Hertz Car Hire Sydney, 2 days, 72 KMs, $646 charge

[tonyf]

Just found this interesting read on a car hire web site (search for "car-hire-insurance-some-traps-for-the-unwary")

NOTE the SVA and WHT comments and comments regarding underbody damage etc. Financial and Legal minefield!!!

I also remember something about AMEX Card Insurance only covering rentals more than 650km (or similar) from home address.

What is Standard Liability or Collision Damage Waiver?
The first thing to know is that all car hire insurance in Australia has a basic level of cover known as Standard Liability or Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). This is the standard limit of how much the driver is liable to pay in the event of damages to the hire car, but can still leave the traveller with up to $3,000 to pay depending on the amount of damage. It is possible to have this amount reduced by including Excess Reduction (ER)/Liability Reduction Waiver (LRW)/Loss Damage Waiver Reduction (LDWR). This cover is optional but allows you to reduce your liability to a figure close to the basic insurance excess on most vehicles provided you are over 25 years of age.
Single Vehicle Accidents (SVA) and Windscreen, Headlights and Tyres (WHT) are often excluded and the standard insurance also does not cover damage to the overhead, underbody, interior or roof of the vehicle. It begs the question of just what is covered, especially when all these exclusions when requested, come at an additional cost. In the end, it all comes down to the level of insurance cover with which drivers feel comfortable and how much they are prepared to pay.
Travel Insurance might not be the way to go for car hire
For Australians, the alternative is to take out inclusive travel insurance when driving domestically. Some travel insurance providers include rental car excess coverage as one of the benefits. However, if an accident occurs the rental car company will change the customer for the damage and then it is up to the customer to recover the money from the travel insurance company. This occurs because the travel insurance contract is between the insurance company and the customer, not the car rental company. This can sometimes take 3 – 6 months to process, all the while your credit card is accumulating interest. On more occasions it is better to take the excess waiver offered from the car hire company, yes you pay a bit more but you have less things to worry about.
Some credit card companies offer car rental insurance as one of their benefits. If this is the case with your credit card make sure to check the fine print as some of the policies have a term that you must take out the lowest possible excess offered to you before they will cover any costs. For example, if the standard excess is $3,000 and the car rental company offers a package to reduce this to $550, you must take this package otherwise your credit card travel insurance will not be valid. Again it might be worthwhile just paying for the excess waiver with the car hire company.
Car hire insurance is an area unfamiliar to many travellers hiring a car for the first time. Before embarking on the trip, the driver should check all available options and levels of cover to make sure that, should the worst happen and they are involved in a major accident, their liability is covered by insurance.

 

[h15t0r1an]

I love reading threads like these. No matter how careful I am, there is always something more I can learn from others to protect myself.

My own additions would be

- no matter how far from the desk your car is, at least phone and report damage before you drive away. Walk back if there is no company representative attending the pickup zone and get it marked/noted and initialled. Take notes about lack of light, darkness, wet car etc and state and ask for signature that you have been unable to inspect the car fully due to these factors. if the desk had closed by the time you reached your car and found the damage before driving away then call promptly at opening time the following day and have the pre-existing damage noted.

- check the interior of the car too. Cigarette burns on seats are a favorite. Also check if the interior smells of smoke if you are a nonsmoker. check basic things like the parcel shelf are not missing.

- be aware that annual excess coverage policies often do not cover damage to the roof, the interior, and sometimes even glass and tyres. Avoid those. Sometimes these things are excluded from excess waiver bought from the hire company too.

- even if you read the rate composition, and conditions of contract with a fine toothcomb when you booked, no matter how late it is when you get to the desk to pick up the car, READ AGAIN WHAT THEY ASK YOU TO SIGN. READ BOTH SIDES. Watch out for boxes ticked taking extra insurances etc., even when you specifically declined them when you booked. Don't feel sorry for the person on the desk who waited for your flight. Check it anyway. As happened to me at Hertz Geneva, that person may well have ticked expensive things you already said you didn't want. If you sign it you agree it, even if it's completely different to what you booked.

Oh, and that was the car that had what appeared to be perfect round bulletholes in the headlights. And it was apparently the last car left, parked really far away in a dark corner of the garage.

- check what extra equipment should be in the car. This may include the car manual, a spare tyre, a jack, a reflective vest, the car documents or a copy of them etc, or not, depending on the country and which hire company. For example never take a hire car without a reflective vest in Italy or France and you may need one for every occupant in some countries. If it's not there and the hire company says it's there or should be, insist on having the missing item noted and initialled before you leave if you are prepared to take the car away without it.

