Gas in a Tesla, Phantom Tolls or Fake Fines: Costly Car Rental Mistakes

I’m not telling you anything new if I say you can expect just about anything when you return a rental car, regardless of the company. Rental agencies tend to try to charge extra fees on any excuse, even for returning the car early.

What we hadn’t seen before was an extra charge for refilling the fuel tank of an electric car. That’s what happened to a Hertz customer when returning the Tesla Model 3 they had rented, according to what he told The Drive. But it isn’t the first case

They charge for a service that is technically impossible to provide

There are all kinds of bad experiences when renting a car, but Joshua Lee’s was especially striking. He rented a Tesla Model 3 from Hertz for a weekend in Los Angeles, United States, and upon returning it he encountered an extra charge of $277.39 (about €260). Hertz justified this charge by saying it was the cost of refueling the Model 3.

Obviously, it makes no sense. For starters, the Tesla Model 3 is an electric car, so there is no way to refuel. The only thing you can do is recharge its battery, but Joshua returned it with a 96% charge, exactly the same percentage with which Hertz had handed the car to him.

Hertz’s policy on charging electric vehicles is also very clear: “Avoid the recharge: return your electric vehicle with any battery level and we will recharge it for $35; Hertz Gold Plus Rewards members pay only $25. Or return it with the same battery level as when you picked it up and pay $0.”

The worst part is that Joshua had already locked this matter in when he rented the car. Hertz offers the option to purchase the “Skip the Pump and Save Time” option, which allows you to pay an extra when renting the car to forget about refueling at the moment of return. It doesn’t make much sense for an electric car, but Joshua paid for it, so he shouldn’t have been charged any extra fee for this.

But there’s more. Joshua contacted Hertz to clarify the matter; after all, anyone can have an error. Hertz acknowledged that indeed it charged an extra fee for refueling an electric car, and, far from apologizing and reversing the charge, justified it by saying that “the service was provided as agreed.” Later, Hertz had to backtrack, reach out to the customer, and refund the amount charged.

The rental business is more than just renting

But this isn’t the only time a rental company tries to do business beyond the rental itself. There are other practices that, if we’re not careful, can be presented as normal when, in fact, they’re abuses.

For example, toll charges that aren’t justified. Some rental companies automatically charge electronic tolls (Via-T) months after returning the car, requiring you to prove afterwards that you paid or that you didn’t even pass through that toll. And how do you prove something that didn’t happen?

There are also automatic late-return fines when the customer leaves the keys in the agency’s mailbox if the office is closed. From return to processing the car the next day, the system can register it as a delay, automatically charging a surcharge.

And we mustn’t forget damages to the vehicle in cases of cars found with pre-existing defects, something the OCU has warned about and that you can check here on how to proceed. In fact, you need to be careful because companies are already using AI-based “truth tunnels” to detect defects.

In any case, the best approach is to stay well informed, so we point you to the European Union’s consumer rights section regarding vehicle rental to learn how to deal with Rent a Car companies if you rent a car this summer.