Hertz Outback Collection (Toyota Landcruiser or Prado with camping gear) Questions

[AdMEL]

Hi all,

Anyone rented a Hertz Outback Collection vehicle (Toyota Landcruiser or Prado Manual, with full camping gear)?

I'm looking at renting one boxing day for between 3 days and a week, from either Perth or Brisbane, to drive to Karijini National Park in north West WA or Moreton or Fraser Island in Qld.

These vehicles seem like a great idea, yet Hertz charge a significant amount of money for them ($200 - $250 + a day), but still don't seem to cover you for driving where these vehicles are designed and promoted to drive (i.e. remote places off sealed roads)!

I have spoken to two separate Hertz reservation staff and have been told the following:

- Cannot rent Outback vehicles from Brisbane (despite their website both promoting they're available and being able to book!), by the first person I spoke to;

- Cannot take on a ferry to Moreton Island, or any other ferry, by the second person I spoke to.

According to the Hertz website and their rental T&C's, both are incorrect! You can clearly rent one from Brisbane and based on Hertz standard t&c's, full responsibility uses/areas include:

- any beach or in any other area exposed to saltwater;
- any area or under any circumstances (including crossing a waterway or transporting a Vehicle across a waterway) where the Vehicle may or does become partially or totally immersed in water.

Full responsibility uses are quite different from prohibited uses, in my view.

Aside from this, the T&C's on the Hertz website refer to:

‘Additional Terms’ means any other terms as recorded in any document that You are required by Hertz’s authorised representative to sign when You rent the Vehicle, including the Additional Terms relating to 4WD Camping Vehicle Rentals;’

However, there are no additional T&C's on the website and so far, no Hertz staff member I've spoken to knows anything about these!

As is typical for all rental car companies, they have vague T&C's and their staff have no idea about them!

Any experience would be appreciated!

 

[dougieboy]

Re: Hertz Outback Collection (Toyota Landcruiser or Prado with camping gear) Question

Try Hertz Alice Springs. Plenty of off road adventure there where you can trek to Palm Valley, Kings Canyon, Sandover Highway etc and the staff are more likely to be familiar with the company's policies and T&C then their city counterparts. You have available accident excess reduction but you won't get complete comprehensive coverage for 4WD vehicles. Higher probability of chipped windscreens/flat tyres/having an accident etc and this is reflected in their product offering. Greater skill and care are required when driving off road and some may lack the finesse of knowing how to drive over a sandy corrugated road, when to deflate tyres, or what to do when the vehicle starts to fish tail. Greater risks all round so you charge a premium for it. Different when compared to the average car rental of a business man collecting his car from the airport, going to his business meeting and then returning the vehicle. Risk analysis 101. Not all car rentals are considered equal, in addition to some Hertz offices being privately owned (franchise) vs corporately owned. While there is consistency in policy for the majority of the fleet, off road touring should be considered separate and distinct from the usual product line up. This will help you to manage your expectations accordingly. Might not do much for your frustration levels though. But this sounds like a great opportunity for you to comment upon this in ABCs The Checkout for 2015.

 

[AdMEL]

Re: Hertz Outback Collection (Toyota Landcruiser or Prado with camping gear) Question

Try Hertz Alice Springs. Plenty of off road adventure there where you can trek to Palm Valley, Kings Canyon, Sandover Highway etc and the staff are more likely to be familiar with the company's policies and T&C then their city counterparts. You have available accident excess reduction but you won't get complete comprehensive coverage for 4WD vehicles. Higher probability of chipped windscreens/flat tyres/having an accident etc and this is reflected in their product offering. Greater skill and care are required when driving off road and some may lack the finesse of knowing how to drive over a sandy corrugated road, when to deflate tyres, or what to do when the vehicle starts to fish tail. Greater risks all round so you charge a premium for it. Different when compared to the average car rental of a business man collecting his car from the airport, going to his business meeting and then returning the vehicle. Risk analysis 101. Not all car rentals are considered equal, in addition to some Hertz offices being privately owned (franchise) vs corporately owned. While there is consistency in policy for the majority of the fleet, off road touring should be considered separate and distinct from the usual product line up. This will help you to manage your expectations accordingly. Might not do much for your frustration levels though. But this sounds like a great opportunity for you to comment upon this in ABCs The Checkout for 2015.

Renting from Hertz Alice Springs does not help me get to the places I want to go, as mentioned above!

I have rented from Hertz Alice Springs before (a few years ago) and have driven to Kings Canyon (one of my favourite places) and Uluru, albeit in a Commodore on the sealed road, rather than a 4WD via the Mereenie Loop (which, if I recall correctly, none of the major companies, including Hertz, allow you to drive on).