- I never mind ostentatiously taking photographs of the car in front of staff if necessary.

- Always enquire about possible tolls on routes you are planning to drive. Sometimes these are machine assessed and sometimes they can only be paid in advance on a website (like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco) if you are not a local with a pass. There may be no toll booth. By the time any fine or penalty filters through the rental co. back to you, it will have been multiplied many times. Same for speed limits, check them with the hire company before you leave.

- Enquire when you pick up the car about which petrol stations are nearest the airport on the way back in the direction you'll be coming back from. Keep all your petrol receipts especially the last one.

- when you drop the car always have it checked there and then by a member of staff and the good condition of the car signed for and the rental "closed". Leaving a car and putting the documents/key through the letterbox the company provides makes it much more likely a variety of scams will be tried. For this reason, schedule not to drop cars when the office is closed if you possibly can.

- when you drop the car check the rate again that you are being charged on the document that you sign. Earlier this summer Hertz at Toulouse airport decided to apply rules from a completely different rate code to my rental meaning they tried to charge me about 750 euros when I dropped the car instead of about 90. Luckily I had screenshotted the entire contract and read it with a fine toothcomb when I booked. The manager of the Hertz office extended the 'discussion' clearly hoping I would have a flight to make. I refused to sign the documentation, ostentatiously photographed the car from every angle in front of staff (to indicate to them not to try any further frauds) and phoned Hertz corporate as soon as I got to the lounge. They sorted it immediately.

- IME some branches are just worse than others of the same company. And in some countries you need to be more wary overall, than in some others.

- being a return customer at the same branch does help. It might take 3 or 4 rentals before they recognise you but then you will mostly get cars with fewer problems. Even if they recognise me returning, if there's been a gap for a while since I've been to that branch then I am more cautious about checking the car they give me.

- IME being a Gold customer (Hertz) does help if there are any problems although it's not a guarantee.

- And reading this thread I won't be hiring from Hertz Sydney anytime soon

 

[IrishPete]

I just pay with my ANZ Platinum which gives domestic insurance for hire cars and saves the expense of getting extra insurance from the hire car co or paying for it separately.

Me too, but it provides car hire on internaitonal hires too (it's listed in a separate part of the policy document) - otherwise I'd be paying for those with my 28 Degrees Mastercard and its unbeatable exchange rates (that's when I get REALLY annoyed about being surreptitiously charged in Au$).

But there is still SOME excess with ANZ Platinum I think.

And you have to be careful about the excess amount - for a long time I think was 2500, but the car hire companies had cottoned on and increased their excesses to a lot more than that (did I mention that I think there's a constant competition between care hire companies and customers to save/make money?). ANZ increased their excess cover a year or two ago to a similar amount, but until then you still had a substantial "gap" to worry about.

 

[IrishPete]

I am not aware of American Express including car rental insurance, but there are so many AmEx cards that perhaps some do? I have an AmEx Platinum Edge Credit Card.

Also, I am firmly of the impression that some car rental locations are franchises, or something like that, rather than owned by the parent company. They may try it on more than a branch, but ultimately your redress may be through the parent company and their reputation - it's their problem if they aren't quality-controlling their franchisees. If it says Budget on the door, then for me it's Budget and I expect Budget to fix the problem (and in my most recent case, they did, promptly and without argument).

 

[docjames]

My one and only rental from Hertz came with only half a tank of fuel. Returned it full, but still charged for a full tank. Took over two months to get a refund, and I still walked away paying for fuel I hadnt used. I've also never seen a dirtier car, trash in the boot and all. And that was after waiting 20 minutes for the car to be delivered because they had none there when I turned up at the booked time.

Sydney or elsewhere?

 

[blackcat20]

Sydney or elsewhere?

Elsewhere.

 

[AdMEL]

Me too, but it provides car hire on internaitonal hires too (it's listed in a separate part of the policy document) - otherwise I'd be paying for those with my 28 Degrees Mastercard and its unbeatable exchange rates (that's when I get REALLY annoyed about being surreptitiously charged in Au$).

But there is still SOME excess with ANZ Platinum I think.

And you have to be careful about the excess amount - for a long time I think was 2500, but the car hire companies had cottoned on and increased their excesses to a lot more than that (did I mention that I think there's a constant competition between care hire companies and customers to save/make money?). ANZ increased their excess cover a year or two ago to a similar amount, but until then you still had a substantial "gap" to worry about.

