I rented a Tesla from Hertz once in Houston and the whole experience was terrible.
Got to the counter and the agent first suggested that I take a gas car for $25/day. I was confused because that was so cheap, although the Tesla was already heavily discounted. Apparently, this was $25/day above what I had paid for the model 3 and it was for a compact economy car. I stuck with the Tesla.
The agent warned me that repairs were very expensive and I need to have insurance, which I had bought and my company also provided. Stuck with the Tesla.
I was told I need to return the car charged or I would be billed for "filling it up". I was confused why they couldn't charge at the airport and also explained that if I charge near my hotel it will likely not be 100% when I get to the airport. They couldn't say if that was ok.
I went outside to get the car and they had to go get it, a few people asked me what I was waiting for while I stood there. People getting gas cars were quickly served.
I got the car and was again told that I need to return the car charged, explained again that it won't be 100%. The agent said that 85% is fine. He asked me if I had driven a Tesla before, I had not, I expected he would show me the vehicle and provide some guidance. He simply handed me a QR code and wandered off.
I got in the car and it was only at 80% charge. I figured out how to drive it on the way out of the parking lot.
I had a similar process the first time I rented a Tesla from Hertz (about a year ago). Counter-person was surly, gave me the key for the wrong vehicle (!) and gave me incorrect instructions on how to use the key. Hertz did send out an email in advance on how to use a Model 3/Y, including key entry (incorrect, unfortunately), door operation and charging.
Recently I rented one again, and the process was much improved, which I take as an indicator that (despite this sale), they haven't turned completely bearish on Tesla. Counter-person much more knowledgable and agreeable. No mixups. Also, the software has improved. The rental now provides an on-screen tutorial on using the car, and you can now use your phone as a key. Huge quality of life improvement.
Hertz could still do better. They need fast chargers at their location. All cars should be available "fully" charged (80%) with no need to bring the car back full. And they need to get rid of that ridiculous key-cover for the physical key that prevents you from just slipping it into your wallet like God intended.
I don't know why Hertz is making a big deal out of bringing the cars back charged, other than as an excuse to make some extra cash. The cars probably sit there long enough that they could plug all their Teslas into 120V outlets and charge them fully; their only expense would be a little bit higher electric bill.
Now whether they should charge them fully is another story. No higher than 80% is best for long battery life, unless they know the customer is picking up the car today, in which case 100% is fine.
The location I rented from didn't have a fast charger, and the first time I rented, my car had just been dropped off a few hours earlier and was still charging.
Setting max charge to 80% is fine, but I think it would be nice to add a paid option to start at 100%. Most folks won't need it, but for those who are road-tripping (me), it makes a difference. Happy to pay a little extra in that case.
they probably make a sizeable amount of money on people returning cars without enough gas and thats one less revenue stream if they dont do the same for charge
This honestly sounds like a failure from Tesla just making stuff work in non-standard ways.
Where I am in Europe there are a few car sharing apps that have electric cars, and all that I've rented (VW, Peugeot, Nissan, Hyundai) just work the same as ICE cars. You press the button on the key fob and it unlocks, you press Start and the car starts.
Charging was not terribly complicated either. Scan the RFID tag on the keys against the charger, plug in the cable and wait for it to show it's charging.
Tesla is big on rejecting "standards." Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Their door handles on the Models 3 & Y are more aerodynamic but unintuitive, and exiting is non-standard too (for no apparent reason).
On the other hand, the fob-less key is a massive advantage. Connect your phone, and it is your key. You don't even have to take it out of your pocket. You've also got a backup, physical key card that fits in your wallet. I hate bulky key fobs, so this is a huge win for me.
As for charging, nothing beats Tesla. Plug in to a SuperCharger and 1) charging starts immediately, no scanning, no app, no nothing, 2) the SuperCharger network is extensive and reliable--on my last road trip, I stopped in a small town that had a SuperCharger with eight working stalls and a Level 3 charger that had onenon-working stall; bummer if you're not driving a Tesla; 3) the navigation is SC aware and will route you to the nearest SC, pre-condition the battery for faster charging when you get close and even let you know how many stalls are free as you're approaching.
Assuming it works and has enough stalls. My experience with Ionity has been pretty bad so I’m just sticking with the Tesla Superchargers when I’m driving in a foreign country.
I'm not sure that experience would have been any better if you had tried to rent a gas vehicle. I had almost the same experience as you (attempts at backwards up selling, poor communication about returning the car fueled up, and customers served in a random order), but with a gas vehicle in Denver in 2019 at a Hertz.
I went out of my way to charge the vehicle before returning, returned it with 98% it but was still charged extra. Complaints to their call centre got me nowhere and I just resolved not use Hertz ever again.
The only winner here is Polestar. That will be the next car I'll buy.
