Avoid at any cost…read more
My family had been staying with my in-laws in MA so that we could have some support with our children for distance learning. It was time to go back home to OR, and we found a minivan to rent via Priceline that didn't have an exorbitant one-way return fee.
The fun started when I went to pick up the minivan: Walking into the office, two out of the three women working behind the counter were not wearing a mask, despite state mandates for masking in public.
I noticed immediately that the car smelled like stale cigarette smoke, despite the very prominently displayed no smoking policy (circled on my pickup inspection paperwork, no less). I mentioned this to the woman assisting me, and she told me that they didn't have any other minivans available, but I could stop at another location that had one in inventory and swap it out if I wanted, because when driving across the country with my two children and a fully packed van, trying to find another location with a minivan (which, according to the woman, are *incredibly* rare to find) the day before Christmas Eve, then stopping and spending an extra 3+ hours unloading and reloading into a new vehicle sounds like a ton of fun. Clearly, since we were due to leave the next day, I was left with no choice and took the vehicle.
The morning we left, I saw that the oil change warning came on in the dashboard when starting the car. I hadn't noticed this the day I picked it up - I can't remember if the agent had started the car when checking the gas and mileage, or if I just hadn't noticed because I was still unfamiliar with the car. Fine then, we'll stop at a lube place somewhere on the way.
After leaving, at our first gas stop, I noticed that both the front tires were nearly *bald*. The rear tires looked much more intact, suggesting that the tires had not been rotated in a very long time, possibly ever. I hadn't noticed this at pickup - it hadn't occurred to me to check for things like this, as I'd (incorrectly) assumed that basic automotive maintenance was a given, especially since this particular Hertz location appears to be associated with an auto repair shop. Since our route was due to take us through the northern midwest (IL, IA, NE, UT, WY, ID) in the middle of winter, the idea of driving my family on those nearly bald tires seemed risky.
We managed to track down a Monro that was, amazingly, able to slide us into their schedule right away, and informed us that the tires were down to 3/32" - very close to not even passing MA DOT inspection. The manager at Monro, who incidentally handles maintenance for their nearby Enterprise location, was aghast that we were given a vehicle in this state, especially for a cross-country trip. I ultimately asked them to replace the two tires - I was informed that rotating the tires would not be a good idea, as the tread on the rear tires would be needed to prevent fishtailing, and I was not comfortable leaving the nearly bald tires on the front given we were expecting to be driving through snow, freezing rain, and almost-zero temperatures (Iowa ended up getting down to 5º). $400 and 2+ hours later, we were back on the road.
I had not contacted Hertz at this point, as I was not obliged to give them the opportunity to impede our trip further. I did contact their roadside assistance once we made it home to report the incident, though I was informed that they wouldn't be able to do anything about reimbursing me for the tires until I returned the car.
Upon returning the vehicle, I waited 30+ mins for a manager to appear and tell me that apparently because I was returning the car to an airport, and the car was picked up from a "Hertz Local Edition", they couldn't do anything about reimbursing me there, either, and someone would call me. I'm still waiting.
It's also worth noting that the reservation was made two weeks in advance - this was not a last minute whim rental.
I will not use Hertz again.
