosecution today.
I’ve been tracking the mess that Hertz has made of itself and for customers for years now, and with each new story words fail.
Why would anyone rent from Hertz? These are crazy messes. There are many other choices.
You’re spot on Gary: “…..words fail.”
This is going to become the new universal excuse for missing work:
“Uh, I was arrested by Hertz!”
My dream is everyone sues that POS company into oblivion!
Hey, a guy can dream…..
I love my platinum service from Hertz and the benefits but these stories concern me. I recently rented from Avis, their process is easier and communication is better. Still there are sometimes like in Los Angeles recently where the ride back to the terminal is nice instead of taking the bus. I will need to seriously consider who I choose for rentals until they get this under control. Are you listening Hertz ?
Everybody who has rented from Hertz should print up several news articles about improper arrests from wrong Hertz police reports as well as keep copies of all rental agreements in their everyday car. Sad
It is common sense – do not rent a car from Hertz – period.
I luckily haven’t been arrested, but they did send me a $13895 bill for damage last summer to a rental (where there was no damage). Same issue as discussed in the report – swapped the rental and the original car got totaled in a flood while in Hertz’s own garage it looks like. Thank goodness I had photos of the car I actually left the garage with including license plates.
Hertz does not exist for me. I was able to terminate my account and will neve rent from them until Gary says the problems have been solved. Frankly their management is like a criminal gang and should be in prison, not their renters. Sue them. Seven figures for Totman and mid-six figures for the rest. They will never stop this BS until the management and the company pay the price.
Why can’t some Hertz executives be charged with false imprisonment, or for filing fake police reports. There need to be SEVERE consequences for some Hertz management employees. If this had happened to me I would be standing outside Hertz rental offices with a sign and brochures warning people not to rent from Hertz. AAA should discontinue their relationship with Hertz. There’s just a lot more that can be done to inflict pain on this god awful company and its executives.
“ Why can’t some Hertz executives be charged with false imprisonment, or for filing fake police reports. ”
That’s never gonna happen now is it?
The answer to the problem is for police departments to no longer respond to vehicle thefts from Hertz.
I rent cars regularly and I haven’t rented from Hertz in at least 5 years. They are dead to me.
At this point, they need to sell out to a competitor or go into bankruptcy to reorganize with new software and better trained people. This is inexcusable. One of these days, an innocent renter is going to get shot or something else really bad will happen.
As JimC and others have correctly asserted, Hertz executives should be prosecuted for these repeated crimes. I’m surprised there isn’t a class action suit underway already.
As for why people still rent from Hertz: Most folks aren’t aware of these problems, and in competitive car rental engines Hertz often comes up as the cheapest option.
As a general rule, we don’t charge people with crimes they haven’t committed. Someone in the corporation did something wrong, but unless you can show that the executive ordered that thing to be done, criminal charges are not warranted. Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way, and you should be glad it doesn’t. I know blaming people for something their great-great grandfather did is all the rage, but I’d rather live in a world where I’m only responsible for what I did, not someone vaguely adjacent to me.
Why anyone would rent from Hertz after having even a single accusation of theft – let alone being arrested – is beyond comprehension.
That said, there has got to be a lawyer that is willing to file a class action lawsuit for the falsely arrested. There could be lots of money to be made.
How about you orchestrate that, Gary, and take your cut?
If the company did this after one or two examples of false arrests became known they should be charged with a crime. Even if this is rare you have convinced me not to rent from Hertz.
@C_M Well someone at the high executive level at Hertz ordered police reports be filed even after they were made aware that a number of those reports were false. They need to be held accountable. And the police departments and courts involved in falsely arresting people should act to recover all the costs involved from Hertz. It needs to be VERY painful for Hertz and very publicized.
Hertz is a Terrorist Organization
The FBI Clowns should be raiding Hertz Corp and arresting the CEO.
I really don’t get how they haven’t been sued into oblivion and how police departments at this point aren’t also culpable given the track record of false reports. They should be equally accountable to keep doing Hertz’s fake dirty work and the DOT should step in with some sort of national injunction on further stolen vehicle reports until Hertz can prove out they can be trusted
I believe that the only way this criminal practice will stop is when no on rents any vehicles from Hertz.
