I noticed something interesting on my last two rentals (closed out yesterday and today). For my first rental, I was pretty sure the car went out less than full (the needle seemed just a tad to the left of "F") and I filled it up about two miles from the lot before returning it. When I got my emailed receipt, I saw the fuel noted as "86% OUT" and "100% IN".

For my second rental, I filled up 14 miles from the lot before returning it to the HLE near me. I tried to give my mileage and fuel to the agent at the kiosk and was told that I didn't need to as he had the telemetry. Sure enough my odometer reading was exactly correct and the fuel noted was "95% OUT" and "92% IN".

If this is something new, it may be a way to better track and assess fuel charges. If it reduces erroneous fuel charges (aka, the "Hertz Fuel Scam"), then I think it's a good thing. What I am concerned about is the lack of transparency on the exact fuel level when starting a rental and what the threshold is to invoke a charge. I am thinking a 3% differential isn't enough, but time will tell.

AutoSlash - do you have any insight if Hertz has the capability to obtain such telemetry from the cars in their fleet?

 

But the big question is: Did Hertz give you a credit for the extra fuel on the first rental?

 

Nope; they got that one on me! Of course, in the past if either I or the renting station noted “7/8” on the fuel at the start of the rental, I would have returned accordingly. I’m done with my rentals for a bit so won’t have any more data points to add but will inquire next time when exiting if my fuel out level is available.

 

My big question is are these devices certified accurate by the local municipality division of weights and measures?

 

Obviously no one checks them if OP filled up 14 miles from drop off and used 8% of the tank.... Unless he rented a Bentley or Rolls.

 

That's a shame. I had a one-day rental of a Toyota Corolla Cross from Budget a few weeks ago, and it must have been a connected car. When I returned it, it had 1.1 gallons more in the tank than when I rented it. The computer automatically credited me $4.41 in "on the road expenses."

 

I filled my last rental in NJ, the only remaining state with mandatory full service (one cannot pump their own gas) and it was fueled to the first automatic shut off. If topped off, probably add another half gallon or so.

 

Were these eyes and fingers of the the car rental employees guesstimating the fuel level based on visual inspection of the analog fuel gauge certified in the past?

 

Based on experiences with Avis I wouldn't bet on that. One thing that seems to happen at Avis is that you fill the tank up, then return the car, but it hasn't yet synced its fuel level to the cloud (or however it works behind the scenes) and you get charged for 3/4 tank of gas or whatever.

 

So how does it work - do the devices the return agents use to process the incoming vehicle use Bluetooth to get the data? Or do the cars have actual network connectivity, which would potentially allow them to upload other data during the rental.

 

That would be one explanation for the reason I continually return the vehicles full and the bill continually includes fuel charges. The gas station is mere minutes from the Hertz return location and I immediately request a receipt. I wont leave without a receipt. The customer service representative fixes the gas more often than not without mentioning the issue, based on the amounting of clicking.

 

Get ready for a bunch of reports of even more false fuel charges from Hertz.

As others mentioned, these connected cars are a mess with the mileage and fuel telemetry. I actively try to avoid connected cards with Avis, because the system is wildly inaccurate and slow to update. Fuel up a mile or two from the airport and it doesn't update by the time you return the car and you still get charged even though you have a full tank. Then you get to jump through hoops trying to get your erroneous fuel charge reversed.

 

I had this issue with National. One of the supes at MLB told me that after you refuel and start the car, turn it off and then start it again. Somehow that jumpstarts to get the reading accurate. I haven't tried since this happened, but that is what I was told to do.

 

How on earth can you identify which car is "connected" in advance???

 

Every state regulates gas pumps by measuring and stickering them periodically.
Using telemetry amounts to selling fuel without this regulation. I cannot believe they are getting away with this.
Also, I second the posters who mentioned the lag in updates to the cloud, and the NJ rules that outlaws [the full service guy] topping off. The latter can be a premature shutoff that
topping off would rectify, but they�re not allowed to.