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$440 Charge For A Wheel Scuff Raises Questions About Hertz's AI Rental Car Damage Scanner
(www.jalopnik.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2025
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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".
Which is why I said it's a warranty issue.
We're going around in circles here: dings and scratches are not caused by normal use.
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.
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 makes you think they're not being fixed? Even if they're not, those issues decrease the resale value of the vehicle.