Hertz - Rates go up when browser sees I'm from Europe -- why?

I just tried to book online at hertz.com. When I indicated that I was from Denmark the price was 1500 US, which I thought was pretty high. I tried again saying I was from the US, and it quoted me around 800. Can anyone tell me why hertz would increase its rates solely due to the origin of the site visitor? This was before insurance, too.

This was before insurance, too.

Are you *certain* it was before insurance? Because I found that from several European countries, esp. Italy I find them to always include taxes, insurance, and they are prepaid too. Unless you use a discount code, then it goes to the lower insurance-less rate.

When in the States, I often have to choose between (i) a non-Club Gold booking at cheap US rates, or (ii) providing my Club Gold number, when the system detects my home address is in Canada, and defaults to higher Canadian rates.

When in the States, I often have to choose between (i) a non-Club Gold booking at cheap US rates, or (ii) providing my Club Gold number, when the system detects my home address is in Canada, and defaults to higher Canadian rates.

I noticed this too. I tried it with the Gold Club number and it shot up even higher. Would love to know why this is.

I just tried to book online at hertz.com. When I indicated that I was from Denmark the price was 1500 US, which I thought was pretty high. I tried again saying I was from the US, and it quoted me around 800. Can anyone tell me why hertz would increase its rates solely due to the origin of the site visitor? This was before insurance, too.

In the USA renters are used to renting without taxes and insurance whereas in Europe we normally get an all inclusive price with the full insurance and all local taxes surcharges and fees included.

Try phoning your local hertz reservations and try a quote from them as well. See how it matches the net quote and then ask then what it includes.

Its sometime cheaper to rent outside the USA from Europe as its all inclusive rate makes it chepaer than turning up and paying all local charges.

Does depend where you are renting though.

I've seen this all the time with Hertz, although they're not alone in this discriminatory practice. Even my letter to them went unanswered.

I got my Germany-based Hertz Gold card (and later a U.S. #1 Club card, too) in anticipation of either better treatment or better rates, but the opposite has been true. Now I don't even bother with Hertz anymore. Avis does the same thing, but at least with Avis, the rates have been consistently lower, so I'll put up with their discrimination. :rolleyes:

I've seen this all the time with Hertz, although they're not alone in this discriminatory practice. Even my letter to them went unanswered.

Discrimination? Give me a break... :rolleyes:

The difference is exactly as lhrworker wrote - insurance and taxes are already included and this is most of the time a better deal then using the US base rate and adding all the surcharges.

If you want see the base rates without any insurances then you should change your Hertz profile on the website - set all CDW/LDW/LIS etc. to "decline" and you'll see the same base rate as any US member.

But dont talk about "discrimination", thats ridiculous.

I usually get a better deal booking thru expedia.co.uk versus expedia.com on the rentals I have picked up in Italy. I guess it goes both ways.

And yes, all fees are included on the Euro website, including insurance, and the package deal is still cheaper than booking on the US website without insurance.

Discrimination? Give me a break... :rolleyes:

The difference is exactly as lhrworker wrote - insurance and taxes are already included and this is most of the time a better deal then using the US base rate and adding all the surcharges.

If you want see the base rates without any insurances then you should change your Hertz profile on the website - set all CDW/LDW/LIS etc. to "decline" and you'll see the same base rate as any US member.

But dont talk about "discrimination", thats ridiculous.
This is absolutely untrue!

Hertz surely likes people to believe that the difference lies within the included insurances, but it's a fact that customers from different countries are presented completely different rates for essentially the same product.

Try for example the following rental:

PICKUP: 06/18/05 LAX, RETURN: 06/19/05 LAX
Cat. ECAR, No CDP applied

Country of residence: The Netherlands
Est. Charges: 32,46 USD
TAX , AIRPORT CONCESSION FEE RECOVERY, VEHICLE LICENSING FEE
Rate code: MCLE

Country of residence: United States
Est. Charges: 18,39 USD
TAX , AIRPORT CONCESSION FEE RECOVERY, VEHICLE LICENSING FEE
Rate code: WEBE

That's almost a 100% increase of the base price! :mad:

Trying to fool the system by manually requesting the rate WEBE and stating The Netherlands as country of residence? Then all of a sudden no cars are available.

