A great month long trip through five European countries ended on a very sour note. Returning a rental car from Hertz's European division at the Frankfurt airport in Germany, a small nick of about an inch was found low on a front piece of plastic. Had I known about it at the time, I would have fixed the problem myself with some sandpaper, filler and matching color (black). The materials would have cost me maybe 50 Euros and the work would likely have taken me a couple of hours.instead, Hertz in Germany billed me almost 675 Euros without tax. This figure was "justified" with 85 Euros for labor, 338 Euros for painting and paint and 248 Euros for replacement parts. The total conveniently stayed under the deductible limit of 750 Euros for the insurance. But there is another culprit in this sorry saga. Hertz had information on my Regions debit card, which purposely only had $222 in the account without overdraft protection to prevent a big financial loss in case of theft. I didn't realize that thievery can also have a corporate face that can override any protections I myself devised. The day after I got back to the States from my trip, Hertz had already gotten the entire sum of money they felt they were owed from Regions - an almost $700 overdraft. The bank never asked me if I agreed. I was only notified after the fact. To sweeten the pot, all overdraft fees were dropped. But any leverage I would have had with Hertz's European division was now also gone. It was as if two corporate giants had conspired to give me a nice fleecing. It took weeks with the help of my AAA booking agent (one organization wouldn't even deal with me personally) to get to Hertz headquarters, which referred me to their European division. My letters of complaint got friendly responses and kept referring me to yet another address, until I had enough and decided to write this post (I had warned Hertz's European division that I would do so). As for Regions Bank, there was no way of getting a hold of headquarters after getting "we're sorry" from the nice ladies at the regional office. A message I posted at Regions website remained unanswered. Bottom line: Buyer beware! Be careful what cards you use (credit, debit) and with whom, what cars you rent and with whom and in what shape they're in at all times.
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