It's a shame, really. Hertz is an institution. Without them we wouldn't have the Rent-A-Racer Shelby GT350 Mustang. They've gone downhill HARD over the past 10 years.
Some of these stories are doozies. -Hertz filed a stolen vehicle claim against an individual in Georgia. The individual had never rented from Hertz, had never been to Georgia, and Hertz had no records of it. -Filed a claim against a man in California, for a car rented in Vegas, but were unable to provide proof of it, while the Californian proved they were never in Vegas. -Hertz caused a man to be held in custody for 40 days after failing to drop a charge for a vehicle they'd proven wasn't stolen and failing to show up to a court hearing. -Hertz reported a vehicle stolen *before* the individual had even signed the rental agreement. Hertz just also lost a part of a court case where it tried to keep the exact number of times per year it does this to customers out of court records. While not publicly available yet, we'll be seeing it soon. They're currently in litigation against 220+ people in Delaware over this exact issue. -Unrelated doozy, a man spent 5 years in prison for a murder he did not commit because Hertz lied to the court and failed to respond to subpoenas with evidence, a receipt, that proved the man was nowhere near the site of the murder at the time of it. They claimed the records were destroyed for years until forced to appear in court where it magically appeared. It's not incompetency going on here, it's malicious laziness.
Malicious laziness is a problem for far, far more companies than just Hertz. ... They do seem to be quite the gem of an example, though! It's _amazing_ such criminal negligence can go unpunished just because a corporation is doing it. IMO, every single exec should go to jail for _years_ in companies like this. They MUST know these things are going on. At least then, it'd justify their gross, disgusting pay if they were _ACTUALLY_ taking a big risk by being an executive of a company.
In situations like this it's always a case of A. Were you completely aware and compliant with the illicit activity is going on at the company under your jurisdiction. Or B. Were you so inept at your job that a situation such as this happened continuously for an extended period of time under your observation without you noticing? The first should be criminal negligence both should keep people from working in any sort of business at that level ever again.
@@ashkebora7262 it's beyond me why no prosecutors have yet tried execs since corporations are now legally considered people pursuant to Citizens United....every criminal act is automatically conspiracy to commit as well, under the umbrella of corporate governance
Is there some other scam going on? Like an employee embezzling by not checking a vehicle back in, but doing a little 'rental' on the side that's undocumented. Then the corp office marks it stolen? (or something a bit like that?) Maybe using the cars as drug mules?
Someone's name is on the police report Hertz submitted -- whether it's an attorney contracted by Hertz or one of their regular employees. That person, whoever it is, needs to be charged with filing false police reports. Like anyone else.
Them having possession of the car doesn’t mean it wasn’t stolen at some point. Even if he paid for the rental, that doesn’t preclude a theft from having happened in the past. I don’t know the specific laws about rentals in that state, but if there was a day when they asked him to return the car, and he was outside the terms of the contract but didn’t, then he stole it through conversion, even if they get the car back. Even if he later paid for it. He says that he extended the rental properly, that’s possible, but it’s impossible for us to know if he did or not from here. My money would be on the error being Hertz’s. I rent just about every week with National. When I have to stay the weekend unexpectedly, I rarely call to extend, and I’ve never had an issue with them. That said, I’ve had coworkers who have been asked to swap cars after some amount of time. That they couldn’t extend that specific car again. Maybe he crossed that threshold?
Can you say prosecutorial misconduct??? If the prosecutor took the case to a grand jury and still didn't pull the evidence that the man had paid for the car rental, they are guilty of prosecutorial misconduct and should have to face charges.
@@nastyab8003 Once the lawyer is found guilty, then they can be disbarred but not before unless it is for an ethics violation. The Bar is a strange, very conservative organization.
Harry, You are correct the bar is a strange beast. I once practiced law with a guy who forged a clients signature. Forged a notary’s signature and used her stamp on the documents he had forged the other signature on (all in furtherance of stealing land during a divorce proceeding). He had also forged an associate attorneys signature on a pleading (since he wasn’t admitted to practice in NY at the time). None of it was enough to get him disbarred. What finally got him disbarred was years later when he and an accountant opened up a firm and he dared to share legal fees with a non lawyer.
A while back I had to extend a rental by a week, I did it online and my card was charged, so I did not think anything of it. Upon returning the car, the clerk joked that it was good thing that I did not get pulled over, because they had reported the car as stolen. Apparently someone forgot to check the system when my car was overdue, and filed the report with the police! Took a couple of weeks and several calls to the police department and their corporate headquarters to get everything resolved! I never rented from them again.
Yeah, I suspect Hertz is having synchronization issues between their different departments/software. It sounds like they're relying on employees to check their different systems instead of automatically merging the datasets. This may be intentional as Hertz may not trust 3rd parties to extend rentals due to possibility of fraud/hacks to get free rentals and thus may want a Hertz staff review. So if you extend a rental online it goes (and stays) on a different computer than if you extend in person and it requires an employee to search/combine the records. Then Hertz goes into bankruptcy and likely cuts employee count, eliminates overtime, fires experienced high-paid employees, hires minimum wage trainees, and increases the burden on the remaining inexperienced staff.
I had a Hertz rental when my vehicle was being repaired at a local collision shop. The repair ran long. Hertz had all my information on file. One day past the supposed return date Hertz showed up at my employer and took their car back while never saying a word to me. The obvious problem is that when school let out that day I went outside to find I had no car for the over fifty mile drive home. I called Hertz and got a bunch of nonsense. I called Enterprise and they were more than happy to pick me up and rent me a car. I wanted to sue Hertz but honestly thought who would believe me? I felt we had a contract, but to repo a car under a contract was just very poor business. I have rented from Enterprise since that crazy day over ten years ago.
I was witness to a couple of 80 year old ladies stranded in front of the Enterprise airport booth. When asked why they were sitting there they explained that they had booked with a competitor and the competitor had no car available but made no offer to help them. The Enterprise crew had no cars available either but arranged to have a car delivered from an office 15 miles away. The women got their car even though they had booked with a competitor.
I think, in this particular case, law enforcement and judicial prosecutors in Arizona must accept a large portion of blame since their investigational incompetence permitted this false accusation to be pursued to this level of absurdity!
I think in this last year I have really learned all it takes is for someone to point a cop in a general direction and say your guy is over there they will find someone to arrest is it the right person who cares for what crime who cares.
@@odbo_One it's law enforcements duty to investigate comprehensivly and present validated allegations to prosecutors. Then it's the duty of the prosecuting attorney's office to verify those allegations BEFORE presenting confirmed cases to a grand jury for charges...at no time could Hertz passively interfere with that process, and proper investigations would've revealed active interference attempts 99.999999% of the time. So, no pass for the failures of state agents in Arizona on this one!
Mr. Lehto: As you're probably aware of, Bankruptcy Judges are given extremely wide latitude in their decision making. They have the ability to ignore laws and contracts as they see fit. Because of this, they usually get very familiar with the proceedings and companies. I'd encourage anyone who has been affected by Hertz's asshattery with these arrests to write to the judge in the case. You would be surprised how much impact victim statements make in Bankruptcy cases, especially when it's individuals vs. a company. If the judge wanted to, he could dismiss the entire bankruptcy over this.
@Mister Bister Not entirely true... In one of the bankruptcy cases I worked, I was specifically instructed to focus on keeping the company operational at all costs and basically ignore the creditors. The company was essential to the state and it's citizens. We accomplished that goal. Ironically, the creditors were reasonable about things and it was certain entities within the state that gave us the most grief.
That one throwaway comment about where Hertz is based brought back some memories. Does anyone remember the 60s show "Get Smart"? The bad guys, KAOS, had a shield that proclaimed they were "A Delaware Corporation". It was explained that this was for tax purposes, which made complete sense to the people at Control. Great satire.
The AZ prosecutor needs to take some heat if indeed a lawyer for the victim presented evidence that Hertz's claim was bogus to them. They could have told them to stop the extradition.
