Hertz...Hurts. If you're considering Hertz for a rental, I suggest reconsidering if you haven't already reserved the vehicle. If you do rent from them, I would advise you to consider purchasing their extra insurance endorsement. Our family left a Hertz rental vehicle at the Colorado Springs Airport rental lot early on the morning of September 29th. As has been our custom, our son took a slow walk around the Ford Expedition to identify any issues that should be reported; everything looked good to go. Three weeks later, I received a call out of the blue from a Hertz representative demanding $800 for alleged vehicle damage and over $400 in administrative fees. Talk about out of the blue.
Despite completely blowing the industry's chain-of-custody standards, they held to their position that I was responsible. Initially, the photos they shared only showed a "dot" of damage, but I later learned that additional photos were attached to the message. While none contained timestamping, they did show that damage had been done to the Expedition's trunk emblem. That struck me as odd, so I investigated a bit to see whether the area had seen other reports of vandalism. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. I ended up filing a police report with the Colorado Springs Police Department at the suggestion of a department employee. At least, this creates a paper trail.
For context, this isn't the first time Hertz has had troubles. Recently, they were sued for lying about one of their cars being stolen. It was hardly the first time either. The Clark Howard Show recently posted an article on the company as well. Hertz is apparently using AI now to help them locate billable dings on returned cars. See this article in Forbes.
Meanwhile, I haven't decided which way to go on this. I have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau (1.5 score, by the way), Oregon Department of Justice (Consumer Protection) as well as Colorado's justice department, Clark Howard's site, and two local media outlets that do Consumer Protection stories. I am sharing some information below for contacting the company in case it might be helpful.
If you want to avoid a few weeks of your life going to the dogs over this nonsense, though, I suggest steering clear of Hertz.
Updated as of November 13th/14th. Tried a couple additional avenues with no luck. We have other issues we need to focus upon right now, so I am going to bite the bullet and pay at this point. I have added some more contacts below. Be aware, in our case at least, the rental car company changed payment methods without our authorization. I never considered this a particularly good area to focus on, but research online does suggest this is another slimy practice. When resigning to the Better Business' Bureau inability to negotiate with this company, I accepted their "response" in the afternoon, but I let the company have it with both (verbal) barrels.
On the evening of the 13th, I decided to bite the bullet and pay the stupid thing under protest. Tried to register an account on the Hertz site in order to pay online, but it said that my claim number was invalid. On the morning of the 14th, much to my happy shock, I learned the claim had been cancelled in its entirety. Not sure what was behind the change of tune, but in my final correspondence I emphasized the company's dismal history in terms of lawsuits and complaints and being the subject of nationally syndicated radio personalities.
CEO Email: gil.west@hertz.com
Lawanda HuffMichelle Hendrix, Michelle.Hendrix@hertz.com
Recovery Specialist’s Phone Number: (844)969-8951
Recovery Specialist’s Extension: 4088
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