lincolnjkc

Had an odd one today at BDL... Just curious if anyone has experienced this or knows from the inside how this could happen...

(Dollar/Thrifty-branded) Bus dropped me off at the Presidents Circle row. See a BMW 5-something sitting there and grab it because (a) the only German cars I've seen at Hertz have been Mercedes and VWs and it looked nice for my long drive and (b) everything else in the row was boring.

Drive up to the gate... dude scans the barcode.
Hmmm...Um....
Dude scans the barcode again
"Where did you get this from?"
"President's Circle"
"President's Circle?"
"Yeah"
Scans the barcode again.
"Uh...sir, it's not a problem with you but...uh...umm... this is going to take a few minutes"
He tries radioing for someone and gets told he/she is on lunch
Scans the barcode again
Walks around to the back of the car and looks at the license plate before going back into to the booth and doing some typing
"Uh...."
Radios someone else and reads off both the VIN and plate number (didn't hear the response)
"Sir, um....unfortunately this car doesn't exist so it can't be rented to you..."

While I was having a moment of philosophical or existential deliberation he sent me back around to drop it in returns -- and the guy in returns was just as confused about why I couldn't leave the lot with it -- but sent me over to the "Premium Upgrades" awning where basically the same car was sitting -- and that one did actually exist -- left the lot without further incident

So how does as car that "doesn't exist" make it to the PC area (complete with an intact "Hertz Clean" sticker on the door and the usual #1 key tag on the fob -- though I didn't think to examine the details of that tag until I had left the lot)?

It just seems odd that a ~$50k asset could wind up in a customer's hands seemingly without any accountability... (aside from the legal implications) how long would it have taken for anyone to notice it was missing had someone just driven away with it instead of driving around to returns?

Mwenenzi

May have meant ""Sir, um....unfortunately this car doesn't exist in the data base so it can't be rented to you..."
Sold, as some other Hertz cars??
Do not over think this

Herb687

Interesting that your nonexistent car was found at BDL. That's a Hertz station where I once returned a car that didn't exist. Years ago I had a one-way rental from Saratoga Springs, NY (HLE may have been a franchisee) to BDL. Upon return at BDL, the people there couldn't find any record of the RA nor the car itself. I forget all the details of how the matter resolved itself but ultimately I caught my flight out of town and was charged correctly for that rental.

I do remember that, at the time, HLE in Saratoga Springs used an entirely different RA form and numbering protocol than typical airport locations. That's why I think the location might have been a franchisee. Today at least, corporate-owned HLEs generate RAs in the same format as airport locations.

Maybe OP's OV was already sold by Hertz as we seem to be hearing a lot about that these days...

lincolnjkc

Until you said "years ago" I was going to ask you if it was a white BMW with a Vermont license plate

And renting from franchisees always scares me -- I've had some odd paperwork issues over the years [none of any real significance -- but, e.g. getting an actual receipt for expense purposes] that I've never had at corporate.

Even if the car was sold (which looking at other threads seems not unlikely) why wouldn't it have been pulled from circulation before it got parked on the PC zone?

btonkid12345

Because people make mistakes? I had one or two lease turn arounds or sales back in April...probably even more random and frequent with Hertz getting rid of all the costly assets, combined with almost no return employees who care enough to pay attention to such a detail (or maybe it was sold/leased back since it was parked?)

Again, overthinking when the solution was to ask them to bring you a new 5 series as a replacement and off you go.

And the gate agent watches you so you don’t just drive off with it.

m907

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In my experience, the franchisees are better than Hertz corporate.