It's pretty cringeworthy too! They don't care and evidently, didn't bother to give the commercial director anything to work with. I hope executive golden parachutes hit them on the head, hard! th-cam.com/video/yR2lgxy-htU/w-d-xo.html Hertz didn't do much more than hire a cardboard cutout, and anyone can do that. Brady got paid, but they wasted his time.
A business owner once told me that, just as your business is going under, you splurge on advertising. Advertisers are desperate enough to accept almost ANY credit rating. Best that happens? Your company recovers. Worst that happens? The advertising agencies never get paid, because you're now insolvent.
Hertz still has naming rights for the arena down the street from their headquarters in Florida. Seems like an ego/luxury item for a company claiming to be bankrupt.
@@roflchopter11 funny how they just managed to get four billion dollars to purchase a bunch of new cars with, hopefully the bankruptcy judge tells them that this money is going to be held in escrow to be used to pay out their eventual lawsuits.
I once flew across the country for a funeral and rented from Avis for the last hundred miles or so. The suspension was so damaged that I experienced pain and stiffness for days from the effort of holding the car between the stripes. I contacted Avis to see if they could replace the car, and ended up catching a puddle-jumper flight from a small airport with an Avis desk but no cars to make my return flight. At that point I was just glad I hadn't ended up wheels-up in a ditch. Avis charged my card hundreds of dollars for dropping the car off at the wrong office. When I complained, they showed no record of multiple phone calls or my detailed complaint at the drop off location. That was my last car rental; over 25 years ago.
Should be held accountable for criminal negligence, but realistically they'll only get hit for financial damages that'll never get paid because they declared bankruptcy.
Steve, the ultimate amalgamation of your channel would be the following headline: A lawyer gets a speeding ticket by a speed camera in a Dodge Viper he purchased from Carvana, that was stolen from Hertz.
I'm an elite Presidents Circle member with Hertz. I had a medical event while driving a Hertz rental car one time, lost consciousness and rolled into a parked car. Did about $2500 damage to the car, my insurance offered a settlement to pay for the damage plus lost revenue due to the vehicle being out of service for repair, for a total of about $3000. Hertz demanded all kinds of additional fees for a total amount of over $6000. My insurer refused to pay it, I refused to pay it, and they spent a year threatening me with legal action until they had to file for bankruptcy when the pandemic hit, and the bankruptcy court forced them to accept my insurer's settlement offer. The rental car business is the greasiest industry that exists among mainstream industries.
I've rented Enterprise for many years, had an accident, extended rentals, and much more. Never once had a problem. All this nonsense with Hertz is like watching fictional cartoon comedy such as Family Guy. I'm glad you had that resolved, if not you may have been in jail too.
I have only ever rented one car from Hertz. It was in need of an alignment, which meant my arms were sore on the 2k mile road trip from trying to keep the car straight. Even got a reckless driving ticket for my speed on 95 in VA in that car. Hired a local lawyer for about ~$500, and he was able to get it thrown out. The trooper, who showed very poor professionalism at the traffic stop, didn't have his radar calibrations up to date.
At this point, I fully expect Hertz to no longer exist by the end of the year. This is obviously a systemic issue with them. The fact that they are already under the microscope and they didn't try to get this chap out of jail, just shows that it's time for them to....go.
I agree, but I hope it doesn't come to that and they get better management. If they can stop being such a POS and get their act together then they can afford to compensate all of the people they screwed over...
One can only hope they won't exist anymore. Americans will be safer for it, and it's not like there will be a shortage of rental car companies in their absence.
You heard about them refusing to turn over exculpatory evidence and let a man languish in prison for years. They actually fought the release of the documents in court.
Oh, Hertz isn't going anywhere. If bad customer service and fraudulent reporting was enough to shut down a company, Comcast would have been dead decades ago.
@Jeff C Too true. Quite often even when their immediate neighbors have five or six different real options, the only one that will install and serve their address is Comcast
I had to rent a car from them after my car was damaged. I had to extend the time but forgot to pay on the day it was due for the extension (I had the day wrong). They were very understanding and no cops were called.
Every single member of Hertz management from regional manager right up to the top must be arrested and held without bond, placed in a cell and held there until the hour of their trial. When found guilty of filing false claims of auto theft multiple times they must be sentenced to the maximum for each individual offense to run consecutively. That should put them away for life.
so this actually has caused me to stop using hertz. I've been using them for decades and now I have to legit worry about this happening to me. Them being in bankruptcy means if they do something wrong you can't really expect to be made whole either. This has ended a very long relationship with that rental car company.
@ Allen A A couple of years ago I needed to rent a car in Seattle. I got a deal somehow, I think through my hotel and used Enterprise. I was a long time Hertz user but Enterprise really impressed (Steve is saying he uses them as I type this LOL). The agent walked around the car with me and noted things I said, the car was clean, in good shape and ready on time. Return was exactly the same and very nice agent again. I've used them since.
I am not a frequent car renter, but when mine was in the shop Iand Hertz was out of cars, went with Avis. The experience was excellent. I'm likely to remain a loyal, if occasional, customer.
@@angelachouinard4581 the only thing about hertz I just really have loved is the ability to select whatever car in presidents circle I wanted. I need to find another rental company that has a similar experience (without the, you know, falsely reporting people for car theft).
@@TheBandit7613 Avis isn't perfect but they don't treat their customers like Hertz does. One time I rented from Avis for a family trip and they screwed up by not having the correct sized vehicle on hand. I accepted a size down and in return they said they would refund part of the rental cost (but didn't know at the time how much since it had to be requested through corporate). I expected a few bucks back but they actually refunded most of it and gave me a $100 certificate for the next rental.
We used to rent from hertz twice a year to go to Texas. The last time we rented Hertz charged us 300.00 for a cleaning fee. They said we smoked in the car, Only my mother in law and I were the only ones in the car. I don't smoke and she has COPD.. So she can't be around smoke. I was going to sue them when hertz decided to reimburse us. We haven't rented from hertz sense.
I also prefer Enterprise. The last time I rented a car from Hertz, for a 2500 mile round trip, I was a given a dirty, beat up 8 year Mitsubishi that smelled like sour sweat and urine. The key fob was held together by scotch tape and it didn't work. I drove straight to our airport and after they listened to me and went to look at it they said they were very sorry and told me to pick any car on the lot.
@@TheBandit7613 I think this is all heavily dependent on the particular franchise. I rented from an Avis in Hoboken which had already had a number of bad reviews regarding cleanliness but I really needed the ability to drop off in another location. Sure enough, the first car had dirt and stains all over the seats and floor. After getting the excuse that they were short-staffed I was given another car. Same problem. In the end they knocked $50 off the rental and I took it around the corner to the nearest car wash.
I've had good experiences with Enterprise. I've also rented from Thrifty in the past and never had any issues. But I may have to re-think that, as Thrifty is owned by Hertz.
We have always gone with Enterprise. The franchise in my hometown is on the gross side of town but it was still better than dealing with the ratchet employees at Hertz.
@@SilverMe2004 @afjer5106 It has already begun, just not to Hertz yet! You'll have to search this text: *asset forfeiture Mississippi police seize rental car drug case* This is the first at story I ever sent Steve, and he responded quickly with _interesting._ I kind of already knew there was very little to do a video with at the time, but it was, in fact, _interesting._ Had it been with Hertz, it would have been glorious! Maybe, this story has been updated enough for a video.
There is an old Dilbert cartoon where Dilbert comes up with a new technology brand by combining terms from Astronomy and Electronics. He came up with "Uranus-Hertz"
I wonder whether reporting cars as stolen removes them and the income they generate from the assets side of the bankruptcy proceedings, so that creditors can’t attack them, and Hertz will get to keep all that when they clear bankruptcy. An asset concealing scheme, in other words, which is common in bankruptcy.
Last time I rented from Dollar I had to go through the Hertz staff because of staffing shortages at AUS. I had rented a one way trip to LA to help a friend move and it was going to be around $900. The car had all kinds of issues by the time we got to west TX so we camped out the night and planned on returning it to a local office the next day. The office closed early and the manager at LAX credited us a day for the trouble. We weren't even halfway yet so we ended up heading back to AUS. When we got there Hertz computers automatically swapped the rate from one-way to the local daily rate which was like $20/day. Because of the credit on the one day trip I walked out with an extra $160 on my card. Their incompetence bought our dinner and bar tab that night lol.
