Hertz Mystery Premium Vehicle

[AdMEL]

Its happened a number of times for me now, I do believe the contract would be unenforceable in that respect should it be taken to court given the other party admits complete liability. It would be a different story if that party could not be located.

Interesting. Has it always been Hertz?

 

[markis10]

Interesting. Has it always been Hertz?

Two Hertz and one Avis in fifteen years.

 

[AdMEL]

Two Hertz and one Avis in fifteen years.

Thanks. Useful to know.

 

[Alanslegal]

Kind of OT but I rented from Hertz last week for a day. When I returned the car they found a ding in the driver's door and pinged me for it. I can't remember if it was there when I picked up the car as I had skimmed the car and the car appeared fine. The ding looked like another door had opened into it, probably 2cm long, no paint damage, just a slight dent, not noticeable unless you are looking at it from different angles. I wasn't happy so I disputed the damage and we'll see where it leads to.

Just to update, HERTZ has deducted $4xx.xx out of my credit card for the damage WITHOUT any prior notifications. This would appear to be the cost of the minor damage. I am not happy with this type of behaviour from HERTZ as the Manager of Sydney Downtown Office advised that he would send at least an email confirming the outcome of their investigation. I will contact HERTZ today advising of my displeasure and then cancelling my Presidents Circle membership. I have rented many weekends with them and will not do so in the future due to this type of behaviour.

 

[markis10]

Just to update, HERTZ has deducted $4xx.xx out of my credit card for the damage WITHOUT any prior notifications. This would appear to be the cost of the minor damage. I am not happy with this type of behaviour from HERTZ as the Manager of Sydney Downtown Office advised that he would send at least an email confirming the outcome of their investigation. I will contact HERTZ today advising of my displeasure and then cancelling my Presidents Circle membership. I have rented many weekends with them and will not do so in the future due to this type of behaviour.

I take it you didn't take photos on collection and drop off, it saved me last year.

 

[prozac]

I take it you didn't take photos on collection and drop off, it saved me last year.

Do you photograph every panel?

 

[Alanslegal]

I take it you didn't take photos on collection and drop off, it saved me last year.

I didn't take any photos on collection or drop off. I skimmed the vehicle and thought it was fine. I can't be 100% sure if the dent was there prior or not, so that's why my dispute lacked legs. I have now submitted a claim to TID to cover the rental excess.

 

[markis10]

Do you photograph every panel?

Yes, and the roof and underside. While it may seem silly for some, it takes two minutes and the effort has paid for itself 1000x with a number of attempts to charge damage when it was preexisting. It's surprising what you may miss in the less than ideal light of a collection point, twice I have only noticed damage a day or two later, yet the photos have shown it to be there on pickup. With iPads or similar you get pretty good res that allows for good zoom, and it geotags the image including lat, long, device time and satellite time as we'll as a checksum being applied to prevent image manipulation.

 

[Alanslegal]

Yes, and the roof and underside. While it may seem silly for some, it takes two minutes and the effort has paid for itself 1000x with a number of attempts to charge damage when it was preexisting. It's surprising what you may miss in the less than ideal light of a collection point, twice I have only noticed damage a day or two later, yet the photos have shown it to be there on pickup. With iPads or similar you get pretty good res that allows for good zoom, and it geotags the image including lat, long, device time and satellite time as we'll as a checksum being applied to prevent image manipulation.

That makes good advice. With smartphones most carry now, to take a dozen or so photos would be easy and free, and you could always delete the photos later anyway.

I have a feeling my car had pre-existing damage though there was no way to verify it. It's only my word and my gut feeling. When I picked up the vehicle, it had just come out of the car wash, the lighting was slightly dull and I had skimmed over the vehicle and the mark wasn't even noticeable. When I returned the vehicle the attendant who checked my car on return - mind you, he would check dozens of cars per day so would be pretty good at it - did not even see the mark on the first visual inspection. He went to print off the receipt and when he returned that he spotted a tiny dent.

 

[prozac]

Any advice for best results? I suppose it depends on available light and direction of lighting. Straight on photos or best at an angle? I suppose we do not have to develop and print these days so you can just take a whole bunch of each panel. Young tuckers won't know what develop and print is......

