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Hertz to pay $168 million for falsely reporting stolen vehicles causing customers to be imprisoned
BoingBoing ^ | 6 December 2022 | Mark Frauenfelder

Posted on 12/06/2022 10:46:29 AM PST by ShadowAce

The CEO of Hertz is sorry, so sorry for misplacing returned rental vehicles and then reporting them as stolen, causing honest customers to be locked in jail in some cases for six months or more. Not sorry enough to voluntarily compensate victims, of course. Hertz waited for a lawsuit, contesting the claims until it was forced to cough up $168 million.

"In all cases, Hertz's goal is to protect its profits and cut its costs, even if it knows their own customers will lose their liberty and freedom as a result," said the lawsuit against Hertz.

"In February, after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Delaware ruled that Hertz must make public the number of people it filed complaints against, the company revealed it was filing thousands of police reports each year," reported The New York Times.

The Times gives examples of people falsely imprisoned by Hertz's recklessly negligent behavior:

According to another lawsuit filed in the same court in 2020, a woman was arrested in April 2019 in Broward County, Fla., after extending and paying for her Hertz rental car. She spent 37 days in jail, where she was separated from her fiancé and two children, missed her nursing school graduation and discovered she was pregnant, according to the suit.

In another instance, a man who turned himself in to authorities in Gwinnett County, Ga., in 2018, after learning there was a warrant for his arrest on charges that he stole a Hertz car, had actually paid for and returned the vehicle, according to court records. After missing a hearing date, he was arrested again, and jailed for six and a half months, documents state.

By way of apology, Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said his company would "not always be perfect."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: hertz; scherr; stephenscherr
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To: peggybac

ALWAYS keep the receipt when you return a rental car! Learned that one the hard way! (not jail)


21 posted on 12/06/2022 11:18:44 AM PST by gr8eman (Abortion! It's just a murderous ghoul thing!)
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To: ShadowAce

I rented a mini-van a few years back for a trip and drove from Maryland to Ohio. Took the car back to return it and they had no record that it ever left the lot. If the car did not get checked in and out properly, Hertz’s default was to report the car stolen. At one point some police departments refused to take stolen reports from Hertz because they knew they were being used as a locator service.


22 posted on 12/06/2022 11:18:57 AM PST by gunnut
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To: ShadowAce

Scum CEO should be in prison.


23 posted on 12/06/2022 11:22:53 AM PST by stinkerpot65 (Global warming is a Marxist lie. )
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To: stinkerpot65

+1


24 posted on 12/06/2022 11:24:29 AM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: peggybac
Didn't the folks receive a receipt when they returned the cars?

Not relevant.

You are innocent until proven guilty not the other way around.

25 posted on 12/06/2022 11:24:45 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: ShadowAce

But I thought illegals were allowed to keep the stolen cars as housewarming gifts. Or is that a different Biden policy? :)


26 posted on 12/06/2022 11:26:39 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: ShadowAce

Hopefully the people they abused will get some of the funds and not all the lawyers


27 posted on 12/06/2022 11:27:53 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: Jotmo

been covered extensively for some time and it just kept happening. They were using police for a recovery system even though the customer still was renting it and could prove it. Lehtos Law website has several cases he’s covered. People got jailed without reason. One woman had a miscarriage in jail and another was nailed like for four times.


28 posted on 12/06/2022 11:38:48 AM PST by BipolarBob (The party never stops until someone calls the cops.)
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To: I-ambush


29 posted on 12/06/2022 11:39:59 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: Jotmo
Holly crap. I had not idea this kind of thing was happening.

I've watched video accounts of these arrests happening, on YouTube. Not just the Hertz main rentals, but their subsidiaries owned by Hertz and operating under different names.

Victims have their vacations disrupted as they are threatened and handcuffed by police, strip searched and thrown in jail. Even after pleading with police to check their rental documents. Hertz is evil, and should pay millions to the victims. These are not isolated cases, it's due to sloppy procedures within Hertz corporate that snare innocents.

30 posted on 12/06/2022 11:40:05 AM PST by roadcat
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To: ShadowAce

Criminal actions by employees, including executives, of corporations deserve criminal charges - not fines that simply go on the books as the “cost of doing business”.


31 posted on 12/06/2022 11:47:47 AM PST by ChildOfThe60s ( If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there..)
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To: Scrambler Bob

LOL, attorneys probably taking 125M and the customers split the rest.


32 posted on 12/06/2022 11:49:45 AM PST by mykroar (what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how. - J0eStalin)
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To: peggybac

Likely turned in after hours.


33 posted on 12/06/2022 11:50:05 AM PST by mykroar (what is extraordinarily important is this—who will count the votes, and how. - J0eStalin)
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To: ShadowAce

Does Roger Penske still have investment in Hertz rental CARS???

He runs a pretty tight ship....


34 posted on 12/06/2022 11:53:18 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: ShadowAce
The whole rental car experience is pretty awful. From the high pressure upsells when you go to get the car (i.e. unnecessary insurance) to the old scheme where you get charged for a full tank of gas if you don't bring it back completely full. One time the transponder didn't work so I paid my tolls out of pocket only to find out later the car insurance billed me manually for the tolls anyhow.

I went to Las Vegas one time and they told me they were out of the subcompact I wanted and offered to either put me into a convertible at triple the cost or wait around for another subcompact to come available. Fortunately I was in the mood to splurge and went with the convertible but I still had the feeling I was had because what rental agency doesn't have an ample supply of subcompacts?

I find that using Uber or Lyft when I travel works out usually cheaper than renting cars. Especially if you are not sightseeing and on a business trip where you just need to get from the airport to your hotel and your office.

35 posted on 12/06/2022 11:54:28 AM PST by SamAdams76 (4,692,256 | Truth Social | 87,850,338 | Twitter | Trump Followers)
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To: ShadowAce

Now if only the same justice were applied to the DOJ as to Hertz?


36 posted on 12/06/2022 11:59:03 AM PST by blackdog (The head, hands, and heart, serve even further than the purse. )
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To: Jotmo

I video the car when picking up as well because I had one I returned that they said I scratched. Offered them the video plus the old windshield wiper I replaced plus the empty gallon of wiper fluid & told the guy that I brought the car back in better shape than when I picked it up.


37 posted on 12/06/2022 12:01:00 PM PST by Mean Daddy (Every time Hillary lies, a demon gets its wings. - Windflier)
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To: Jotmo

It their computer shows it returned, but that can’t find it, that’s on them to prove it was never returned by the previous renter.


38 posted on 12/06/2022 12:28:05 PM PST by matt04 ( )
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To: gibsonguy

For many reasons Hertz should be completely bankrupt and out of business


39 posted on 12/06/2022 1:19:24 PM PST by Glenmore
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To: ShadowAce

Hertz allowed unattended return of cars, so, I don’t believe they had a formal receipt.

They would have dropped keys into the night deposit slot.

It was something I used to do. Now, Hertz doesn’t seem to have unattended return, in my area.


40 posted on 12/06/2022 1:27:14 PM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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