If I was a Sherriff or police chief I would immediately place a moratorium on any arrest which originated from a Hertz complaint. Let the courts sort this mess out, and find out which cars were actually stolen. This should be a much smaller number then move forward. Unfortunately with the police it's the old adage we were just following orders.
the problem is that warrants are *issued* locally but can be *enforced* nationally. Basically all courts and all law enforcement agencies would need to agree to that. Since that isn't going to happen it's a problem unless some national court manages to perform some action.
My mother was a crime analyst for a multi-city agency back in the 90s. One of the things her agency was tasked with was tracking auto theft. This was an issue back then and they ignored dozens of reports that came in each month. Hertz was reporting cars as stolen in you were more than an hour late returning a car -- often reporting cars that had already been returned. Unfortunately, many investigators didn't know of the situation and they would enter it into the system and it would go to warrant. It's crazy that there hasn't been a class action against them.
I keep coming back and hearing about these Hertz stories. I keep thinking about people who burn down half a city, block roadways, beat people with skateboards and try to blind federal agents, and don't spend a day in jail.
These stories are just frightening - I generally am stuck using whichever car rental company corporate has negotiated rates with - not Hertz now, but at a previous job it certainly was. It's insane that someone was picked up and arrested while on vacation due to this, has been held in jail and is now being extradited to Arizona, where presumably the fun will continue for a car that he not only didn't steal, but which Hertz has in their possession! They've probably been renting it out and it has probably making them money as a rental the entire time they've claimed it's stolen! Aren't there penalties for filing false police reports? The thing that really sucks for this guy (and the others in similar situations) is that if Hertz goes under, there's no way to make them whole again! No compensation for having their lives turned upside down by false accusations! The "guilty until proven innocent" thing really seems to be what's going on here, as you said in your video.
It's terrifying that you can go to jail based on nothing but a lie told by some company you've never even done business with. What "proof" are they using if the victim never even rented a car????
I wonder if stolen property,that Hertz still owes money on, can be discharged in bankruptcy and this is a company policy to help themselves in bankruptcy proceedings.
I hate that faceless corporations are actually breaking the law, but no one is accountable. How about an investigation, find the person not doing their job and HANDCUFF THEM! And take them to jail!
A few times I rented a car from Hertz and one time I was charged for a full tank of gas even though it was recorded as having returned the car with a full tank. I called Hertz and found it odd that they had an option to contest a fuel charge. I used the option and the charge was reversed. It happened again on another rental and after that experience I never rented from them ever again. The fact that this happened multiple times led me to believe that there are most likely cases where they throw bogus charges on rentals to see if anything sticks because some people will not catch the charge on their bank statement.
I guess this is like the receptionist at the doctor cheerfully asking you "do you want to kill yourself?", and then charging your insurance for a "psychological profiling".
Like Steve, I’ve used Enterprise for years and have had just one problem. When going through a Border Patrol checkpoints, they sometimes ask extra questions. I figured it out. I was traveling from Las Cruces, NM, but the tags were from Texas. 😂 Now, I lead off with the fact I’m driving a rental. Never been reported for theft, though. Once I forgot to extend and they called me. No problem. They had my credit card information on file. They just wanted to ask for authorization and didn’t want to cause trouble for me by exceeding my credit limit. 👍
You do know that, at those "Border Patrol Checkpoints", you don't have to answer ANY questions at all. They can ask all they want, but you have the right to remain silent and unless you want to roll over like a Frenchman and just "give in" to their perceived authority, you should stand up for those rights and say nothing. The worst they can do is detain you for a while, till they get tired of looking at you.
As a kid we would ask other kids if they "want a Hurts' Donut?" If they asked any questions about it or said yes you would punch them in the arm and exclaim " See! It hurts, don't it?!" I feel like with all the available info about Hertz' problems, renting from them is like asking for a Hurts' Donut.
I'm surprised that I didn't have something like this happen to me in 2017. I was visiting the Houston Texas area prior to taking a cruise in August 2017. Or so I thought. I rented an SUV from Hertz at the Houston/ Hobby Airport location originally for 10 days prior to going on this "cruise". Well, Hurricane Harvey touched down, my cruise would be cancelled, and I would have to extend my rental for another week and hunker down in the hotel until this hurricane ended. I tried to call Hertz at the Houston Hobby location, but everyone had evacuated from the airport. I then called the (800) number from Hertz, and had to explain the situation to them. They had no idea that I was in a hurricane zone at the time. Surprising, this had a happing ending. I brought the SUV back a week later than the original rental agreement, there was no confusion, I did not end up being arrested and they even gave me a significant "hurricane" discount, $80 for the extra week for an 8 passenger SUV. I was lucky!
Why aren't some Hertz executive's being charged with creating a policy that has employees creating and filing false police reports? This issue had to been created by some company policy that I'm sure has an electronic "fingerprint" to it, that could be followed to all guilty parties involved. Charging and slapping a few high level suits in jail would bring this nonsense to a screeching halt.
New slogan for Hertz: “When you rent from us, you know it’s Hertz!” Either that or they should rebrand as Ohms since they’re so resistant to being a good rental company.
You are correct as usual Steve about the misguided charges generated by Hertz Rental. They are just about as bad as the Judicial syatem we suffer under. Bad Judges, lawyers, cops etc. Just like H-ertz bad corp heads, managers, supervisors etc. We should all be disgusted as I know you are. Thanks for the video.
My question is if these sort of actions can be discharged in a bankruptcy, can these victims get some sort of court injunction to stop the bankruptcy until the matter is settled?
Ok, if the average person filed a false police report, we'd be charged with Obstruction of Justice and filing a false police report, but Hertz gets away with it.
I knew that hertz would be the topic again when I read the news yesterday. Their negligence when making false police reports is clearly worth of civil cases and likely criminal charges.
I've always rolled with Avis and Budget. Hell I'm on a first name basis with Asad my rental guy. Him, his wife, and the employees have taken real good care of me. I would be so mad if I went to Hertz for whatever reason, and this happened, I'd be devastated mentally, socially, professionally, and even financially. Life changing and that is scary.
When you mentioned that they were able to get a grand jury in diamond against that 1 renter, that just shows prosecutors can get an indictment for anything
Sixt had a friend of mine arrested. She rented a car for a weekend when we were all going to hang out. On her way down to the house, she got stopped and arrested and had to spend the night in jail. The report of the stolen car was for someone else who had rented it. Sixt had it back in their inventory as well, didn’t correct the stolen car report, and allowed someone else to rent it knowing that they might be arrested or have trouble with the law because of that outstanding report. It’s horrible.
Indictments and warrants aren't obtained in an adversarial process. So there are certain requirements written in law, and one side gets to present things they say satisfies those requirements. But there is no other side to challenge what is presented. If those things are wrong that can only be challenged much later in the process during the trial proper.
Can the "Hertz victims" file fraud charges against the managers of the locations that did the actual reporting the car stolen personally? The minute it gets personal and employees can lose their home and paycheck, suddenly stuff usually gets fixed.
The miles of fine print in their rental agreements probably prevent this. Only if a court negates their agreement, would it open them up for liability.
@@michaellowe3665 After the car is rented, payed for and returned I would think that the contract no longer applies. However, this sounds like the offending Hertz employees would be at the home or regional office.
My only experience as a Hurts customer: I had a $2700 suv rental booked 2 weeks in advance. Went to that airport Hurts location, and was promptly offered a single Ford Focus sedan for all 7 of us. Never went to Hurts after that 2015 incident.
I have always had a good experience with Avis. It has been smooth every time. My new company uses Hertz and went to use them back in October. It was a nightmare experience just trying to get a booking fixed. Ended up cancelling and rebooking immediately with Avis and able to grab my car immediately with no issues.
I’ve used Hertz before when they were assigned to me by a auto body shop while my car was being repaired. Next time I’ll insist on using someone else. Furthermore, these rental disputes involving cars that were lawfully rented should fall under civil court.