 

[AdMEL]

That makes good advice. With smartphones most carry now, to take a dozen or so photos would be easy and free, and you could always delete the photos later anyway.

I have a feeling my car had pre-existing damage though there was no way to verify it. It's only my word and my gut feeling. When I picked up the vehicle, it had just come out of the car wash, the lighting was slightly dull and I had skimmed over the vehicle and the mark wasn't even noticeable. When I returned the vehicle the attendant who checked my car on return - mind you, he would check dozens of cars per day so would be pretty good at it - did not even see the mark on the first visual inspection. He went to print off the receipt and when he returned that he spotted a tiny dent.

Based on your description of the damage in your original post, it sounds to me like the return employee was being over zealous!

 

[markis10]

Any advice for best results? I suppose it depends on available light and direction of lighting. Straight on photos or best at an angle? I suppose we do not have to develop and print these days so you can just take a whole bunch of each panel. Young tuckers won't know what develop and print is......

Low light is always problematic, I just walk around clicking as I go. I cannot remember one location where I had any real issues, and if I did, then it'd time to do a very thorough visual anyway.

 

[Deleted User]

Last week in Perth I was questioned when returning a car with a small dent.

I was questioned "There's a dent there mate, was that noted on the Vehicle Condition Report" to which I replied "No".... He then replied "did you notice it when you collected the vehicle?" to which I replied "Yes" even though I didn't notice it when I picked the car up....

He said "We'll have to charge you for that" to which I replied "Why, its just fair wear & tear isn't it...?" The return employee had no idea what I was talking about... I added "I didn't bother getting the dent added to the report because it was Fair wear & tear"

The guy was really lost, he obviously was wondering what I was on about.... I said to him "Have you read the contract documents" he smiled... and replied "No, not really..."

I pulled out the contract and the Vehicle Condition Report and showed him some things...

Vehicle was marked as "No Existing Damage other than fair wear & tear*"

Definition of Fair Wear & tear:

• Stone Chips Less Than 5mm Without Denting
• Scratches Less Than 10mm Not Penetrating the surface
• Dents less than 20mm Diameter without paint cracking or flaking
• Wheel Trim/Wheel Scuffs Without Cracking or Gouging
• Minor Scuffs that can be polished out.

I then proceeded to get my trusty 6" (150mm) Engineers rule out of my bag, proceeded to measure the said dent.... "Less than 20mm Sir"... "No Cracking or flaking sir"... "It seems that this is Fair Wear & Tear after all Sir"

He smiled, he had learnt from Shintaro10x that before you try to enforce a company policy or contract, you really need to read the contract yourself so you know what's actually in it... Before I left the vehicle we both had a laugh and he said he'd never had anyone ask him if he had read the contract before.....

 

[AdMEL]

Last week in Perth I was questioned when returning a car with a small dent.

I was questioned "There's a dent there mate, was that noted on the Vehicle Condition Report" to which I replied "No".... He then replied "did you notice it when you collected the vehicle?" to which I replied "Yes" even though I didn't notice it when I picked the car up....

He said "We'll have to charge you for that" to which I replied "Why, its just fair wear & tear isn't it...?" The return employee had no idea what I was talking about... I added "I didn't bother getting the dent added to the report because it was Fair wear & tear"

The guy was really lost, he obviously was wondering what I was on about.... I said to him "Have you read the contract documents" he smiled... and replied "No, not really..."

I pulled out the contract and the Vehicle Condition Report and showed him some things...

Vehicle was marked as "No Existing Damage other than fair wear & tear*"

Definition of Fair Wear & tear:

• Stone Chips Less Than 5mm Without Denting
• Scratches Less Than 10mm Not Penetrating the surface
• Dents less than 20mm Diameter without paint cracking or flaking
• Wheel Trim/Wheel Scuffs Without Cracking or Gouging
• Minor Scuffs that can be polished out.

I then proceeded to get my trusty 6" (150mm) Engineers rule out of my bag, proceeded to measure the said dent.... "Less than 20mm Sir"... "No Cracking or flaking sir"... "It seems that this is Fair Wear & Tear after all Sir"

He smiled, he had learnt from Shintaro10x that before you try to enforce a company policy or contract, you really need to read the contract yourself so you know what's actually in it... Before I left the vehicle we both had a laugh and he said he'd never had anyone ask him if he had read the contract before.....

