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Am I the only person who actually liked Hertz? Never had a bad experience with them. Tried a cheaper car rental place ONE time, and the brakes failed on the c

Am I the only person who actually liked Hertz? Never had a bad experience with them. Tried a cheaper car rental place ONE time, and the brakes failed on the car...

thoraway1010 6y ago
I filled up with gas literally at the closest station (.1 mile away? You could see the lot from station). BOOM, charged for an empty tank. No worries, I'd actually kept my receipt from the gas station showing exactly when I'd refilled (2 minutes before dropping car). It was an endless headache and run around to try to get them to cancel out the charge. That kind of run around should be illegal. I normally used National (because you can pick any car on their 'aisle') and never had that issue with them.
- giarc 6y ago
  I think the problem is the franchisees that operate the locations. There are a million stories out there of scamming people. Especially at airport locations where they know the person returning the vehicle is likely to be in a rush and not live in that location. It's more of a hassle for you to return and fight for something. I had a rental company claim I "totalled the right front side of the vehicle" and had $3000+ in damages. I asked for dated photos of the damage and all of a sudden the claim of damage went away. I always take a dozen or so photos of the car before and after I drop it off. Takes 2 minutes but can save a ton of time and money down the road.
  - neltnerb 6y ago
    Same for apartments if you want any hope of fighting bogus claims on security deposits. For some reason all the contracts I've seen want a written description of damage. That just isn't enough. Take photos of everything you find before you move in and include them in the statement of the state of the house.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- a13n 6y ago
  Just file a chargeback for this kind of thing. If you got charged for something and "did not actually receive the goods/services" (in this case a convenient gas fill up), then this is exactly what they were designed for. Of course, you have to ask for a refund first, but after doing so, skip the hassle and just charge it back. They'll have to pay additional penalties, which discourages this kind of behavior in the first place.
draw_down 6y ago
I had a nightmare experience with them this past summer that convinced me to just use Enterprise for the 2-3 times a year I need to rent a car.
mark-r 6y ago
I lost my keys one time, called the rental office and asked for another set. They told me that no backup set was available under any circumstances. I was forced to do without a car for 3 days, then called them and told them to pick up the car because I couldn't drive it back to their office. Their form of apology was to knock a day off the rental charge.
mot0rola 6y ago
Agreed. Actually just returned a nice jeep cherokee this morning back to Hertz. Had it for a week out of their Newark airport location. $240 for the whole week! The return lines were completely full from people who rented during the weekend. Had to take the airtrain over to the terminal to get an uber, airport was eerily quiet. Hopeful that things will pick back up once we get a vaccine.
linuxftw 6y ago
I am a Hertz Gold member, which is a free program like flight miles. However, being a gold member, you can skip the counter and pick up your car (sometimes you have to go to the 'gold counter' if your flight is delayed, etc). It's always a quick and painless experience. Definitely saves a ton of time if you travel frequently. I'll often pay a little bit more because I like their service (crazy, right?) I'm really disappointed in Hertz going bankrupt. Hopefully their operation can continue, I really enjoyed using them.
- systemvoltage 6y ago
  Same, used them for years for business travel. Painless in every way. Check out was easy, about 2 mins at the gate. Check in was parking the car and walking off from the garage to the Airport terminal. No need to do anything.
- clintonb 6y ago
  Avis/Budget have a similar program. I've always found Budget to be cheaper than competitors. I'm amazed every time I rent that more people aren't savvy to Fastbreak. It is very convenient!
- OldHand2018 6y ago
  > I am a Hertz Gold member What's the program they ran that had an annual fee? They really catered to the business traveler market and if your membership was paid for by a corporate account then their unstated, unofficial policy was that if you could return a car under its own power you'd never be charged for damage. My wife was a consultant for a construction company many many years ago and had at least 3 cars totaled from being parked near construction sites. She once drove a car with a flat tire for nearly 20 miles to avoid missing a flight. Hertz never batted an eye.
  - femto113 6y ago
    There used to be a program called #1 Club Gold that nominally had an annual fee. A company I worked at in the 90s got free lifetime memberships for all employees as a perk for making Hertz their preferred agency so even after I left that company I remained a member. The main benefit was the shuttle buses dropped you off in that part of the lot first and you could just get in your car and drive off without waiting in line. At some point in the 2010s that got merged into the current Gold Plus program.
