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Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

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Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#111
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even in the best case scenario, renting a car is a time-consuming hassle No that’s the worst case scenario. > you have to navigate high pressure tactics on buying upgrades, fuel, insurance, etc. No you don’t. In the US, the major reputable companies allow you to register your DL and insurance, pick your default fuel preference. 20 minutes prior the reservation you get a list of available cars and proceed directly t…

Rented from enterprise last month. I booked a Sports Car Rental (Dodge Challenger or Similar). I got there and they only had a miata. Certainly a cool car. But it's too small for me. I needed a Dodge Challenger or similar. So I ended up with the slowest truck imaginable with no fuel in it. They wouldn't give me my company's corp. rate even though I had my work badge and this rental was for a work training in DC. Oh!…

> and I brought my own EZ pass, but somehow the enterprise car somehow still charged me for tolls.

If they charged for tolls that can only mean they got billed by tolling agency, often by plate reader. I mean it kind of sucks but if your ezpass doesn’t work not sure how that makes the rental company responsible.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#112
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rented from enterprise last month. I booked a Sports Car Rental (Dodge Challenger or Similar). I got there and they only had a miata. Certainly a cool car. But it's too small for me. I needed a Dodge Challenger or similar. So I ended up with the slowest truck imaginable with no fuel in it. They wouldn't give me my company's corp. rate even though I had my work badge and this rental was for a work training in DC. Oh!…

> and I brought my own EZ pass, but somehow the enterprise car somehow still charged me for tolls. If they charged for tolls that can only mean they got billed by tolling agency, often by plate reader. I mean it kind of sucks but if your ezpass doesn’t work not sure how that makes the rental company responsible.

Because it costs nothing to pay the toll and charge me the toll in their automated system.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#113
Hertz told me I would be charged if the car wasn't returned charged, I asked how much and they couldn't say. I was also confused because it wasn't clear how to charge at the airport and that was very inconvenient, I'd rather charge the night before near my hotel. No answer but they said its fine to return it 85% charged. I went out to get the car and the guy said I needed to return it 80% charged. I got in and it was less than 80% charged... wonderful experience.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#114

When people suggest owning an EV for daily use and renting a gas car for occasional long trips, this is exactly why that's not a attractive idea for most people. Even in the best case scenario, renting a car is a time-consuming hassle and you have to navigate high pressure tactics on buying upgrades, fuel, insurance, etc.

> When people suggest owning an EV for daily use and renting a gas car for occasional long trips, this is exactly why that's not a attractive idea for most people.

Sounds like a plug-in hybrid might be a great car for you. I have one and it works pretty well.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#116
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're paying for convenience. The deal they make with you up front is that you get to not worry about the tank, but in return you pay a super inflated rate for the gas. Plus you pay for a full tank, even if you return it at 3/4 and it only takes a few gallons to fill it. I get that some people just don't have the time (or executive function?) to deal with refilling before return on some trips, or they're so rich tha…

A lot of car rentals go on a corporate tab. When high-impact employees are traveling, their time is very valuable. An extra 20 minutes for the employee to spend with the customer on the last day could easily be worth $150 to their employer. Some businesses are happy to pay inflated prices for gas just in case their employee needs that extra 20 minutes onsite before returning to the airport.

Also better than missing a flight if you end up running late for whatever reason.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#117
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You absolutely can. Now the company has to pay one of their lawyers ($$$) to show up, or the claim is a default judgement, which they have to pay. So the lawyer shows up and says blah blah mandatory binding arbitration. The judge can interrupt and say "don't care, judgement against, pay the man". Or the opposite, in which case at least you cost them more than they cost you. Which is why they probably take the default…

In the latter case, don't they then ask the judge/arbitrator to also award them legal fees if (when, really) they win?

Where I live, you can't claim a lawyer's fee in small claims court -- that's kinda the point of small claims.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#118
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could be worse - Hertz falsely accused hundreds of people of stealing cars which lead to felonies, arrests and jail time. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusa...

False accusations and convictions ruin people's lives. I'm not sure why these companies are not mandated to pay people's current income and expected income growth over the course of their working lives because it'll probably be hard for these people to ever find a job again. For instance, if I make $500k today, the company should be obligated to pay me this amount every year plus additional compounding interest on th…

Wouldn't that incentivize people to try to get companies to "ruin their lives"? If someone had a way to get a well paying income, then get a big company to do the bare minimum that counts as "ruining their lives", they live the rest of their lives comfortably without having to get a job.

I think that, in theory, compensating people for life-ruining is obviously the right thing to do. The issue is that it relies on people to be perfect and never try to abuse the system, and if we can assume that, then we can just get rid of law enforcement and become a communist utopia.

What is practical is making these companies far more liable than they currently are, though. It is unacceptable that they have no penalties for destroying someone's future.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule, people stealing or otherwise breaking the law via companies get cut way more slack than random individuals. Like, Wells Fargo set up millions of fraudulent accounts for its customers, and zero people went to jail. Even if you accept the premise that upper level management somehow didn't know, a certain level of negligence should absolutely lead to prison time when the impact is this is large.

No prison time but one was prosecuted and sentenced to home confinement and community service... >A former top Wells Fargo executive avoided prison time for her role in the bank’s sham accounts scandal, after a federal judge on Friday instead sentenced her to six months of home confinement and three years of probation. She was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and perform 120 hours of community service.

Was this the person in HR, who, when the good hearted Wells Fargo’s employees reported the ethical violation, had them terminated?

I don’t understand why everyone in their HR department wasn’t immediately terminated and thrown into prison, and forced to pay the salaries of anyone who was fired.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you use a small claims court if the rental contract has mandatory binding arbitration clause?

I don’t think you can unfortunately, and arbitration should be banned. I’m not sure how a system overriding the legal system is allowed.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly and willfully ignored the plain meaning of the statutes, congressional intent in writing the FAA, as well the standard rules of statutory interpretation effectively rewriting Title 9 into something it was never intended.

At this point fixing it requires congressional action.

See https://arbitrationinformation.org/docs/problems/ and https://arbitrationinformation.org/docs/solutions/ for my complete writeup.

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