Normal wear and tear isn't the renter's problem in any way, shape, or form; and that includes dings and scratches on the paint, wheels, glass, and interior, simply from everyday use and being exposed to the elements. Anything outside of unreasonably extreme damage is entirely on the rental company simply for the fact that they are the ones who own the car. This is part of why I will never use my vehicle for anything outside personal usage.

I, and thousands of other customers every single day, already pay over $500 (or much, much more) just for the privilege of being given the keys to a new-ish vehicle for 3 days. On top of whatever other bullshit they try to tack on. Where the fuck do you think that money goes? I've never even had a car payment that high.

Given that price, I expect the vehicle to be clean, properly maintained (they get the bare minimum, btw, I've witnessed this firsthand from the shop side; they won't even replace wiper blades unless a customer brings it up), and every single square inch to be inspected and documented, with "wear and tear" clearly defined in customer-friendly terms - none of this bullshit "redefining of commonly-accepted terms" that every corporation seems to be jerking it to these days.

Cars are not investments; they never have been. A car is a highly-complex machine - a tool that can serve multiple purposes. These, like any other highly-complex machine, requires regular maintenance, inspection, and repair. Some things are merely cosmetic, but others can become safety issues - such as a cracked windshield. And yet rental companies, like every other company, are charging more and more for less and less. What exactly are they doing with that money if the customers are the ones being charged for issues that aren't even getting fixed?

Why?

Because "line must go up".

You don't even have to be on a gravel road. My van's windshield got cracked the other day simply from a pebble getting kicked up from a passing car.

You've driven on a gravel road behind other cars and never had a windshield crack? Not even a rock chip?

Now I know you're full of shit.

I recently hired a car from eurocar. And they did have a reasonable wear and tear policy.

Returned a multi-week Hertz rental a couple of days ago and had to fight with the staff to get to get a written acknowledgement of no damage.

Customers are supposed to just trust Hertz employees will self-report damaging the car after it has been turned in? Absolutely laughable considering how many times rental companies try to screw over their customers.

This is great info and I won't be renting from Hertz again.

I'm in the industry, and the only thing I've seen the scanners used for is cya. Make sure the dealer doesn't get blamed for pre-existing damage

Normal wear and tear isn't the renter's problem in any way, shape, or form

Which is why I said it's a warranty issue.

and that includes dings and scratches on the paint, wheels, glass, and interior, simply from everyday use and being exposed to the elements.

We're going around in circles here: dings and scratches are not caused by normal use.

already pay over $500

rental companies, like every other company, are charging more and more for less and less

The price of the rental and the responsibility of the renter are different problems. If you think you can do it for cheaper, give it a shot. You can list your car on Turo and make a fortune undercutting these terrible companies.

I've never even had a car payment that high.

There's a myriad of expenses in rental that are not incurred by simply owning a personal vehicle (you've already listed a bunch of them), and a profit margin on top, so that makes a ton of sense.

What exactly are they doing with that money if the customers are the ones being charged for issues that aren't even getting fixed?

What makes you think they're not being fixed? Even if they're not, those issues decrease the resale value of the vehicle.

You do realize that you are allowed to read the article, right? Cause if you did, you would have noticed the picture of the setup in the article, along with a basic description of it.

But there was no LLM summary of the article, how am I supposed to know what's in it?

Why would anyone rent from a company that was convicted of persecuting their own customers because of the incompetence of the company?

Hertz will pay $168 million to customers it falsely accused of stealing its cars

Faulty recordkeeping and failure to rescind police reports led to more than 360 false accusations by the rental car company, resulting in arrests, felony charges and jail time for some customers.

NPR (www.npr.org)

Hertz fucked up repeatedly and people lost their jobs, were imprisoned and had their credit scores wrecked because Hertz couldn't find it's own cars on it's own lots.

Why anyone would give them a fucking nickel is beyond me

holy shit! i worked in travel insurance organizing rental cars in case of breakdowns, with hertz as one of our primary partners in some areas, and at least in central europe i didn't see cases like this. That's quite shocking to learn for me!

Now I know you're full of shit.

Hertz had a bunch of bad shit in the news but this one... wow. and the impacts downline on people's lives, all upended for the simple act of renting a car, yikes.

I can’t load the link but the human beings at places like Enterprise where I usually rent are totally reasonable. They’re always like, don’t worry, only big things are an issue.

Yeah people will not bother to risk losing so much money or a day argueing for a Camry. I had to do that once with a local rental here and never used them again despite them having better cars and cheaper price.

Jokes on you, I never learned to read!

It really depends on the company. Some look for any way to squeeze you. Others are pretty decent and probably more efficient as they dont waste as many working hours on bullshit claims and claim resolution.

Also if i rent a car i want things to go smoothly. I got places to be. You make my life easy, ill happily pay again and do my best to make yours easy too.