Dave Noble

Found what seems to be an interesting situation

Just been looking at my latest rental in Sydney and found that the surcharge being applied for a credit card use is not what is claimed by Hertz

The credit card surcharge is published as 1.5% but is actually 1.65%

Rather than calculating the credit card surcharge on the pre-GST rate and then applying GST or taking the final cost and adding 1.5%, both of which would be the same, what is happening is that they are calculating the final rate including taxes and then using that as the basis for the calculation of the CC surcharge and then applying GST on this amount

This makes the CC surcharge 10% higher than advertised

Rut Dog

At the bottom of every reservation:

"Rate is guaranteed. Taxes, fees and extras, if not included in the Rate, are subject to change."

Dave Noble

The credit card percentage is clearly detailed on display at rental locations and is 1.5%. This is not something that is subject to change and is required to be clearly displayed in order to be valid to charge

When stating that there is a 1.5% surcharge for payment by credit card , that cannot turn into 1.65%

The credit card surcharge only applies on the bill when choosing to pay by credit card and is not permitted to be a random amount

The amount of 1.5% is quoted clearly at the pick up and return location

Surcharging for credit card use is of course permitted....but has to be in accordance with the legal requirements of the country

AdMEL

Dave, I've noticed this too - it has always been the case, since Hertz introduced the credit card surcharge. Very annoying, but I know, so make allowance for it.

Rut Dog, to further clarify Dave's comments, in Australia, unlike the US, by law prices for almost everything must include GST (there are some exceptions). Effectively, what Hertz is doing is not in line with the legislation.

Given the nominal amount, I can't be bothered wasting my time complaining to Hertz or the appropriate authority.

All the car rental companies are guilty of this. Some examples that I can think of:

Avis - fined a couple of years ago for not including taxes on extras shown as part of quote/reservation (things such as excess reduction and excess km). Avis amended the Australian website (avis.com.au) only to add all taxes on all charges. They then upgraded the website a few months ago and whilst it now includes adjustments for coupons (which it previously didn't) and all taxes for things like excess reduction, it's back to not showing taxes on excess km!

Europcar - doesn't show any taxes on excess shown in quote/reservation. Don't think they show taxes on excess km either.

In fact, all of the majors do not show the actual excess you will be charged in the event of an accident on their websites - they all apply their admin fee (usually 3.5%) and this is never shown on their website, nor is the amount of the location/airport surcharge. Even when you call them, they don't quote it correctly. Most only include GST but not their admin fee or the location/airport fee. E.g. Hertz excess is $3,500 including GST, which they quote, but if you rent from Melbourne Downtown, the actual amount you would be charged is $3,500 + 3.5% admin fee + 5% location fee, giving a total excess of $3,803! If rented from MEL airport, add 14%, for a total of approx. $4,336! This is not disclosed anywhere on their website and their reservation staff don't quote it on the phone, even when pushed! Poorly trained!

Dave Noble

I have reported it to Amex. The amount on the rental was trivially small, but the principle is there. If they are quoting 1.5% , I expect it to be 1.5%, not 1.65% Even worse, on the rental agreement in estimated costs, it shows the CC surcharge estimate as zero, so I only spotted it by chance recently

docbert

CabCharge does exactly the same thing. Their 10% fee is actually 11%, as it's calculated on the total (post-GST), and then has GST added on top of it.

This was discussed at length in the press years ago, and from memory it was confirmed that what they were doing was legally correct - although I believe that may have been due to the way they classified the surcharge (which is also why they are able to get away with charging 10%, even though the RBA says the charges must be representative of the real costs).

So it's possible that 1.65% is actually the correct amount (for a base rate of 1.5%) - however if it is then Hertz is in breach of not displaying GST in their prices, or at least not stating "plus GST"

Either way, definitely worthy of a complaint!

Dave Noble

With Cabcharge, it is displayed that the 3rd party cabcharge fee is 10% plus GST; in this instance it isn't displayed, nor is it a 3rd party processing the transaction - at least my understanding is that the cab company and cabcharge are not the same


In Hert's case. there isn't such a situation; what Hertz is doing is

calculating the total cost of the rental including GST
Then calculating the 1.65%
Then rolling back and then in list of pre-tax charges , including this amount with a g suffix ( indicating that it is plus gst )
Then calculating the total amount again

Either it should be applied before or after GST is calculated or if able to charge 10% extra GST, then make it clear on signs and not mislead on the invoice