We hired a car in Toulouse online, and seeing as it was only a short 4-day holiday, we agreed to upgrading to an Opel convertible when we checked in, for an additional daily rate.
In Mirepoix for two days, south of Toulouse, and some little criminal put a scratch along the door, while we were parked overnight. The next night, the car was scratched again, along the boot, most likely by the same little worthless criminal. Both times the car was parked legally, under a street light, and (of course) while we were away, sleeping.
The result? On return, we were charged 440 euros by Hertz, i.E. 220 per panel. To make things worse, we were told that due to Hertz policy, it was cheaper to claim the scratches as our fault — if we insisted on declaring the scratches for what they were, vandalism, we would have to pay the full excess of 660 euros. Go figure.
This is criminal in more ways than one. Basically, we would have needed to stand guard on the car day and night, without sleeping the entire rental period, to have avoided this. Thanks to some vandal, we are now over £400 poorer, with no recourse.
The result? I am NEVER using Hertz again. It is quite clear to me that they do not make their money from rentals, but from everything else they can screw the poor customer for. And I intend to tell everyone (you too, reader) to avoid Hertz like the plague.
0 comments