rthib

Have to agree with OP.
There are two airports I use that the only close gas station printer is almost always not working, so while it may be 5% of the stations. For those airports it is 95%.

russkey2k

This change in policy puts the burden on the customer. As part of the rental you agree to refuel and the return agent usually ask if I filled up the tank. But one of the reasons I rent with Hertz is I don't have to wait for their receipt. They send it electronically. This is really convenient when the return queue is full of cars and people. How will Hertz verify my gas receipt? Do I have to wait for their return agent? Can I leave me receipt on the drivers seat? What happens for after hours returns? IMO this will increase wait times and further drive down customer satisfaction.

sosafan

I think you mean Chalky White. I'm the OP and my record of not getting receipts at the pump is 10-15%.

But for the "new" policy, I'm just worried how it will be implemented, and
whether the fraction of time I show the receipt and then get charged
anyway is closer to 0% or 15%.

exerda

My failure rate for receipts is probably around 25%. I'm sure Hertz will then say, "Oh, you can fax us the credit card statement later."

docbert

Obviously nobody really know how they will implement this, and odds are it'll be inconsistent, but based on my experience at Avis I've never had them actually look at the receipt, and in general I've probably never even had to show them the receipt, but just simply saying "I did put gas in it" has been enough.

CMK10

I'm in favor of this. I cannot tell you how many times I've barely driven a car but had to put in three or four gallons for 60 miles of driving in a sedan because people aren't filling up near the airport or are on short rentals and aren't filling up at all.

FallenPlat

I just don't get any of this.

I've always kept the receipt. Only a fool, in my view, wouldn't. I mean who needs one of those yes-I-did/no-you-didn't arguments? That's some kind of still-wet-behind-the-ears mistake. And, sure, a time or two I've had to go inside for the receipt on account of a non-working pump printer. Not often.

In the past, though, my statement that I've gotten gas together with a glance at the gauge has just about always been enough. Time will tell how much that actually changes, I guess. My next Hertz rental is in three weeks.

piper28

The real thing that seems to be missing here is any evidence that Hertz is planning on topping those cars up with fuel. If they're not doing it, they get to pocket the fee, and the next renter still gets screwed.

Earthlings

What if a gas station runs out of receipt paper? They ran out of paper once, and they said they couldn't print a receipt. I don't know why that time.

FallenPlat

Easy.

From an early age professionals of many sorts are trained to deal with situations just like this. So you take names, phone numbers, addresses, and you write out a receipt yourself on a piece of scrap paper and get the guy to sign and date it. Preferably notarized. In blood.

Many years ago we had a similar situation involving an airline pilot, a 727, a public bond closing with an impatient underwriter, and a truly delicate choice-of-law question. Every detail mattered. (Long story, by the way.) What to do? After the flight landed, we got the pilot to sign a hand-written confirmation of what we needed. I still have a copy of the thing preserved in a lucite cube.

You Wall Street types out there will know what I'm talking about. Others? Not so much . . . .

azepine00

Hertz i know these days will do exacly that - this is all about generating additional revenue by confusing and scammung unsuspecting customers.. perhaps those who defend hertz here believe this is all done to benefit and protect us - just like 50+k cars, german damage claims, 24 hr award booking minimums and other creative inventions of late...

exerda

Or, the clerk says, "Whoa, no way can I sign something. You'll have to talk to the manager. He'll be in ... in 6 hours."

I don't expect the typical minimum wage clerk who's already in fear of his or her job to do anything like signing a hand-written receipt.


Exactly. If Hertz were planning on topping cars off, they'd already be doing it, and we wouldn't be getting cars down 3 gallons but still showing "full" or which drop to 7/8 as soon as you drive them off the lot. And they could still charge for it--they try to fill them up, and if the pump doesn't pretty much immediately click off, they bill you for it. (FWIW, there were threads on just that a couple of years back, IIRC often at LAX... Hertz guys claimed that if they could top off with at least two squeezes of the pump, the car hadn't been properly refilled.)


The whole point of this thread is that Hertz's official policy is that your word is no longer good enough. They're going to bill you based simply on a low-mileage rental, under the assumption you didn't fill up, and will put the burden of proof upon you.

Return after hours? Fax in your receipt, and we'll credit you back in 72 hours. Have a flight to catch and don't have time to stand here and argue that the station you filled up at and have a receipt for is close enough to the airport to count? Too bad; fax it in and maybe we'll credit you. Receipt printer busted or out of paper? Send us your credit card statement, and we'll consider it.

This is ultimately a very customer-unfriendly move.


Meh, I see no evidence at all that Hertz will be bothered to refill or top off the cars. They'll just send them out "full" to the next customer, having pocketed $14, and hoping to pocket another $14, all with no effort or expense on their part.

BillyBaloney

I was in Vegas this past weekend. HOT. Anyway, staff is privy to this new rule but they don't "offer up" any information. I asked as I was leaving the airport, "so you need me to bring a gas receipt back when I return?" The guy was like - "you goin' less than 75 miles???" Then he said - "yeah - but if you don't then it's only like $13 dollars minimal charge.." (like it didn't matter much).

So I brought back a receipt as I was just under the 75 miles. Proudly showed the agent checking me in on the return. She didn't seem so interested and said, "eeess OK i'm no gonna charge you..." or something like that.

So they all know and maybe this new rule is just for the real bad abusers.

appuchan

I believe the new rule is effective only from 7/15. So they may not care now...

FallenPlat

Oh, c'mon Exerda.

So you sweet talk (even tip?) the attendant, or you take a cell phone shot of the gas pump readout, or . . . .

The real question is how strictly Hertz will be with all this once they actually roll this new policy out and, again, for that we'll have to just see what they do.

On the customer friendliness point, I think I'm with CMK10. I think?