Thursday, August 18, 2011

How Hertz OnDemand lost a potential customer

I saw an advertisement for the new Hertz OnDemand service and noticed that they are offering "One Way Rentals" including to the airport and i thought cool, thats one of the problems with the ZipCar membership i currently have, in that you always have to return it back to the location you rented it from.

Ok now i know i'm probably anal about stuff like this but has anyone actually read the Hertz On Demand insurance policy.....?

http://www.hertzondemand.com/newyork/legal/termsandconditions?culture=en-US&service=New%20York
Section XII LIABILITY PROTECTION

Basically it means crash a Hertz On Demand car pay $250 for damage to your car.......
- but if you a personally injured...you're up shit creek
- anyone else riding in the car with you.....you're up shit creek.

Crash a Hertz On Demand car....into another car....
-your liability is $250 for damage to your car AND the other car EXCEPT that your insurance only covers "up to" $10,000 damage on the other car........

**Yep you read that right - crash into anything other than a 3 year old Camry and you are personally responsible for all other damage to the other car other than the first 10k
- eg crash into Nissan Infinity base model FX50 worth $65,000 and if it's written off.....you are responsible for $55,000 worth of the damage to the other car.**

So basically you just bought a car outright because of that trip of 3 hours @ $20 per hour rental......."winner"

Oh BTW seeing the USA is land of the "Lawsuit Crazy" people - anybody in the other car gets injured then the insurance covers them up to a maximum of $50,000 for their personal injury....anything over that...you're up shit creek.

I know that Zip Car has a $750 deductible but at least once you pay that they cover everything up to $300,000 - http://www.zipcar.com/help/generalinfo#insurance_policy

Thanks but i'll pass. I like the idea of one way rentals but not prepared to risk my personal assets to any lawsuit crazy lawyer should i get into an accident.


Cheers,
Dean

2 comments:

  1. These terms are better than with some normal rental cars. :-/ In some US States, they can rent you cars without any insurance or with insurance or something like $10k. So unless you have a personal car insurance that covers you, or you are very very rich, it is a good idea to buy Liability Insurance Supplements (and maybe CDW unless your credit card covers you).

    Is there a Liability Insurance Supplmenet option with Hertz on Demand? I couldn't find out on their website without registering.

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  2. to be honest i dont know, i never used them after reading these terms.

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