The Hertz Group also owns Dollar, Thrifty, and Firefly. Avoid all 3 if you don't want to risk being arrested! I've already sent notice to all of our employees about these Hertz stories and have advised them the office will NOT reimburse any rentals with Hertz or their affiliated companies due to this risk.
Hertz is a 'good' example of companies that get too big, too fast and out of control, only run by overpaid figureheads who know nothing about the company, Walmart is another example !!!
Instead of suing the company, start suing the people making the decisions that caused this. Example, the CEO, CFO, COO, ECT. This will get changed nearly instantly.
Most likely this is been done on purpose and the people who work in the department that’s calls in the stolen vehicles are been told to do this by upper management. It also sounds criminal and the FBI should have by know arrested the management of hertz. And the local police that makes these arrests need to treat them as a traffic offense for now.
Time to start criminally charging Hertz executives for filing false police reports. Walk a couple members from the "C" suite out of Hertz headquarters in cuffs and I bet this ends right quick.
Absolutely, the DA in Arizona should be asking those questions of Hertz president and CEO, and if they don't have the right answers, put them in jail pending trial. 10 days for them should be a the minimum. In addition, the bankruptcy court should be withholding any pay or compensation from them.
It's been seen in some cases and chances are it is happening in all of them, that Hertz is filing insurance claims associated with each "theft". I think this is raising to the level of criminal fraud to be honest.
I I love listening to Steve, it reinforces my belief that laws and law enforcement are totally corrupt and have little value in modern society. I miss the days when bad guys had to worry about vigilante justice. It is obvious that the officers and managers of this Corporation are completely lawless and they require a form of justice that won't be found in the courtroom.
I worked for Hertz a very long time ago. Not the current version of Hertz. When we wanted to report a Hertz car was stolen the corporate lawyers wouldn't let us. The lawyers said no stolen car reports. Hertz was a crap company when it was owned by RCA and never got any better under a number of different owners.
@@S_Roach I assume that RCA screwed over Farnsworth somehow. Dr Farnsworth was a character on the esteemed TV series Futurama. While at Hertz I worked for Jose Menendez. Menendez went on to work at RCA records. Menendez' two sons Lyle and Eric murdered Jose and Kitty. Jose wasn't working for RCA when he was killed but you can blame RCA if you like.
@@steveschlackman4503 Philo Farnsworth was the developer of the Cathode Ray Tube, scan-line, television system, and an early form of the TV camera. Farnsworth figured out the trick while plowing a potato field. His brother learned glassblowing so they could work out the solution in their own company, which they formed. RCA had their own R&D team pursuing the goal, headed up by some Russian immigrant whose name escapes me. He was apparently barking up the wrong tree on just how to do it, until he got to see Farnsworth's. RCA basically stiffed Farnsworth on royalties for his invention because "We don't pay for patents. We charge other people for them." You can literally google "Philo Farnsworth", and he's the first hit. Later, he developed a "fusor", that was an early apparatus for nuclear fusion. It worked, and still does; you can build one in your basement (but I'd advise against it, unless you know what you're doing), but it was a SERIOUS energy hog. They're still used when someone needs a ready stream of neutrons.
@@S_Roach I am shocked that RCA screwed over someone. RCA was a pretty terrible operation. RCA knew that Hertz was, at that time, running a "dirty" operation but didn't care. RCA dumped Hertz but Hertz remained a terrible place to work through the current bankrupt company.
What I’ve learned from this channel, don’t rent from hertz and don’t carry lots of cash in your car, and never rent from hertz while carrying a ton of cash in the car.
Had a long term rental car from a friends business due every Saturday. I use to tell their elderly office manager that I took it to Mexico and sold the rental, that I needed a replacement. Never got arrested!
The board and @Hertz executives should be sitting in jail for a long time. This is inexcusable and unacceptable. This is a pattern that isn't acceptable in commerce.
Hertz's competitors should advertise "not arresting our customers since" year of incorporation.
Hahaha, that would be great
😂😂😂
Petty asf but effective.
🤣
Enterprise "We will pick you up."
Hertz "The cops will pick you up."
Best add ever.
hertz "we will lock you up"
AT this point criminal charges should start being applied to the CEO and other employees. People need to go to jail over this BS.
"Hertz sued out of existence."
That's the story I want to hear.
Didn't they get bailed out?
Na, you want the Hertz executives to be sued personally.
Hope there is no savior of Hertz. Take them down.
It's a shame, really. Hertz is an institution. Without them we wouldn't have the Rent-A-Racer Shelby GT350 Mustang. They've gone downhill HARD over the past 10 years.
@@Psi105 that would be nice but that never happens they usually get several million dollar bonuses.
Some of these stories are doozies.
-Hertz filed a stolen vehicle claim against an individual in Georgia. The individual had never rented from Hertz, had never been to Georgia, and Hertz had no records of it.
-Filed a claim against a man in California, for a car rented in Vegas, but were unable to provide proof of it, while the Californian proved they were never in Vegas.
-Hertz caused a man to be held in custody for 40 days after failing to drop a charge for a vehicle they'd proven wasn't stolen and failing to show up to a court hearing.
-Hertz reported a vehicle stolen *before* the individual had even signed the rental agreement.
Hertz just also lost a part of a court case where it tried to keep the exact number of times per year it does this to customers out of court records. While not publicly available yet, we'll be seeing it soon. They're currently in litigation against 220+ people in Delaware over this exact issue.
-Unrelated doozy, a man spent 5 years in prison for a murder he did not commit because Hertz lied to the court and failed to respond to subpoenas with evidence, a receipt, that proved the man was nowhere near the site of the murder at the time of it. They claimed the records were destroyed for years until forced to appear in court where it magically appeared. It's not incompetency going on here, it's malicious laziness.
Malicious laziness is a problem for far, far more companies than just Hertz.
... They do seem to be quite the gem of an example, though! It's _amazing_ such criminal negligence can go unpunished just because a corporation is doing it. IMO, every single exec should go to jail for _years_ in companies like this. They MUST know these things are going on. At least then, it'd justify their gross, disgusting pay if they were _ACTUALLY_ taking a big risk by being an executive of a company.
In situations like this it's always a case of A. Were you completely aware and compliant with the illicit activity is going on at the company under your jurisdiction. Or B. Were you so inept at your job that a situation such as this happened continuously for an extended period of time under your observation without you noticing?
The first should be criminal negligence both should keep people from working in any sort of business at that level ever again.
@@ashkebora7262 it's beyond me why no prosecutors have yet tried execs since corporations are now legally considered people pursuant to Citizens United....every criminal act is automatically conspiracy to commit as well, under the umbrella of corporate governance
Is there some other scam going on? Like an employee embezzling by not checking a vehicle back in, but doing a little 'rental' on the side that's undocumented. Then the corp office marks it stolen? (or something a bit like that?) Maybe using the cars as drug mules?
Hertz is gonna Hertz the Hertz out of your Hertz. 👍
Someone's name is on the police report Hertz submitted -- whether it's an attorney contracted by Hertz or one of their regular employees. That person, whoever it is, needs to be charged with filing false police reports. Like anyone else.
Them having possession of the car doesn’t mean it wasn’t stolen at some point. Even if he paid for the rental, that doesn’t preclude a theft from having happened in the past. I don’t know the specific laws about rentals in that state, but if there was a day when they asked him to return the car, and he was outside the terms of the contract but didn’t, then he stole it through conversion, even if they get the car back. Even if he later paid for it. He says that he extended the rental properly, that’s possible, but it’s impossible for us to know if he did or not from here.
My money would be on the error being Hertz’s. I rent just about every week with National. When I have to stay the weekend unexpectedly, I rarely call to extend, and I’ve never had an issue with them. That said, I’ve had coworkers who have been asked to swap cars after some amount of time. That they couldn’t extend that specific car again. Maybe he crossed that threshold?
@@mrlt1151 Right, and this event just happens again and again and again? Nah.
@@LeCharles07 do you have reading comprehension problems?
