Dear Alex,
I hired a Ford Galaxy [people carrier] from Hertz at London Heathrow. Its mileage was high and it was covered in dents, but it worked okay. The problem came when I had to extend the rental. It took four hours to do this, and during this time the vehicle could not be used as, technically, it was uninsured. Is this normal service for Hertz?
Chris Musitano, London
Alex replies:
I imagine you tried to reinsure the vehicle through Hertz’s main booking centre because Neil Boxell, the firm’s Heathrow manager, says the correct process would be “to call or email the Heathrow office and they would extend the rental without delay”. Hertz points out that you need not have worried unduly because “the customer would still have been insured; however, we can understand that this would not necessarily be obvious”.
I see from the rental agreement you have forwarded to me that the Galaxy was almost two years old and had more than 42,000 miles on the clock. Earlier this year, Hertz UK told Business Traveller its vehicles were no older than 18 months (see “Changing lanes”, April 2009), but since then the market has got tougher and customers might find themselves in two-year-old cars. Like other rental firms during the downturn, Hertz has been hit by the rising cost of its cars and a lack of supply from manufacturers, which is why the vehicle age has increased.
When I used Hertz for a rental in Edinburgh at the end of August, there were quite a number of 57-plate cars for hire in the firm’s airport compound, which would have been registered between September 2007 and March 2008. But matters should improve soon. Hertz UK’s fleet manager, James Patmore, says: “We have managed to source sufficient vehicles during this tough period to allow us to reduce the age of the fleet in the next three to four months. We are striving to meet customer expectations.”