Reading your post, a few things come to mind:

Disappointing that staff that have the power to charge a customer hundreds and thousands of dollars haven't even read the contract that defines what they are allowed to charge for and further that they will attempt to charge anyway.

Where did you get the definition of fair wear and tear? Whilst Avis, Budget and Europcar give you a printed document with your rental agreement that defines it, I cannot recall Hertz doing so. Hertz certainly didn't a couple of weeks ago at Mebourne Downtown. My comments above were based on the my recollection of tge others definition of fair wear and tear, since I couldn't find Hertz definition!

Finally, great that you avoided being charged!

 

[Deleted User]

It was Avis in my example... I added comments in this thread as I thought it was relevant. A great example showing a little resistance go's a long way towards saving some hard earnt $$$

 

[lovestotravel]

It was Avis in my example... I added comments in this thread as I thought it was relevant. A great example showing a little resistance go's a long way towards saving some hard earnt $$$

Kinda relevant but as far as I know there is no such detail on a Hertz rental document, as most locations don't use a paper handwritten "existing condition document", seems only the franchisee locations use a manual document whereas airports and CBD locations use the computerized document.

Again and I quote what 2 staff at Hertz SYD have told me over the past few weeks

"Once a rental is closed off, it's considered done and you can't be charged for anything else, fuel or damages as we have inspected the vehicle and given you a receipt"

I would like to think this is true, but I don't hold my breath!

I take photos of wheels and panels, but Hertz SYD and MEL are hard as the locations are quite dark and photos don't always show all the damage

 

[AdMEL]

Kinda relevant but as far as I know there is no such detail on a Hertz rental document, as most locations don't use a paper handwritten "existing condition document", seems only the franchisee locations use a manual document whereas airports and CBD locations use the computerized document.

Again and I quote what 2 staff at Hertz SYD have told me over the past few weeks

"Once a rental is closed off, it's considered done and you can't be charged for anything else, fuel or damages as we have inspected the vehicle and given you a receipt"

I would like to think this is true, but I don't hold my breath!

I take photos of wheels and panels, but Hertz SYD and MEL are hard as the locations are quite dark and photos don't always show all the damage

Agreed. I'm sure if Hertz wanted to, they would rely on the bold wording on the tax invoice that says 'CHARGES ARE SUBJECT TO FINAL AUDIT'. I've never bothered taking photos - like you say, difficult in MEL.

 

[lovestotravel]

Agreed. I'm sure if Hertz wanted to, they would rely on the bold wording on the tax invoice that says 'CHARGES ARE SUBJECT TO FINAL AUDIT'. I've never bothered taking photos - like you say, difficult in MEL.

Indeed, the positive about Hertz having lots of older cars, (30,000km on a VW Passat recently) is that they have so many dints/marks/scratches the rental contract is already full of notes detailing the damage, it would be hard for them to notice an additional small dint/mark etc

 

[AdMEL]

Indeed, the positive about Hertz having lots of older cars, (30,000km on a VW Passat recently) is that they have so many dints/marks/scratches the rental contract is already full of notes detailing the damage, it would be hard for them to notice an additional small dint/mark etc

When I was at Hertz Melbourne Downtown last week (first time in ages), what little cars they had seemed quite new - I ended up with a Corolla with 5,000km on the clock. They tried to give me a couple of Hyundais, both of which were upgrades (Elantra and ix35), but I refused! They also had a couple of dirty VF SV6's (couldn't justify 50% extra this time) and some BMW 3 series, but no VW's!

 

[lovestotravel]

When I was at Hertz Melbourne Downtown last week (first time in ages), what little cars they had seemed quite new - I ended up with a Corolla with 5,000km on the clock. They tried to give me a couple of Hyundais, both of which were upgrades (Elantra and ix35), but I refused! They also had a couple of dirty VF SV6's (couldn't justify 50% extra this time) and some BMW 3 series, but no VW's!

MEL Downtown has newer vehicles than the airport I have found - LOTS of Toyota's which I prefer to Hyundai/Kia

Lots of VA Passats in MEL and SYD airports, most 6 months old

CBR - Old everything from NSW