Can you say prosecutorial misconduct??? If the prosecutor took the case to a grand jury and still didn't pull the evidence that the man had paid for the car rental, they are guilty of prosecutorial misconduct and should have to face charges.
Disbar first.
@@nastyab8003 Once the lawyer is found guilty, then they can be disbarred but not before unless it is for an ethics violation. The Bar is a strange, very conservative organization.
Harry,
You are correct the bar is a strange beast.
I once practiced law with a guy who forged a clients signature. Forged a notary’s signature and used her stamp on the documents he had forged the other signature on (all in furtherance of stealing land during a divorce proceeding).
He had also forged an associate attorneys signature on a pleading (since he wasn’t admitted to practice in NY at the time).
None of it was enough to get him disbarred.
What finally got him disbarred was years later when he and an accountant opened up a firm and he dared to share legal fees with a non lawyer.
The Dilbert cartoon about naming a company Uranus-Hertz has never been so appropriate.
A while back I had to extend a rental by a week, I did it online and my card was charged, so I did not think anything of it. Upon returning the car, the clerk joked that it was good thing that I did not get pulled over, because they had reported the car as stolen. Apparently someone forgot to check the system when my car was overdue, and filed the report with the police! Took a couple of weeks and several calls to the police department and their corporate headquarters to get everything resolved! I never rented from them again.
Yeah, I suspect Hertz is having synchronization issues between their different departments/software. It sounds like they're relying on employees to check their different systems instead of automatically merging the datasets. This may be intentional as Hertz may not trust 3rd parties to extend rentals due to possibility of fraud/hacks to get free rentals and thus may want a Hertz staff review. So if you extend a rental online it goes (and stays) on a different computer than if you extend in person and it requires an employee to search/combine the records. Then Hertz goes into bankruptcy and likely cuts employee count, eliminates overtime, fires experienced high-paid employees, hires minimum wage trainees, and increases the burden on the remaining inexperienced staff.
Anyone that says it's innocent until proven guilty has never dealt with the US court system.
You forgot to add "in the USA"
@@Psi105 true
FACTS
"Innocent until someone makes up a story about you, cuz the cops won't listen to YOUR side of the story"
@@ianbattles7290 yep been there
I had a Hertz rental when my vehicle was being repaired at a local collision shop. The repair ran long. Hertz had all my information on file. One day past the supposed return date Hertz showed up at my employer and took their car back while never saying a word to me. The obvious problem is that when school let out that day I went outside to find I had no car for the over fifty mile drive home. I called Hertz and got a bunch of nonsense. I called Enterprise and they were more than happy to pick me up and rent me a car. I wanted to sue Hertz but honestly thought who would believe me? I felt we had a contract, but to repo a car under a contract was just very poor business. I have rented from Enterprise since that crazy day over ten years ago.
I was witness to a couple of 80 year old ladies stranded in front of the Enterprise airport booth. When asked why they were sitting there they explained that they had booked with a competitor and the competitor had no car available but made no offer to help them. The Enterprise crew had no cars available either but arranged to have a car delivered from an office 15 miles away. The women got their car even though they had booked with a competitor.
You dodged a bullet there
Hertz after gaining a customer: "Hello, police? I've been the victim of a crime"
I think, in this particular case, law enforcement and judicial prosecutors in Arizona must accept a large portion of blame since their investigational incompetence permitted this false accusation to be pursued to this level of absurdity!
I think in this last year I have really learned all it takes is for someone to point a cop in a general direction and say your guy is over there they will find someone to arrest is it the right person who cares for what crime who cares.
The old saying is a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich.
I believe Hertz lied to them, and doctored evidence. They even convinced a grand jury. Something amiss.
@@QuietRiverBear The pig (animal, not human) is under investigation for dying!
@@odbo_One it's law enforcements duty to investigate comprehensivly and present validated allegations to prosecutors. Then it's the duty of the prosecuting attorney's office to verify those allegations BEFORE presenting confirmed cases to a grand jury for charges...at no time could Hertz passively interfere with that process, and proper investigations would've revealed active interference attempts 99.999999% of the time. So, no pass for the failures of state agents in Arizona on this one!
Mr. Lehto: As you're probably aware of, Bankruptcy Judges are given extremely wide latitude in their decision making. They have the ability to ignore laws and contracts as they see fit. Because of this, they usually get very familiar with the proceedings and companies.
I'd encourage anyone who has been affected by Hertz's asshattery with these arrests to write to the judge in the case. You would be surprised how much impact victim statements make in Bankruptcy cases, especially when it's individuals vs. a company. If the judge wanted to, he could dismiss the entire bankruptcy over this.
@Mister Bister Not entirely true... In one of the bankruptcy cases I worked, I was specifically instructed to focus on keeping the company operational at all costs and basically ignore the creditors. The company was essential to the state and it's citizens. We accomplished that goal. Ironically, the creditors were reasonable about things and it was certain entities within the state that gave us the most grief.
That one throwaway comment about where Hertz is based brought back some memories. Does anyone remember the 60s show "Get Smart"? The bad guys, KAOS, had a shield that proclaimed they were "A Delaware Corporation". It was explained that this was for tax purposes, which made complete sense to the people at Control. Great satire.
LMAO 🤣
To quote Lil Dicky:
"I'm not in Cali, why the fuck my company in Delaware?
Happy hour takin' out the chicken, I don't even care…"
There's a reason why the rich live in delaware. Evidently it's also the online shopping fraud capital
Missed it by _________ that much. No I don’t remember the show 😜
@@Fordgroup00 "Don't tell me we're surrounded!"
"Chief, we're surrounded."
"I asked you not to tell me that. . ."
@@Fordgroup00 Sorry; I was so eager to make my comment that I forgot to add: No, I don't remember the show, either. . . 🙂
The AZ prosecutor needs to take some heat if indeed a lawyer for the victim presented evidence that Hertz's claim was bogus to them. They could have told them to stop the extradition.
That Hertz commercial with Tom Brady kills me. What do you do after filing bankruptcy? Spend a bunch of money on a celebrity endorsement.
It's pretty cringeworthy too! They don't care and evidently, didn't bother to give the commercial director anything to work with. I hope executive golden parachutes hit them on the head, hard! th-cam.com/video/yR2lgxy-htU/w-d-xo.html Hertz didn't do much more than hire a cardboard cutout, and anyone can do that. Brady got paid, but they wasted his time.
The money would be better spent compensating their victims.
A business owner once told me that, just as your business is going under, you splurge on advertising. Advertisers are desperate enough to accept almost ANY credit rating. Best that happens? Your company recovers. Worst that happens? The advertising agencies never get paid, because you're now insolvent.
@@troyjollimore4100 smart play. Although i doubt Tom Brady shows up without cash in hand.
Hertz still has naming rights for the arena down the street from their headquarters in Florida. Seems like an ego/luxury item for a company claiming to be bankrupt.
"mistakes were made" --Hertz
Hertz needs to be put on the pay no mind list. Bankruptcy is no shield against negligence or intentional torts.
Hertz is a dumpster fire. He should own that company from just the punitive damages for false imprisonment.
AMEN!! 🤷🤦😂😂👵🇺🇸
@@roflchopter11 funny how they just managed to get four billion dollars to purchase a bunch of new cars with, hopefully the bankruptcy judge tells them that this money is going to be held in escrow to be used to pay out their eventual lawsuits.
why should he be saddled with the company? he didn't do anything wrong?
He and a bunch of other people should, from the sound of it.
Hasn’t he suffered enough?
I once flew across the country for a funeral and rented from Avis for the last hundred miles or so. The suspension was so damaged that I experienced pain and stiffness for days from the effort of holding the car between the stripes.
I contacted Avis to see if they could replace the car, and ended up catching a puddle-jumper flight from a small airport with an Avis desk but no cars to make my return flight. At that point I was just glad I hadn't ended up wheels-up in a ditch.
Avis charged my card hundreds of dollars for dropping the car off at the wrong office. When I complained, they showed no record of multiple phone calls or my detailed complaint at the drop off location.
That was my last car rental; over 25 years ago.
