Hired a car from Hertz but they supplied an unwanted electric car

sidewayssyd

My niece and her husband, on a short visit from Australia, booked a car from Hertz for a one day round trip from London to the Lake District, a distance of about 550 miles, to see her dying grandfather for almost certainly the last time. She booked a Mercedes SUV, or similar, expecting a petrol SUV. On arrival , they handed her a Polestar. Obviously completely unsuitable for their planned journey but the Hertz attitude was take it or leave it,  that's all we have. They'd never driven an electric car, had none of the required charging apps on their phones and no experience of power management. The Hertz woman was unhelpful and told them it would take 15 minutes to charge and chargers were easily available. What should have been a relaxing motorway journey turned into one of stress and anxiety. They got there without too much trouble but the journey back, starting at 4pm ended at 1.30am back at their London hotel - which didn't have post-midnight check-ins, so they had to handle that on the phone during the drive back. Three stops to charge on the way back took over 2 hours without the car charging fully at any stop and the day's electricity cost £120. They had no heating on the way back, in January's freezing tempertures, to save power so were frozen themselves for the entire journey. I complained on their behalf (as they flew home the day after returning the car). Hertz took almost three weeks to come back with a response which was, we don't guarantee any sort of car you'll be given or whatever the power source. Where you charged it is your responsibility, some chargers are more expensive than others and you didn't have to accept the car....you could have had a refund and gone somewhere else. Wow..what customer service. In pre-electric days, I accept that they can give you any car and adjust the hire charge appropriately if you pre-paid for a better car, but with electric cars, they are unsuitable for many intended journeys. Hertz didn't know of their intended journey but they have to adjust their processes to ask for the journey type at the time of booking and then tell you beforehand if the car is going to be electric. I've asked them where it says in their terms and conditions that you could be given an electric car even if an electric car was not booked. Has anyone else had this happen?

tacpot12

Not had this happen, but I will make other people aware of Hertz's attitude. I think you are right to push the point that electric vehicles aren't suitable for all journeys, and Hertz should be making adjustments to check whether any hirer will have to recharge the car during its intended use.It seems risky to allow someone who doesn't know how to recharge an electric car to have to do so without being shown how.

However, the adjustment is small (although meaningful) so I expect you'she won't get anywhere arguing with Hertz. Depending on the cost of the car and their financial resources, if she were to sue Hertz that might get their attention, but I don't think it will actually change anything for anyone in future. 
 
I do think that your neice should have rejected the car, and were perhaps misguided in not considering the implications of accepting it. However,I think we can all appreciate that after a 20hr plus flight, people are not necessarily at their best, and Hertz should also be taking this into account.

An ex-gratia payment in compensation is the best she could hope for. You just need to make as good a case as you can for her to be given some money back. Suggesting that it they don't, then your neice will sue them, and has the financial resources to do so, might work. 

Keep_pedalling

Polestars have significant ranges and there are a ton of rapid chargers between London and the Lake District. One charging stop each way plus one in the LD should all that was needed (assuming they started with 80-100% of charge.

Having said that hire companies are pretty crap at explaining anything to first time EV drivers. Apps are not required on the vast majority of rapids, you can simply use a credit card. Never use rapids to charge over 80% as the charging rate drops rapidly after that and it takes a long time to get to 100%. As well as cabin heating I am pretty sure all Polestars have heated front seats which keep you warm with minimum loss of range, but I don’t suppose Hertz explained any of that to them, and I think it unreasonable to present a switch to EV at the point you turn up at the desk.

sidewayssyd

Thanks Pedaller - they couldn't find anything above a 150watt charger and at one point as they were getting low, they had to come off the motorway and go into Stafford to find one. The car stopped charging at 50% - maybe that was lack of knowledge on their part but they didn't know what to do but drive on and go somewhere else. They were given a Hertz card to swipe at the chargers to pay, but it didn't work. They were at their grandparents for 3 hours but they had no charging point of course so with normal mains supply, the battery went up by 3%. As they got back in the early hours, 5.5 hours after the Hertz office closed, they dropped it off at 7.30am and were gone before the office opened as they had a day trip booked before flying home, so no chance to complain in person. Incidentally, on the morning of the hire, the Hertz woman was incredibly dismissive of another customer who came in reporting that they had trouble with charging their electric car - they'd phoned the Hertz helpline who told them to go to their nearest office and get it changed. Heated seats! No, i've just asked them and they had no idea.
Tacpot - thanks for your comments too. Maybe they would have rejected it if they hadn't received assurances of how quick it was to charge and how easy. This was anything but the case. And this was a trip to see her grandfather, almost certainly for the last time. If Hertz had only one car available, would others at St Pancras have any, how long would it take to get one and no other car company desks were open anyway. With 550 miles to do in one day, they had to get on the road.

silvercar

I really don’t see why an EV is unsuitable for that journey, particularly one with a long range like the polestar. Plenty of people own EVs and do that sort of journey in a day without issue.

