DON'T RENT HERTZ
 

DO NOT RENT FROM HERTZ UNLESS YOU WANT TO HAVE EXTRA CHARGES ADDED TO YOUR ACCOUNT ONCE YOU GET BACK HOME. IF YOU HAVE HAD BAD EXPERIENCES WITH THEM, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

We are Gold Card Hertz customers and had a tough experience last October, '97. We rented and pre-paid in March, '97. Had to change departure airports, and paid a BIG penalty. Then, due to our not speaking Dutch, or the clerk not speaking English, my husband initialled what he thought were waivers on insurance, etc. They were acceptance of insurance. We wound up paying more than $1700. for 2 weeks rental! I think I could have received that deal from any agency! Hertz did not seemed concerned at all.

Maria, Maureen: I'm glad to read your topics. We just booked with "AVIS" going to France in Mid/End of May. Deal with those car Rental company, is there any other things we need to be aware of? is the "Contact" in both languague(Franch and English)? Your advise will be appreciated. J.

I agree re: Hertz. Two years ago I rented a car for a month in England and while parked outside a store was scratched lightly by another vehicle. When I returned the car the attendant didn't even notice it but being the kind of person I am I mentioned it, and was I ever sorry I did. Not only did they almost make me miss my return flight, they kept me there three hours - and I not only had the name, insurance, etc. for the other car, but everything was covered by my Gold card Visa. Before I could leave they made me sign a Visa receipt for $1500, with a promise to refund me 'if there was anything left'. I was horrified. After returning home and months of battling, I refused to pay the Visa bill - and Visa supported me - without seeing receipts from a repair shop (I had taken a picture of the 'scratch' for back-up), I finally received a letter from Hertz saying there would be no charges. The next year when I went I booked with Avis and they were so amazing. Not only did they have all the paperwork ready when I arrived (I was out of there in about 1 1/2 minutes), there were no extra charges, they delivered my car to Christ Church College in Oxford where I was staying, and when I returned they drove me to the bus station and put my bags on the bus for me. I will only book with Avis from now on, they have earned my respect. I am terrified of Hertz.

Thanks for the info on Hertz. I have used Avis twice with good experience both times. In Scotland, I knocked the side view mirror off due to unfamiliarity of driving on the left side of the road. No problem when we turned the car in, Avis took down the credit card info (we had an American Express card) and evrything was handled by the credit card company. Last year I rented a car in France, told the Avis people that I did not want any insurance, they charged me for it anyway (forms in French). When I received my credit card bill my travel agent went to Avis, they could not get the French rental car agency to refund the money so Avis reimbursed me instead.

Mavis and Linda: I wish my experience with Avis was as pleasant as yours. However, it was absolutely awful!! My wife and I rented a car from Avis two years ago while vacationing in Portugal and Spain. We made a reservation to pick up the car at the end of our stay in Lisbon. We arrived on time at the rental agency as requested only find a line out the door of people waiting to receive their cars. The only person working the desk was a trainee. There was no other staff working there at all. Needless to say, her inexperience didn't help the situation. We waited 90 minutes before we received our car. Finally we were on our way to southern Portugal. Unfortuneatly, the car broke down on us two hours into our trip. We called Avis and was put on hold for 20 minutes. We were finally able to convince someone that the car appeared to have a bad battery and would not start. Three hours later a very rude and unhelpful crew showed up to jump start the car. It started, but I tried to explain that this was only a short term fix and that the battery would lose it's charge very quickly. They assured me that the problem was fixed. One half hour later the car broke down again. At this point their offices were closed. Without the help of some friendly villagers, we would have been stranded. We called Avis the next day and demanded a new car. They brought us a new car but said that since this car was not a Spanish car(like the original car) we could not drive it into Spain. We found out later this was not true. When we arrived back home I wrote a letter to Avis but they didn't seem to care. I'm not the type of person to complain but the overall service, misinformation, and bad attitude that I experienced with Avis makes makes me wonder if their motto of "We Try Harder" is true.

I have good experiences with Avis. We booked a car in Lanzarote 2 years ago. Our agent had made a mistake, and Avis had no car available when we arrived. The owner of the local Avis office then rented us his private car, which had a higher standard than we had ordered. We did not pay more than for the ordered car. Excellent service! We really enjoyed driving around with this car. Nils

I booked a rental car for travel in England, used my credit card, and informed Hertz I was under 25 but that the driver would be over 25. They made the reservation and charged my card on the spot although I made the reservation some weeks in advance. When I called to confirm the reservation a few days before arriving in England they said that we could not have the car because I had used my credit card and I was under 25. I explained that I would not be doing the driving but they cancelled the reservation anyway. What makes me the most angry, however, is that it took 3 months to refund the $500 to my credit card - money I paid interest on while they earned interest as it was sitting in their account. Now I travel abroad many times a year and I NEVER rent from Hertz and I tell all my friends not to!

