r/HertzRentals

TLDR: Rant - car rented fraudulently on my account: hertz’s response to my request to change my account number is to say they will delete my account

Hertz Gold customer for past 20 years. A few weeks ago, I rented a car in Springfield, MO and returned it. Two days later I received an email from Hertz at the Charleston Airport saying my return was overdue. I looked at the email with the rental info and immediately called them because the name and address for the rental were not mine, though my email, phone number, and hertz # belonged to me.

Some ne'er-do-well reserved a car in their own name, DL, and address but with my account #, email, phone number and credit card. Our last names were similar, but not the same. Long story short - they gave fraudulent info to book the car and then they stole it. Fortunately, the person paid with a different credit card than the one associated with my profile. Strangely enough, the fraudulent reservation never showed up in my app.

My guess is a walk up customer made the reservation with their own info, and ‘forgot’ their account #, and the hertz person looked up by last name - misspelling it - and found my name.

I immediately cancelled my credit card. Then I sent an email to hertz requesting that they change my account number due to fraud. Guess what? They say they can’t do it! They can only delete the account. Um… hello? Call your IT department, ask ChatGPT, or better yet - ask an 8 year old cuz they are super tech savvy! Where is your Customer Service?

Hertz has now sent me three letters telling me they will delete my account in response to my request for a new account number. So my history, points, profile and loyalty are worthless to them. Guess they have now become worthless to me.

Be cautious renting from this Hertz location. I received what I believe is an unjustified post-rental charge for an alleged “scratch” on the vehicle. We rented an older vehicle with an extremely glossy, reflective finish, and we did not damage it.

The “damage” report arrived only after I had returned the car, was already at the airport, and was boarding my flight, leaving no realistic opportunity to inspect the vehicle or discuss the allegation in person. The photos provided are also difficult to evaluate because of the vehicle’s highly reflective finish.

Disputing the charge has been frustrating and unnecessarily difficult. I am concerned that the automated/AI inspection system may be identifying reflections or minor visual differences as chargeable damage after customers have already left the property.

As a Hertz President’s Circle member and frequent renter, this experience has been extremely disappointing. Based on how this has been handled, I would not rent from this location again.

I recently hired a car through Expedia from Sixt in Devon England for 4 days and a hour after returning it I get a email saying there's two 5cm scratches on each door. Included in the email was a form with a drawing of a car with crosses indicating where the alleged scratches are. No photos. Thing is although I had to sign to collect the car when I returned it no came out of the office and I wasn't asked to sign anything. A young Valeter who was cleaning cars came and took the key from Me and that was it! Nothing said about checks etc.

They've said there'll get back in touch with Me again after saying, and I quote 'There is no action needed from your side at the moment. We are reviewing the matter and will reach out shortly in case further clarification is needed'.

I very regretfully made the mistake of not taking photos before the pick up! Big mistake I know!

I also took out full protection Insurance at the time of booking as offered by Rentalcover.com would this kick in?

Thing is I feel aggrieved about this as I am certain I didn't do this damage and hundreds of 'Sixt Scams' examples come back for the same kind of thing when you google it.

I rented a compact vehicle from Hertz in Nashville for a one-way trip to New Orleans. About an hour into the drive, I realized the Buick Encore GX’s Adaptive Cruise Control wasn’t functioning. I pulled over multiple times to make sure it wasn’t user error, then called Hertz Roadside Assistance. They confirmed the issue and instructed me to exchange the vehicle at the Nashville airport location.

I drove an hour back through rush hour, arrived, unloaded all of my belongings (I was moving, so there was a LOT), and explained everything to the employees. Despite Roadside Assistance specifically instructing me to exchange the vehicle there, the manager denied the exchange because “we’re booked,” even though I watched multiple vehicle exchanges happening right next to me.

I was told to drive back to the original location instead.

Then, when I tried to leave, the attendant told me they had accidentally cancelled my rental contract and that I needed a manual contract. I went back inside, waited another 20–30 minutes while employees argued over who had to complete it, and eventually got the manual contract. I repeatedly asked if I could exchange the vehicle since they were creating a new contract anyway, but was denied. I was also assured I would not be charged again.

By this point, I was almost five hours behind schedule. I finally made it back to the original location, explained the entire situation AGAIN, and they exchanged the vehicle for a Kia Niro. The employee there was actually fantastic and very helpful. My issue is primarily with how the airport location handled everything.

The Kia then gave me an oil-change warning about 300 miles into the trip, and it also had a noticeable vibration at 70 mph.

I returned the Kia with a full tank and had no issues at drop-off.

Then today, I noticed a $100 charge from Hertz. Apparently, the original Buick rental was still showing as active, so Hertz charged me a late fee for a vehicle I had been instructed to exchange. I was also apparently charged the deposit again and another $266 that wasn't covered by my voucher.

After being on the phone with billing support for 40+ minutes, I now have to wait an additional 24-72 hours for Hertz to close the original contract, and then I have to contact them and go through this whole charade again.

This has easily been my worst experience with Hertz. I cannot believe I am still dealing with this. I should’ve listened to everyone else.

Hi all,

I’m planning an 8 hour road trip to Ohio and need to get a comfortable car. Just last week I rented out a Tesla only to be told they didn’t have any and instead gave me a Nissan Kicks which had zero driver assist other then adaptive cruise control. Which class can I rent that for sure guarantees me the most room and driver assists?

Hi guys,

My rental contract ends at 12:00 pm this Saturday. I tried to return the car at 3:00 am, 9 hours earlier, through the Express Return kiosk. The rental car place opened from 9 am to 12 pm, but it’s now 9 pm and the website still shows that the car hasn’t been returned. Has anyone had this experience and any advice?