Steve I'd love to hear more about what sort of damages Hertz could be liable for if they're found guilty of filling false police reports...
I thought this also! Shouldn't Hertz be held liable.
@@monarnyc I would think that Hertz should, as well as whatever individual(s) are responsible for the filings.
Should be held accountable for criminal negligence, but realistically they'll only get hit for financial damages that'll never get paid because they declared bankruptcy.
@@monarnycYes that's why they are being sued by many people and the cases will take a long time by which point the company will likely be gone.
To hell with fines, how about some top brass going to prison
How is there no prosecutor out of “thousands each year” prosecuting Hertz employees for filing false reports?
Exactly. Filing a false police report is a crime, and they've as a company done it thousands of times.
Corporations don't need to obey the law.
This seems like Hertz may have been paying people off? This is way too weird for me.
Corporations have bought and paid for Republicans and Democrats who do whatever their corporate masters require.
because they are sociopaths who dont care about innocent people being hurt.
Steve, the ultimate amalgamation of your channel would be the following headline:
A lawyer gets a speeding ticket by a speed camera in a Dodge Viper he purchased from Carvana, that was stolen from Hertz.
While driving to board his cruise ship.
And his money seized.
Checks ALL the boxes!
@InFantasyIDie, With an invalid title!! 😂😂👵🇺🇸
And his license was revoked because of fraud at the DMV.
I'd go after the CEO, the person in charge of the company. Hold him liable.
Communist! /s
I'm an elite Presidents Circle member with Hertz. I had a medical event while driving a Hertz rental car one time, lost consciousness and rolled into a parked car. Did about $2500 damage to the car, my insurance offered a settlement to pay for the damage plus lost revenue due to the vehicle being out of service for repair, for a total of about $3000. Hertz demanded all kinds of additional fees for a total amount of over $6000. My insurer refused to pay it, I refused to pay it, and they spent a year threatening me with legal action until they had to file for bankruptcy when the pandemic hit, and the bankruptcy court forced them to accept my insurer's settlement offer. The rental car business is the greasiest industry that exists among mainstream industries.
I've rented Enterprise for many years, had an accident, extended rentals, and much more. Never once had a problem. All this nonsense with Hertz is like watching fictional cartoon comedy such as Family Guy. I'm glad you had that resolved, if not you may have been in jail too.
I have only ever rented one car from Hertz. It was in need of an alignment, which meant my arms were sore on the 2k mile road trip from trying to keep the car straight. Even got a reckless driving ticket for my speed on 95 in VA in that car. Hired a local lawyer for about ~$500, and he was able to get it thrown out. The trooper, who showed very poor professionalism at the traffic stop, didn't have his radar calibrations up to date.
At this point, I fully expect Hertz to no longer exist by the end of the year. This is obviously a systemic issue with them. The fact that they are already under the microscope and they didn't try to get this chap out of jail, just shows that it's time for them to....go.
I agree, but I hope it doesn't come to that and they get better management. If they can stop being such a POS and get their act together then they can afford to compensate all of the people they screwed over...
One can only hope they won't exist anymore. Americans will be safer for it, and it's not like there will be a shortage of rental car companies in their absence.
You heard about them refusing to turn over exculpatory evidence and let a man languish in prison for years.
They actually fought the release of the documents in court.
Oh, Hertz isn't going anywhere. If bad customer service and fraudulent reporting was enough to shut down a company, Comcast would have been dead decades ago.
@Jeff C Too true. Quite often even when their immediate neighbors have five or six different real options, the only one that will install and serve their address is Comcast
Hertz administration should be put behind jail at least one year. This is absolutely disgusting.
Why isn't hertz facing multiple false police report charges?
I'm a long time Enterprise user too. They have always made things right even when things have gone very wrong.
I had to rent a car from them after my car was damaged. I had to extend the time but forgot to pay on the day it was due for the extension (I had the day wrong). They were very understanding and no cops were called.
Ironically, had he shoplifted the same $ value from Rite Aid, he would of never seen a Jail cell.
At this point, Hertz could improve their image by getting OJ Simpson to do ads for them again.
Every single member of Hertz management from regional manager right up to the top must be arrested and held without bond, placed in a cell and held there until the hour of their trial. When found guilty of filing false claims of auto theft multiple times they must be sentenced to the maximum for each individual offense to run consecutively. That should put them away for life.
so this actually has caused me to stop using hertz. I've been using them for decades and now I have to legit worry about this happening to me. Them being in bankruptcy means if they do something wrong you can't really expect to be made whole either. This has ended a very long relationship with that rental car company.
Avis always treats me fine. Even when they don't have what I reserve, they give me a free upgrade.
@ Allen A A couple of years ago I needed to rent a car in Seattle. I got a deal somehow, I think through my hotel and used Enterprise. I was a long time Hertz user but Enterprise really impressed (Steve is saying he uses them as I type this LOL). The agent walked around the car with me and noted things I said, the car was clean, in good shape and ready on time. Return was exactly the same and very nice agent again. I've used them since.
I am not a frequent car renter, but when mine was in the shop Iand Hertz was out of cars, went with Avis. The experience was excellent. I'm likely to remain a loyal, if occasional, customer.
@@angelachouinard4581 the only thing about hertz I just really have loved is the ability to select whatever car in presidents circle I wanted. I need to find another rental company that has a similar experience (without the, you know, falsely reporting people for car theft).
@@TheBandit7613 Avis isn't perfect but they don't treat their customers like Hertz does. One time I rented from Avis for a family trip and they screwed up by not having the correct sized vehicle on hand. I accepted a size down and in return they said they would refund part of the rental cost (but didn't know at the time how much since it had to be requested through corporate). I expected a few bucks back but they actually refunded most of it and gave me a $100 certificate for the next rental.
Note: Dollar and Thrifty are owned by Hertz. All three are parts of the same company.
We used to rent from hertz twice a year to go to Texas. The last time we rented Hertz charged us 300.00 for a cleaning fee. They said we smoked in the car, Only my mother in law and I were the only ones in the car. I don't smoke and she has COPD.. So she can't be around smoke. I was going to sue them when hertz decided to reimburse us. We haven't rented from hertz sense.
I also prefer Enterprise. The last time I rented a car from Hertz, for a 2500 mile round trip, I was a given a dirty, beat up 8 year Mitsubishi that smelled like sour sweat and urine. The key fob was held together by scotch tape and it didn't work. I drove straight to our airport and after they listened to me and went to look at it they said they were very sorry and told me to pick any car on the lot.
I rent from Avis. Very good service, never any surprises. When they are out of a car I reserved, they upgrade me for free.
@@TheBandit7613 I think this is all heavily dependent on the particular franchise. I rented from an Avis in Hoboken which had already had a number of bad reviews regarding cleanliness but I really needed the ability to drop off in another location. Sure enough, the first car had dirt and stains all over the seats and floor. After getting the excuse that they were short-staffed I was given another car. Same problem. In the end they knocked $50 off the rental and I took it around the corner to the nearest car wash.
Got a nice new Ford Ranger hybrid from Enterprise. It was great.
I've had good experiences with Enterprise. I've also rented from Thrifty in the past and never had any issues. But I may have to re-think that, as Thrifty is owned by Hertz.
We have always gone with Enterprise. The franchise in my hometown is on the gross side of town but it was still better than dealing with the ratchet employees at Hertz.
"Rent from us. We will make sure your experience Hertz."
I'm just anticipating a civil asset forfeiture of a Hertz car storyline at this point.
Police arrest a man in jail for stealing Hertz car that police had previously seized as part of asset forfeiture
@@SilverMe2004 It's sad that I wouldn't be surprised. Just a little bit of miscommunication and it could happen I suppose.
@@afjer although seeing the police do a no knock search on their own jail cell might be amusing.
@@SilverMe2004
@afjer5106
It has already begun, just not to Hertz yet!
You'll have to search this text:
*asset forfeiture Mississippi police seize rental car drug case*
This is the first at story I ever sent Steve, and he responded quickly with _interesting._ I kind of already knew there was very little to do a video with at the time, but it was, in fact, _interesting._ Had it been with Hertz, it would have been glorious! Maybe, this story has been updated enough for a video.
