Hertz Keeps Charging Tesla Renters Hundreds Of Dollars For Not Filling Up Gas

View from the Wing ^ | 18 May 2024 | Gary Leff

[COBOL2Java]

A week ago I wrote about a Hertz President Circle member charged $277 for returning a rented Tesla without filling it with gas. That’s the second-most Hertz thing ever, after getting arrested because the rental company reported the car you rented stolen.

And just like getting arrested just for being a Hertz customer – and Hertz refusing to admit its mistake lest the police stop believing them when they file false police reports – appears to be anything but a one-off. Being charged exorbitant rates for not filling up the gas on an electric vehicle seems to be a systemic problem for this very broken rental car agency.

It turns out that Hertz charging Tesla EV customers for gas wasn’t a one-off. They’ve been doing it for ages, and frequently. Sometimes customers get the money refunded because EVs don’t take gas while other times customers bang their head against the Hertz customer service wall, being told that charges cannot be adjusted.

• A customer returning their Tesla with 21% battery expected to pay a $25 fee for not charging. Instead they got hit with a $340.97 ‘Skip the Pump’ fee, “Hertz’s customer service was difficult to reach, and that it took making a ruckus on social media to get Hertz’s attention.”
• A Presidents Club top tie elite member was charged $475.19 for fuel in addition to the $25 charging fee, and was also “rebilled” $125.01 for Supercharging that should have cost $15.

This second case was just over a week ago.

[FLNittany]

So in addition to getting to the airport, checking bags, going through security - now you’re supposed to set aside a few hours to charge your rental car (assuming there is a place to do so)?

[LegendHasIt]

Best advice: Stay home.

Second best advice: If you must travel and rent a vehicle, don’t rent from Hertz.

Third Best advice: If you must travel, and must rent a vehicle, and must rent from Hertz, don’t rent an electric vehicle.

[stanne]

How did rental car companies get talked into buying fleets of electric vehicles?

My friend called me last week. She and her creepy husband are adamant about their electric car. She won’t take long trips in it but she says she likes it

She dropped the husband off at the airport, went to the charging station he mapped out and it was a station that takes a very long time to charge so she goes off looking for a different station finds it and everything is great

Except the creepy husband should have charged it for her

I said the rentals are dumping this inventory

When someone like her who knows has trouble why would I want to be searching like this outside Newark airport. Wandering around Bayonne NJ looking for a charge

No

This whole thing is stupid

Not to mention the slave cobalt mines or how much fuel it takes to generate the electricity

[PsyCon]

“so instead of being charged $25 he was charged $340.97. Doesn’t sound like semantics to me...”
Yes, that’s the way I read it.

[Bernard]

These are just bugs that need to get worked out of the system. What I don’t understand is why the customer can’t just charge back the rental entirely, or at least the excess fuel charge. Sounds like the credit card issuer has some issues with customer service along with the whole Hertz/fuel thing.

[Dr. Sivana]

I bought my wife’s 2018 Toyota Avalon from Hertz (1 year old, 23K miles, $20,000). One of the best car purchases I have ever made.

[coalminersson]

why does the employee have to wait while the car charges. The charger I assume is behind a fence on the Hertz lot.

[Senormechanico]

Imho, the only scenario which makes even a particle of sense is if you live in a very sunny place, have lots of solar panels on your house, charge the car at home and never drive very far.
Even then, there’s all the other downsides, tire wear and you know all the rest.

[Pearls Before Swine]

... bringing it back empty means some employee has to be paid to take it to a charging station and then wait for hours.

It only takes hours if the battery is cold and the charger is of a lower level (i.e., charging current capacity). A warm battery gets zapped up pretty quickly by a Level 3 supercharger. In other words, a rental company should be better equipped to charge the car quickly than a rando renter searching for hookups at the local supermarket.

[Fireone]

Totally stupid business model.
They know no one wants to charge the vehicle, when they bring it back.
Just build the recharge fee into the rental cost, advertise the convenience as a perk, and quit screwing with people.
“Hertz-Pay a little more, and don’t get screwed out the door”!

[catnipman]

heck of a deal!

[TexasFreeper2009]

then pay the small fee up front and don’t worry about it, but for those trying to save a buck, they need to remember to top off the charge before returning it.

I don’t see what is so hard about those choices.

[TexasFreeper2009]

obviously the person working the desk cant do it, so that means they have to pay multiple people to stand around because some idiots either don’t pay up front for the fuel/charge and bring it back empty or drained unexpectedly.

Imagine you were running that business and every time you turned around someone who “said” they would top it off didn’t and you have to drop everything and go fill it up or top off the charge.

Like I said, everyone has the OPTION to return it empty or drained. You simply pay the small fee upfront and then the company can PLAN to have someone there to go fill it up when you are suppose to be returning it.

But for people to refuse to pay the fee, then LIE that they will top it off before returning and then not, is just a pain in the ass.

[GenXPolymath]

“Imho, the only scenario which makes even a particle of sense is if you live in a very sunny place, have lots of solar panels on your house, charge the car at home and never drive very far.
Even then, there’s all the other downsides, tire wear and you know all the rest.”

You just described my set up, 220 days full sun per year over a 30 year rolling average here. Large solar system that can fully charge my.Model 3 from zero to full in 6 hours less than one of those 220 worth of Sun.

As for never drive far my Model 3 routinely goes to Ft Worth a round trip of 120 miles that’s three times the average daily drive of an American. I have taken a Model S as far as Mobil Alabama from far North Texas souring distance to Oklahoma. My Model 3 has been to Midland, Houston, New Orleans, Austin, San Antonio, Biloxi, Fredericksburg, Corpus and South Padre. Never had a hint if range issue it has 340 on a charge and no where in Texas on a major state hwy or interstate are you more than 100 miles usually less than 50 from a supercharger. It takes 15min to put in 3 hours worth of seat time the limit of my bladder most days.

As for tires I also have a S60 T5 AWD that’s 300 lbs heavier than the model 3 in curb weight. The both are on identical P4 Pirelli tires 18” low pros of identical size and load range. The S60 being heavier and no regen braking eats front tires faster than the model 3. The most important point is dotgov can never shut down the Sun and my panels and inverters have island mode so I can at the flip of a breaker go grid free that’s priceless to me as no one has a oil well and a refinery in the back 40. Fedzilla can will and has shut down gas stations and they will at some point in the 2030s for sure limit gasoline to selected groups and plebs won’t be in the club. Range is only getting better today it’s 340-420 with 700+ coming from Toyota and Nissan solid state cells all chargeable from home off panels that no one can shut off.