GlobeTrttr83

I'll add my comments to the raging dumpster fire..

I've rented from Hertz almost exclusively for nearly 20 years and had dependable service and usually great cars. President's Club upgrades were fun, website worked great for bookings and retrieving receipts, and the rewards program was useful (even if not the most valuable). Now post-Covid I have only used Hertz sporadically (but somehow still have PC status, even today) and have switched to other providers. At first it was due to Hertz having sold nearly its entire fleet in BK and having almost no cars available and then finally getting around to re-building a fleet out of used cars with 60k+ miles, strange odors, etc. The final straw has been my last 2 rentals where Hertz never even gave me a rental record number and had absolutely no documentation of the car even being rented. I was not even charged for the 2nd to last one, and my last one was just returned 2 days ago and it didn't even exist on my Hertz account. Tried to add it to my account mid-rental to extend the return time, but got a message saying the rental record number did not exist (I had a paper copy of the rental agreement from the pickup).

For me, no more Hertz. I've switched over to National and Enterprise.

BayAreaTrvler

I have been a loyal Hertz renter and Presidents Circle member for years - at least two decades. Frequent renting for both business and personal trips.

I’m hoping that someone at Hertz is reading this, because we have shifted 100% of our business away from Hertz, purely as a risk management decision. We can’t afford the risk that Hertz is going to do something stupid like report our car stolen, say that we didn’t return the car when we did, or some other crazy thing. I suppose we could play roulette and hope that it doesn’t happen to us, but honestly - it’s just not worth it. It’s not worth worrying that Hertz will provide terrible service, because there are plenty of other companies with whom to do business. Pre-pandemic, Hertz had 100% of my business, and I honestly never even shopped the competition because I valued the convenience of #1 Club Gold. After the pandemic? Hertz has 0% of our business. The golden goose is dead.

We have rented all kinds of cars and had our previous Hertz status generously matched by others. We do not miss Hertz. At all. And, I’m guessing, because Hertz seems to be a fully-involved five alarm dumpster fire, that they haven’t even figured out that we left.

For any newbies reading these reviews and thinking about renting with Hertz, don’t expect any sympathy from the FT crowd given there are so many data points of horrible service from which to choose.

Canarsie

I rarely ever pay for a rental in full in advance; but the one time I did that recently as a member of Hertz Gold Plus Rewards with President’s Circle status, I received notice 39 minutes prior to picking up the rental vehicle that none were available — and would likely not be available for at least four days. No vehicles were available at any nearby locations either. That really fouled up my plans.

They asked me if I wanted a refund. Should I have said “No, that’s okay. Keep my money even though you broke your end of the contract.”?

After countless times of being told by “offshore customer service representatives” that “I am so sorry” and “I understand” — followed by worthless chatter — I decided to abandon Hertz with the exception of using up my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points.

Even then, there is no guarantee of anything. I really have no idea how Hertz stays in business.

I do not envy Gil West, who has been appointed the next chief executive officer of Hertz...

pinniped

Any delight at the thought of maybe getting a free rental (after you've tried and failed to get them to properly charge you for it) would be more than tempered by the fear that their system is so screwed up that a cop is going to be putting you in cuffs three weeks later for stealing that car that they said you never rented.

jonu

Wow wow. Glad I ran into this thread tonight. I do not rent cars that much but have always preferred Hertz as the "best-in-class." Just canceled a Hertz rental for a FL vacation and booked National.

SixAlpha

I find this fascinating, and maybe I'm l'm just lucky with the locations I use. I still rent regularly with Hertz (very aggressive corporate rate) and rarely have an issue. However Enterprise (dirty, high mileage, unroadworthy cars) and Alamo (sellouts) are the two brands I consistently have problems with. My most recent Enterprise rental, after a week with no receipt, I had to personally go back to the location and find the car on their lot to prove to the manager that it was indeed returned.

Canarsie

I forgot to mention that they did me a favor and offered to waive the fees for their incompetence.

Lucky me.

notquiteaff

I have rented from Enterprise exactly once. Hard to believe that they own National.

I would send that manager a bill for mileage and time spent to prove that you returned the vehicle.

joesorce

Just check the google reviews for Hertz at LAX airport. Laughable. I actually forwarded some of them to Hertz corporate a year or so ago and asked what they are planning to do to fix this mess at one of the world's busiest airports. Never got a reply.

AutoSlash isn't the only company that rates Alamo/Enterprise highly, they've won the consumer review game for many years now.

elmira56925

I’m a PC and just returned a car at SAN. The maintenance and engine light came on. The car was completely filthy with dried coffee stains. I wanted to alert a manager of this to see if I could get a future certificate or something. I was told there’s no manager left on site at 4pm. Is there a 800 number I can call to get someone State side to complain? Hertz has REALLY gone down hill the last decade

GlobeTrttr83

The company is being run as if Carl Icahn still has a controlling interest.

Kacee

Rentals have become a real dilemma for me. Hertz often has the best rates and I have found they generally have much nicer cars on offer in PC at SFO than National has in Executive Aisle. They also have a very convenient HLE at the Oakland City Center Marriott, across the street from our Oakland office, where I can rent without paying airport fees and just BART to and from the airport. But there is no question a risk of getting massively screwed by Hertz. I used to be 100% National loyal, but they are just too expensive without a good corporate discount (almost never less than $80/day plus taxes/fees). Budget is cheaper but their operation is, well, low-budget and it's kind of a roulette experience. I also don't like their bait and switch pricing.

notquiteaff

As someone without a corporate code/discount, I am usually an autoslasher. It�s been years since National (or Alamo) was a good choice for me (price wise). Fortunately (?) quite often Hertz is for my rentals also priced so high that Budget or Avis or in Europe Europecar remain the only viable options. Sometimes Sixt has a reasonable rate, too.

Kacee

I've also rented with Enterprise from time to time and while it's not as quick as National (no aisle) it's always worked fine, including two very easy rentals in Sicily over the past year. I've had two bad experiences with Sixt trying to charge me for nonexistent damage.

notquiteaff

I had them once try to charge me for pre-existing damage that wasn�t marked on their damage sheet. I had picked up the vehicle after a long TATL at DUS airport where the garage isn�t anywhere near the rental counters and I think there was no gate or agent in the garage. In any case I had seen small scratches when opening trunk, so I did a thorough camera walk around the vehicle and captured it from all angles in photos and video. When they sent me the damage claim, I responded with all those files and they accepted it.