Hertz - Hertz UK - New hidden charges / scam

My partner booked a Hertz car hire coming out of Stanstead UK last week.
She used her credit card and used my name as the driver as she normally does. However, on arrival we discovered that a new rule had been introduced in Aug 09 making the booking impossible to fulfil - and so the booking could only be cancelled and rebooked - incurring a £35 cancellation fee.
They now insist that the name on the credit card must be the same as the driver name. Although their website will accept any name as the driver name, only on arrival do they tell you that the booking is impossible to fulfill. Furthermore, the booking was made and fully paid for weeks in advance and they would have known all along that the booking needed to be cancelled.
So, rather than fix their website forcing the CC name to be the same as the driver name, or rather than send an email alert to the client in advance warning of the problem, they choose to do nothing, wait for the client to show up and impose the cancellation fee.
Staff at the office were quite rude and simply responded 'You did not read the terms and conditions'
I consider this to be nothing short of a scam - in order to charge an additional £35.
I know of no other car hire company operating like this and we regularily use various other car hire companies at Stanstead and elsewhere - as have friends and family - but noone has had this problem before.

Welcome to Flyertalk!

I thought this rule had been in place for a while - e.g. the person renting the vehicle (and hence paying for it) had to be a driver on the vehicle.

Might be easier for you to get a supplementary card on your wife's account for future rentals? (Or pay using your own card).

Welcome to Flyertalk!

I thought this rule had been in place for a while - e.g. the person renting the vehicle (and hence paying for it) had to be a driver on the vehicle.

Might be easier for you to get a supplementary card on your wife's account for future rentals? (Or pay using your own card).


It makes sense from a security (for customer & Hertz to be presented with a card in the name of the main driver, Hertz has applied this policy as far back as I can remember and is stated in booking T's & C's.
Someone could book and pre pay for a prestige car such as a Merc CLK, with your card that may have been stolen just a few hours ago,then just turn up and use a seperately fraudulently obtained card for deposit, knowing you may have already found out your card is stolen and cancelled. In doing this they may be able to assist in reducing the high number of stolen to order rental vehicles that are obtained fraudulently, which consequently would help to reduce the price increases to compensate for stolen hire vehicles industry wide.
NB: Europcar at Stansted it is mandatory to give a fingerprint in order to rent a hire car, customers think this is crazy as well as if they refusde to do this then their pre paid booking is not refunded due to not reading T'S & C's.

Welcome to Flyertalk!

I thought this rule had been in place for a while - e.g. the person renting the vehicle (and hence paying for it) had to be a driver on the vehicle.

Might be easier for you to get a supplementary card on your wife's account for future rentals? (Or pay using your own card).

Thanks for your comments...
Yes of course she could use my card - but with other rental companies she doesnt need to. Staff at Hertz said that the new rule was introduced in Aug 09.
But the point is that their website should not allow you to change the driver name from the credit card name and thus allow you to create a booking which cannot be fulfilled and can only be cancelled - with the imposition of cancellation charges.
This cannot be an acceptable business practise and amounts to fraud by deception.

It makes sense from a security (for customer & Hertz to be presented with a card in the name of the main driver, Hertz has applied this policy as far back as I can remember and is stated in booking T's & C's.
Someone could book and pre pay for a prestige car such as a Merc CLK, with your card that may have been stolen just a few hours ago,then just turn up and use a seperately fraudulently obtained card for deposit, knowing you may have already found out your card is stolen and cancelled. In doing this they may be able to assist in reducing the high number of stolen to order rental vehicles that are obtained fraudulently, which consequently would help to reduce the price increases to compensate for stolen hire vehicles industry wide.
NB: Europcar at Stansted it is mandatory to give a fingerprint in order to rent a hire car, customers think this is crazy as well as if they refusde to do this then their pre paid booking is not refunded due to not reading T'S & C's.

No - it had nothing to do with the credit card used. The car was prepaid weeks earlier and, on arrival, the same credit card was offered to guarantee the car in case of damages etc - so the card was 100% guaranteed. And it had nothing to do with fingerprinting either.
The issue is simply that the website invites you to enter a driver name which is different to the credit card name. And if you fall for this trick - your booking will become unfulfillable and must be cancelled - incurring cancellation charges payable to Hertz.

Ran into this issue at Hertz in the UK before. Will never use them again.

No - it had nothing to do with the credit card used. The car was prepaid weeks earlier and, on arrival, the same credit card was offered to guarantee the car in case of damages etc - so the card was 100% guaranteed. And it had nothing to do with fingerprinting either.
The issue is simply that the website invites you to enter a driver name which is different to the credit card name. And if you fall for this trick - your booking will become unfulfillable and must be cancelled - incurring cancellation charges payable to Hertz.

The following is taken directly from the Hertz website under the Part where you enter the Credit Card details:

IMPORTANT: Please note that the name and details supplied above must be the same as the person renting. You will also need to present your full, current driving licence and the valid credit card or debit card* used to make the booking when collecting your vehicle.

Says it all really ????

The following is taken directly from the Hertz website under the Part where you enter the Credit Card details:

IMPORTANT: Please note that the name and details supplied above must be the same as the person renting. You will also need to present your full, current driving licence and the valid credit card or debit card* used to make the booking when collecting your vehicle.

Says it all really ????

Your response perfectly sums up the Hertz approach to the issue.
Yes the message is on the website but at the bottom of the page and a long way down from where the name is entered. Besides, nobody reads the terms and conditions anyway. People expect a) fairness and b) a similar service to that offered by other car hire companies and c) a customer focussed service - none of which are offered by Hertz.

I must say that I am in support of jr ewing 2009. He is not arguing with the terms and conditions. He is simply saying why allow their own website to flout their own terms and conditions?

This would be a simple problem to fix on the website i.e the driver name must match the card name. (Lots of retail sites have a similar feature). That way the less perfect of us do not get caught out.

OTOH they could simply allow the booking to stand with the driver presenting a credit card on the day. Afterall you can (pre) pay with cash or debit card now, and then present your credit card on the day you drive away.

I must say that I am in support of JR too if this is correct, as not only could it easily prevent you booking in a different name, it could also highlight the booking clause as the reason for rejection.

I am a PC with hertz (so have hired a lot) and have never realised this, but could easily make a prepaid booking for one of my staff using my card for business use and when they turn up we get shafted - if that is the case.

I must say that I am in support of JR too if this is correct, as not only could it easily prevent you booking in a different name, it could also highlight the booking clause as the reason for rejection.

I am a PC with hertz (so have hired a lot) and have never realised this, but could easily make a prepaid booking for one of my staff using my card for business use and when they turn up we get shafted - if that is the case.

I have to say that I completely agree with JR as I too have fallen into this swindle, I book car hire at Stansted at least 7 times a year and I always pay with my credit card yet my partner drives and not once have I had an issue as long as I can present the CC that was used in the original booking... Until I booked with Hertz when like JR we had to cancel the reservation and pay the cancellation fee! I did suggest we change the main driver to my name - but guess what that's a name change so you still need to pay the penalty of £35. A company such as hertz should indeed provide a proper website booking service, if the card holder needs to be the same name as the driver it should not allow you to enter two different names - my argument was yes I am hiring the car Im just not driving it! I was then accused of completing the booking form incorrectly! The website asks for the name of the driver and then asks for the name of the card holder at the payment window - how else can it verify the card!, therefore the system should pick up at that point that the names are indeed different and therefore should not allow the booking to be processed - this is basic stuff and I am appalled that hertz are getting away with it. On the very same day my sister had rented a car from budget she paid her partnered drove GUESS what they had no problems what so ever.

Welcome to FT, Hotdog39