I also had the same problems renting a Hertz car in Luxembourg. We rented a station wagon for a three week tour. Was quoted a rate, but charged a higher rate when we returned the car. I had documentation but they would not accept it. I battled with the credit card company over this additional fee and refused to pay it. For whatever reason, the credit card company paid the bill even though I wrote a letter to them explaining the situation. Bottom line is don't rent from Hertz overseas. I've had better luck with Avis, or National

I too have had trouble with Hertz overseas, but it
was remedied when returning home....with their customer service. The first time in Exeter, UK they would or could not use the computer to see what I had reserved, so just charged me what they wanted. SEcond time the computers were "down" at Birmingham airport when turning in the car so extra charges were added. However these overcharges were
graciously rectfied upon return here in the states
by Hertz. This last time,one month ago, in UK/France we had a
prepaid voucher....which I feel is by far the best, and there was no hassle and it was honored easily.
We drove the English car onto the chunnel train, drove off in Calais France, drove to Hertz office and switched for left hand drive and were on our way. We will continue to use Hertz overseas, because we like the type of cars, the prices etc.

Oh dear, oh dear, I can't believe I'm going to write something favorable about a car rental company! Poor maligned Hertz corp...while I am absolutely certain the preceding events were terrible aggrevations and took a lot away from otherwise pleasant holidays, my last 3 car rentals in Italy & France were through Hertz and all went well. However, there were no unusual circumstances to negotiate. I have had other not so fun times with other major carriers, such as National & Budget. My guess is they're all pretty much awful to deal with, when there is an accident or deposit money to be returned.

I wouldn't rent from Hertz again either. I was charged twice on my credit card for an advance booking on rental in Spain last year. Despite numerous telephone calls and letters, it took them two weeks to refund the second payment. I didn't mind that as much as the fact that not once did I get an apology from them for their mistake. An apology costs nothing and is great PR after an error of this kind.

The best rental company I have used is Europcar. Highly recommended!

I rented from Hertz last year and was rear ended when I stopped for a red light. I filled out all the forms, had them inspect the vehicle, etc., and was told no problem, it wasn't your fault. Then six months later they sent me a bill for $175. because the car was tied up for a week getting repaired and they wanted me to pay for the lost rental time. I told them to stuff it and have not heard from them since. I would never use them again. I played by their rules but it still wasn't good enough

THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO RENTING: <BR> <BR>Unbeknownest to many people, if you are planning to drive around Europe longer than two weeks, contact Renault Eurodrive 1800-221-1052 east, 1800-477-7716 west; and 1800-777-7131 in FL and PR. You can LEASE a car which often ends up being cheaper than renting the longer you keep the car. And, all insurances are covered and there are no "surprise" charges. Although you are leasing, the procedure is no more complicated than renting. <BR> <BR>Also, don't fall into the false sense of security of waiving the CDW insurance when renting because it is covered by your credit card. There are MANY exclusions in the card's contract and if something happens, you have to pay first and get reimbursed later. This means taking pictures, getting receipts, etc. When leasing, you just call the company and tell them to get you another car. <BR> <BR>My wife and I are leasing a car this summer for 32 days and will be paying $1,281 for a full size car (Camry size) w/ A/C & manual transmission and it will be brand new since it is a lease. Its tough to beat a price like that. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps. <BR>

Everyone who travels has had bad experiences with airlines, rental cars and some hotels. HOWEVER--immediatly call your credit card company and DON'T PAY the amount that you dispute. The card company will back you up and the rental car people will eventually give up. It took me 3 months once to get a resolution of this from the Day Inn in South Bend, Indiana, (what a spot in hell that is!!) but I was not out the money in the meantime. We rent Alamo when available, but not in Europe. When we rent in Europe, we get a voucher from the U.S. and so know what we have. <BR>

We just had a pleasant expereince with Hertz. But I think the key was that everything was prepaid and handled by our travel agent. <BR>

We also had a good experience with Hertz in England. We prepaid about 3-4 weeks in advance for a brand new Ford Mondeo-about the same size as a Taurus-and the total for 14 full days was $313.00. The gas cost a whole lot more than the car! CS

A quick note- We rented Hertz in Italy-did the prepaid thing and got a nice car with AC REALLY cheap. We had no problem with the rental (opnly problem was finding the return site in Florence. SO I guess there are plenty and positive and negative experiences with Hertz!! SHaron

I also had a relatively good experience renting from Hertz in Greece. We had to pick up our car 3days early so they didn't have the type of car we reserved on hand. They upgraded us (to a car with air conditioning, thank God, we had no idea how HOT it can get there)at no extra charge. We ended up paying $288USD for a two week rental. Total. This was at least $200 cheaper than I could find it from anyone else. Since driving in Athens is like no other experience I've ever had, I consider us to be extremely blessed to have survived, much less not had an accident.