awake 6y ago
I had my one car accident ever in a Hertz vehicle. No injuries, no other car involved, but the vehicle was damaged to the point it couldn’t drive. I had full coverage and they replaced the car and had me out the door in 30 minutes. Zero extra charges. Hopefully I never end up in an accident again but it was unbelievably stress free given the circumstances. I would definitely work with them again.
madaxe_again 6y ago
I had one bad experience, one terrible. The bad: charged for a full tank of gas and a filling fee despite me filling it immediately before returning it. I didn’t keep the receipt or take a photo, mea culpa. Worked out as something crazy like £4 a litre, with the fee. The terrible: prepaid rental, pick up at one airport, return to another - paid the fee for the one-way up front. Was slightly bemused when the car they gave me had clearly come from where I was going, so I was paying €160 to do them a favour. Where it got terrible: the office at the airport I dropped the car at was unattended. It was meant to be open, but wasn’t - so I used the key drop and caught my flight. They then charged me €4500 for extensive bodywork damage - two new doors, new mirror, new panels, new glass, etc. - the car was immaculate when I’d left it, and from the photo it looked like someone had t-boned it in their lot - broken glass on the ground around it, etc. I had a walkaround video from when I dropped it off, showing no damage - but they pointed me at the section of the rental agreement that says that if I use the key drop I accept all responsibility for damage to the vehicle between me dropping the keys and them inspecting it. I didn’t have a leg to stand on. To add insult to injury, they also charged me the one-way fee, again. Needless to say, I never used them again after that.
- parliament32 6y ago
  I feel for you, that's a really shitty situation to be in. I'd be fighting it though, what kind of airport doesn't have cameras?
- specialp 6y ago
  I find the car rental process really difficult in Europe. It seems they are just looking to get you and give the most detailed possible inspection of cars. In the USA I have found when I return a car they just really look at it for major damage and that's it. So I avoid renting a car in UK or other European countries, and if I do I don't just sign when they try to show me the iPad pics of known damage. I want to inspect that car as detailed as they do because I know it is coming back the other way when I return.
  - switch007 6y ago
    As much as I dislike Enterprise (UK) for many other reasons, I can't complain about their approach to damage. I've gotten away with the most amount of minor damage with Enterprise.
collyw 6y ago
No complaints from me. Nothing out of the ordinary.
habosa 6y ago
I have rented from Hertz about 15 times and from Enterprise about 20 times. Price is about the same, in my experience. I will never go anywhere near a Hertz again. The prices were about the same and every single aspect of the Enterprise experience is better. If you damage a Hertz vehicle, even with insurance, god help you. With Enterprise it's no hassle at all. I once had Hertz try to change the price on a pre-paid rental at the counter. When I tried to show the counter guy my existing receipt with a different price he turned his eyes up to the ceiling and said "I'm not looking at that." Like a child.
es7 6y ago
After years of rentals, I've really only ever had consistently good experiences from National/Enterprise. I vowed off Hertz 6 years ago. It was around midnight after a long flight, my phone was dead and I had a rental booked from another company. I was thrilled to see that the Hertz rental counter had a large box of car chargers with a label "$8.99" or something reasonable. So I walk up and ask to please buy one. The person behind the counter looks at me in disbelief "No, these are for customers only. We're not a convenience store. Go find a Seven Eleven if you need a car charger." Six years and $10,000+ in business rentals later, I've still never rented Hertz again. Customer service matters.
- giarc 6y ago
  Next time just tell them you left one in your last rental and it might be in lost and found (unethical life tip). I left a Canadian National Park Pass in a rental car once ($120/yr, covers admission to park). I went to the rental counter and asked if they had it. The attendant asked me what month it expired and he pulled out a box with probably 500 park passes and found one with the month. I suspect many people fly into my city (Calgary), rent a car to visit Banff and the annual pass is cheaper than the daily rate for vacation. When they fly home (to another country) they have no use for the pass anymore so they just leave it in the car.
modeless 6y ago
75% of the time I rent with Hertz, I get a car that reeks of cigarette smoke mixed with whatever cloying odor they put in to try to overpower the smell. I don't know what National does differently, but their cars just don't smell as much. And if one does I just skip it and get the next one on the aisle.

