Hertz - Hertz charges a fuel charge every time

Every time I have rented a car from Hertz and returned it without any personnel present I always get charged a fuel charge.

This is in cases where fuel is literally overflowing from just leaving the gas station.

I always call and eventually get the fuel credited.

Is this Hertz's formal policy?

Couldn't' someone start a class action suit about this?

Same here.

Drives me insane.

Same experience here, even when I have included the receipt for the gas purchase 5 minutes earlier with the documents on return.

No arguments or questions when I phoned to have the charge reversed, which would indicate the policy is deliberate, and well understood by the CSR's.

Sound like a good opportunity for a legal response of some sort, but me, I'm lazy and I'm outa Hertz.

A hertz rep at LAS explained to me that a recent system change means that the refuel charge is now automatically added if you drive < 100 miles. They now have to manually intervene to remove it, every time.

Perhaps the best way to deal with this without hassle if you return after hours is to just not fill up the car if you drove less than 100 miles. You might be out a few bucks but at least you won't be paying for fuel twice.

I am not a litigious person, but it does someone should sue them so they stop doing this.

It is a waste of my time.

A hertz rep at LAS explained to me that a recent system change means that the refuel charge is now automatically added if you drive < 100 miles. They now have to manually intervene to remove it, every time.

Perhaps the best way to deal with this without hassle if you return after hours is to just not fill up the car if you drove less than 100 miles. You might be out a few bucks but at least you won't be paying for fuel twice.


We do the same in the UK... <50 miles, unless a reciept can be produced. Despite signs clearly stating his at the desk we still get customers querying the charge.

I just got hit the first time. Worst part of it all, they had the wrong mileage out on the car and I got hit with 57 miles driven instead of just 25. I did stop and put 1 gallon of fuel in.

I dropped the car off with the keys and the rental jacket - marked, I DID FILL UP and marked full. What is the point of marking anything?

Avis does this too if you drive less than 75 miles. Similarly, even when returning the car to a real live person, telling them you bought gas, and showing the receipt, I invariably see the fuel charge on the bill. I then have to go into the office to dispute it. :mad:

I think complaints for this should be directed to the Department of Revenue Enhancement.

I have no problems at my local HLE, but this rental was from the executive airport (my HLE is now closed on Sunday and told me to go there)... Sounds like a location problem.

A hertz rep at LAS explained to me that a recent system change means that the refuel charge is now automatically added if you drive < 100 miles. They now have to manually intervene to remove it, every time.

Perhaps the best way to deal with this without hassle if you return after hours is to just not fill up the car if you drove less than 100 miles. You might be out a few bucks but at least you won't be paying for fuel twice.

Unless your corporate travel policy requires you to refuel, and will not reimburse for rental car fuel charges :mad:

We do the same in the UK... <50 miles, unless a reciept can be produced. Despite signs clearly stating his at the desk we still get customers querying the charge.

Too right. I would query the charge too, if I was presumed guilty until I could prove otherwise. :mad: You can see why Reason077's suggestion might prove popular.

It's sad that it has to be a battle of wits between the customer and the rental company. :td:

Out of curiosity, how much was the charge? I usually return cars to attendants, and haven't gotten charged. One time about a year ago I got a $10 extra charge to my credit card after the fact and was told over the phone it was a fuel charge. Thought I returned it full... maybe it actually was?

pc

A hertz rep at LAS explained to me that a recent system change means that the refuel charge is now automatically added if you drive < 100 miles. They now have to manually intervene to remove it, every time.

Perhaps the best way to deal with this without hassle if you return after hours is to just not fill up the car if you drove less than 100 miles. You might be out a few bucks but at least you won't be paying for fuel twice.
Good to know I never heard that before.

I rent regularly from Avis and they are fairly upfront in the rental office with signs and sometimes verbally mentioning the $13.99 charge if you drive under 75 miles and don't show a fuel reciept. Luckily I am usually dropping off at the airport and the agent with the mobile printer checks me back in and I can ensure no fuel charge.

But with the price of gas at $4+ if the car does 16-20mpg then I reckon if you have done 60-75 miles then it is less hassle to just pay the $13.99 and you might even be a few cents/$$ better off!

Why do they charge the credit if the needle is at F when they turn the car on? I've yet to be charged this fee when I've returned my cars, but now I'm paranoid.

Our company books unlimited milage, and we're required (at pain of not being reimbursed) to deny refill costs/surcharges and completely fill our cars at the gas station closest to the rental agency.

Look, my receipt is going on my expense report. My company gets first dibs on it. I don't see the legality or good PR for charging customers a fee that one turn of a key can prove is not valid.

I am not a litigious person, but it does someone should sue them so they stop doing this.

