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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

#81

Post by lokar »

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

Not just more expensive, but much slower (ages to get parts). Every day not rented out is lost money.

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

#82

Post by bombcar »

The years of these vehicles (2021) is about the same as all the other vehicles they're selling (though there are some older ones which I suspect might be trade ins?).

The only thing really of note is that they're not buying more of them, selling off cars that are 2 years (or about 30k miles) or so old is standard rental car policy. Sell it whilst they can recover much of the capital outlay.

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

#83

Post by smitty1110 »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #78

This is due to high body damage repair costs and has nothing to do with repairing an electric powertrain: >Let me share a bit more context on the damage equation. First, while conventional maintenance on electric vehicles remained lower relative to comparable ICE vehicles in Q3, higher collision and damage repairs on EVs continue to weigh on our results and negatively impacted EBITDA. For context, collision and damag…

Bloomberg has the same story and cites high repair costs as one of the reasons, so you may be onto something.

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

#84

Post by elliotec »

This is interesting. Last summer my family had a trip to LA and rented a car through Hertz.

I'm a Gold member through Delta status (which is 1000% better than trying to use Hertz without the status), so they had an upgrade for me - a Tesla Model 3, which was by far the cheapest option.

I live in Utah, drive a (hybrid) F-150, and had never driven a Tesla. It was fun and novel but a PITA to figure out charging (at Disneyland no less).

When returning the car I was a little surprised to see what seemed like hundreds of Teslas on the lot.

We have another SoCal vacation this summer, and I expected to see a Tesla at the top of the list again, but I was surprised to see that it wasn't even an option, and the other EV (I think a Bolt) was 50% more to rent than the standard Jetta. So we got the Jetta /shrug

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

#85

Post by bombcar »

smitty1110 wrote: post #83
1970-01-01 wrote: post #78

This is due to high body damage repair costs and has nothing to do with repairing an electric powertrain: >Let me share a bit more context on the damage equation. First, while conventional maintenance on electric vehicles remained lower relative to comparable ICE vehicles in Q3, higher collision and damage repairs on EVs continue to weigh on our results and negatively impacted EBITDA. For context, collision and damag…

Bloomberg has the same story and cites high repair costs as one of the reasons, so you may be onto something.

That coupled with customer complaints and annoyance could definitely sour the company on it.

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

#86

Post by bluGill »

olyjohn wrote: post #66
bryanlarsen wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that just pure gouging? If a Tesla is harder to repair it'll take longer and be more expensive for that reason, no increased hourly rate necessary.

Or... you need a person who is specialized in working on EVs. EVs are still not the majority, so anything different from the norm will need different training, and thusly higher hourly rates to work on them. When Ford started making putting aluminum bodies on their F150s, they had special training programs for doing bodywork and repair on them. I guarantee that cost was passed down to you. It may not even take longer…

When Ford makes a new car they write a large book on how to repair every body panel on it. For hidden parts how much damage was acceptable before you had to do something. All dealer body shops are required to have book before the dealer can on sell the fist car (along with books and training on other repairs). I believe most body shops don't buy this book, but at the time I worked for a company that made tools and those books were used to decide what special tools we needed to design/make next. I left before Tesla was a thing (2 years before the roadster), so I don't know what Tesla does, but I suspect this is one of those details they didn't realize was important.

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

#87

Post by ShakataGaNai »

legitster wrote: post #65

Car rental companies regularly rotate through their fleet. I suspect these are cars that are supposed to go up for resell anyway and they are just not replacing them with equivalents. EVs are already not a good fit for rental cars - I don't think travelers on vacation want to figure deal with a charging plan. It's also really hard to sell even a luxury sedan as an upgrade when everyone wants an SUV. I'd be curious to…

My favorite rental car in recent history was a Fiat 500 we nicknamed "The Little Brown Toot" [1]. A 2 door with 4 seats, but we had to fold down the back seats in order to fit our suitcases. For my wife and I having a long weekend in upstate Mass for a friends wedding? It was perfect, we didn't need anything else. And it was a hell of a lot less stressful to get around and find parking in Boston at the end of our trip.

I don't think I've ever rented an SUV in my adult life. Other than the one time I needed a vehicle to go to the snow (and in that case, we ended up with an AWD equipped minivan anyways).

I would much prefer a Tesla Model 3 to most SUV options. Granted I have an EV so it doesn't scare me, but that's not everyone. A rental fleet should be diverse. Just because I don't want an SUV doesn't mean others don't. Different people, different wants and needs.

[1] https://imgur.com/a/khw5Lx5

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

#88

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

bluGill wrote: post #73
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…

Unfortunately people who like small cars are a minority. Most people want whatever is the current fad, and small cars are out. I do not know how to change this. (come to think of it, even though I prefer small cars I drive a large truck because once in a while I need a truck and I don't drive enough to justify two vehicles)

> Most people want whatever is the current fad, and small cars are out. I do not know how to change this.

The only thing I can think of is to emphasize their superior fuel economy and get people to appreciate the superior handling.

Make people drive an obstacle avoidance course in both a small car and a huge SUV. Maybe some people would accept that the safer car doesn't have to be the bigger car, but the one with enough agility and stability to avoid it completely.

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

#89

Post by bombcar »

elliotec wrote: post #84

This is interesting. Last summer my family had a trip to LA and rented a car through Hertz. I'm a Gold member through Delta status (which is 1000% better than trying to use Hertz without the status), so they had an upgrade for me - a Tesla Model 3, which was by far the cheapest option. I live in Utah, drive a (hybrid) F-150, and had never driven a Tesla. It was fun and novel but a PITA to figure out charging (at Disn…

It's the people who wanted to "rent a car" and ended up with a Tesla without understanding the difference and got annoyed/angry that will really sling the deal.

Even if 10% of the customers would be fine with it (I'd love to rent one to see what it was like) it's not worth bifurcating the fleet.

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