Reader Jeff received an email receipt from Hertz even though he hadn’t picked up a rental car from them. It turns out that he made a booking at the Austin airport, but just didn’t use it. Nonetheless Hertz showed him picking up the car, driving 100 miles, and returning it the next evening. They billed him $91.77.
The good news is he got a receipt – they checked the vehicle back in – so they don’t think he stole it.
What do you do if this happens to you?
- If you’re not going to pick up a rental car, cancel the reservation
- Call the rental company. They won’t know how to help, but will probably ‘open a case’
- Try reaching out to the local location. A manager there might be able to help sort it.
- Collect any information you can showing where you were at the time the car was being picked up. (This reader was in a Lyft, nowhere near the rental location)
- Dispute the charge
Jeff was surprisingly reluctant to dispute the Hertz charge, afraid to get banned by them (most people wouldn’t consider renting from them again!). He says he “likes their Teslas.”
This with the rental car company that won’t withdraw false auto theft charges, afraid that doing so would hurt their credibility. Hertz really does seem to have broken processes and IT systems, although I’m at a bit of a loss how they managed to attribute a rental to someone who wasn’t there – they’re supposed to check IDs and match those to contracts, unless of course someone with the same name had a rental on the same day and a clerk pulled the wrong booking.
