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Last week on a trip to Florida I rented a Polestar 2 from Hertz. It was in abysmal shape. Both tires on the left had been installed backwards, with the inside
by LeoPanthera 3y ago
Last week on a trip to Florida I rented a Polestar 2 from Hertz.
It was in abysmal shape. Both tires on the left had been installed backwards, with the inside on the outside, and something was badly wrong with the front left wheel, I suspect the rotor was warped because it scraping, loudly, with every rotation.
I read about Hertz having problems with EV maintenance but experience leads me to believe that it's nothing to do with being EVs. They're simply not maintaining them.
I told them about the problems on return, and the guy just shrugged.
- nradov 3y agoThe Polestar 2 that Hertz gave me last time kept flashing warning messages on the dashboard about problems with the airbag (yikes) and the cooling system. The front seat headroom was totally inadequate for a tall person like me. When I tried to recharge it before returning it just said "Error" and refused to charge at all (tried multiple chargers). A total piece of junk. When I complained upon return the Hertz employee was nice about it and gave me a voucher that covered the cost of the rental.
- malfist 3y agoI had a friend rent a model 3 from them and ran into similar issues, plus the first two they pulled out for him had <20% state of charge. Maybe don't build a fleet of EVs if you're not equipped to at least charge them
- reindeergmz 3y agoHow to make electric cars fail; established entities can intentionally neglect and drag their feet, half ass implementation. Over time it fosters routine of negative experience, fostering a viral meme that ultimately squashes demand.
- throwaway5959 3y agoOn a long enough time horizon those that won’t drive electric won’t be driving. It’ll just cost us all a ton more the longer we wait to transition.
- ThunderSizzle 3y agoI think it's the opposite. No one will be driving except the elite class. That's all EVs are a transition to - an elite status. Mandatory EVs will remove the access of freedom of movement that the lower and middle classes came to enjoy in a way that use to be impossible le
- gadders 3y agoThe same is happening with air travel.
- malfist 3y agoNot to rain on your conspiracy, but air traffic is getting cheaper, not more expensive. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/airfare-inflation/ https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/airfare-infl...
- gadders 3y agoObviously technology since 1960-ish has made flights cheaper, but I don't really care about long term trends. I'm talking about now and into the future. If you think the imposition of Net Zero, Carbon Taxes, energy transition etc etc is going to make flights cheaper I'd be interested to see how you think this will be achieved [1] Still, as the saying goes "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges". All the FAANG employees and VCs and other tech bros will be able to fly to the Caribbean and Europe. It will only really effect your average blue collar employee, and who cares about them, right? [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-21/flights-are-about-to-get-even-more-expensive-as-going-green-costs-5-trillion https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-21/flights-a...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- throwaway5959 3y agoThat’s just conspiracy nonsense, why would they bother with EVs and not just ban gas cars altogether then?
- nradov 3y agoDon't be ridiculous. Hertz is a for-profit corporation. They're not intentionally trying to lose money in order to sabotage EVs as some sort of grand conspiracy. They're just incompetent.
- osigurdson 3y agoProbably some new exec just wanted to make a splash. They can always move on well before failure is apparent.
- osigurdson 3y agoNo, they just aren't as convenient yet. Who wants to rent an EV on a vacation and worry about where to charge it. Eventually they will be better in general but they aren't yet. This isn't done grand conspiracy against EVs.
- listenallyall 3y agoIncorrect. Hertz was the biggest corporate supporter of EVs other than the manufacturers themselves. Two different Hertz CEOs essentially bet their careers on an EV future. Your characterization of intentional neglect or feet dragging is absolutely not the case, they made big, bold Tesla purchases and aggressively deployed them in the field. The problem was that customers simply did not want to rent them. https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2021/10/28/hertz-boss-mark-fields-hertz-boss-mark-fields-explains-why-he-went-with-tesla-for-big-ev-purchase https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2021/10/28/hertz-b... https://boardstewardship.com/hertz-ceo-stephen-scherr-steps-down-co-unwinds-bet-on-ev-cars/ https://boardstewardship.com/hertz-ceo-stephen-scherr-steps-...
- curun1r 3y agoMeanwhile, I rented a Model S from Turo (essentially Airbnb for cars) and had a great experience. The car was clean, well maintained, fully charged and already parked in my hotel’s parking lot. Charging was free at any Tesla charger over the three days I had the car…I just had to plug it in and tell the car how much charge I wanted. When I was done with the car, I just had to snap a few photos and leave it in the same lot. And because the pickup/drop off point was at my hotel, I avoided paying for the car for the day I flew in and out since the hotel provided a shuttle to/from the airport. It’s amazing that some guy named Marco who bought 6 used Teslas can do a more competent job of renting EVs than a multibillion dollar rental agency with huge economies of scale.
- api 3y agoCar rental is awful in general. I just use ride share and don’t rent unless I need to do a lot of driving. These companies seem horribly managed dumpster fires. I’ve never had a good experience. Acceptable most of the time but often bad.
- _ea1k 3y agoYeah, tbh, I always thought rentals would do ok because of how well Teslas have rented on Turo. But then again, Turo is a small fragment of the market, and the hosts care about renting them out. They are also selected by the renter intentionally. The rental companies went too far on purchases and way short on support, and often gave them out to people that didn't even want them.
- throwaway5959 3y agoThis seems like a problem with a lot of places now, not just rental cars. Employees just don’t give a shit anymore, if anything they hate their jobs and customers.
