Hertz made a very big deal over the summer of their new, customer-friendly refueling policy. The concept was reasonable: no more gouging on the per gallon price, with just a bit of gouging on the service fee. Now that fuel prices are back to a somewhat reasonable level, however, Hertz has decided to drop the marketing efforts and go back to gouging on fuel prices.
The announcement came with no fanfare and the webpage for it doesn’t even have the Hertz logo on the page. They are clearly trying to downplay this, and for good reason. As bad as the “pump price” policy was, it was still way better than the traditional gouging they offer.
Hertz has reverted to our prior refueling options, effective December 1, 2008. This means the Flat Refueling Fee, and Fuel and Service Charges based on local pump prices, have been discontinued. All North American corporate-owned Hertz locations, including Airport, Hertz Local Edition® and Off-Airport locations in Canada are affected.
Hertz has three refueling options available to meet your needs:
- You may purchase a tank of gas from Hertz at time of rental and return the vehicle with as little gas as you prefer. Please be aware that we are unable to issue a refund for unused fuel. However, this method eliminates the need for you to refuel the tank prior to returning.
- You can let us refuel for you and only pay for the fuel required to replace the fuel you used, and for the service and convenience of refueling the tank.
- You can stop and refuel the tank yourself, immediately prior to returning the vehicle.
We apologize for any inconveniences this change may cause. No matter which Hertz refueling option you decide is best for your travels, we are glad you are choosing Hertz.
The worst part of it all is that they changed the program effective December 1 and didn’t bother to tell anyone for a couple weeks. Morons.
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I never ever prepay the fuel and always opt to return the car full. This was only once a problem so far (about 15 rentals per year) where I didn’t find a gas station near FLL and ended up paying $20 for a not completely full tank.
This is a huge disappointment for me. The flat rate refilling fee was one of the best changes I’ve seen from Hertz. I used the new option for every rental in the last few months. At some airports it’s not an issue finding a gas station and filling up the tank myself. But at an unfamiliar airport and pressed for time — this was a huge benefit to me. I don’t mind expensing the seven dollar fee. I can’t justify expensing $40.00+ for the other gouging options however.