Whereas it may take slightly more effort to plan your stops than it would to top up with petrol, it is straightforward. The basic principle on a long days driving is the same, when you are getting low, you top up. If you see an opportunity to top up earlier than necessary you do so.

Anyone who is capable of using a contactless credit or debit card can use the chargers, anyone who is capable of adding petrol to a conventional car can use a EV charger - you just plug the lead into the car’s socket, just as you would put the petrol lead into a fuel tank. A lack of familiarity wouldn’t be that different to driving a brand of car you haven’t used before.

prowla

I've had a couple of occasions where I've rejected a hire car, abroad: once where it had a flat tyre(!) and the other where the seat belts didn't work; they changed them without argument (though the 2nd took some time to deliver a replacement).

I don't know what the situation is if you accept the vehicle and complan after though.

Keep_pedalling

silvercar said:

I really don’t see why an EV is unsuitable for that journey, particularly one with a long range like the polestar. Plenty of people own EVs and do that sort of journey in a day without issue.

Whereas it may take slightly more effort to plan your stops than it would to top up with petrol, it is straightforward. The basic principle on a long days driving is the same, when you are getting low, you top up. If you see an opportunity to top up earlier than necessary you do so.

Anyone who is capable of using a contactless credit or debit card can use the chargers, anyone who is capable of adding petrol to a conventional car can use a EV charger - you just plug the lead into the car’s socket, just as you would put the petrol lead into a fuel tank. A lack of familiarity wouldn’t be that different to driving a brand of car you haven’t used before.

It’s not if you are familiar with EVs  but if you have never driven one and are presented with one a few minutes before going on a long journey it is understandable that things did not go smoothly. It sounds like the car was limited to charging to 50% which would likely be due to a setting in the car, easy to sort if you are familiar with the menu system which they obviously were not. 

The charge card they were given was not the only way they could pay for charging, had they been aware of that that they could use their own CC instead it would have saved a lot of messing about and they could have done it a lot cheaper than paying Hertz rates. 

Having owned an EV for nearly 4 years, longer journeys are no more difficult than when I was driving ICE vehicles but it was a bit of a steep learning curve in the first couple of weeks. 

zagfles

silvercar said:

I really don’t see why an EV is unsuitable for that journey, particularly one with a long range like the polestar. Plenty of people own EVs and do that sort of journey in a day without issue.

Whereas it may take slightly more effort to plan your stops than it would to top up with petrol, it is straightforward. The basic principle on a long days driving is the same, when you are getting low, you top up. If you see an opportunity to top up earlier than necessary you do so.

Anyone who is capable of using a contactless credit or debit card can use the chargers, anyone who is capable of adding petrol to a conventional car can use a EV charger - you just plug the lead into the car’s socket, just as you would put the petrol lead into a fuel tank. A lack of familiarity wouldn’t be that different to driving a brand of car you haven’t used before.

London to the lake district is less than 300 miles (263 to Kendal, 290 to Penrith), I wouldn't call any car which can't even manage 300 miles without a refuelling stop as "long range". Never owned or even hired any vehicle which couldn't do a mere 300 miles without a refuelling stop. 

Keep_pedalling

zagfles said:

silvercar said:

I really don’t see why an EV is unsuitable for that journey, particularly one with a long range like the polestar. Plenty of people own EVs and do that sort of journey in a day without issue.

Whereas it may take slightly more effort to plan your stops than it would to top up with petrol, it is straightforward. The basic principle on a long days driving is the same, when you are getting low, you top up. If you see an opportunity to top up earlier than necessary you do so.

Anyone who is capable of using a contactless credit or debit card can use the chargers, anyone who is capable of adding petrol to a conventional car can use a EV charger - you just plug the lead into the car’s socket, just as you would put the petrol lead into a fuel tank. A lack of familiarity wouldn’t be that different to driving a brand of car you haven’t used before.

London to the lake district is less than 300 miles (263 to Kendal, 290 to Penrith), I wouldn't call any car which can't even manage 300 miles without a refuelling stop as "long range". Never owned or even hired any vehicle which couldn't do a mere 300 miles without a refuelling stop. 

It was pretty cold in Jan and at motorway speeds not many EVs will do 300+ miles. I drove from Cambridge to Carlisle (via Newcastle thanks to an accident on the A66) last March in my VW ID3 which in those conditions struggles to do 200 miles. I stopped 3 times for comfort and refreshment breaks. I charged for 20mins on two of those occasions, so nothing was added to the journey time for charging and we arrived with 15% charge remaining.

Large battery capacity is handy if you do a lot of long distance journeys as it helps avoid using expensive rapid charges so much, but for the odd long trip it’s not worth spending the extra £4k for a bigger battery option.  

zagfles

Keep_pedalling said:

zagfles said:

silvercar said:

I really don’t see why an EV is unsuitable for that journey, particularly one with a long range like the polestar. Plenty of people own EVs and do that sort of journey in a day without issue.