- goda90 3y agoOffice Space as relevant as ever: https://youtu.be/cgg9byUy-V4 https://youtu.be/cgg9byUy-V4
- eastbound 3y agoI agree, and how did that happen? It’s incredibly hard to find a painter who will actually paint, even when it takes exactly less time to do it properly than do a thin layer and be summoned to come back( Did we go to far into commoditizing everything, such that people don’t care about their reputation anymore, and don’t care about the poor schmocks who will have to live in half-built houses, and therefore, the only important thing is the plausibility that the job was performed?
- hattmall 3y agoPeople that get business from the Internet don't care about reputation. You can always just buy fake reviews, sometimes you can pay to have negatives removed, or you can just start a new company name and buy fake reviews. Also so many businesses have sufficient barriers to entry that there is a considerable under supply of service providers.
- haliskerbas 3y agoYeah I wonder why people who feel like they are getting poorer and poorer while their bosses get richer and richer, stopped giving a shit.
- throwaway5959 3y agoThe average American has never been materially wealthier. Even the poorest Americans that are housed have a fridge, a TV, a cell phone, many have a car (or two) and a majority of Americans own their own home/condo.
- toddmorey 3y agoRented a Kia EV6 and had to spend 3+ hours trying to charge it. Joined several charging networks--one crazy network signup made me put in the damn VIN from the windshield. Several stations failed to ever start charging. All this to put energy in a car I had for a day. It was miserable. I completely understand why no one wants to ever rent an electric car. I'm as EV as they come and I'll never, ever do that to myself again. EVs could work as rentals but it would have to be a total end-to-end experience, thought out with the actual customer in mind. An app for a specialized car already paired to your phone and easy to charge on the Tesla network by just plugging in.
- api 3y agoCharging networks are a huge problem that may require regulation to fix. The hodgepodge of networks is awful. Tesla still has a big advantage here.
- peutetre 3y agoEV charging standardization in Europe has lead to good charger compatibility and more investment into and development of the EV infrastructure. All brands of car can charge on all brands of charger as Nature intended. It's just better infrastructure. Incompatible, brand exclusive charging stations are dumb infrastructure and no good for anyone.
- api 3y agoThat’s what I was talking about. Just pointing out that in this environment the one company that took it seriously had a huge advantage from doing so. An open version of the Tesla system is now standardized as NACS and hopefully will take over. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
- peutetre 3y ago> An app for a specialized car already paired to your phone and easy to charge on the Tesla network by just plugging in. No. No apps, no charging network accounts, no brand lock in or lock out. Contactless payment is the minimum acceptable standard (also having the ability to pay by cash would be even better). You can still have your app if you want to but everyone must be able to pay without signing up for apps and accounts from multiple charging providers just to put electricity in a car battery. I don't have an app to fuel my ICE vehicle, I shouldn't need one to charge my EV. Europe has mandated contactless payments. Even Tesla is following the rules on their new V4 dispensers. Tesla will need to fix up its old dispensers: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yflZN0dLT8s https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yflZN0dLT8s
- gerdesj 3y agoAwful. I last rented in FL a good 10 years back, Coral Springs - I'm UK based so only have a couple of anecdotes to go on. I was treated courteously and upgraded because the car I ordered wasn't available. Obviously back then EVs were largely off the menu. However, how on earth do you mount a wheel backwards? What is a rotor in an EV? I own a Chinese "Morris Garage" marque car - it's not from 'round 'ere boy. Your Polstar is from Norway. They do them.
- beeeeerp 3y agoI can’t speak for the OP, but a “rotor” can mean the brake rotor on a disc brake, which can warp due to excessive use/heat. They are common on most cars, and usually need to be “turned” (ie. machined to be flat) when they are out of tolerance.
- ultrarunner 3y agoThrowaway economy: I haven't been able to find anyone to turn a rotor in ~10 years, but Amazon will bring me brand new ones tomorrow. Sure, quality has gone down, but, well, that's why it's not worth turning them anyway.
- iwanttocomment 3y agoI've got a 2012 Toyota with regenerative brakes that's had its rotors turned twice (by independent shops) after they've become rusty/noisy around every 5 years or so. But it still has all the original rotors and pads! The mechanics wouldn't replace them since there wasn't enough wear. It's almost bizarre at this point. Maybe in 2027?
- beeeeerp 3y agoI’ve owned some Hondas recently where the rotors noticeably warped after several years (maybe since the cars have such good longevity?). It probably strongly depends on driving styles. I also trust OEM metallurgy far more than anything you can purchase off Amazon.
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- Reason077 3y agoI've rented Polestar 2s from Hertz more than 10 times in the UK. One of them had a service message that intermittently popped up related to the collision avoidance system (IIRC), and one had a slightly dodgy multi-way switch on the drivers seat that made it difficult (but not impossible) to adjust the seat position. Other than those they were all excellent: a really great car, with great software. One of the best I've ever rented from Hertz. I hope they don't sell all of them!
- Reason077 3y ago> "I read about Hertz having problems with EV maintenance but experience leads me to believe that it's nothing to do with being EVs." It's not so much that EVs require more maintenance/repairs (if anything, the opposite is true!), but the high costs of parts etc when repairs are needed. This is particularly a problem with Teslas, which also leads to higher insurance premiums.
- bagels 3y agoI rented a the Volvo XC40 from hertz in Texas. It was great. The charging network around Austin was not.