Mentelligence

I've been a loyal Hertz renter since 1999. I'm in the President's Circle and rent on average 25-30 times a year.

In December my family and I visited some family in Frankfurt and Berlin. Our plan was to pick up a rental car in Frankfurt, stay at her place for a week, then drive to Berlin and drop the car at Tegal airport.

I have well over 10,000 Hertz Points so I called Hertz to set up a free rental. The girl on the phone told me the total out-of-pocket cost would be $27. I asked repeatedly "Are you sure that's all? No airport fees? No transfer fees?" She assured me yes.

When we landed in Frankfurt, it was a different story. It wound up being 150 Euro (about $200) for the rental. We signed off anyway.

We checked out the car carefully but couldn't find any damage that wasn't already marked. I mean we went over it - I've rented in Germany before and have heard the horror stories.

We left the car untouched in a garage for a week, then drove to Berlin. After dropping the family off at the hotel I returned the car.

When I returned the car, a technician came out and told the desk clerk something in German. The desk clerk told me there was significant damage to the back bumper of the car. He said there were six deep scrapes in the bumper.

I said I checked the car and saw no damage, and I asked to see it. He hesitated and said we couldn't go back to where the car was. I insisted on seeing the damage. He relented and took me back to the vehicle.

I looked for the damage but couldn't find it.

Finally, the technician came over and pointed out the damage. Among the water drop stains were six very small chips in the bumper. You really have to know what you're looking for to find them. They measured about 1/16" in diameter and were on the edge of the bumper.

I began taking a lot of pictures because I knew this would be a "me vs. them" thing.

Take a look at the first picture here and tell me if you can find the damage.



When the pointed it out to me, I knew this would get ugly and I immediately knew I was being scammed. Here's a closer look. See if you can spot the damage yet:



And finally here is a close-up picture. You're looking for the small white circles along the very edge of the bumper.



I told the guy at the counter that I disputed this claim. I even walked him around the car and pointed out some other damage they didn't mark down - like a small gouge in the tire that was 4x as large as these marks.

I said that I didn't see these gouges when I looked over the car in Frankfurt - they are really too small to notice among the water stains. I would never have marked something this small down.

To be clear I did not cause this damage. It actually looks old - kind of greyed and faded.

Hertz Europe sent me a bill for 1068.21 EUR but said I was only liable for 900 EUR (about $1,000). The picture they sent along it's almost impossible to make out the "damage".

They are also charging me for some sort of a missing trunk cover. There was no trunk cover when we rented the car. I didn't even know what a trunk cover looks like until I Googled it. I don't know how I would have known there was supposed to be one.

The bill is in German, which I can't read.












This has been a nightmare. What was supposed to be a $27 "free" rental became a $200 rental, and now is a $1200 rental. I don't know what to do. From what I read, Hertz USA, who set this rental up, won't be able to help me much. I'm planning to contact them shortly, but wasn't sure if I should contact a lawyer first. I've been a loyal customer for 16 years. I'm not a rookie renter - I've rented cars on 4 continents. I'm sick to my stomach about this.

Open to suggestions folks. Thanks for any help...

-tom

Rut Dog

Don't you have insurance through your credit card to handle this?

I was hit and run once in Hertz rental in the US. When State Farm got involved they were able to quickly reduce the size of the bill. Not that it mattered much to me, as State Farm covered it and the credit card covered the deductible.

xooz

Sounds like just what Hertz is thinking... credit card or other insurance payments... free cash. No real claim/claim adjuster etc. Expect we will see more of this rather than less. Also seems like Germany is leading the charge on questionable claims, if Flyertalk posts are any indication.

platbrownguy

1. If you have CDW/LDW coverage through your credit card, call the benefits line and file the claim immediately. They will either pay the bill for you or reimburse you. You should be able to send them all the documents (upload online/email) and get a decision before paying. I don't see why that kind of damage on a 3-series could possibly be excluded though.

2. If you don't have that kind of coverage and they've charged your credit card (although it doesn't sound like they have -- consider yourself lucky there, I guess), then file a charge back.

