any recourse here?
 

I have a car rented for 33 days. I rented a standard (D) and when i showed up they gave me a (YF) Passat. I had it for 3 days as of yesterday before i had to take it back. I had to take it back because I was driving down the road yesterday in the rain and the drivers windshield wiper just flew off. I ended up sitting at the place for about 45 min waiting for them to give me a new car. They gave me an impala to replace it after trying to find a car (not sure why there was a wait because there were tons of cars on the lot since its a major airport location). They also gave me a $25 hertz certificate....my question, can i take this heaping pile of a car they gave me back and get another YF? I really liked the Passat over the impala and i would have kept the passat the whole time had the wiper not flown off....i don't think it makes much of a difference but I am a gold member.

You can try to swap for another YF. I think Hertz is only obligated to replace with a D.

You booked a D and are therefore entitled to a D , so if you received a D there is nothing more to do. If you dislike the group which you have, you could look at returning and rerenting at a higher group

I would have just bought a new wiper for $10 if I liked the car. Much faster than taking it back and get to keep a car I like for 33 days.

Agree with Dave Noble, there's really not a lot you can do. Your only glimmer of hope is that there are few cars in Group D, so if you were to take it back, for whatever reason, chances are you would get another F assigned. But Hertz don't have that many Passats, so you run the risk of getting a Dodge Avenger or old model Chrysler 200 which they have in far greater quantity!

I can recall a couple of occasions where I had a nice upgrade - to an Escalade once and a BMW X5 another time - and both showed an electronic/warning light fault, so took them back and although they had more examples of the car I was returning, they would only give me a car of the class I had booked, as they now had one available that clearly they had not had when the failing car was allocated to me.

You got a $25 voucher out of it, too, so you've not done that badly.

well i took the impala back today and they gladly exchanged it for a chevy cruze...i'm fine with keeping the cruze for the whole time, but since i booked a standard and they exchanged it for an intermediate...which appears to be a downgrade and cheaper, can i get some of my money back that i paid for the reservation?

Only if you discussed it and the location agreed with it before you accepted the new vehicle

The time to discuss rate adjustments is before accepting the vehicle and leaving the rental location

i specifically asked if the cruze was a downgrade and the agent said no....didn't realize it was until i checked online.

But that would be so easy!:D

First thing I thought of, too. I'd bet OP might even have been reimbursed with the receipt.

You can go back and swap for D class again.@:-)