@JimC – Do you have evidence of that or are you just speculating? I’m pretty sure it’s in the standard operating procedure of every rental car company to report a car that appears as missing in their system as stolen. There is no sign-off at the executive level. And I’d guess that the vast majority of the cars reported as stolen, actually are, otherwise we’d have a lot more of these reports about Hertz than there actually are. How many are false – One in 100? One in 1000? I have no idea and neither do you.
Are false reports a problem? Yes, of course. But it’s not a criminal offense unless there’s knowledge that the accusation is false at the time they’re filing the report. An employee not logging in a car so their buddy can joyride in it is criminal, it’s fraud or theft, but someone then getting arrested is usually civil, though there are circumstances where it might be criminal. Deleting records of someone’s payment would also be criminal as would ordering it to be done. But most of what we’re talking about here is a tort, a civil offense. We don’t put people in jail for that, but we do sue them or the company they work for, usually the company because they have the deep pockets.
It possible, though rare, to charge company officials with a crime – but that’s going to involve something like them deliberately covering it up or doing nothing to fix it after being made aware of it, then something really bad happening, like someone getting killed or injured while in jail. That’s really, really hard to prove.
It’s been in the media and it’s happened more than enough times that the C-level types should be aware of it.
C_M – what would be your reaction if YOU were arrested and spent time in jail if Hertz did this to you?
Step 1 is always Get Out Of Jail. Call a lawyer. After that, let the professionals handle it. You might need to find a good criminal and/or civil lawyer, but you, by yourself, are not going to be effective at doing anything. Not sure I’m be screaming to the sky that Hertz had me falsely arrested for car theft because if you do, and someone Googles you in the future, that’s the first thing that will come up. Not that they falsely charged you, that you were charged. Remember, what goes on the Internet never goes away.
FWIW, I’ve been renting cars for 35 years and I rarely rent from Hertz, because they’re rarely affordable. I think I’ve rented them from the a few times through things like Hotwire because they became the Surprise Agency, but I usually go with whoever is cheapest that isn’t named Green Motion. That is never Hertz.
Maybe just maybe they shouldn’t be reporting cars stolen to the police until they verify the car was in fact stolen. At some point the hertz employees falsely reporting these cars as stolen need to be arrested and prosecuted.
@C_M Lawyers are expensive. Bail can be expensive. All to prove that you are innocent. Hertz needs to pay through the nose -and every other orifice – for these mistakes. And they are not “honest mistakes” when a company is aware of the extent to which they are happening and the unbelievable consequences to their innocent customers.
JimC – you are 100% correct
Send a request to Hertz earlier this week to delete all our personal information from their systems. Let this company die, it doesn’t deserve to exist anymore.
I am not an attorney, but I think what C_M stated made sense. I will rent a car from them in two weeks. They promised to decorate the car with the birthday theme for us. Hopefully, something bad will not happen. Please wish us some good luck. What I don’t understand is why the police put customers in jail while they have everything to prove, e.g. invoice, that they rent and return.
T. – A suggestion or two – take pictures of the agreement, of the car when you pick it up and pictures when you return it. Then cross your fingers and have your lawyer on speed dial. Good luck. P.S.- when you made the reservation, how much cheaper was it to rent from Hertz – and is the money you saved worth the possibility of ending up in jail?
Arrest me once: Shame on you.
Arrest me twice: Shame on me.
Arrest me three times: Ain’t gonna get arrested again!
@JimC – Yes, lawyers are expensive. Yes, bail is expensive. But those expenses, plus interest and other damages are part of your civil suit against Hertz. They will be reimbursed. Step 1 is always get out of jail, no matter the cost in money. You can get the money back later. The worst thing you can do is fight the police and/or Hertz on your own, especially in the moment as they’re taking you into custody. What @nsx said is cute, there are an awful lot of people who are badly beaten or dead who take that attitude a little too literally.