3. If they haven't charged you, write back 1) rejecting liability, and 2) demanding proof that they have actually made the repairs, and demanding proof of payments made for the repairs, rather than an estimate.

See other stories here, including mine at post #12: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...ages-scam.html

Dave Noble

The company doesn't need to prove it made the repairs, just that the damages were sustained and what the cost of repairs would be

Whether the owner of the car chooses to get the damage repaired or not is up to them

It sounds like the damage was there on return and was not marked on the rental at pick up time ; that you think the damage is small doesn't matter .

The simplest thing is to pass it to card company, if covered for rental damage, and it can reimburse you and pursue Hertz if it has issues with the claim. No point having coverage and then worrying about it

suley

Spot on!

You have confirmed no damage when you took out, only identified on return is small chips. Seems possibly from the baggage. I would check and see if a massive X has been put around the luggage area to say luggage damage on the sign out sheet.

Go to insurance if you have it, otherwise if you do not then you have a choice of ignoring and getting blacklisted or disputing and negociating a settlement

platbrownguy

Mentelligence, I am sorry that there are so many Hertz Germany apologists on this board.

Dave Noble

Anyone that disagrees must be an apologist ?

As you highlighted, the OP didn't find any damage at the time the rental was started but that the damage was there at the end of the rental

Whether the cost of repair is in line with the damage is relevant

If the damage had been spotted and recorded at rental time , then on return would just refer to the vehicle condition report and show that it was already recorded

davew277

If the 2 paint chips shown are the damage being claimed, then I don't see a problem. Only a scam. I regularly rent SUVs and nearly every single one of them has damage to the rear bumper from loading/unloading. None of which is documented, and none of which have I ever had issue with. That falls under normal wear and tear.

If I ever had this issue I wouldn't pay squat, and I'd do a chargeback on my credit card if they tried to take the money without my consent. They can blacklist me all they want, because this is BS.

cestmoi123

Do you rent these SUVs in _Germany_? All the German (and to a lesser extent, the rest of Europe) rental agencies are MUCH more stringent about damage than their US versions. Flipside is, the cars are (almost always) in much better shape.

davew277

Just because it's not in the US doesn't make it okay to scam people. The OP stated that they didn't not cause the damage either. Which makes it even worse.

They wouldn't fix it anyway. Then someone else gets a new chip on the same bumper and they charge them $1000 too. Before long they have made $10000 on a single bumper... I wonder how many other people have already paid for those paint chips or other chips on the same bumper?

If this is considered normal business practices for overseas rentals then I wouldn't rent at all. But as I already said I wouldn't pay for this.

Dave Noble

It doesn't matter who caused it, what matters is whether the damage occurred during the rental period when the person had the car

The damage seems not to have been marked beforehand and was there at the end


It is quite normal at some areas in Europe for damage checking to be very diligent

If you did a chargeback, then Hertz Germany could provide the documentation showing that it is entitled to make the charge - in the T&Cs charging for damage is covered

Red Scorpion

It's a bit hard to read, but the item in German lists and costs all the parts which a repairer has quoted as required for the car. It would appear that the bill is for a new parts including parking sensors, the various trim inserts, painting it and labour plus 19% MWST (German VAT tax)...........

You (the OP and several others ) might think that this sort of damage is just normal wear and tear, and in the US it probably would be classed as such, but European rental agencies disagree as this sort of damage has to be fixed before they sell the car on or return it at the end of the lease. And if you think Hertz is picky, try Enterprise, who are even more fastidious.

davew277

Good luck collecting. They have the burden of proof. They have to "prove" the damage occurred during my rental. A fact most people seem to forget. I don't just roll over because someone claims I owe them money. If they didn't have me sign a damage report before I took the vehicle, and there wasn't an obvious collision then they will have a very hard time proving anything. Just for the record, I haven't been presented with a damage report before renting from Hertz in years, except when I specifically requested one.

Dave Noble

They do have the proof; they have the vehicle condition report provided at the start of the rental plus the damage being there at the end

The renter has responsibility for marking any additional damage not already recorded

There seems to be no dispute that the damage was not marked before the rental but that it was there at the end