ANZ Car rental excess cover in Australia has an excess of $350. International has a different excess (possibly $250).

I am not aware of American Express including car rental insurance, but there are so many AmEx cards that perhaps some do? I have an AmEx Platinum Edge Credit Card.

Also, I am firmly of the impression that some car rental locations are franchises, or something like that, rather than owned by the parent company. They may try it on more than a branch, but ultimately your redress may be through the parent company and their reputation - it's their problem if they aren't quality-controlling their franchisees. If it says Budget on the door, then for me it's Budget and I expect Budget to fix the problem (and in my most recent case, they did, promptly and without argument).

Amex Plat Edge does not provide any car rental cover.

Amex Plat Charge Card provides some car rental cover worldwide (provided you are at least 150 or 250 km from home, if I remember correctly).

 

[busissi]

Yes I always take photos even if no damage-to prove anything else came later-but also take pictures on return as well.
Returning to Avis at Aberdeen the young lass was pointing out all the scratches.It wasn't until I got my camera out and asked her if she wanted to see them when I picked up the car that she decided to give up.

Totally agree re pictures, scares the hell out if most hirers IME. I am really careful if the car is wet, covers a multitude of sins for the hiring company.

Do they really think we are all so dumb? PR is invaluable, when will places like Hertz real use this?

 

[BATTLESTAR]

We were caught by UK Europcar for "a mark on the seat that didn't show up till after valeting" so maybe now interior photos are required as well. I would never rent again without having staff sign off the documents when returning a car. UK Europcar took money from my card at the end of two UK car rentals and apparently do this almost on every rental now. My only hope now is if the bank will reverse the charges.

 

[docjames]

Elsewhere.

So that i don't rent there, where?


(Disclaimer: Depsite 5*G I virtually dont use Hertz anymore. This thread partially illustrates why. The final straw that broke the camel was the $50 "apology" voucher they sent that when I tried to use they denied me from using it as "you should have told us when you took the car" even though I did just that and they'd said "it's too late at night we'll do it when you return the car". My business now goes elsewhere whenever possible. Location for this was MEL. Ironically i'd only had decent experiences in SYD!).

 

[blackcat20]

So that i don't rent there, where?


(Disclaimer: Depsite 5*G I virtually dont use Hertz anymore. This thread partially illustrates why. The final straw that broke the camel was the $50 "apology" voucher they sent that when I tried to use they denied me from using it as "you should have told us when you took the car" even though I did just that and they'd said "it's too late at night we'll do it when you return the car". My business now goes elsewhere whenever possible. Location for this was MEL. Ironically i'd only had decent experiences in SYD!).

In the US so you're probably safe. One of those "remote" rental locations where they dont actually have an office on site.

 

[Ultimobo]

Just found this interesting read on a car hire web site (search for "car-hire-insurance-some-traps-for-the-unwary")

NOTE the SVA and WHT comments and comments regarding underbody damage etc. Financial and Legal minefield!!!

I also remember something about AMEX Card Insurance only covering rentals more than 650km (or similar) from home address.

What is Standard Liability or Collision Damage Waiver?
The first thing to know is that all car hire insurance in Australia has a basic level of cover known as Standard Liability or Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). This is the standard limit of how much the driver is liable to pay in the event of damages to the hire car, but can still leave the traveller with up to $3,000 to pay depending on the amount of damage. It is possible to have this amount reduced by including Excess Reduction (ER)/Liability Reduction Waiver (LRW)/Loss Damage Waiver Reduction (LDWR). This cover is optional but allows you to reduce your liability to a figure close to the basic insurance excess on most vehicles provided you are over 25 years of age.
Single Vehicle Accidents (SVA) and Windscreen, Headlights and Tyres (WHT) are often excluded and the standard insurance also does not cover damage to the overhead, underbody, interior or roof of the vehicle. It begs the question of just what is covered, especially when all these exclusions when requested, come at an additional cost. In the end, it all comes down to the level of insurance cover with which drivers feel comfortable and how much they are prepared to pay.
Travel Insurance might not be the way to go for car hire
For Australians, the alternative is to take out inclusive travel insurance when driving domestically. Some travel insurance providers include rental car excess coverage as one of the benefits. However, if an accident occurs the rental car company will change the customer for the damage and then it is up to the customer to recover the money from the travel insurance company. This occurs because the travel insurance contract is between the insurance company and the customer, not the car rental company. This can sometimes take 3 – 6 months to process, all the while your credit card is accumulating interest. On more occasions it is better to take the excess waiver offered from the car hire company, yes you pay a bit more but you have less things to worry about.
Some credit card companies offer car rental insurance as one of their benefits. If this is the case with your credit card make sure to check the fine print as some of the policies have a term that you must take out the lowest possible excess offered to you before they will cover any costs. For example, if the standard excess is $3,000 and the car rental company offers a package to reduce this to $550, you must take this package otherwise your credit card travel insurance will not be valid. Again it might be worthwhile just paying for the excess waiver with the car hire company.
Car hire insurance is an area unfamiliar to many travellers hiring a car for the first time. Before embarking on the trip, the driver should check all available options and levels of cover to make sure that, should the worst happen and they are involved in a major accident, their liability is covered by insurance.