It's very odd that you start with a policy complaint against Hertz that is factually false^1 (maybe the agent didn't know?) then the conclusion is to buy a Polestar.
Why would you allege that what @aspos says is factually false? Perhaps this happened before their policy was updated, or perhaps the person working there didn't know (or was a jerk).
Strongly recommend Turo. I tried it recently after a similarly terrible experience with Hertz. Never going to turn back to traditional car rental companies -- it's so much easier, saves you significant time, and is (sometimes) cheaper.
I have never seen Turo be anywhere close to competitive. Are you comparing to rack rates or something?
I'll take unlimited mileage and the lack of weird car rules any day, also. I don't understand the other convenience factors either -- car rental places tend to be located on-site at the airport or the train station?
It's also a lemon market for customers. Turo gets all of the people who aren't qualified to rent at the major car rental places, and the prices are adjusted accordingly.
That hasn't been my experience with Turo at all. I've rented via Turo several times in San Diego this past year, having started at the suggestion of a friend. Why? Because Turo can usually use short term parking, and that is always faster and more convenient than going through the rental center. Consider these scenarios:
Traditional airport car rental: Exit baggage claim and catch shuttle to rental car center. Stand in line (almost always), deal with hassles (upselling agents, car not ready, car given to someone else, different car available, etc. Find car in lot, then wait in security/checkout line to leave garage/lot. All that takes 30-60 minutes.
Turo: AirBNB-style app-based car rental with in-app comms with the vehicle owner or rental service (more and more, Turo rentals are via car rental services rather than individual owners). Show up at airport having pre-arranged where the car will be. Exit baggage claim and either pick up the car at the curb or (more typically) in short term parking. The retrieval process is so simple: car will be unlocked with keys in it, and you just get in and drive away. The only thing you have to do is message the owner through Turo that you have picked it up. The return process is just as easy: drop it in short term parking or arrange for the owner to meet you curbside at Departures. It's 100% frictionless relative to the traditional method.
I've found prices to be roughly on par with traditional rental car companies' rack rates. There are some exceptions, and I've also found that Turo is using VC funding to partially subsidize rentals right now, so it can be a bit cheaper in some circumstances. There's also a much wider range of vehicle options, and if you need something specific (pickup truck, full size SUV, minivan, convertible, exotic) Turo can't be beaten.
I know I sound like a shill, but I suggest you try it sometime. The time savings alone -- especially if you're traveling with kids -- makes Turo worth its weight in gold.
As with all gig economy services, do your due diligence with the user ratings, etc. Whether it is cheaper depends on the area, but that definitely isn't the selling point for me. The selling point is not having to stand in line at the rental car terminal for 2 hours and then haggle with the person at the kiosk over what should have been a simple, pre-paid transaction.
The USP of Turo is that you know exactly which car you are getting. So, for instance, if you're going somewhere snowy you can be certain that you will get a car with 4 wheel drive and snow tires (rather than the 2WD jeep on old summer tires that I have sometimes ended up with from airport rentals). If you are renting a car to move a large item, you can look up the measurements and be sure it will fit rather than be stuck with a cargo van or a car much bigger than you need.
When Turo worked it was great for me. However, in my most recent experience with Turo my reservation was cancelled by the other party while I was mid-air and I landed with no car and no recourse and had to scramble. It was miserable, bad enough that I’ve gone back to renting Teslas from Hertz (where my experience has been in contrast to other anecdotes here—pretty seamless).
Thanks, I will give them a shot. My experience post pandemic with car rental companies, and Hertz in particular has been abysmal. Any sort of rental status with car rental companies ranks below VIP status with a rundown motel in the middle of nowhere. Credit card companies have been the only saving grace, as customer service for car rental companies is non existent.
I am not a huge tesla fan but to expect that car rental employees will babysit every customer and show them all the cars in detail is... unrealistic.
I was once spending maybe an hour to figure out how to start and move a rental mercedes after picking it up, and next to me was some german guy in exactly same situation with same model. Eventually we managed to figure it out with phones.
I agree, if it was just the issue with showing me the car it would have been excusable, although I'm not sure what would happen to someone less tech-savy, but anyways. It was the combination of issues at every step along the way that made the experience less than stellar.
> to expect that car rental employees will babysit every customer and show them all the cars in detail is... unrealistic.
Not every customer needs explanations. I think it's completely realistic to expect a business to show me how to use what they are selling to me. How they profit from that is their problem - when they start having compassion for customers' finances, I'll have it for theirs.
I don't think it's likely they'll change their process just for EVs. I've never had them explain a car to me, they just toss me the keys and point in the general direction of the car. Figuring out how to make it work has always been my own responsibility.
I think its generally ok as most cars handle the same and unfamiliarity isn't likely a safety issue (except manual/std transmission or if you can't figure out lights/wipers...) but the single pedal driving, while intuitive is different and lots of people aren't familiar with it yet.