New Enterprise slogan: We won't have you falsely arrested because we know that Hertz.
There is an old Dilbert cartoon where Dilbert comes up with a new technology brand by combining terms from Astronomy and Electronics. He came up with "Uranus-Hertz"
This need to be on the front page of every newspaper and major news network.
I wonder whether reporting cars as stolen removes them and the income they generate from the assets side of the bankruptcy proceedings, so that creditors can’t attack them, and Hertz will get to keep all that when they clear bankruptcy. An asset concealing scheme, in other words, which is common in bankruptcy.
Last time I rented from Dollar I had to go through the Hertz staff because of staffing shortages at AUS. I had rented a one way trip to LA to help a friend move and it was going to be around $900. The car had all kinds of issues by the time we got to west TX so we camped out the night and planned on returning it to a local office the next day. The office closed early and the manager at LAX credited us a day for the trouble. We weren't even halfway yet so we ended up heading back to AUS. When we got there Hertz computers automatically swapped the rate from one-way to the local daily rate which was like $20/day. Because of the credit on the one day trip I walked out with an extra $160 on my card. Their incompetence bought our dinner and bar tab that night lol.
If I was a Sherriff or police chief I would immediately place a moratorium on any arrest which originated from a Hertz complaint. Let the courts sort this mess out, and find out which cars were actually stolen. This should be a much smaller number then move forward. Unfortunately with the police it's the old adage we were just following orders.
the problem is that warrants are *issued* locally but can be *enforced* nationally. Basically all courts and all law enforcement agencies would need to agree to that. Since that isn't going to happen it's a problem unless some national court manages to perform some action.
@@TWX1138 No they wouldn't. As soon as the Sheriff says no, those arrest warrants are useless in that county.
My mother was a crime analyst for a multi-city agency back in the 90s. One of the things her agency was tasked with was tracking auto theft. This was an issue back then and they ignored dozens of reports that came in each month. Hertz was reporting cars as stolen in you were more than an hour late returning a car -- often reporting cars that had already been returned. Unfortunately, many investigators didn't know of the situation and they would enter it into the system and it would go to warrant. It's crazy that there hasn't been a class action against them.
I keep coming back and hearing about these Hertz stories. I keep thinking about people who burn down half a city, block roadways, beat people with skateboards and try to blind federal agents, and don't spend a day in jail.
Also, Jeffrey Epstein did not hang himself.
These stories are just frightening - I generally am stuck using whichever car rental company corporate has negotiated rates with - not Hertz now, but at a previous job it certainly was. It's insane that someone was picked up and arrested while on vacation due to this, has been held in jail and is now being extradited to Arizona, where presumably the fun will continue for a car that he not only didn't steal, but which Hertz has in their possession! They've probably been renting it out and it has probably making them money as a rental the entire time they've claimed it's stolen! Aren't there penalties for filing false police reports? The thing that really sucks for this guy (and the others in similar situations) is that if Hertz goes under, there's no way to make them whole again! No compensation for having their lives turned upside down by false accusations! The "guilty until proven innocent" thing really seems to be what's going on here, as you said in your video.
It's terrifying that you can go to jail based on nothing but a lie told by some company you've never even done business with. What "proof" are they using if the victim never even rented a car????
I wonder if stolen property,that Hertz still owes money on, can be discharged in bankruptcy and this is a company policy to help themselves in bankruptcy proceedings.
I hate that faceless corporations are actually breaking the law, but no one is accountable.
How about an investigation, find the person not doing their job and HANDCUFF THEM!
And take them to jail!
I believe that Haddaway may have said it best when he said, "Baby, don't Hertz me. Don't Hertz me no more."
Remember the old Hertz jingle?
"Let Hertz put you... in the jail seat, today. " Oops, sorry, driver's seat?
A few times I rented a car from Hertz and one time I was charged for a full tank of gas even though it was recorded as having returned the car with a full tank. I called Hertz and found it odd that they had an option to contest a fuel charge. I used the option and the charge was reversed. It happened again on another rental and after that experience I never rented from them ever again. The fact that this happened multiple times led me to believe that there are most likely cases where they throw bogus charges on rentals to see if anything sticks because some people will not catch the charge on their bank statement.
I guess this is like the receptionist at the doctor cheerfully asking you "do you want to kill yourself?", and then charging your insurance for a "psychological profiling".
That is theft by conversion and if you get a lawyer, you could win big time.
Like Steve, I’ve used Enterprise for years and have had just one problem.
When going through a Border Patrol checkpoints, they sometimes ask extra questions. I figured it out. I was traveling from Las Cruces, NM, but the tags were from Texas. 😂
Now, I lead off with the fact I’m driving a rental.
Never been reported for theft, though. Once I forgot to extend and they called me. No problem. They had my credit card information on file. They just wanted to ask for authorization and didn’t want to cause trouble for me by exceeding my credit limit. 👍
You do know that, at those "Border Patrol Checkpoints", you don't have to answer ANY questions at all. They can ask all they want, but you have the right to remain silent and unless you want to roll over like a Frenchman and just "give in" to their perceived authority, you should stand up for those rights and say nothing. The worst they can do is detain you for a while, till they get tired of looking at you.
@@stephengreen3566 If you don’t answer certain questions, they will detain you.
As a kid we would ask other kids if they "want a Hurts' Donut?" If they asked any questions about it or said yes you would punch them in the arm and exclaim " See! It hurts, don't it?!" I feel like with all the available info about Hertz' problems, renting from them is like asking for a Hurts' Donut.
I'm surprised that I didn't have something like this happen to me in 2017. I was visiting the Houston Texas area prior to taking a cruise in August 2017. Or so I thought. I rented an SUV from Hertz at the Houston/ Hobby Airport location originally for 10 days prior to going on this "cruise". Well, Hurricane Harvey touched down, my cruise would be cancelled, and I would have to extend my rental for another week and hunker down in the hotel until this hurricane ended. I tried to call Hertz at the Houston Hobby location, but everyone had evacuated from the airport. I then called the (800) number from Hertz, and had to explain the situation to them. They had no idea that I was in a hurricane zone at the time. Surprising, this had a happing ending. I brought the SUV back a week later than the original rental agreement, there was no confusion, I did not end up being arrested and they even gave me a significant "hurricane" discount, $80 for the extra week for an 8 passenger SUV. I was lucky!
You were lucky ... so far!
That's what they all thought!
It could still happen…
@@CaseyDplays It's going on 5 years, so.......
@@monstermcboo7282 Well, I work in law enforcement, so let's just say I'm kinda sure NOT GONNA HAPPEN after 5 years!
Why aren't some Hertz executive's being charged with creating a policy that has employees creating and filing false police reports? This issue had to been created by some company policy that I'm sure has an electronic "fingerprint" to it, that could be followed to all guilty parties involved. Charging and slapping a few high level suits in jail would bring this nonsense to a screeching halt.
Steve is so cheerfully sarcastic it makes me laugh.
New slogan for Hertz: “When you rent from us, you know it’s Hertz!”
Either that or they should rebrand as Ohms since they’re so resistant to being a good rental company.
Upvote for the joke. I just couldn't resist.
I love these ongoing stories.
You are correct as usual Steve about the misguided charges generated by Hertz Rental. They are just about as bad as the Judicial syatem we suffer under. Bad Judges, lawyers, cops etc. Just like H-ertz bad corp heads, managers, supervisors etc. We should all be disgusted as I know you are. Thanks for the video.
My question is if these sort of actions can be discharged in a bankruptcy, can these victims get some sort of court injunction to stop the bankruptcy until the matter is settled?
Ok, if the average person filed a false police report, we'd be charged with Obstruction of Justice and filing a false police report, but Hertz gets away with it.
A friend back home is having a hard time getting CPS to help the kids next door. Maybe she should call from the Hertz office. 😞
I knew that hertz would be the topic again when I read the news yesterday. Their negligence when making false police reports is clearly worth of civil cases and likely criminal charges.