we flew into Adelaide to pick up a rental car from Thrifty - having carefully studied their website for all terms and fees and thinking I had free cover for $2250 from my credit card - at the counter they said '$3000 (or was it $3300?) excess will be charged for any damage' - I was WTF !? - that was not on your effing website !

I balked and walked next door to rival rental car booths - guess what - they all charged $3000 excess - coughs - so after my dummy spit and time to think, I got on my mobile and phoned the umbrella website car rental company in Ireland (12c a minute, no flagfall, with AldiMobile prepaid) and took out their zero-excess cover for an extra $65 - OK. But this has seriously caused me to plan never to hire a car in Adelaide - and maybe Australia - ever again.

Oh - and my CBA credit card free rental car excess insurance cover - I think only covers overseas travel - not within Australia - so strike two for renting cars in Australia again.

Friendly service - we serve you with a smile - bend over. :-|

 

[serfty]

I just pay with my ANZ Platinum which gives domestic insurance for hire cars and saves the expense of getting extra insurance from the hire car co or paying for it separately.

In general, if you are an ANZ Platinum/Black holder then that is enough to provide for excess cover.

More on this - Subject to Australian residency requirements, if you are an ANZ Platinum or Black Credit card holder (Primary or Supplementary) you don't have to even pay with the card to be eligible for up to $5k Excess cover on Domestic rentals:

Great value and peace of mind every time you rent a car in Australia with Rental excess cover[SUP]1[/SUP]. With your Platinum, ANZ Rewards Black or ANZ Frequent Flyer Black card account, you’re automatically covered by Rental excess cover when you hire a car from a major car rental company in Australia, at no extra cost. Rental excess cover reduces your excess if you have an accident in a car hired by you in Australia. Most car rental companies generally charge around $20 to $30 per day for this type of insurance. Without this cover, your excess for damage to a rental car in the event of an accident could be anywhere between $2,000 to $5,000. In the event of an accident, the Rental excess cover will pay your rental excess over the first $350 up to a maximum of $5,000....

http://www.anz.com/resources/1/e/1e...mium-cards-insurances.pdf?MOD=AJPERES#page=54

There's some more to it, so read and understand the PDF linked above.

 

[mpkenz]

I always write "numerous small scatches and marks all ove the vehicle" on the damage report when picking up. Never any problems.

 

[The Rok]

I never hand a car back and drop the keys, I always get an inspection done first.

 

[drron]

I never hand a car back and drop the keys, I always get an inspection done first.

Same here unless someone else is paying!

 

[h15t0r1an]

So that i don't rent there, where?


(Disclaimer: Depsite 5*G I virtually dont use Hertz anymore. This thread partially illustrates why. The final straw that broke the camel was the $50 "apology" voucher they sent that when I tried to use they denied me from using it as "you should have told us when you took the car" even though I did just that and they'd said "it's too late at night we'll do it when you return the car". My business now goes elsewhere whenever possible. Location for this was MEL. Ironically i'd only had decent experiences in SYD!).

I received one of those vouchers when they really messed up. Trouble was, it seemed you would only be able to use it when there wasn't an "r" in the month and if was raining with a temperature of above 50 degrees centigrade on a Tuesday. It was called a customer satisfaction voucher, I seem to remember.

 

[MelUser]

I always take out maximum LDW and get excess down as low as possible.

I would never rely on some credit card insurance policy for help with this.

 

[Bad Seed]

I find that taking a photo of the car has the advantage for me that when I return to the carpark at the shopping centre on holidays to find my hire car and can't remember what I hired, the photo reminds me!

 

[Austff]

Reading this thread has me thinking I am walking thru a mine field . I have a rental coming up in Italy (Venice ,Mestre ) with SIXT & I will be as careful as possible & am going to re-read my insurance coverage .