Advice for protecting yourself when renting from hertz

- A customer changing vehicles or extending their rental

- The changes not being properly reflected in Hertz’s systems

- It appearing as though the customer did not return the vehicle on time

- Hertz reporting it to the police

Hertz reportedly sticks by its story even while continuing to rent out the vehicle to other customers. Sometimes, those other customers are arrested for driving what is reported as a stolen vehicle.

In addition to avoiding changes or extensions of rentals—which seems common in many cases of wrongful arrests—another tip for renting from Hertz is to monitor your credit card for charges after returning the vehicle.

One customer recounted an experience where they returned a rental last week but continued to see daily charges on their credit card because Hertz did not mark the car as returned.

"I rented a car from a Hertz location on Friday and returned it at another location the same day. I had a six-hour rental window and returned it in three. I parked it in the return queue at the airport (exact address they provided) and spoke to the Hertz employee who said I was good to go," said one customer.

"When I picked up then rental, I was told I would get a charge for $306 on my card: $106 for the rental and $200 for the deposit which would be refunded when I returned the car. None of that has been resolved yet. Instead, each day since then, another $100 pending charge has been placed on my card."

"This morning, I also received a call telling me that I had an overdue rental."

If this situation arises—if you continue seeing pending credit card charges from Hertz after returning your rental car—it may require significant effort talking with company representatives about what happened. However, knowing ahead of time can prepare you to address their bureaucratic errors promptly before more complications arise.

(HT: @Neilennsphoto)