A.I. Is Making Sure You Pay for That Ding on Your Rental Car

The Hertz from this article is a company you should never do business with, unless you like getting falsely accused of a felony, arrested, and imprisoned for no reason:

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusa...

I personally use other companies when I rent a car... but I'm also paranoid about the kind of nonsense described in the article, so I just buy the damage coverage when I rent the car. It means renting a car is far more expensive than it should be, but it saved my bacon the last time I rented when someone dinged the paint.

It's funny that the AI bogeyman is used in the article to make this new tech seem scarier. The problem is the general practice of trying to milk you for money over regular wear and tear.

I'm an Avis person myself, and their response at the bottom of the article gives me a little hope that they've at least thought about this tech for more than 8 seconds. I once drove into the rental center with part of the car dragging along the ground, as it had been for the past 100ish miles. The conversation was as follows:

Avis employee: "Sounds like you got part of the car dragging."

Me: "Yeah I noticed that."

Avis employee: "Don't worry about it, here's your receipt."

All three times I’ve attempted to use hertz since 2021, I’ve shown up with a reservation only to be told they have no cars. Their overbooking policy appears to be “yes”. Even without this bullshit they aren’t worth touching.

It takes a lot to shock me these days, but you definitely succeeded. That's just fucking crazy.

Like you, I always pay for the insurance. It just makes sense.

I don’t think they even know what a reservation is!

I've always been told while renting a car that any dent/ding smaller than a golf ball was considered wear and tear, and I've never had a problem over at least 50 car rentals.

However, I've always noticed that Hertz is very dependent on the particular branch you rent from, and I generally avoid them unless I have met the general manager for the location and gotten to know them. In that case, it's been the _best_ company I've used. Otherwise, I stay far, far away. Enterprise seems more consistent.

I wonder if Hertz will someday pivot into making donuts at this rate.

Obligatory link for the lucky ten thousand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2GmGSNvaM

I personally had a terrible experience with Enterprise. They were great right up until they tried to pass off preexisting damage as something I had done (it was odd damage to the roof, which I couldn't see prior to taking the car without a stool or something), based on no evidence. They wanted me to pay over 2k for repairs, and I fought and fought to see their "evidence" and get it overturned all while they said "the investigation is already complete" and insisted I pay the damages immediately. I managed to find an agent that finally showed me there was no evidence. When I told them I would file a complaint to the Better Business Bureau I got an email within hours dropping the claim with many apologies, and a personal call from the manager who had been impossible to get a hold of prior to this. It was a relief but I am disgusted by the whole debacle. The nice salesperson front drops away quickly when they say you owe them a claim, then they become a nightmare to deal with. Personally I will never rent from them again.

If you ever do rent a car, make sure to take a good video around the car, of the roof, and the underside and inside for good measure.