utahman

Well, I dont know if anyone here remembers me but I used to brag about putting TONS of miles on their cars. Sometimes I would rent a car for one day and put 1100 miles on it one-waying to another airport if my flight got cancelled. Heck, one weekend I rented a Hertz weekend special compact car for 43.99 for 3 days and I put 3300 miles on it. Even then they never cared!

This ALL CHANGED when I just turned in my monthly rental I've had for over 4 months (renewed the contract every 30 days obviously). I put 19,000 miles on the car in 120 days...and the manager at the airport completely lost it. They said I've had notes in the computer almost every time I returned a car that it had excessive mileage unbeknownst to me. So, I'm in the "process" of being canned they just said today. Before they do finally get me on the computer, I'm renting a luxury vehicle for the weekend and taking a road trip 14 states away to piss them off even more.

Anyone else have this issue before? Or whats the worst mileage you've ever put on a car?

demue

Well maybe they shouldn't be advertising "unlimited miles" if they care so much about the mileage that people put onto the cars. While your miles,are certainly high for the duration of the rental, nothing outside of rental agreement and t&c. Ahh well Hertz, always fun

rylan

Since they are dumping you, this is one of the best responses as a goodbye present that you can leave with. Be sure to drop it off in some obscure location if possible where they won't know what to do with the car

pinniped

That's frustrating...it's like a mobile carrier that advertises unlimited data with no fine print about throttling over a certain amount...yet throttles users anyway.

If they rent you a one-way between two cities 1100 miles apart, they shouldn't get upset about that. I've done some very long one-ways in a Hertz car. If the monthly rental had a limit, they should specify it upfront.

It sounds like they want to have their cake and eat it too: be able to advertise unlimited, but in reality have a "secret" limit.

I know in the past I've had rentals with other agencies that had a 150 mile/day limit. Your 4 month 19k rental is right in that range.

mikew99

You just posted exactly what I was thinking. I'm really frustrated by companies that advertise "unlimited" something and then complain when people use too much, like in that recent all-you-can-eat buffet thread. What the...?

What Hertz (and these other companies) do is set a limit but then refuse to tell me what it is. If there is a limit, then tell me what it is so that I can stay within it! What's so hard about that?

jerry a. laska

Hertz added the excessive mileage policy a few years ago. See these threads:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...e-mileage.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...cceptable.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...questions.html

cestmoi123

Totally reasonable. They've met their contractual obligations to you (given you unlimited miles on all your past rentals), but they've decided that, given the miles you put on the cars, you're not a profitable customer, and they no longer want to do business with you in the future. Fair enough.

Even if we assume that depreciation on a new-ish car is only 20c/mile (probably higher than that), then that $43.99 three day rental with 3300 miles lost Hertz about $600.

If that's at all typical, I can't blame them for deciding they no longer want you as a customer in the future.

Cymro

That seems high to me. Excess mileage on my personal car's lease is around 10c/mile and Hertz will be buying cars at such a discount, and selling them on or handing them back so early, that their depreciation (ignoring the costs of maintaining, storing, processing and funding the fleet) is probably a tiny fraction of that.

Nonetheless, if the information Hertz has about the OP is that he is not a profitable customer then, as long as they honor the terms of his existing rentals (or any right to refund) then I see no reason why they should be compelled to do business with him.

pinniped

It's just the lack of transparency that bothers me. I have no problem with rental agencies setting limits, or even for blacklisting renters for legitimate reasons. Just publish the what the limits are. That's all.

cestmoi123

I doubt there are hard and fast limits, but rather an overall pattern of behavior.

If someone does 30 one-day rentals a year at full weekday rack rates, where 29 are driven 25 miles, and the 30th is driven 500 miles, that wouldn't likely be a problem.

Someone else who rents 30x a year, all at heavily-discounted weekend rates, and drives 400 miles for each rental, would probably be a customer not worth having.

Wouldn't make sense to ban the first customer because of one 500 mile rental, would make sense to ban the second even though he never drives 500 miles in a single day.

There's a lot of other stuff that goes into customer profitability, but average revenue per day and average revenue per mile driven have got to be significant factors.

I don't see how a rental car company could provide the transparency you're looking for without basically disclosing their entire customer valuation framework.

I don't see this as similar to wireless companies having hidden caps, since, in that case, they're still taking your money, but capping you without letting you know. If wireless company X said "you use a huge amount of data, we're not interested in having you as a customer - we aren't going to cap you this month, but when the month ends, we're not going to take your money anymore," that would be entirely fair.

cestmoi123

As I note in my post above, it's not as simple as a "max X miles/day" cap.

azepine00

So by that logic if i keep buying cheap fares an airline may one day refuse to sell me a ticket?

Any chance of hotel cancelling my reservation since my past history was discounred stays during which i used a lot of water and ac power?

CMK10

I support Hertz on this one. I worked in the rental car industry for three years and I also worked as an outside salesman for another two. Divorcing oneself from unprofitable or difficult customers is a decision that businesses have to make sometimes. Yes, by the letter of the law you did nothing wrong, but from Hertz's perspective the cost of doing business with you wasn't worth it to them so they've chosen to end their relationship with you. Harsh, yes, but see it from their perspective.

Also, please remember the age old rule that just because you can...doesn't mean you should.

mikew99

I don't doubt that. But Hertz frequently advertises and sells "unlimited miles" so we think that there's no concern. If Hertz doesn't communicate with their customers about this or (any other factors) that go into their DNR decision until after that decision is made, then we have no way of knowing that it's even an issue for them. Not exactly a customer-friendly approach.

Ditto

I don't think there is any vendor, let it be car rental, cellular provider or any other type that doesn't have a "fair usage policy" for anything that is "unlimited", so as long as you are being fair, it is of no concern.

If, within 4 months rental you are driving more than the yearly average, or in 3 days you do what other people do in 2 months, and then do it over and over again, it is far from being "fair".

I guess if an airline would sell an "unlimited" ticket to fly as much as you want, and you will fly in an abusive way (e.g. fly XXX-YYY, then fly back the next flight, and repeat 5 times a day) they might indeed refuse to allow you to fly with them any further.