Hertz Rent A Car

I rent cars from this location on a fairly regular basis for work, and I have had good experiences overall. The staff is always very friendly and courteous, and they get me in and out of the office very quickly. Sadly, they often give me cars with out-​of-​state plates, which I feel are basically an open invitation for cops to pull me over and give me speeding tickets for going, like, 3mph over the limit. But, I am an adult, so I guess I need to take some responsibilty for my actions.
And, of course, there was that one negative experience. I had just picked up a rental car, but didn’t realize until I was a few miles away when I shifted around in my seat that things down below felt a bit… moist. My initial panic subsided after checking the other seats for moisture, and a sniff test (eww, right??) determined that the seat was probably just wet from a recent steam cleaning. Unfortunately, I was on a tight schedule and couldn’t turn back. But on the bright side, the moisture was well concealed by my black pants, so it was my own moist little secret! I mentioned the issue to the staff when I returned my car, but didn’t get much of an apology. I didn’t want compensation or anything, but it would have been nice if they acknowledged the tragedy I endured with day-​long swamp ass. Seriously. It was pretty unpleasant. But, lesson learned. Since then, I always do a thorough check of things before I pull away.
I should also mention that they surprised me once with a free upgrade. Silly me was taking a one day round-​trip drive to Long Island (what was I thinking?), so I was pretty pumped when the little budget car I reserved magically transformed into a Dodge Journey SUV. A big, plush sofa on wheels? Yes, please!

Went through Priceline — rented a MID-​SIZE. Agent Was more concerned about us not going directly through Hertz. Just kept trying to get us to upgrade. We refused. He just gave us the keys. The Hertz place where you pick up in cars in the garage was closed. We did not know what we were suppose to do. Saw a man parking a car. Asked him how where we got the car because the pick up place was closed. He was very impatient. Finally told us where the car was & it was a COMPACT. We had a long drive & it was late and be didn’t want to drag our luggage back inside the airport so we just took it. When we returned it the agent insisted it was a mid-​size but the website says it is a compact. Will never rent from Hertz again.

horrendous customer service. these people are clueless when it comes to the customers needs. prior to this visit I was a pro-​hertz customer.
Paul, their DM is completely senseless & ignorant
The managers appear to be High School students with no experience what so ever, sad sad sad stuff Hertz

Weird having to take a taxi from the Amtrak station to the Hertz office. The cab ride cost $ 16 and Hertz only reimbursed $ 10. No one told me when I got to the train station that I had to take a taxi to the Hertz office.

I make 20 business trips a year. This was my worst rental car experience. Not only did it take 20 plus minutes, they didn’t have any car ready for me when I arrived. I made my reservation five days in advance. They also didn’t honor the rental agreement. After all this, the counter clerk decided to hard-​sell me their worthless insurance and top-​up gas service. No sales clerk should say, «wow, you don’t want this?» in their pitch. They are receiving a 1 because of their service, didn’t honor the rental reservation and the hard sell at the end.

Oh Hertz, our relationship was going so well, until you sent the bill.
We rented from the Albany airport. I selected Hertz because of their «pay now» (for an added discount) option during booking and they are a preferred AAA rental agency. We rented for four days and the initial price quoted before taxes and fees was $ 89 for an economy vehicle. I paid $ 67 up front and expected to pay taxes and the price to fill the tank at the end.
The desk clerk was very friendly and conversational (which I appreciated at the time, though I am sure the people waiting in line behind me didn’t appreciate so much after a long flight). She offered to upgrade to a vehicle «that has power steering» (which led me to believe that the economy fleet did not have power steering) for an additional $ 5/​day. I went with the upgrade and we received a 2011 Mitsubishi Galant (with 13K miles on it). The car was in good shape, despite its loud, most likely fatigued engine. It served us well and we returned the car on time, no problems… right?
We were asked to inspect the car in the parking garage before leaving the airport. We could not find any scratches or dents, but then again, we didn’t have a flashlight to actually investigate the car’s cosmetic defects. Hours into our rental, we noted a sizable dent in the front right fender. No scratches, most likely from someone kicking the car. We debated whether or not to call it in, but feared that we would be held responsible. Still waiting to find out if that comes back to bite us.
Another «feature» Hertz offers is the option to fill up your tank. They claim that they have a «special rate» on gas that is cheaper than most filling stations. In her words, the clerk said, «…so you can return the car to us at empty, and we’ll fill it up for you at $ 3.69/gallon» (the price on the highway was $ 3.99). Who wouldn’t take that deal?
We only used ¼ of a tank and imagine my surprise when the re-​filling fee was $ 62! That is because in order to get the special rate, they charge $ 3.69/gallon * the total tank capacity of the car. This was a very deceptive scheme and while she technically disclosed the details of this offer, it was *VERY* misleading.
Here’s the best part: I was taxed 14% on the fuel charge. So with the tax, the gas cost exactly $ 4.00/gallon. Also, nested within the charges was an additional tax of 11% that contributed to a subtotal. This subtotal was then taxed 14% along with the fuel. So I paid 14% tax on an 11% tax. Confused? Me too.
At the end of the day, my rental cost $ 183, a far cry from the original quote of $ 89. I understand that a significant portion of this was taxes (if you can avoid renting AT the airport, make the effort).
I give Hertz 2 stars (instead of 1) because the car served its purpose. It functioned and got us to our destination. Everything else was appalling.

I filled up the tank one block from the rental place, but they charged me for gas anyway. I called customer service, and they told me the hold time was 1.5 hours. So, I have come to vent on the internet.