Discrimination based on country of residence generates a lot of extra revenue for Hertz from overseas customers who are generally unaware of the normal rates for US car rentals.

This is absolutely untrue!


Discrimination based on country of residence generates a lot of extra revenue for Hertz from overseas customers who are generally unaware of the normal rates for US car rentals.

It's not discrimination it's basically pricing based on local market conditions, the same way airlines and hotels base thier pricing, one of example is
ba.com and aa.com again different prices on same tickets due to different market demands. All industries do this worldwide even Mcdonalds!

This is absolutely untrue!

Hertz surely likes people to believe that the difference lies within the included insurances, but it's a fact that customers from different countries are presented completely different rates for essentially the same product.

Try for example the following rental:

PICKUP: 06/18/05 LAX, RETURN: 06/19/05 LAX
Cat. ECAR, No CDP applied

Country of residence: The Netherlands
Est. Charges: 32,46 USD
TAX , AIRPORT CONCESSION FEE RECOVERY, VEHICLE LICENSING FEE
Rate code: MCLE

Country of residence: United States
Est. Charges: 18,39 USD
TAX , AIRPORT CONCESSION FEE RECOVERY, VEHICLE LICENSING FEE
Rate code: WEBE

That's almost a 100% increase of the base price! :mad:

Trying to fool the system by manually requesting the rate WEBE and stating The Netherlands as country of residence? Then all of a sudden no cars are available.

Discrimination based on country of residence generates a lot of extra revenue for Hertz from overseas customers who are generally unaware of the normal rates for US car rentals.


:rolleyes: My oh my...

I tried your dates with Jun 20-Jun 21 (since its too late for June 18) and I received for hertz.de (COR: Germany) and hertz.com (COR: USA) the same price - $48.70 (rate WEBD).


And it is still no DISCRIMINATION...

I have to say that I have found that non-member quotes inc. insurance, etc, have suddenly become far cheaper than #1 Club Gold quotes without insurance, etc. It began with the latest change of website. Before that, I could book at the US site with a UK-based card. Now the site will only let me book at the UK site, and automatically redirects me if I try anything else. I'm starting to question the wisdom of ever admitting that I'm #1 Club. Or perhaps quitting Hertz. Or changing the card to a US address. Whatever, I'm p*ssed off.

:rolleyes: My oh my...

I tried your dates with Jun 20-Jun 21 (since its too late for June 18) and I received for hertz.de (COR: Germany) and hertz.com (COR: USA) the same price - $48.70 (rate WEBD).


And it is still no DISCRIMINATION...

Sigh :(

Now did you really think I would post these examples when I knew on forehand they weren't right? You changed two very important factors, namely the Country of Residence (COR) and the dates. The example I was giving showed a special weekend rate *only* available to US residents.

So if you're still not convinced, try the following quote without changing the dates or COR :

06/24/2005 - 06/25/2005
ECAR / COR:NL
Result: USD 32,46 (MCLE)

06/24/2005 - 06/25/2005
ECAR / COR:US
Result: USD 18,39 (WEBE)

Think this only applies to base rates without insurance? Wrong. The prepaid all inclusive packages (request them by RQ: WOW) are even worse in this respect. Try generating on a random US rental and see the differences between the quotes for UK-, NL- and GE-residents.

Discriminating only means making a distinction. I wouldn't know any better term for this pricing policy.

Sigh :(

Now did you really think I would post these examples when I knew on forehand they weren't right? You changed two very important factors, namely the Country of Residence (COR) and the dates.

Sorry, i did not read your post earlier. It was too late to make a reservation for the weekend, because I read your post on sunday evening. It was not my intend to prove you wrong, I just was wondering why I could not see a difference in the rate.



The example I was giving showed a special weekend rate *only* available to US residents.


OK, now I see our misunderstanding... you were talking about special weekend rates and I was talking about generic all-day rates.

Hertz Germany also has a lot of special offers for German residents only. I think this is fairly common between all rental car companies and airlines.

I never use a car for a weekend only when I'm in the states. Always have a weekday rental or two/four week rental pattern. And with this pattern I cannot see a difference in the rates when I change the COR. So I dont feel "discriminated" :) by Hertz.