@ Gary — We’ve been happy thus far renting from anyone not named Hertz, Dollar or Thrifty using CostcoTravel.com.
Anyone caught renting from Hertz is deemed ineligible to serve in the armed forces due to abnormally low intelligence.
@Jake: 7 of us have no choice. We have a birthday/family vacation. We are not “abnormally low intelligence”. If you have good advice, besides “not renting”, then let us know. Otherwise, don’t insult the readers here when you don’t know them and what they do.
@David Miller: I know you just joked a bit, but seriously, I will take photos when I return. I will have my family member record the moment I return the key. Thanks!
That it continues dhould be criminal.
If the ceo had to spend one day in jail for each offense, it would motivate him to fix it pyrethrum quickly.
T you are leaving out important details! In what city is Hertz the ONLY choice? Inquiring minds would like to know so those minds never visit that city…..
Okay, here are some numbers I’ve managed to dig up through recent stories and Wikipedia. I won’t link, but you can look them up if you want.
1. Hertz is in bankruptcy. This complicates matters, as someone suing is a creditor. The bankruptcy court has to approve releasing it to the state court.
2. It’s not just Hertz, it’s also Hertz subsidiaries – Dollar, Thrifty, and Firefly.
3. There are accusations that these arrests disproportionately affect minorities. Just reporting that, can’t tell you if it’s true, but I have noticed something about these cases – they rarely seem to be about airport rentals, or if they’re airport rentals, it’s someone who switched cars. I see cases where it’s a long-term rental and the accusation is someone didn’t pay their bill.
4. A lot of these cases are from the attorney Francis Malofiy. Bit of a sleezeball, bit of a dog with a bone. As I commented earlier, he’s the guy who sued Led Zeppelin over “Stairway To Heaven” and went on and on for years, until he finally lost. I’m sure some of these cases are legit, the criminal parts are getting dismissed, but the civil parts may be hyped. Malofiy is a bit of a publicity machine.
5. According to Malofiy, he represents 350 people with claims. But only 59 suits are current in state courts nationwide. Hertz has settled or offered to settle about 60 suits so far. Not everyone who files a claim is legit, some probably did steal the car or didn’t pay on time, but not all people falsely arrested will sue. And this is across a number of years, as the statute of limitations allows you to file a claim for two years after the arrest in most states. You need to file before the two years is up, but your case can still take years. Assuming that the 59 cases were filed as the deadline approached, and that some earlier cases were settle by Hertz, it would be generous given current numbers to say this happens 200 times a year. Maybe it’s higher, but we don’t have any evidence of that yet. If we get it, I’d be willing to revise the numbers.
6. Hertz has 25 million transactions a year in the US. They report 3,365 customer theft cases a year. If my 200 number is correct, that would put their false report rate at 6%. The odds of any given transaction being reported for theft is 1 in 7,429. Even if every theft report were false, your odds as a customer are still pretty low for being falsely reported for theft. If the 200 false reports estimate per year out of 25 million transactions is correct, your odds are 1 in 125,000 of being falsely reported per rental.
Bottom line – It’s pretty sloppy on Hertz’s part to have a false report rate that high, but it’s no reason for you to avoid them if they have the best price and you like their service – except for the false arrest part. To put it in context, your odds of being killed in a one week rental via accident in the car are about 1 in 416,000 given a 1% chance of dying in an auto accident during your lifetime. (Yes, it really is that high.)
CM – “No reason”? Really? I am sure that the people who have suffered because of Hertz will disagree. I wonder what your response would be if you were one of those people arrested and jailed because of a false report filed by Hertz. Question – just how many times would you eat dog shit before you decided that you did not like the taste?
@David Miller – You don’t understand risk very well, do you? Or opportunity cost? It’s not that these things don’t happen, it’s that they’re very rare. If you think you can avoid the risk of false arrest by not renting from Hertz and its subsidiaries, you’d be wrong. I’m quite sure this happens at other rental car companies as well, but we don’t have any attention seeking lawyer out there telling tales to local TV stations. Yet. So the odds are greater than zero, but probably less than Hertz.