Anyone have recent rental history at HNL? Wondering if they have those AI scanners.

I travel frequently for business and arrived at the airport to select my vehicle from the presidents circle, got to the exit and an individual approached me and said they were going to select my vehicle but decided on a different one (because it was red).

During that event they had left their purse in the car, I let them search the car twice and they couldnt find it. I went on my way, 3 days later outside my hotel the police arrived and said she tracked her purse using her airpods that were in the purse.

I said you can search it and they found it under the driver's seat.

When they gave it back to her she said she was missing her card wallet and $40. I had a backpack behind the driver's seat that had been there since I picked up the car, they asked to search it and I said they could.

They found the card wallet (a small black leather card wallet) in the backpack and read me my rights.

I explained it could have ended up there in multiple ways I had colleagues traveling with me in the car, I had a hoodie on the floor that may have been scooped up and placed in the backpack. Vackpack was opemed and closed multiple times per day to retrieve items and place them back like laptop power cables etc. I even brought my colleague down and he advised its possible he shoved stuff in my bag that was laying on the floor but can't say for sure.

They dismissed my colleagues claims, laughed at me, told me the airpods loss signal had been acknowledged.They didnt locate the apparent $40 but the individual was given all her stuff back and was free to leave, no fingerprints nothing. None of her cards had been used.

I am a high net worth individual and do not need $40 or anyone's cards, I have my own.

They issued a citation for Theft 2 lost/mislaid in Oregon. Im yet to secure an attorney but wanted to get opinions on this. The citation is critical because I have a I-485 pending for AOS L1B to Green Card. Ultimately I need the charges not to be filed with the DA and the whole thing thrown out. What would you do? Location: Oregon, USA

President circle member and can’t get in contact with anyone that can help. Have a prepaid reservation but can’t get a straight answer. No one at the national customer service line can change it or provide insights to cost and he local Albuquerque location doesn’t answer. I have called 18 times over the past 3 hours.

I did a one day rental in Orlando, using my personal EZpass transponder for the myriad of small value tolls lurking on the local roads, my transponder paid a total of 6 of them during the day. Despite my transponder being clearly functional, Plate pass billed my card for a single $1.13 toll, plus (in my opinion) a rather inflated 785% of the toll to process it. (what a great business to be in with profit margins like that!!)

I'm wondering what I should do, I emailed them a copy of my transaction log and asking for details about where the $1.13 was recorded, but no reply. Is challenging the charge with my credit card company, providing the log as evidence the logical next step? My guess is there was a error with Florida's equipment that made it miss one toll on my EZpass, which is not a fault of mine. If the reader failed to read my transponder, and instead read the plate, I will reimburse them $1.13, but the exorbitant inconvenience fee attached to it greatly annoys me and I'm not interested in paying such an amount for something that was no fault of my own.

Hi! Wanna seek some advice if anyone has encountered such a situation.

Initially I booked my rental at LAX for 4 days (i.e. XXX 18th - XXX 22nd), but due to some plan changes, my flight out of LA is moved to XXX 23rd. So naturally needed to amend my booking to add an extra day, but now they only show a weekly rate.

While I understand from online sources that anything from a 5 day rental will automatically change to a weekly rate, probably since most folks will enjoy a better rate, in this case for me it is not the case.

The daily rate is about $91, so my initial 4 day booking would make it to low $300s (including some CDP discounts). Changing my booking to 5 days, they only show the weekly rate of $590+, which does not make sense as 5*$91 would be $450 (or in my case less than $400 if i were to “top up”), especially since my extension would be only for a few hours (getting out of LA early next morning vs. initial booking return 8pm). I have also searched a booking of XXX 22nd to XXX 23rd to make sure the daily rate and same vehicle is available.

Any way to circumvent the unnecessary almost $200 difference? Or has anyone booked another booking to add-on to their initial booking, while not requiring to return to the drop-off point only to get back the same car? Also getting thoughts of playing their system by just going to LAX to return the initial rental and getting the next rental

Anything will help!

Since all posts tend to just be negative :)

I completed a rental and returned the car to the same fuel level that I received it in. It was not 100%, it was like at the last tick before full. But I got charged for fuel. I had pictures of the dash before and after and I had my gas receipt and everything ready to show all the proof. I got on the phone with customer service - and navigating through the AI to get to a human wasn't even that much of a pain - and he didn't ask for anything. He just said okay we'll have the charge reversed, and so it was within like 4 business days.

No rental car location is perfect and I’ve had my fair share of semi dirty rentals during my life time. The Mesa,AZ location on Main st should be under review. Their cleaning crew is lazy.

i have rented a prepaid car for 15 days in Orlando Airport. after arriving and being awake for more than 24 hours, the branch refused to give me the car. They said they couldn't see the payment it in their system.

After discussing for more than 2,5 hours, talking to different "managers", some who could see the payment in the reservation but not in their system, but still refusing to help because "I don't want to get fired". No one has taken responsibility yet.

We were also referred to the international costumer service who could also see that it had been prepaid, but the branch still refused to hand over the keys as long as their system was not "synchronised".

I have spoken to my bank who confirms the payment.

This is jeopardising our whole vacation for my pregnant wife and me.

What should I do?

This was five days ago. They really slammed into us too, truck needs repair, driver was hurt, my 3 month old was in the car and her car seat needs to be replaced. Hertz is not helpful and our insurance is telling us we need to file a claim and pay the deductible even though we aren’t at fault. i don’t know a lot about this but it seems really unfair especially since we pay so much for car insurance for this sort of thing. we have witnesses, pictures of the rental driving away, their plates etc. I appreciate any advice.