Hertz - One way - do license plates matter

I booked a one-way..after going through a few cars w various problems (one wouldn't even start), was told they couldnt give me anything, since I was driving one-way, and none of the remaining vehicles had license plates from the destination state.

I was told this once before, but am pretty sure it doesn't actually matter, since a half dozen times the rental agent at Hertz has given me a random car with plates not matching the state of my final destination.

I asked if I could just take something they had, and stop by another hertz location before leaving the state, to swap for a car w proper plates. Agent agreed, and warned me his corporate location (airport) would be fined $1000 if I brought this car all the way to my final destination, since the plates are from here not there.

Can anyone weigh in on this? Do the plates really matter? Why would one corporate location care, but others simply don't? If this thousand dollar fine were real, you'd think all rental agents would be super careful not to do one-way rentals when the plates dont match the destination state...:confused:

Sounds like they are simply making up rules. They obviously wanted to get rid of crappy cars by sending them one way to another location.

Sounds like they are simply making up rules. They obviously wanted to get rid of crappy cars by sending them one way to another location.

That makes a lot of sense, because all the other cars they tried to give me were garbage. Then the guy apologizes for all teh inconvenience, says he'll get me something much nicer....then whoops! Didn't realize it was a one-way, that's a huge problem for us...

Yep, agent is full of crap unless the returning location is a franchised location. I have seen cars that are taken off the truck at one location (i.e. Virginia) but registered to another State (Tennessee)...

I had one way three week rental going from DAB to CLT with National a month or so ago and was successful in talking the agent at DAB into assigning the premium I had rented one way from CLT-DAB back out on the new rental despite being booked for a full. After being rear ended in Atlanta, the agents at ATL weren't shy about suggesting I be put into an over 15k mileage car. Luckily, having been put into a premium, one of the agents said it didn't matter because all of the cars would be under 15k....

I swear every car with Hertz has a Tennessee plate :P Rented in PHL - Tennessee plates. Rented in BOS, Tennessee plates, Rented at LGA, Tennessee plates, and of course - rented a one-way from BNA (Nashville Airport) to ORD - Tennessee plates (LOL). Not that I care what plates are on a car, as long as the paperwork is proper when I leave. I'm going to SEA today, maybe I'll get a rental with - Tennessee plates!

Yes, there seems to be some sort of tax/fleet advantage to TN plates.

A while ago, a Hertz or National rep on here said GM gave a new shipment to the FL locations, and while they were all brand new cars with 0 mi, they all had TN plates.

A few weeks ago, I did the Hertz one-way shuttle rate from Manhattan to EWR. I had a Rav4 with 5,500 mi, and TN plates. Yet, surprisingly, the number below the window barcode said 1998, which a former Hertz rep once said was the code for the lower NY "owning" region. In other words, the car likely was not one-wayed from TN to NY, but purchased and originally placed in service somewhere in the NY metro area.

That makes a lot of sense, because all the other cars they tried to give me were garbage. Then the guy apologizes for all teh inconvenience, says he'll get me something much nicer....then whoops! Didn't realize it was a one-way, that's a huge problem for us...

It was a way to explain away not giving you the nicer car on a one-way. Normally where the car is registered is not a problem. The CAR though can be a problem on a one-way. They didn't want to give away the good car; they want to send you away with the crap. :D

I rent around home a lot rather than at far-flung airports. I get my share of Pennsyvlania plates, but my current one is Georgia. I believe there were several like this too, GA plates on 2011 Camrys. They bought a late batch of these somewhere, that's for sure. This 2011 only has 18k, which is fairly low I think. I doubt it's even been in service for the 5 1/2 months since 2011. I think they bought leftovers in 2012.

I also rent from an HLE often - in fact, most of my Hertz rentals these days are HLE and I do National at airports. I get lots of far-flung states at the HLE - had a Virginia car earlier this spring (in Kansas).

When I've done airport rentals one-way over the years, usually the location has a specific car picked out for me even when it's a "pick from the aisle" system like National/Alamo. Never had a *bad* car per se...just that it's the one they want to send away. Exceptions seem to be when it's a shorter one-way within a region...e.g., one of the NYC airports to/from BOS/PVD or the DAL/SAT/AUS area. Then they seem fine with me picking what I want.

I have had certain car classes excluded when reserving one way state to state. Mostly SUV's and Minivans-but that was at the reservation stage. The license plates I have received for all types of rentals have been completely random. I think you were being fed crap.

I just rented a car one way from FLL to a hle in Wisconsin. They originally gave me a Passat with a FL plate, but i switched it for a Sonata with a FL plate. Never did i have any reason to believe the plate mattered, especially considering there was a car sitting on the lot with a WI plate that they could have given me.

And here in South Florida, about 80% or more of cars i see with Tennessee plates are just Hertz rentals. Somewhat uncommon that a car with a Tennessee plate is actually someone from Tennessee.

Recently had a brand new (500 miles) explorer in New Hampshire with TN plates. I asked the Hertz agent at the LEB airport how an Explorer with TN plates makes it to New Hampshire clearly without having ever been in TN. She told me that at this location, they get almost all their cars from BOS and MHT. She estimated that 30 to 40% of the cars she got from BOS and MHT have MA/NH/CT plates but that the rest could be anywhere. She said that when a car comes in with expired or close to expired tags, she enters it into the system and they send her new plates by Fedex and that those could be from anywhere in the country -- it was not uncommon for her to be putting TX, TN, FL, PA, CA etc plates on cars. She said she had no idea what rhyme or reason there was to where cars were plated, but that it was increasingly common that a car with plates for one state may never have actually been there.

If there was any truth at all to a potential $1000 fine then there is absolutely no way that the agent would have let the car go with the "promise" that you would exchange the car elsewhere.