Now, about opportunity cost. I tend to rent on price, unless I’ve been badly treated. Hertz has always been fine to me, but is rarely the lowest cost. But if it is, I’ll take it. (I see a current rental from Dollar on a trip I’m going to be taking, I have no trouble doing that if they’re the best option. Green Motion, no way, their “cheap” rental cost me a bundle on the first try.) If Hertz is the best option by $50, and the random odds of false arrest are 125,000 to 1, that means I’d be willing to give up $6.25 million just to avoid the chance of being falsely arrested once. And even then, I’m not completely avoiding the risk by paying a higher price, I can still be accused by the other rental car company. Do you ever leave the house? If not, why are you on a travel blog?
And FWIW, that jar of peanut butter in your mom’s pantry – there’s a very real chance there’s a rodent turd in it. Think about that the next time you come up from the basement to make yourself a sandwich. Mmmmm, rodent turd…
C-M – Here is what I “understand”- happens once, Ok, call it a mistake. Happens twice – a possible trend. Happens multiple times – definitely intentional. Question, Do you work for Hertz?
You are less in control than you realize.
That coffee mom made you this morning? 10 mg of animal dung per pound. The best part of waking up, is rat poop in your cup. Happens every day, and you don’t seem to mind. Do you work for Big Food? Don’t think about it tomorrow when you take a big swig…
We all take risks every day when we get out of bed. Hertz, not a risk I bother worrying about. You and the fact that mum appears to be trying to poison you, I’d worry. She wants you out of the house! Read the room!
C-M — Try sticking to the issue – your inane rambling and excuses for what Hertz has and continues to do does not change what they have done.
I’m not defending Hertz, I’m merely pointing out that the odds of this happening to any one individual is very low. But, by the law of large numbers, it’s going to happen to someone. Life is not perfect. You can’t live your life by the fact that it happened to someone you saw on TikTok, you need to live it by the odds it will happen to you.
I mean, there’s a chance that girl on OnlyFans really, really likes you, it did happen to someone once…
C_M – fine, you pointed out the odds – the fact remains that Hertz did and continues to do this. Question, how many other car rental agencies have done this?
By the law of large numbers, all of them. Avis rented a car to a man with expired registration, he got arrested. There have been cases against Enterprise. There have been cases against Thrifty. And National. You do enough transactions, eventually some of them are going to go wrong. And if you are engaged in loss prevention that sends reports to law enforcement, some of those reports are going to go wrong.
Should those wronged be compensated? Yes, that’s why we have torts, for people who have been harmed, financial compensation. But we don’t allow a pound of flesh. And despite the hype, the average Hertz customer doesn’t really need to worry about it. Try and focus on the high probability items in your life, not the low chance ones on social media.
C_M – I just went online, Google, and posted this question— “list of car rental agencies who have made false reports of theft of vehicle” —- EVERY ONE of the responses shown of rental car agencies who did this are ALL of Hertz. Check for yourself, then get back and explain why ONLY Hertz is guilty of this.
Learn how to Google. The Hertz responses are in the news, so flood the system. add “-hertz” to see other car companies. (Example: rental car false arrest -hertz). It does happen to all of them, eventually. And not all of them make the news – I’m sure most are settled out of court, before anything goes public. That’s why they attach NDAs to the settlement agreement.
Given the fact that it appears only Hertz is having this problem, they should just tell the police that the car MIGHT have been stolen and that before arresting someone they should get all the facts. Allow the driver to contact Hertz from the police station and resolve the matter. No one but NO ONE should ever be arrested and put in jail because of a mistake Hertz has made. And every person who has been so jailed should be entitled to at least $500,000 in compensation. And it doesn’t matter that one particular attorney has filed a large number of these lawsuits – more power to him, especially if he gets results that cause Hertz a LOT of pain.
C_M — Don’t tell me “how to Google”. You know that all of your postings here are nothing but excuses for what Hertz is doing. You never did answer how you would like to have been arrested for renting a Hertz vehicle that you had rented and returned. How convenient.