Am I the only person who actually liked Hertz? Never had a bad experience with them. Tried a cheaper car rental place ONE time, and the brakes failed on the car...

thoraway1010 6y ago

I filled up with gas literally at the closest station (.1 mile away? You could see the lot from station). BOOM, charged for an empty tank. No worries, I'd actually kept my receipt from the gas station showing exactly when I'd refilled (2 minutes before dropping car). It was an endless headache and run around to try to get them to cancel out the charge. That kind of run around should be illegal. I normally used National (because you can pick any car on their 'aisle') and never had that issue with them.

giarc 6y ago
I think the problem is the franchisees that operate the locations. There are a million stories out there of scamming people. Especially at airport locations where they know the person returning the vehicle is likely to be in a rush and not live in that location. It's more of a hassle for you to return and fight for something. I had a rental company claim I "totalled the right front side of the vehicle" and had $3000+ in damages. I asked for dated photos of the damage and all of a sudden the claim of damage went away. I always take a dozen or so photos of the car before and after I drop it off. Takes 2 minutes but can save a ton of time and money down the road.
- neltnerb 6y ago
  Same for apartments if you want any hope of fighting bogus claims on security deposits. For some reason all the contracts I've seen want a written description of damage. That just isn't enough. Take photos of everything you find before you move in and include them in the statement of the state of the house.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
a13n 6y ago
Just file a chargeback for this kind of thing. If you got charged for something and "did not actually receive the goods/services" (in this case a convenient gas fill up), then this is exactly what they were designed for. Of course, you have to ask for a refund first, but after doing so, skip the hassle and just charge it back. They'll have to pay additional penalties, which discourages this kind of behavior in the first place.

draw_down 6y ago

I had a nightmare experience with them this past summer that convinced me to just use Enterprise for the 2-3 times a year I need to rent a car.

mark-r 6y ago

I lost my keys one time, called the rental office and asked for another set. They told me that no backup set was available under any circumstances. I was forced to do without a car for 3 days, then called them and told them to pick up the car because I couldn't drive it back to their office. Their form of apology was to knock a day off the rental charge.

mot0rola 6y ago

Agreed. Actually just returned a nice jeep cherokee this morning back to Hertz. Had it for a week out of their Newark airport location. $240 for the whole week! The return lines were completely full from people who rented during the weekend. Had to take the airtrain over to the terminal to get an uber, airport was eerily quiet. Hopeful that things will pick back up once we get a vaccine.

linuxftw 6y ago

I am a Hertz Gold member, which is a free program like flight miles. However, being a gold member, you can skip the counter and pick up your car (sometimes you have to go to the 'gold counter' if your flight is delayed, etc). It's always a quick and painless experience. Definitely saves a ton of time if you travel frequently. I'll often pay a little bit more because I like their service (crazy, right?) I'm really disappointed in Hertz going bankrupt. Hopefully their operation can continue, I really enjoyed using them.

systemvoltage 6y ago
Same, used them for years for business travel. Painless in every way. Check out was easy, about 2 mins at the gate. Check in was parking the car and walking off from the garage to the Airport terminal. No need to do anything.
clintonb 6y ago
Avis/Budget have a similar program. I've always found Budget to be cheaper than competitors. I'm amazed every time I rent that more people aren't savvy to Fastbreak. It is very convenient!
OldHand2018 6y ago
> I am a Hertz Gold member What's the program they ran that had an annual fee? They really catered to the business traveler market and if your membership was paid for by a corporate account then their unstated, unofficial policy was that if you could return a car under its own power you'd never be charged for damage. My wife was a consultant for a construction company many many years ago and had at least 3 cars totaled from being parked near construction sites. She once drove a car with a flat tire for nearly 20 miles to avoid missing a flight. Hertz never batted an eye.
- femto113 6y ago
  There used to be a program called #1 Club Gold that nominally had an annual fee. A company I worked at in the 90s got free lifetime memberships for all employees as a perk for making Hertz their preferred agency so even after I left that company I remained a member. The main benefit was the shuttle buses dropped you off in that part of the lot first and you could just get in your car and drive off without waiting in line. At some point in the 2010s that got merged into the current Gold Plus program.

