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Save/ShareWhile returning a rental car at LAX yesterday, I learned something interesting: The Hertz rep said that if you drive fewer than 100 miles during your rental--as we did, remarkably--the computer automatically charges you for gas ("and if I don't catch it and you don't catch it, you get charged for it," he said). Anyone else ever come across this problem?
UPDATE: Travel guru Christopher Elliott points out in the comments section that he has been following this charge on his excellent blog. (Forgive me for missing it: I was on vacation!) It was actually a company policy, not a bug in the system, and Hertz announced today that the policy is being changed--and what's more, Hertz will start charging fair prices (plus a fee) for gasoline purchased through the company. Elliott explains it well--and simply finding a new way to say it feels too much like school to me--so I'll just link to his explanation here.
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Erik, I've been in touch with Hertz about this policy. It appears to have been revised as of this morning. See http://www.elliott.org/blog/customers-pressure-hertz-to-change-refueling-policy-and-it-does/
Posted By Christopher Elliott on June 10, 2008, 9:09 AM
I personally haven't come across this myself, but thanks for posting. However, I learned something else about their system that was equally annoying. As a gold club member and frequent business traveler, I set my online booking preferences such that I receive a car with GPS navigation by default.
I recently booked a reservation through their website for a personal trip. When I reached the step in the process for optional GPS navigation, I did not check it off as I did not need it this time around. I finalized my reservation and on the day of my trip, headed to one of their "local edition" offices to pick the car up. As you might've guessed, they had a car ready for me WITH GPS navigation. I was charged for this option and when I spoke to the branch manager, she said that the reason they went through the trouble of obtaining a car with GPS was because of my personal preference settings. So essentially, my default preferences superseded the choices I made on this particular online reservation. I was refused any alteration to this reservation and did not have the patience to continue my argument since I was pressed for time.
Perhaps this isn't normally an issue at the major branches, but it may have been different when reserving through a local edition office which can only store so many vehicles at one time. Anyone else?
Posted By mark on June 10, 2008, 9:41 AM