I have also driven:

- an Avis 4WD Pajero from Adelaide to Lake Eyre and Flinders Ranges via Oodnadatta Track (suspect that was not allowed); and

- a Europcar 4WD Pajero from Darwin to Litchfield and Kakadu, including Jim Jim Falls (allowed) and Twin Falls (prohibited). The manager from Europcar in Darwin was the only staff member of all of the rental car companies that knew the policy - she was quite impressive! Unlike the manager from Avis Darwin, who was one of the rudest people I have ever spoken to!

- a Falcon from Thrifty in Adelaide to Kangaroo Island. It took a lot of research to find that Thrifty was the only major rental company that allowed you to take their cars to KI!

I do not have an issue with paying a premium for a superior product that suits the purpose (the Europcar 4WD from Darwin cost almost $1,000 for 3 days!) and I am quite familiar with having to do a lot of research for these sorts of things (as shown above).

In this case, Hertz are charging a fairly decent premium for what appears to be a great product, but I am having no luck obtaining clarification on whether it is actually suitable! So I thought I'd try here!

A couple of further things to note:

The a Hertz locations I am referring to - Brisbane and Perth Airports or Downtown - are corporate, not Franchise. Usually that is an advantage, however it appears it may be a disadvantage in this case.

Surprising, Hertz offer MAX cover on these vehicles, reducing both the Accident Damage Excess from $8,250 and the Single Vehicle Accident Excess from $4,400, to $0! $66 a day. Doesn't really help if you can't take the vehicle further than the standard conditions allow (unsealed roads at your own risk), which is what it appears to be designed, and is definitely marketed, to do!

Finally, what do you mean by your last sentence: 'But this sounds like a great opportunity for you to comment upon this in ABCs The Checkout for 2015'? What is ABC's The Checkout for 2015?

 

[markis10]

Re: Hertz Outback Collection (Toyota Landcruiser or Prado with camping gear) Question

Hertz do cover you for unsealed road use on a 4WD, just not on Fraser and Cape York:

You will be fully responsible and liable for Damages under clause 6 where the Vehicle is used:
(i) on any road or other surface which is not sealed other than a road under repair, or a road notified to You by Hertz, unless the Vehicle is a Four Wheel Drive (4WD) Vehicle;

 

[AdMEL]

Re: Hertz Outback Collection (Toyota Landcruiser or Prado with camping gear) Question

Hertz do cover you for unsealed road use on a 4WD, just not on Fraser and Cape York:

You will be fully responsible and liable for Damages under clause 6 where the Vehicle is used:
(i) on any road or other surface which is not sealed other than a road under repair, or a road notified to You by Hertz, unless the Vehicle is a Four Wheel Drive (4WD) Vehicle;

Was just reading that clause in the standard t&c's and didn't recall it being there, so I checked the Gold t&c's and it's there. My mistake on Hertz not covering you on unsealed roads in a 4WD!

Interesting that Hertz have updated the standard t&c's so often that there are now a number of differences between the standard t&c's and the Gold t&c's, including:

- no cover for damage caused by hitting, or trying to avoid hitting, an animal between sunset and sunrise (clause 5.c.ix) in standard t&c's but the Gold t&c's do not have this clause.

- standard t&c's prohibit you driving to Fraser or Cape York, Gold t&c's do not.

- Gold t&c's quote lower Accident Damage Excess of $3,300 - excess has increased three times from that to recently $4,000! $3,500 and $3,850 in between.

- Standard t&c's have a separate higher additional SVA excess of $4,400 for 4WD's and Gold t&c's do not;

- Standard t&c's have a clause stating acts of nature will incur ADE + SVA. Whilst I would've thought this would be the case, when I asked about the excess applied to hail damaged vehicles a couple of Christmas' ago, was told standard ADE only, which I thought was quite generous!

And by virtue of the clauses I copied in my original post, which are in both standard and Gold t&c's, Hertz do not cover you to Moreton Island.

It would be interesting to see what happened if you took a 4wd rented as Gold to Cape York and damaged it!

Far too complicated!

 

[dougieboy]

Re: Hertz Outback Collection (Toyota Landcruiser or Prado with camping gear) Question

Finally, what do you mean by your last sentence: 'But this sounds like a great opportunity for you to comment upon this in ABCs The Checkout for 2015'? What is ABC's The Checkout for 2015?[/QUOTE]

Check this out on iView on ABCs website. It is a consumer education and awareness comedy type skit whereby consumers complain about a product or service that isn't fit for purpose, or their advertising is misleading and deceptive. Everything from warranties, to frequent flyer credit cards, rip-offs, financial adviser fees, beauty moisturisers etc and of course car rentals. The discrepancies you have noted would be quite useful to others and it is great to share this type of information, like we all do here, without prejudice.