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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

#51
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The last time I rented a car (2 months ago?) if you returned it less than whatever you receive it at, you get charged for an entire tank of gas with the $3-4/gal markup. So receive it full and return it at 15/16ths and you're looking at a $80-100 bill easily on the larger vehicles. It's likely similar where if you receive it at 100% and return it at 98% you're getting charged the full $25. It's just another revenue s…

$25 flat fee is reasonable. $25 + the cost of a full charge isn't. I'm not sure which the OP experienced.

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

#52

I've never driven an EV before. I don't want to learn about them when I am renting a vehicle...my relationship with rental cars is pure utility: get me from A to B By the same token I would never rent a diesel or a manual transmission vehicle...I don't want to learn about them via the rental experience

FYI, you appear to be shadowbanned, I had to vouch your comment to make it not dead. And most of your comments are dead when I look at your profile. I couldn’t find ground zero for what caused your comments to become shadowbanned, but you can reach out to dang to find out why and ask if he’ll consider unbanning you.

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

#54
post #14

Recently rented an EV (Nissan Leaf) from Enterprise - they were happy to upgrade me from my economy, but one catch - it was at 20% battery. Luckily the hotel we were staying at did have a charger (called ahead) free. Amusingly the rental place told me as we were returning the car that it had been sold in the interim. It's amazing to me how little effort these companies take to resolve the charging questions - there w…

That seems pretty crazy to me they they would offer EVs and not have the ability to charge them on site.

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

#55
Rented a car from hertz for a work trip, the travel platform called it a medium suv.

Hertz apparently doesn’t use standard classifications and it was actually a sub compact suv - the Chevy bolt euv.

Their counter person was strangely gleeful in explaining how I would not be able to find a charger for it.

I get the feeling hertz and car companies just hate electric vehicles

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

#56

I've never driven an EV before. I don't want to learn about them when I am renting a vehicle...my relationship with rental cars is pure utility: get me from A to B By the same token I would never rent a diesel or a manual transmission vehicle...I don't want to learn about them via the rental experience

I had to learn how to use an automatic when I rented a vehicle in Texas. That was the first time I’d ever driven on the wrong side of the road which was also interesting.

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

#57
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The last time I rented a car (2 months ago?) if you returned it less than whatever you receive it at, you get charged for an entire tank of gas with the $3-4/gal markup. So receive it full and return it at 15/16ths and you're looking at a $80-100 bill easily on the larger vehicles. It's likely similar where if you receive it at 100% and return it at 98% you're getting charged the full $25. It's just another revenue s…

The refill charge is nuts anyway even for ICE vehicles. Put an 1 m³ construction site tank+pump for diesel and one for regular gas on the site and that's it - these things cost about 1000€ [1].

From the start, refill charges have been an utter scam.

[1] https://www.geratech-tankanlagen.de/tankanlagen-diesel-adblu...

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

#58
post #7

I recently rented a car from Hertz. I knew I wouldn’t need more than a single full tank of gas for my trip (and if I underestimated I could just stop at a gas station). I wasn’t sure what might happen with the (cheaper!) Tesla. So I opted for the ICE vehicle. (Where could I charge it? The hotel? Do I need to find a super charger? Etc. Just more headache than I wanted on a vacation).

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.

Their webpage suggests you have to return it at the same level of charge as you got it at, or pay a $25/$35 (depending on membership level) convenience fee to return it at any charge level.

I recall a similar rule the last time I hired a gas car, but feels like for EVs it could use a tweak or two.

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

#60
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

Very likely cost to repair (which ends up a component in insurance cost)
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