Hertz Sucks – Charges for a Full Gas Tank
I like the way Hertz car rentals sends you a “Hertz E-Mail Statement of Charges” with a nice PDF attachment of your bill to review after you drop off their car. I flew into Phoenix AZ for the weekend, rented a car, and dropped it off at 3AM before my 5AM flight. Final charges get tallied afterwards and charged to your card. Mine unfortunately were significantly higher than I expected, due a “FUEL & SERVICE” fee of $50 (after tax) on the bill. I rented a CAMRY for three days:
RENTAL DETAILS
Rate Plan: IN: VSTATE OUT: VSTATE
Rented On: 04/01/2010 22:53 LOC# 216011
PHOENIX, AZ
Returned On: 04/04/2010 05:00 LOC# 216011
PHOENIX, AZ
Car Description: CAMRY AKF0400
Veh. No.: 7763329
CAR CLASS Charged: F MILEAGE In: 1,873
Rented: F6 Out: 1,675
Reserved: F Driven: 198
Here’s what the charged me:
RENTAL CHARGES
DAYS 3 @ 41.99 125.97
SUBTOTAL 125.97
DISCOUNT 10.00% -12.60
SUBTOTAL 113.37
FUEL & SERVICE 41.62
CONCESSION FEE RECOVERY 17.87
FF SURCHARGE 2.25
O & M RECOVERY FEE 4.99
ENERGY SURCHARGE 1.03
AIRPORT FACILITIES FEE 18.00
MOTOR VEHICLE LEASE TAX 2.50
ROAD TAX 3.97
VOUCHER VALUE -113.37
TAX 15.30% 30.46
The interesting thing is that I filled up the tank completely before dropping off the vehicle. It’s only a few miles away to the airport; the car, when I had picked it up, did not by any means have a full tank of gas (more like 4/5). So, I suspect that Hertz simply sucks, and as a routine matter adds this extra fee to every rental, whether they come back with a full tank of gas or not! Of course, if you really do bring a car in noticeably dry, they will charge you a hefty fee + fill it for you at ~$10 a gallon.
I suspect this is standard practice from reading other accounts online:
I called to ask why, and she said “because you didn’t return the car with a full tank, we charged you an extra $77 in gas fees.” I asked her if she would like me to prove from my bank statement that I was at a gas station filling the car up at 11:20 PM and I dropped the car off at 11:30 PM with a completely full tank. Sarah said that wasn’t necessary, and she would take the extra gas charges off our bill. A few of my co-workers confirmed this morning that they too had the EXACT same gas experience with Hertz in the past.
I called Hertz as soon as I saw the bill and they said they were going to credit me the gas+tax. I see from Mint that the money has come back onto my card, a $49.33 credit from “HERTZ RENT-A-CAR.” Still, I think Hertz sucks big-time. If I can avoid them in the future, I definitely will.
| This entry was posted on Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at 9:58 pm and is tagged with hertz car rentals, energy surcharge, lease tax, full tank, fuel service, car description, hefty fee, routine matter, pdf attachment, rental details, gas tank, rental charges, vehicle lease, car class, phoenix az, extra fee, e mail, camry, 3am, concession. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
Same thing at Phoenix two weeks ago.
Declined fuel service, filled up minutes before returning, and they charged me $40.18.
They haven’t changed a bit apparently.
Same thing here, returned car to DIA after filling up at gas plaza less than a mile from return site (at a premium price too!), all the attendants were tied up so I left the car. Called the service number on the statement and the representative told me that the “computer” charges for a half tank of gas if you don’t have an attendant assist with the return. What a racket! When I suggested that this was quite a lucrative racket and it left a bad taste in my mouth, she simply repeated her lame apology and said they would refund the surcharge. It is a racket and should be investigated as an illegal business practice.
Same thing happened to me in Philly. Dropped the car off late at night immediately after I filled the tank full and received a $43.45 Fuel and Service Fee. I called and they said they would submit for review, however I received the receipt from them with the Fuel and Service fee still intact. Don’t drop off the car without getting a receipt otherwise they will simply add the fee is what I am learning.
Hertz is horrible. They are constantly disappointing, and I am finally given up. As a platinum spg and a 100 flts a year southwest flyer, Hertz is by far the worst frequent travel / rental program. As someone who has rented 30 times in the last 6 months of 2010, I cannot get an upgrade, or any type of recognition besides the lame bypass the rental counter. You cant even find the name of a person who works there to email.
AWFUL OVERPRICED AND HORRIBLE SERVICE!!!!
stupid
I recently returned a Hertz car to the airport that I was renting it from. I asked the woman for a recent and even asked if she wanted to inspect the car prior to leaving. She replies, no, is the car filled up. Of course the answer is yes when Gas is going up over $3 a gallon when I could pay .30 cents less at a pump nearby. Anyways, I turn the car in, get my three week bill, and off I go. Come to find out today, my Credit card was charged $50 bucks more then what I signed for. I have yet to call, but I plan on it today before the day ends. How can you turn a car in and expect to know that they will find something wrong with it. The whole fuel and serivce fee is just bogus to me. I even noted that I drove over 1700 miles with the car, and yet, they said I drove around 1400. So obviously numbers are not a great thing with the people here in Richlands NC.
I got swindled into paying $30 to fill up the tank because at rental the c.s. rep asked if I’d like to prepay for the gas at a discounted rate. Well, hell yeah, I would! The ******* neglected to tell me about the $30 minimum charge!!! I only used 4 gallons of gas! I emailed Hertz about how I wanted a refund since the c.s. rep did not disclose this important information. All they did was apologize and send me a $30 credit! First and last time I ever rent from them. Thank you for letting me vent.
AVOID HERTZ THEY ARE THIEVES!!!! I rented a hertz car on a trip to uk, before dropping off the car at Bristol Airport, I filled the tank with over $70 of gas. when I got back to US I saw they charged me $71.03 – I called them and asked why? They told me I had not return the car with a full tank of gas!!!! Unbelievable. I have mailed them the receipts, but so far have still not received my refund. they are crooks. avoid them at all costs.
I was charged about $150 for not returning car with full tank!!! When I got car it was full only 3/4 of the tank, and I returned car with the same amount of fuel… I tried to send them statement from the bank about last fuel purchase, but they did not accept it as an evidence… Hertz SUCKz…