Originally published at: Car rental nightmare shows how Hertz oversells inventory and extorts stuck customers | Boing Boing
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They’re kinda sloppy. My folks bought a car from their fleet (through a local dealer who resold it near the start of the pandemic) and it turned out we found out later it was a recalled car and the proper software update was never installed. My dad had to drive an half hour to a KIA dealer just to get it fixed.
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If only cities had reliable public transportation that people could turn to…
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You could buy a used car for the upsell they hit her with
I have actually known people that have done this. They’ll buy a used car, drive it for however long they need it and then sell it.
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Obligatory for the subject:
(surprisingly good movie, and I suspect some of it comes from real life. Hopefully not the underpants bit).
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It’s right there in the name.
When I travel to (mainland) Europe, I never have to rent a car. When I travel to the US I nearly always have to. Both transportation systems were designed, but for different goals.
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Late-stage capitalism never lets a crisis go to waste.
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Man, I thought this gouging was only on cheap rental place like Fox:
Me: “I’m here to get the mid size sedan”
Fox: “Sorry, mid size sedan isn’t available, but you can get an SUV for the same price over there (points to a couple of jeeps)”
Me: 
“(looks) that…looks like smaller car than mid size sedan. Isn’t that cheaper than sedan?”
Fox: “No, it’s the same price”
Me: 
“Ok, I guess I need to cancel the reservation then because I need a bigger car.”
Fox: 
“(calls on intercom) oh, I was just told that we now have a mid size sedan if you can wait… about 10 min”
Me: 
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New York has “reliable public transportation”, which is why Ms. Klonick doesn’t own a car, and therefore needed to rent one to visit family somewhere rural.
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How is any of this legal? This is literally fraud and extortion, shouldn’t there be criminal charges filed?
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I had the extreme displeasure of meeting some of the Hertz clan while a bartender, entitled poop sticks doesn’t even begin to cover them, oh and you know they were great tippers too.
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I think there’s a lot of this sort of thing in the rental car game generally; car rental was always my least favorite part of corporate travel, worse even than the flights. Hertz has been the source of most of my rental car troubles, but since the company I worked for used them exclusively, I’m sure they’re overrepresented. I will say that my least problematic rentals, especially in the last couple years, have all come from Enterprise. YMMV, literally.
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They get dinged with class-action suits about every 8-10 years. I just got notified of one last year. They always have shitty terms, and usually are more work than they are worth, especially if most of your rentals are for work.
Hurts is by far the worst. The scam they run in Europe on North American tourists is to find damage on the car after you return it and bloat the repair charges into the $thousands. Then they don’t repair the damage. If you want to appeal it, you have to appear in person, so it’s more expensive to appeal than just pay their extortion.
True…unless you need to go to/from an airport in the area.
I’m shocked that a company that spent $32 million for a borked website scams their customers. Well, not that shocked.
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Still the worst. Just extend that to the other brands under their umbrella.
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‘Only’ $240K in federal lobbying, which seems very unlikely, unless the reason is that they lobby on the local and state level instead.
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Ahh, scammed by Accenture. Not surprising.
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