awake 6y ago

I had my one car accident ever in a Hertz vehicle. No injuries, no other car involved, but the vehicle was damaged to the point it couldn’t drive. I had full coverage and they replaced the car and had me out the door in 30 minutes. Zero extra charges. Hopefully I never end up in an accident again but it was unbelievably stress free given the circumstances. I would definitely work with them again.

madaxe_again 6y ago

I had one bad experience, one terrible. The bad: charged for a full tank of gas and a filling fee despite me filling it immediately before returning it. I didn’t keep the receipt or take a photo, mea culpa. Worked out as something crazy like £4 a litre, with the fee. The terrible: prepaid rental, pick up at one airport, return to another - paid the fee for the one-way up front. Was slightly bemused when the car they gave me had clearly come from where I was going, so I was paying €160 to do them a favour. Where it got terrible: the office at the airport I dropped the car at was unattended. It was meant to be open, but wasn’t - so I used the key drop and caught my flight. They then charged me €4500 for extensive bodywork damage - two new doors, new mirror, new panels, new glass, etc. - the car was immaculate when I’d left it, and from the photo it looked like someone had t-boned it in their lot - broken glass on the ground around it, etc. I had a walkaround video from when I dropped it off, showing no damage - but they pointed me at the section of the rental agreement that says that if I use the key drop I accept all responsibility for damage to the vehicle between me dropping the keys and them inspecting it. I didn’t have a leg to stand on. To add insult to injury, they also charged me the one-way fee, again. Needless to say, I never used them again after that.

parliament32 6y ago
I feel for you, that's a really shitty situation to be in. I'd be fighting it though, what kind of airport doesn't have cameras?
specialp 6y ago
I find the car rental process really difficult in Europe. It seems they are just looking to get you and give the most detailed possible inspection of cars. In the USA I have found when I return a car they just really look at it for major damage and that's it. So I avoid renting a car in UK or other European countries, and if I do I don't just sign when they try to show me the iPad pics of known damage. I want to inspect that car as detailed as they do because I know it is coming back the other way when I return.
- switch007 6y ago
  As much as I dislike Enterprise (UK) for many other reasons, I can't complain about their approach to damage. I've gotten away with the most amount of minor damage with Enterprise.

collyw 6y ago

No complaints from me. Nothing out of the ordinary.

habosa 6y ago

I have rented from Hertz about 15 times and from Enterprise about 20 times. Price is about the same, in my experience. I will never go anywhere near a Hertz again. The prices were about the same and every single aspect of the Enterprise experience is better. If you damage a Hertz vehicle, even with insurance, god help you. With Enterprise it's no hassle at all. I once had Hertz try to change the price on a pre-paid rental at the counter. When I tried to show the counter guy my existing receipt with a different price he turned his eyes up to the ceiling and said "I'm not looking at that." Like a child.

es7 6y ago

After years of rentals, I've really only ever had consistently good experiences from National/Enterprise. I vowed off Hertz 6 years ago. It was around midnight after a long flight, my phone was dead and I had a rental booked from another company. I was thrilled to see that the Hertz rental counter had a large box of car chargers with a label "$8.99" or something reasonable. So I walk up and ask to please buy one. The person behind the counter looks at me in disbelief "No, these are for customers only. We're not a convenience store. Go find a Seven Eleven if you need a car charger." Six years and $10,000+ in business rentals later, I've still never rented Hertz again. Customer service matters.

giarc 6y ago
Next time just tell them you left one in your last rental and it might be in lost and found (unethical life tip). I left a Canadian National Park Pass in a rental car once ($120/yr, covers admission to park). I went to the rental counter and asked if they had it. The attendant asked me what month it expired and he pulled out a box with probably 500 park passes and found one with the month. I suspect many people fly into my city (Calgary), rent a car to visit Banff and the annual pass is cheaper than the daily rate for vacation. When they fly home (to another country) they have no use for the pass anymore so they just leave it in the car.

modeless 6y ago

75% of the time I rent with Hertz, I get a car that reeks of cigarette smoke mixed with whatever cloying odor they put in to try to overpower the smell. I don't know what National does differently, but their cars just don't smell as much. And if one does I just skip it and get the next one on the aisle.