Whether it's likely and whether we should expect it are different questions. Don't let them normalize lower standards, as if customers should support some right to higher profit margins. Unless they are giving you a cut, profit margins are 100% not your problem.
That is such a backwards policy. I rented a Niro EV from Enterprise and they said I could literally return it with a 5% charge; they’d just plug it in and charge it overnight on site.
Maybe the rep suggested the gas car because you hadn't previously driven a Tesla, and by your own estimation, they were providing lower wait times and faster service for their gas fleet.
I hadn't told the agent at the desk I never drove a Tesla, that was the guy who handed me the keys. It seemed mostly about concerns related to charging and high costs of repairs.
> I was told I need to return the car charged or I would be billed for "filling it up". I was confused why they couldn't charge at the airport and also explained that if I charge near my hotel it will likely not be 100% when I get to the airport. They couldn't say if that was ok.
This is the same with gas cars. It's very frustrating because they're directly being dicks to their customers. You have 3 options
1. Bring it back with a full tank of gas (annoying, as you have find a gas station and plan time)
2. Pay up front for a full tank of gas and 1.5x to 2x the price of normal gas. Now you'll be trying to drive it extra so you can use all the gas you paid for but not so much that you run out.
3. Bring it back not full and then they charge you even more.
It's infuriating how adversarial it is and I'm surprised no company advertises they don't do this to their customers. No idea if there are good ones out there but have never been to one.
I can see it with gas cars because they then have to have someone drive it to the nearest gas station and fill it up, which even for an airport with an on-site gas station probably would be at least 20 mins, possibly more.
But with an electric car, they just have to park it (which they have to do anyway) and plug it in (although I suppose if you left it near zero, it could mean they can't re-rent the car for some amount of time).
When you rent a gas car, you don't have to bring it back full. You have to bring it back with as much, if not more fuel than it left with. So if you get it with 1/2 a tank, you can bring it back with 1/2 a tank. They usually give you a chart when they give you the keys that tells you how much fuel it has currently, and how much fuel you would need to add from empty to avoid paying extra fees.
So whether you're in electric or gas, obviously nobody is going to expect 100.0% fuel capacity on return. This is customer arm flailing, being pedantic and dramatic about something that is very clear. "Maybe if I make a bunch of noise they'll treat me special!"
Most rental cars I've used already had 100% fuel, so I definitely had to return them at the same level. I think there is a little more flexibility with ICE, since analog fuel gauges are probably less accurate than EV charge level meters.
So I was usually able to find a gas station near the airport rental, and get as close as possible to topping off (if the car was a full tank when I first picked it up). I've never tried to rent an EV, so I'm not sure how easy that would be in a comparable situation. Probably not very.
In my experience, it's not always 1.5-2x the cost of a full tank to pay up front. The last time I rented, which was a couple years ago, it was only 10% more, well worth the potential BS, and I returned the car with like 10 miles remaining on the dash, no worries whatsoever.
That's not to say rental agencies don't universally suck, they certainly do, but, I wouldn't really say that's a major sticking point. Really the biggest problems seem to be them under-provisioning their fleets, and going after you for damage you didn't cause, both are far, far too common.
In my experience in Europe they always advise you take the up-front tank as it's cheaper, and it's true you usually pay around 10% _less_ than most gas stations. However that's still only worth it if you manage to return the car with 10% of a tank remaining (which basically never happens)
But it takes less than 10min to get gas near the airport. You can't charge near the airport often due to lack of super chargers and it would take nearly 45min to get 100%
That sounds like every experience I have with Hertz (I've never rented an EV from them). And most other rental companies for that matter. I've started using Turo more often.
Got to the counter and the agent first suggested that I take a gas car for $25/day. I was confused because that was so cheap, although the Tesla was already heavily discounted. Apparently, this was $25/day above what I had paid for the model 3 and it was for a compact economy car. I stuck with the Tesla.
The agent warned me that repairs were very expensive and I need to have insurance, which I had bought and my company also provided. Stuck with the Tesla.
I was told I need to return the car charged or I would be billed for "filling it up". I was confused why they couldn't charge at the airport and also explained that if I charge near my hotel it will likely not be 100% when I get to the airport. They couldn't say if that was ok.
I went outside to get the car and they had to go get it, a few people asked me what I was waiting for while I stood there. People getting gas cars were quickly served.
I got the car and was again told that I need to return the car charged, explained again that it won't be 100%. The agent said that 85% is fine. He asked me if I had driven a Tesla before, I had not, I expected he would show me the vehicle and provide some guidance. He simply handed me a QR code and wandered off.
I got in the car and it was only at 80% charge. I figured out how to drive it on the way out of the parking lot.