It is a waste of my time.

Which part is a waste of your time, suing Hertz to stop?

I always ask for a duplicate fuel reciept from the filling station and return it to Hertz with the paperwork. Have not been charged a surcharge yet, and often my rentals are below 50 miles.

It's happened to me as well. They reversed the charge but that is annoying. What if I wasn't paying attention?

I've never had it be an issue if I return to a person, but it happens every time I drop the car off and no one is there.

Steve

I wonder what junior VP dreamed up the automatic (bogus) surcharge and I wonder how much his bonus was for it. I also wonder how many travel depts out there let that charge slip right on by. I am guessing quite a few.

I had a fuel charge a week ago for a 45 mile rental. I produced a receipt for 3.5 gallons, and not only got the charge reversed, but got a $15 additional credit, since the car apparently wasn't quite full when I got it.

I would have let it go were it not for the asinine automatic charge.

Every time I have rented a car from Hertz and returned it without any personnel present I always get charged a fuel charge.

This is in cases where fuel is literally overflowing from just leaving the gas station.

I always call and eventually get the fuel credited.

Is this Hertz's formal policy?

Couldn't' someone start a class action suit about this?


It's not just refuelling chargest that Hertz tries to get away with. I have rented with Hertz all over Europe. Some countries are worse than others, but all should be watched on every booking. Be careful often there is also a "service charge" or surcharge or higher rate charged, if they claim they had to refuel. Even showing the receipt, the charge for a false refuel can hit your credit card two or three months later so be vigilant.

The other thing you must really watch -even with Hertz who are one of the best for this - if that if there is even the slightest damage when picking up the car, make sure it is noted even if it;s a long walk back to the counter to pick up. also take a photograph. they will charge you huge amounts if you don't do this even if the damage was on the car when you picked it up. check also that essential equipment such as the jack, gps if listed as hired, etc., is actually in the car when you pick it up or they will charge you for what someone else stole earlier. I had a car with extensive damage, I picked it up at Geneva at 11.30pm just as they were closing, and still I walked back and made them note it. If they weren';t there then I would have left a copy on the desk with all the dings marked, and called to make sure they had it when they opened again. The car I had even had what looked like a bullet hole in the front headlight. When I returned it as pre-booked to another airport in the same country, the other location was most unhappy as they said with that level of damage they couldn;t re-rent the car, and it was not their (Zurich's) car that they were now responsible for so they weren;'t happy. I referred them to the copy of the form and photos that I had kept on pickup, so they had to accept it which was fair - but if they could have got out of it they would have and Hertz generally are still the best rental company for me so imagine how bad the others would have been.

I've never had it be an issue if I return to a person, but it happens every time I drop the car off and no one is there.This is my experience, too. I oftentimes rent cars one way from NYC to Boston, dropping after closing at the Park Plaza location in Boston. If I drop off after closing, the fuel charge always is added, even though I've filled the tank and indicated such on the envelope. A call to customer service always gets it reversed, but it is annoying.

I had this happen too the other week. One person doing the work of 3 on a Thursday evening (primetime for car returns). Trying to get the charge removed is a NIGHTMARE. It took 3 cars with 45 min waits, and I couldn't ever the charge to where it should be (they left $8 in "facility charges" on the bill). I guess your best bet is to fill out a return card just to be safe.

This happened to my family at the PHX airport location.

I approached the rep with our paperwork to close out the rental and she noticed that one of my party had mobility issues. The rep offered to have another employee drive us to the airport to avoid making us take the shuttle - ^!

However, we were told that the driver would be the one to take our paperwork and look over the car. After waiting 50 minutes, the driver showed up. By that time, our need to get to the airport was somewhat more urgent, so the driver told us she would just take the paperwork and close out the reservation after dropping us off at the airport. We pointed out that the gas tank was full and she promised to mark our reservation accordingly. We asked for her name just in case there were problems, but of course she assured us that there wouldn't be. After we got home, we discovered we had been charged for a whole tank of gas - :td:!

We had to call Hertz three times in order to finally get a supervisor to remove the charge.

I keep wondering if our driver decided to take the rental for a really long joyride before going back to work ...

Go look at my other post. I talked about this issue. It's Hertz policy to try and screw their customers, and not follow their own policies. I'm done with them and now use National.

This policy annoys the living daylights out of me too. Always in BOS, too. Three times in one month when I return and tell them I've filled up the tank. So annoying for the same reasons. i have to delay my expense report until I can get it fixed and then get the new receipt. Pain my @ss. They should STOP doing this bc it has annoyed me enough that after I hit my 40 rentals to maintain pres circle (which will be this month), i'm over to national for their 1,2free promotion.