oops wrong fuel
 

I rented a car while on vacation in Switzerland and yes I screwed up and put regular gas in a diesel car. It ran funny and I figured it out and stopped down the street. Called Hertz, they sent a tow truck which towed it to a shop. Took a taxi to the hotel and the car was ready the next morning.

When I picked it up, the lady at the garage said that Hertz insurance ("assurance") had taken care of everything. I asked her out of curiosity how much it cost and she said 300 swiss francs (around $300). So at least I didn't worry about having to buy a new engine for the rest of my trip.

When I returned the car at the end of my trip the agent said he couldn't give me a receipt yet. When I got home I was surprised to see they had charged me 977 swiss francs for the repairs. I immediately put in a dispute on my amex.

I called Hertz and was kind of given the run around. They told me the breakdown was:
600 chf "wrong refueling"
157 chf refuel car
150 chf penalty for wrong refueling
70 chf for the service call
(chf is swiss francs)

I called the garage and was also given the runaround, saying they couldn't find the invoice.

So my guess is that maybe the garage ripped off Hertz or something. I have no idea. I should just be happy it wasn't $3 grand to fix.

I am still waiting to see what amex says.

Unless you have insurance coverage which reduces the excess to zero (this is not standard, it costs quite a lot extra), then you will have to pay anything up to the excess.

Rental car companies are used to people doing this - despite having stickers on the fuel filler flap and often on the fuel gauge and the key fob. When it happens, as you long as you do not pull the fuel into the engine, ie by driving the car, all that is needed is to drain the fuel tank, refill and all should be OK. You will not get that done, including a VAT charge for CHF300, so I think the initial info you were given was rather optimistic. The breakdown of costs sounds to me much more like what Hertz would incur, plus the fees that they add on for things like this.

I would not hold out much hope that that total will get reduced.

If you've driven it with wrong fuel, I'd have expected a bill in the thousands. It usually causes catastrophic damage to the injection system. The conversation with the garage didn't produce a real bill, so you can't rely on that being the actual charge. The bill you've received is lower than I'd have anticipated.

In 2012, Hertz at MAN rented me a diesel SUV (all they could give me as a poor proxy for my booked automatic sedan) that:

• had no "diesel only" sticker on or around the fuel tank cap;
• had no "diesel only" sticker on the dashboard; and
• had no manual (or any other guidance) in the glove compartment.

Additionally, the sole checkout agent working a long line of customers gave no indication that the vehicle was a diesel.

Happily, the UK gasoline pump nozzles won't fit into a diesel, or I would have made the same mistake as you.

If any of the same experiences applied in your case, I would argue strenuously that the mistake was caused in part by Hertz's negligence. As it is, because of refueling uncertainties I returned the vehicle without refilling, and had refilling charges defrayed.

I thought I was putting diesel in the car.

And that's fine if those are the real costs. But I think it is strange that neither Hertz nor the garage wants to give me a copy of the actual repair bill.

1. Do a chargeback and ask Amex to request the actual garage invoice as Hertz is only giving you a list of undocumented fees.
2. Expect no such invoice exists and for Hertz to send you a collection notice
3. Ask Hertz accounting again for the document in 1., above
4. Expect Hertz to not provide the document
5. Expect a collection agenc nasty letter
Rinse and repeat 3 and 4, above
6. Insist that without documented invoice there is no chargeable claim and ask the collection agency to close the file

Expect a lot of phone time and some unpleasant conversations and a 50/50 chance your chargeback will stick without damaging your credit score too much

I have done this on an undocumented Hertz claim for a wheel scuff and succeeded. I don't care about my credit score too much, so individual appetite for this will vary.

I have learned through recent experience (with a cracked windshield) that even if you have full coverage insurance Hertz will refuse to work with your insurer. They just run whatever costs and fees they feel are appropriate to your credit card, and then run the other direction. They will leave you with no "claim" for an insurer to process, become non-communicative, and totally hang you out to dry.

In my case, I'm out $148 for a windshield crack (which wasn't even my fault). I can write this off as a business loss, but Hertz has now permanently lost my business due to their scandalous behavior.

By comparison -- since then, I've been renting cars from Alamo and did in fact have a windshield crack that happened on my watch. Unlike Hertz, Alamo actually worked with my insurer, provided them with the necessary documentation, and the whole matter was quickly paid and done with zero out of pocket to me. I even got a nice letter from Alamo when the claim process started. Hertz will just screw you and hide.

There is no reason for Hertz to work with anyone else, it is up to you to deal with your insurer; you are the one liable for the damage to the rental vehicle

With my American Express card, all I have had to do is fill in details on claim site and attach a copy of the charge from Hertz and payment has been received within days

If your insurer will not accept the invoice provided from Hertz, that seems to be a problem between you and the insurer rather than an issue with Hertz

My insurer for the rental is in fact American Express (AMEX Assurance). They need a minimal amount of information from Hertz. Hertz refuses to communicate. If you've had a better experience, lucky you!

Disputing the charge will hurt my credit if Amex doesn't pay Hertz the disputed amount? If I pay it and then sue, can I sue in my local California jurisdiction since Hertz is everywhere? I had to sue to get a lost bags claim paid and that went very well. It was easy.

Does Amex Assurance cover putting in the wrong fuel?

If you dispute the charge, Hertz in Switzerland will be able to send the card company details of the damage and terms and conditions that you agreed to. Since there is no dispute that the wrong fuel was inserted, I don't see what there is to dispute there

If the charge is in compliance with Swiss law ( which it does seem that it is ) , then unless Hertz just chooses to ignore the dispute , it will stay

I don't know what are you going to sue for since you did cause the damage - if you wanted to sue Hertz Switzerland, you would need to sue in Switzerland

I would be more concerned about the service provided by American Express in this instance - you have made a claim and have a receipt for the costs and it is the insurer that seems to be the problem at getting reimbursed

The receipt available from the Hertz website for the rental had the damage costs on it. If you go and download the receipt , does it now show this additional CHF977 ? If there is no receipt available nor was provided when the car was returned, then a dispute may be successful

When I have made a claim on my American Express card , I have just gone to the online claim submission for my card with ACE insurance, attached the receipt from Hertz UK and been reimbursed with no further action needed on my part.

If the

I read the fine print of the AMEX coverage, and such a thing (although it falls into the category of negligence on the part of the renter) doesn't seem to be excluded. The AMEX documentation states that "Damage" is defined as "the effect of any contact with or treatment of the rental car which requires repair in order to restore the rental car to its pre-possession condition". The list of "excluded actions" has nothing that would seem to preclude the accidental tanking up using the wrong fuel.

The rules in the UK may be different than that in the US for filing a claim. AMEX needs documentation from the car rental company -- it's not a lot, but it's not the type of documentation that the renter is going to have.

The rental invoice, ime, has had the charges on it - surely that should be enough ?

Perhaps coverages on cards in this regions are better than the US

Here's the exact list of what AMEX Assurance requires from the car rental company to process a claim. Alamo in a recent claim was no problem whatsover. Hertz is AWOL:

Accident / Incident report
Photos of damage
Demand letter
Appraisal or estimate of damages
Fleet Utilization Log or proof of payment for completed repairs

In actuality, I supplied the incident report and the photos. All Hertz needs to provide is the demand letter and an estimate of the damages. The fleet utilization log is only needed if they try to claim loss of use, which I don't believe they are doing. My receipt is not an appraisal or an estimate of the damages, at this point it's just a random dollar figure that Hertz ran to my credit card.