Even at the best of times, renting a car can be a bit of a nightmare. You've got to make sure no damage that took place prior to you being handed the keys gets attributed to you, handovers often take place in the stressful hustle and bustle of airports, and at the end of it all chances are you'll get stuck with some kind of sleeping pill on wheels.
But, that's nothing when compared to what some customers of international rental company Hertz have alleged in a US lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which represents 20 different plaintiffs, claims that some customers have been arrested and jailed after being falsely judged by Hertz to have stolen rented vehicles, even though these people were paying customers. Some cases are supposedly linked to vehicles being returned late or errors in the paperwork.
One case cited by the lawsuit details a renter who had a heart attack while being held up at gunpoint over a false vehicle theft.
“Hertz has been falsely reporting untold numbers of customers for car theft” says the 158-page lawsuit, adding that the firm has been “throwing [customers] in jail on felony charges for months.”
The lawsuit explains that the company's inventory tracking system is broken, leading to vehicles being falsely reported as stolen. In a particularly bold statement, the lawsuit says that Hertz is “effectively using the police, criminal justice system, and taxpayers to subsidize [its] inventory control.”
Hertz is claimed to have something called a 'theft package'. This is the information manifesto handed to police every time a vehicle is missing or overdue. It includes renter information, and is claimed by the lawsuit to also indicate to police that the renters haven't paid for the rental.
Responding to the claims via USA Today, a Hertz spokesperson said “the vast majority of the claims involve renters whose arrests resulted from their failure to return rented vehicles for weeks past their due date, in violation of the rental agreement and despite our repeated attempts to communicate with them about the status of the vehicle.”