Probably time for the government to just shut down Hertz.
I have a family member who does a lot of business travel and has always used Hertz. Thanks for letting everyone know-- I'll be sure to pass this on!
By this point, every LEA (law enforcement agency) in the US should red-flag any stolen car report from Hertz as possibly being frivolous.
I've always rolled with Avis and Budget. Hell I'm on a first name basis with Asad my rental guy. Him, his wife, and the employees have taken real good care of me. I would be so mad if I went to Hertz for whatever reason, and this happened, I'd be devastated mentally, socially, professionally, and even financially. Life changing and that is scary.
Budget is owned by Hertz, isn't it?
Perhaps it's time to take a long hard look at Hertz from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act POV.
The Voice of Common Sense speaks! Steve, I may have to move to Michigan just to keep you on retainer! Big thumbs up!
When you mentioned that they were able to get a grand jury in diamond against that 1 renter, that just shows prosecutors can get an indictment for anything
Because the grand jury only hears from one side - the prosecution. Defense isn't included.
Sixt had a friend of mine arrested. She rented a car for a weekend when we were all going to hang out. On her way down to the house, she got stopped and arrested and had to spend the night in jail. The report of the stolen car was for someone else who had rented it. Sixt had it back in their inventory as well, didn’t correct the stolen car report, and allowed someone else to rent it knowing that they might be arrested or have trouble with the law because of that outstanding report. It’s horrible.
it's troublesome that a grand jury indicted him - does that mean you can lie to a grand jury to get law enforcement to do whatever you like?
Someone once said “you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich”.
Indictments and warrants aren't obtained in an adversarial process. So there are certain requirements written in law, and one side gets to present things they say satisfies those requirements. But there is no other side to challenge what is presented. If those things are wrong that can only be challenged much later in the process during the trial proper.
@Sal Spencer wtf is that supposed to mean?
I do t understand how that could happen. There was obviously a lack of evidence, so something musy have been falsified or corrupted.
it means nothing just look at the lying to a Judge with the malicious work of fiction aka the Dossier...!
Let’s not forget the old Hertz commercial who starred the notorious unconvicted criminal, OJ.
Birds of a feather.
Can the "Hertz victims" file fraud charges against the managers of the locations that did the actual reporting the car stolen personally?
The minute it gets personal and employees can lose their home and paycheck, suddenly stuff usually gets fixed.
Hit them where it Hertz! Brilliant!
@Gretchen K. that’s a form of fraud
@@carlosbonmarist It's also defamation. And he suffered actual arm in the form of being jailed for it.
The miles of fine print in their rental agreements probably prevent this. Only if a court negates their agreement, would it open them up for liability.
@@michaellowe3665 After the car is rented, payed for and returned I would think that the contract no longer applies. However, this sounds like the offending Hertz employees would be at the home or regional office.
My only experience as a Hurts customer: I had a $2700 suv rental booked 2 weeks in advance. Went to that airport Hurts location, and was promptly offered a single Ford Focus sedan for all 7 of us. Never went to Hurts after that 2015 incident.
I will NEVER rent from Hertz again!
No computers; just a plethora of employees named Cratchit using quills and inkwells.
I have always had a good experience with Avis. It has been smooth every time.
My new company uses Hertz and went to use them back in October. It was a nightmare experience just trying to get a booking fixed. Ended up cancelling and rebooking immediately with Avis and able to grab my car immediately with no issues.
I’ve used Hertz before when they were assigned to me by a auto body shop while my car was being repaired. Next time I’ll insist on using someone else. Furthermore, these rental disputes involving cars that were lawfully rented should fall under civil court.
Don't walk runaway from Hertz!
The Hertz Group also owns Dollar, Thrifty, and Firefly. Avoid all 3 if you don't want to risk being arrested!
I've already sent notice to all of our employees about these Hertz stories and have advised them the office will NOT reimburse any rentals with Hertz or their affiliated companies due to this risk.
Hertz is a 'good' example of companies that get too big, too fast and out of control, only run by overpaid figureheads who know nothing about the company, Walmart is another example !!!
Instead of suing the company, start suing the people making the decisions that caused this. Example, the CEO, CFO, COO, ECT.
This will get changed nearly instantly.
Most likely this is been done on purpose and the people who work in the department that’s calls in the stolen vehicles are been told to do this by upper management. It also sounds criminal and the FBI should have by know arrested the management of hertz. And the local police that makes these arrests need to treat them as a traffic offense for now.
Time to start criminally charging Hertz executives for filing false police reports. Walk a couple members from the "C" suite out of Hertz headquarters in cuffs and I bet this ends right quick.
I like watching Lehto bc it makes me feel like there is actual common sense and order in the world....
Absolutely, the DA in Arizona should be asking those questions of Hertz president and CEO, and if they don't have the right answers, put them in jail pending trial. 10 days for them should be a the minimum. In addition, the bankruptcy court should be withholding any pay or compensation from them.
It's been seen in some cases and chances are it is happening in all of them, that Hertz is filing insurance claims associated with each "theft". I think this is raising to the level of criminal fraud to be honest.
It would be funny if Hertz's insurance company dropped them because of this...
I I love listening to Steve, it reinforces my belief that laws and law enforcement are totally corrupt and have little value in modern society. I miss the days when bad guys had to worry about vigilante justice. It is obvious that the officers and managers of this Corporation are completely lawless and they require a form of justice that won't be found in the courtroom.
Thank you and I would never rent a car from HERTZ
Steve, as soon as I read the article. I knew you would be on it. RIP Oakland Hills County Club.
I worked for Hertz a very long time ago. Not the current version of Hertz. When we wanted to report a Hertz car was stolen the corporate lawyers wouldn't let us. The lawyers said no stolen car reports. Hertz was a crap company when it was owned by RCA and never got any better under a number of different owners.
I'm still holding a proxy-grudge against RCA for what they did to Philo Farnsworth.
@@S_Roach I assume that RCA screwed over Farnsworth somehow. Dr Farnsworth was a character on the esteemed TV series Futurama.
While at Hertz I worked for Jose Menendez. Menendez went on to work at RCA records. Menendez' two sons Lyle and Eric murdered Jose and Kitty. Jose wasn't working for RCA when he was killed but you can blame RCA if you like.
@@steveschlackman4503 Philo Farnsworth was the developer of the Cathode Ray Tube, scan-line, television system, and an early form of the TV camera. Farnsworth figured out the trick while plowing a potato field. His brother learned glassblowing so they could work out the solution in their own company, which they formed. RCA had their own R&D team pursuing the goal, headed up by some Russian immigrant whose name escapes me. He was apparently barking up the wrong tree on just how to do it, until he got to see Farnsworth's. RCA basically stiffed Farnsworth on royalties for his invention because "We don't pay for patents. We charge other people for them."
You can literally google "Philo Farnsworth", and he's the first hit.
Later, he developed a "fusor", that was an early apparatus for nuclear fusion. It worked, and still does; you can build one in your basement (but I'd advise against it, unless you know what you're doing), but it was a SERIOUS energy hog. They're still used when someone needs a ready stream of neutrons.
@@S_Roach I am shocked that RCA screwed over someone. RCA was a pretty terrible operation. RCA knew that Hertz was, at that time, running a "dirty" operation but didn't care. RCA dumped Hertz but Hertz remained a terrible place to work through the current bankrupt company.
It Hertz to keep listening to these!😆
I wonder what would happen if somebody actually stole one of the cars for a change?!
Check a day or two ago, where a guy bought a car through Carvana...
What I’ve learned from this channel, don’t rent from hertz and don’t carry lots of cash in your car, and never rent from hertz while carrying a ton of cash in the car.
Oh god it Hertz... Again
Had a long term rental car from a friends business due every Saturday. I use to tell their elderly office manager that I took it to Mexico and sold the rental, that I needed a replacement. Never got arrested!
Q. What measurement unit is used for false reports of stolen cars?
A Megahertz
The board and @Hertz executives should be sitting in jail for a long time. This is inexcusable and unacceptable. This is a pattern that isn't acceptable in commerce.