Hertz Complaint - Bogus Fuel Charge - False Charges On My Bill

Posted by leopard on 2009-01-28:

First of all, a fuel and service charge isn't the same thing as gas prices listed at the pump. The "service" part is the car rental company actually having to take time to go and fill that car up, which can usually take 30 min or more, depending on traffic and logistics. Not all rental co's. have their own onsite pumps. Second of all, hertz isn't the only rental company that has this policy, so if you rent from say enterprise or thrifty, and don't replace the gas, you'll get a f&s charge from them as well. And thirdly, I don't think we're getting the whole story here. I think the OP has left part of the story out. I think she maybe refilled the car the day before, and drove around for a day before returning the car, or something to the like.

Posted by BokiBean on 2009-01-28:

Actually, Hertz made a big deal of moving to a "consumer friendly" refueling policy in June of 2008. To me, that basically acknowledges that they knew they were giving customers the high hard one.

Maybe it had something to do with Maryland's Attorney General threatening to take legal action. Either way, after about 6 months (this past December), they very quietly went back to the old policy and now their customers are probably going to have to be vocal about it again before anyone notices.

Posted by Dunn Thatt on 2009-02-21:

Bokibean,
I'm not sure how far the Maryland State AG could have gotten with legal action, as past
court cases have been in favor of car rental
companies, on the grounds that since the renters
signed these contracts, they were well aware of
what they had agreed to as far as charges. Secondly, the rental companies could appeal on
interstate commerce grounds, i.e. because many
vehicles are rented in one state and dropped off
in another, it would be the federal government,
not the states, that would have the power to enforce refueling charges. That said, I cannot
see the feds adopting a "one size fits all" policy when it comes to car rental charges.

Posted by BokiBean on 2009-02-21:

I get what you're saying, but while Maryland was reaching an agreement with Hertz about refueling policies:

According to The News Journal, Maryland's action drew attention in neighboring Delaware, whose Attorney General Beau Biden said: "This kind of price gouging will not be tolerated."

http://www.management.travel/news.php?cid=car-rental-fuel-costs.Jun-08.26

At that same time, apparently Hertz was worried enough to enact a nationwide (and Canadian) refueling practice that was much more consumer friendly.

They've since gone back to gouging people, maybe based on the rationale that you described above, I dunno. But I'll bet they're not gouging folks in Maryland.

Good post, thanks for the input!

Posted by Jonathan on 2012-03-12:

I had exactly the same problem with Hertz when travelling in South Africa this month. I filled up my rental car outside the airport, the guage read above full, I drove into the Hertz lot and got a charge for fuel. The statement from Hertz was that they charge for fuel regardless of the fuel gauge reading. Avoid using Hertz under all circumstances.

Posted by Dustin on 2012-08-15:

7/5/2012-7/11/2012 Rented a Volvo from Hertz for vacation in California. On the last day of vacation stayed at LAX, were I rented the car, filled it up at 8am on 7/11/2012 returned the care the attendent marked full gage as full. 8/12/2012 received a charge of 122.00 on credit card. Receved a letter days later explaining although when returned the fule gage read full it took an additional 12.69 gallons to fill. Full of crap.