Whereas it may take slightly more effort to plan your stops than it would to top up with petrol, it is straightforward. The basic principle on a long days driving is the same, when you are getting low, you top up. If you see an opportunity to top up earlier than necessary you do so.

Anyone who is capable of using a contactless credit or debit card can use the chargers, anyone who is capable of adding petrol to a conventional car can use a EV charger - you just plug the lead into the car’s socket, just as you would put the petrol lead into a fuel tank. A lack of familiarity wouldn’t be that different to driving a brand of car you haven’t used before.

London to the lake district is less than 300 miles (263 to Kendal, 290 to Penrith), I wouldn't call any car which can't even manage 300 miles without a refuelling stop as "long range". Never owned or even hired any vehicle which couldn't do a mere 300 miles without a refuelling stop. 

It was pretty cold in Jan and at motorway speeds not many EVs will do 300+ miles. I drove from Cambridge to Carlisle (via Newcastle thanks to an accident on the A66) last March in my VW ID3 which in those conditions struggles to do 200 miles. I stopped 3 times for comfort and refreshment breaks. I charged for 20mins on two of those occasions, so nothing was added to the journey time for charging and we arrived with 15% charge remaining.

Large battery capacity is handy if you do a lot of long distance journeys as it helps avoid using expensive rapid charges so much, but for the odd long trip it’s not worth spending the extra £4k for a bigger battery option.  

Which is why I'd never consider a pure EV either as a hire car or owned car. Not yet anyway, maybe in a few years there'll be better batteries/infrastructure. Wouldn't want to have to stop for 40 mins on a 260 mile journey, I would usually stop once for a quick toilet break, stretch of legs and coffee on such a journey, but prob 15 mins max. I don't think pure EVs are yet really suitable as hire cars unless specifically requested, as generally hire cars will be used for long journeys. 

Hybrid is a good compromise, get around 450-500 miles on a £40 fillup in my self-charging petrol hybrid, so would cost around £20-25 for a London to Lake District type journey and no need to waste time filling up/charging en route. Paying £120 and wasting 2 hours charging is ridiculous, even if half that cost/time was down to OP's relatives' inexperience. 

Keep_pedalling

zagfles said:

Keep_pedalling said:

zagfles said:

silvercar said:

I really don’t see why an EV is unsuitable for that journey, particularly one with a long range like the polestar. Plenty of people own EVs and do that sort of journey in a day without issue.

Whereas it may take slightly more effort to plan your stops than it would to top up with petrol, it is straightforward. The basic principle on a long days driving is the same, when you are getting low, you top up. If you see an opportunity to top up earlier than necessary you do so.

Anyone who is capable of using a contactless credit or debit card can use the chargers, anyone who is capable of adding petrol to a conventional car can use a EV charger - you just plug the lead into the car’s socket, just as you would put the petrol lead into a fuel tank. A lack of familiarity wouldn’t be that different to driving a brand of car you haven’t used before.

London to the lake district is less than 300 miles (263 to Kendal, 290 to Penrith), I wouldn't call any car which can't even manage 300 miles without a refuelling stop as "long range". Never owned or even hired any vehicle which couldn't do a mere 300 miles without a refuelling stop. 

It was pretty cold in Jan and at motorway speeds not many EVs will do 300+ miles. I drove from Cambridge to Carlisle (via Newcastle thanks to an accident on the A66) last March in my VW ID3 which in those conditions struggles to do 200 miles. I stopped 3 times for comfort and refreshment breaks. I charged for 20mins on two of those occasions, so nothing was added to the journey time for charging and we arrived with 15% charge remaining.

Large battery capacity is handy if you do a lot of long distance journeys as it helps avoid using expensive rapid charges so much, but for the odd long trip it’s not worth spending the extra £4k for a bigger battery option.  

Which is why I'd never consider a pure EV either as a hire car or owned car. Not yet anyway, maybe in a few years there'll be better batteries/infrastructure. Wouldn't want to have to stop for 40 mins on a 260 mile journey, I would usually stop once for a quick toilet break, stretch of legs and coffee on such a journey, but prob 15 mins max. I don't think pure EVs are yet really suitable as hire cars unless specifically requested, as generally hire cars will be used for long journeys. 

Hybrid is a good compromise, get around 450-500 miles on a £40 fillup in my self-charging petrol hybrid, so would cost around £20-25 for a London to Lake District type journey and no need to waste time filling up/charging en route. Paying £120 and wasting 2 hours charging is ridiculous, even if half that cost/time was down to OP's relatives' inexperience. 

We are at the age where at least 2 stops are required on a 260 mile journey 👨🏻‍🦳😄 although for charging purposes we can easily get away with one with a modest 60kWh battery like we have. I do have a new one on order with as a battery that will easily do that with no charging stops, but pee breaks and refreshment stops will still be needed.