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Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

bloomberg.com

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Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#141

Post by aweijrawiej »

camhart wrote: post #75

I tried renting an EV from Hertz a couple months ago. I reserved a Model Y. They waited until the morning of to call me and tell me they didn't have one for me. Said they might have a model 3 (but not the model Y I reserved) 3-4 hours passed my reserved pickup time. I waited an hour or two, then found a model y on Turo that got the job done. Then Hertz tried to charged me for cancelling... they did fix that but I was…

Car rental companies generally don't guarantee specific models. Even if you select like a convertible Mustang, odds are they won't actually have it. They'll give you something that "meets or exceeds your reservation", like a chevy suburban.

Turo is much better if you need a specific vehicle. In Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah I've rented 4WD vehicles when I needed 4WD. They almost all still say in the contract that you're not allowed to take it off road. I always contact the renter ahead of time to make sure it's okay if I go on dirt mountain roads that need 4WD and I've always found someone who approves. I'd guess you can get what you want on Turo.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#142

Post by nytesky »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #23
nytesky wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally made the same decision last night for a rental. I had no idea how to charge an electric car and did not want to have to deal with figuring it out on top of everything else. They charge you $25 if you return it not fully charged, which is bananas, because why couldn’t they just plug it in while they’re cleaning the car? It’s not like gas where they have to drive the car to a gas station.

You're likely going to spend more than $25 to put gasoline in your rental before returning it, and $25 is the approximate cost for a supercharger, so that charge seems very reasonable. You could have just taken the electric car and returned it empty.

That may well be the case. But I’m not driving far, it’s just while my car is in shop. Gas is $2.90 here, and the rentals was a Chevy bolt — so not a Supercharger right, some non Tesla connector I have to track down?

I think it was $25 flat if not as same level, so I can fill it to the level I received it and hope they kept accurate records (ie knew it wasn’t full).

I think if I had ample time during all this an EV would be interesting but I just don’t want to make a mistake and make this repair even more expensive.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#143

Post by lotsofpulp »

camhart wrote: post #75

I tried renting an EV from Hertz a couple months ago. I reserved a Model Y. They waited until the morning of to call me and tell me they didn't have one for me. Said they might have a model 3 (but not the model Y I reserved) 3-4 hours passed my reserved pickup time. I waited an hour or two, then found a model y on Turo that got the job done. Then Hertz tried to charged me for cancelling... they did fix that but I was…

>I'm going to avoid Hertz from here on out as much as possible.

Hertz having a history of unrepentantly reporting their customers as having stolen returned rental cars is another reason to avoid them.

The fact that CostcoTravel.com does not have Hertz as an option also tells me that Hertz is not a good business.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investi...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/us/herbert-alford-hertz-l...

https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/hertz-false-arrest-cla...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/03/02/rental-car-h...

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#145

Post by zardo »

jjoonathan wrote: post #139
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with prices of new EVs coming down Prices of new Teslas coming down. This is incredibly specific to Hertz's bet on Teslas.

Are other brand EVs selling at high prices? Or are they sitting on lots at high prices?

For a resale impact it doesn't matter much if the price is low or high, it matters if the price drops.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#146

Post by kube-system »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #62
zug_zug wrote: post #59

"due to higher expenses due to collision damage" I wonder if that means insurance, frequency of collisions, average damage in a collision, or cost to repair disparity

I imagine if you're operating on the scale of Hertz it's cheaper to self-insure. Anecdotally it seems like Teslas have higher damage in a collision (eg more expensive and fragile electronics in the bumper) and are more expensive to repair. The last body shop I went to even had a separate hourly rate for Teslas

Loss of use is is a huge cost for a rental company.

If you rent a vehicle out for $75 per day, and it needs a $1000 repair, and a repair takes 2 weeks, the loss of use is more expensive than the entire repair!

Repair times have been getting longer across the entire automotive industry, as parts availability hasn't been great, but Tesla vehicles are notorious for long wait times for parts availability and availability of the specialized labor sometimes required.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#147

Post by theultdev »

remh wrote: post #107
FlyingAvatar wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can work if the other car took more of the damage than it would have compared to a collision with a "squishier" car. Would be interested to see a Cybertruck vs Cybertruck crash.

parent said: "no one in either car was hurt". If the cybertruck didn't have any damage it means that no energy was dissipated by "squishing it", basically it made the impact twice as bad (compared to a regular squishier car) for the occupants of both cars. Maybe indeed no one got hurt, but then it means that the crash was at super low speed.

I saw the twitter post of what they're talking about.

It was just the way the car hit it I guess, CT was basically untouched, everyone was fine, but it was high enough speed to total the other car.

It's not really an indicator of anything, just an interesting happenstance.

CT didn't crumple because it wasn't hit where it needed to crumple.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#148

Post by mcguire »

throw7 wrote: post #119
houseatrielah wrote: post #114

CNBC did a better job than this low-density article. Why Hertz’s Bet On Tesla Isn’t Paying Off In The U.S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfbkvUXTV_I "pricing troubles, skyrocketing repair costs and low resale value"... They turn their fleet over every 2-years or so, so resale value is important, and with prices of new EVs coming down, the resale value will be significantly lower than a new model.

But I was told EV's would be much more reliable and cheaper to repair?

Tesla's repair and spare parts model?

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#149

Post by smileysteve »

legitster wrote: post #97
asveikau wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's also really hard to sell even a luxury sedan as an upgrade when everyone wants an SUV I don't want an SUV. I get angry at rental companies when they try to give me one. I increasingly don't recognize this country I grew up in with the car culture. In the early 90s nobody wanted SUVs either. The truck and SUV craze was apparently sparked by an emissions regulatory loophole, where larger vehicles were excempt be…

SUVs are popular because of the death of car culture. Car enthusiasts still like small sedans with handling and looks and etc. But the average person just wants the biggest, most comfortable car they can get for the money. I had a millenial co-worker ask me why selling a 2-door car was even legal these days.

> But the average person just wants the biggest, most comfortable car

They want the biggest, because it makes them feel comfortable, despite objective data and car parts that SUVs are more dangerous and less comfortable.

One theory is that millennials have been taught that higher and bigger is better because of age related vision deterioration by their parents and it has now caught on.

Anecdotally, I asked this line of questioning recently of family that had the choice of a 20 hour road trip - 2 people in (solid rear axle) Cadillac Escalade versus a similar year Mercedes Mid Size SUV. The reasoning given was comfort. But objectively, the mid size has independent rear suspension, more responsive steering, quicker pickup, lower weight (and better center of gravity), lower miles, fewer maintenance issues, fits in more parking spaces, is not as tall to get into comfortably, better fuel economy, and more comfortable seating. The conclusion that the extra large SUV is more comfortable perplexes me.

Re: Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars

#150

Post by peteforde »

Hang on... people rent cars to drive for Uber?

How can the economics come even remotely close to working out? I was under the strong impression that Uber drivers make dirt and that it's difficult to do much more than break even, assuming you own/lease your own car.

Either Hertz is insanely cheap or Uber pays more than I thought.

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