Hertz sold a bunch of Teslas and it turns out they're all kinds of trouble
qz.com
qz.com
Hertz constantly is getting sued for something. They once sold cars that did not have certain features that were considered standard on all versions of that particular car, including some mandatory, by law safety features and did not notify the owners that the cars Hertz specially ordered did not have them.
Somehow, it was legal for Hertz to rent these cars out to potential victims and did not notify all the people who drove those around that they were potentially death traps... and then sold them to more potential victims.
IIRC, they lost in court, but Google is busy memory hole-ing news more than a couple years ago.
They also got recently prosecuted for calling the cops on "stolen vehicles" that were in Hertz's possession and had rented them out again, and had the new driver arrested for the crime of doing business with Hertz. This was not an isolated incident, and happened hundreds of times. This one has visited the HN front page a few times.
Don't do business with Hertz, they will call the cops on you. Don't buy used vehicles from Hertz, they will not be safe to drive.
https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/consumer-pro...
> Don't do business with Hertz, they will call the cops on you.
Even that is not enough:
"Hertz Is Even Sending People To Jail That Never Rented Cars From Them" - https://viewfromthewing.com/hertz-is-even-sending-people-to-...
Well that's just good business for Hertz. Now there's no down-side to renting from them. Except for unsafe vehicles, of course.
Let me rephrase what I said earlier: never buy a used car from any car rental company. Any of them.
Cars keep getting stolen. Insurance asks for evidence they were stolen, not lost. Lot has no cameras. Solution? Cease and desist the insurance company. Insurer drops them, they get a new insurer. Still no camera!
Moving cars between lots is done one by one by employees. To move two cars between two lots, they’d send two employees in two cars, leave one car, and then drive back to pick up the next one. They do this if two cars need to be moved or five hundred. Apparently capital expenditures are highly scrutinised while operating costs are not.
Funny enough, I bought that model because I used to rent it from another company and so I "knew" how the car would be.
So, not saying Hertz is a not a shitty company, but I wouldn't say rental cars aren't a good buy
I'm guessing most people who rent Teslas operate the same way.
1) Rental EVs could be acceleration and charge capped to reduce excessive strain on the drivetrain.
2) Some customers may be seeking an EV without artificial limiters.
3) Rental companies could charge more for removing performance limiters.
At home it makes tons of sense to have a Tesla. I have a charger in my garage and I know my regular commute and where super chargers are.
It just doesn't make sense to me to rent an EV right now. Not until chargers are ubiquitous. Maybe for short business trips where you know you'll be in an area that has lots of chargers?
But road tripping isn't bad either - at least with a very minimal amount of planning. On my most recent one trip, we could still make room for spontaneity. It just changed when and where it happened. We'd start the drive by first finding a super charger that was about as far as we wanted to go that day, then explore the map for routes that seemed interesting and had chargers along the way, making sure to arrive with about 20-25% charge each time. Worked great, and we were able to explore and not feel "trapped" by the route or anything. The closest call we had was when we arrived with about 5% charge once, and that was due to a headwind and elevation gain we hadn't anticipated.
Come to think of it, I once ran out of gas on a road trip for not doing this exact same sort of exercise. I had assumed there'd be services along the leg we picked, and we actually ran out of gas about 10 miles away from the nearest gas station. I had to hitch hike in blasting cold wind for about 2 miles, then pay the gas station employee's brother to drive me back to my car. For 10 miles, all that guy could talk about was "women with fat butts." I haven't thought about that experience for 2 decades probably, so, thanks? I guess.
Buyer in the article: It dawned on me that maintenance was too expensive.
No surprise there.
That's not a maintenance issue. That's "driven by assholes and serviced by cheapskates" issue.
To my great regret I once bought a ford from a dealer that I found out later to have been owned by hertz. I bought the ford extended warranty at purchase, but hertz had replaced most of the parts with shit parts, so the warranty wouldn't cover their failure. FML.
Don't buy from hertz. It's not just the drivers.
Go there, talk to a salesperson (don't, please...), and hear them out on how awesome and well maintained this car is that you're looking at.
Then you go and sign, and in the stack of papers is a form that says no warranties can be derived from what the salesperson told you.
That really means a lot to me.
For my next car I'm going to email the 3 dealerships here. I need a test-drive in a similar model, but I want a custom order (options, color combo that's never available). I'll see which ones will want to give me a CarMax experience...
They are currently hiring man in spandex.
Edit: My bad, they will not hire, they will reuse this one: https://youtu.be/TsNc4nEX3c4
Nope, one anecdote from a buyer and one Reddit thread.
From the article: "quarter-sized hole."
If you're buying a former rental car and aren't giving it an intense enough inspection to spot a quarter-sized hole, you're rolling dice.
If you take the time to methodically go over one... and reject a few... I'm sure you can find a pretty great deal.
My wife and I had to exchange a rental because it was producing excessive exhaust, the alignment was so bad it pulled, and an engine service indicator was on.
Rentals are frequently driven hard and may not get basic routine service (that should happen more frequently due to being driven hard).
My brother has told me similar stories, though I can't recall specifics at the moment. Most were similar to my cousin's stories, the theme being "as mechanics, we didn't do anything except make sure there was air in tires and wiper fluid."
I think the companies they worked for probably knew what they were doing too. Most cars made within the last 20 years can go a hell of a long way without an oil change and still function (which isn't me saying that "function" means the same thing as "work well long term"). Rental car companies know when to sell them before they stop functioning.
The funny thing is how I found out. One day it was a very special type of frost outside. The frost crystals formed in a pattern on the back window, spelling out the name of a local gas station. Some residual of a removed sticker. It must have been a rental from that gas station.
Still, apart from the suspension problem that was fixed for free it has been very reliable.
https://www.kbb.com/car-news/consumer-reports-names-cheapest...
Edit: Predictable downvotes without replies for referencing unpopular facts.
Can't make that work in America with the UAW.