Hertz Rent A Car

Positive experience with Hertz until here. I think this location is not Hertz to blame. Just a DC Union station thing.
Dirty garage.
$ 31.00 fee if you return car (minutes late.
All surrounding gas stations charge over $ 1.60 more per gallon.
Buyer beware.

Hey Hertz corporate-​Do you read these? Maybe there’s a problem here.
The experience I had «renting» from these people was so awful that I am done with Hertz altogether. I’ve been a Gold member for 10 years and now I will rent from anyone but Hertz.
The ONLY car they had to rent me was so beat up and smelly from smoke my nephew and I had to drive the entire weekend with the windows down to not cause an asthmatic attack. The Hertz representative couldn’t be bothered to walk out of his kiosk to tally all the dents, dings, and scrapes on this piece of garbage. The car had over 58,000 miles on it. When I asked for a different car they didn’t have one.
When I returned it to BWI I was running so late I didn’t have time to complain past the guy who checked it back in. When I finally did complain I was told by corporate that I should have raised concern right after picking up the car.
I AM DONE WITH HERTZ. There are plenty of other good choices out there. Hey Hertz corporate, take a look at all the single stars for this location. They are costing you customers. I’m one of them.

On Christmas Eve the lady told me they had 20 reservations and four cars available (and none of those four cars were for me). Why would their system let you make reservations when you clearly wouldn’t get a car?

I reserved a car days ahead of time, but I’m not sure what the point was. I was stuck waiting for 3 hours for a car in what seemed like entirely adhoc service. The attendant disappeared from the front desk for a while and no one answered the phone.
My recommendation: skip the reservation and and pick any of the options that have a car and someone actually at the front desk or go to a location anywhere else in the city.

Really just not an optimal experience, bordering on theft. The attendant remained in the kiosk during the entire transaction, which just felt like I was part of an assembly line rather than a customer. He just pointed to a car parked in the garage and told us to use the lock/​unlock to figure out which one it was.
He gave us a damaged vehicle (dent/​scratch), which we did not notice until dropping it off at a different. What a headache. It apparently was never recorded in their system, so I had to fill out an incident report stating my case.
He also did not fill out the paperwork to show the fuel level we received with the car. Upon dropping off at a different location with more gas than I picked it up with, I had to deal with customer service (who did not fix the problem). Reason being, the guy I picked it up from didn’t fill out the form. Great.

No cars! Can’t rely on them. REGULARLY have no cars. Showed up today with Gold reservation. Was told ‘no cars, you’ll have to wait for one to be returned. And, we’re not sure how long that will be. And too, get in line; others are waiting too. ’ a guy in line says this happens to him regularly. He schedules meetings to allow at least an hour wait. Waited 1.5 hours for a car. Bad enough to wait an hour and a half, but MUCH worse when it’s for indeterminate length. 1 hour or 5 hours? Or ???
Finally, this was billed as Gold service. It’s not. Hertz does not provide gold service here. Just one overworked guy in a booth.
Only reason to rent here is if you have no other option and can risk wasting a day.

if i could give negative stars i would. worst experience i have ever had with a car rental (and unfortunately because of its stupid bureaucracy Hertz has still not been able to resolve this issue yet, after a month).
i rented a car online for the thanksgiving weekend for $ 200 for four days. when i picked up the car I was told I got an upgrade. now the upgrade was more than i expected but i didn’t think much about it also not when the guy told me i needed to sign the contract. no word that my online booking was changed whatsoever. then i go off and return the car half a day early and at 4pm on a saturday no one was there so i had to use the key drop off. then two weeks later i receive a bill … where i was charged an additional $ 550. so the total rental was now suddenly $ 680.
according to the bull $ 140 of that additional $ 550 was «gas and service» … no matter that i returned the car with a full tank (the tank can hold only $ 50 worth so i have no idea what kind of services they are thinking off here). that still leaves $ 400.
I contacted Hertz and while they could refund the gas and service charge they told me they could do nothing about the rental charge for that i would have to call the location. so i called the location and asked to speak with the manager. At 2pm on a Tuesday the manager was not there. I was told they didn’t know when he would be back. but i was told to leave me phone number with them and he would call me back latest the next day. nothing … a week went by … nothing. i called Hertz again and they said I should use their customer service email … which i did and i received an email response telling me they would get back to me in the order they received the complaint. a week later i tried to call the location again. again no manager … now one month later no call from the manager yet. oh and no contact from the Hertz customer service either. I guess this is how Hertz Gold members are treated.
so could i recommend this place? no … NO!!! … absolutely not. this is close to criminal behavior.

Just my two cents: this location treated me better than great. I was to arrive in town around 7pm on Dec. 24^th to visit family in the VA suburbs. Obviously, no worker wants to be on the job that close to Christmas, and to make matters worse my train ran late. I got to the garage kiosk basically at the location’s closing. The person helping me was totally polite and helpful, even as I kept her — I assume — from family and friends. Wish I could have made it in earlier, as I clearly was their last reservation for the day. Nonetheless, they were totally wonderful.

If I could give this Hertz zero stars, I would. Here’s my situation:
I rented a car for the week, and turned it in 20 minutes after the location closed. No problem, right? You just drop the keys and the ticket in the drop box. Which is what I did.
The next morning, I receive a phone call from the manager of the location. «Do you have the keys to this car?»
«No, I turned them in. I have no car keys.»
«Are you sure? Did you check your pockets?»
Me, slightly agitated, «Yes, I turned in the keys.»
«I“ll look again and call you back.»
Nearly an hour passes and he doesn’t call me back, so I go over to Union Station to see if I could meet him in person. But he has left. How do I know? Because he called me back just after I got there.
«We still don’t have the keys.»
At this point, I have triple-​checked every piece of clothing or luggage I had with me. I have no keys. I also remembered that I took a picture of the keys in the ticket before I dropped it in the box.
The attendants at the station, when I explained the situation, gave a quick look in the drop box, didn’t see anything, and then went back to their seats. They said the manager would reach out to me, but he hasn’t.
So here I am, a day after I turned in the keys to the rental car. I’m still being charged, and no one has been helpful. I was told I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to be able to talk to anyone. I’m not holding my breath.

Must admit that this isn’t the greatest location. I’ve been traveling to DC for work via Amtrak and pick up a car at this Hertz location for about a year now. I haven’t had any major issues considering the fact that I’ve rented a year’s worth of cars, but maybe because they are so routine with me.
Although, at first, I was really frustrated with everything. When I get off the train, I follow the signs for «Rental Car» to the second floor. I get to the Hertz desk that’s inside Union Station and they’re like, «no, you need to go upstairs.» The walk from the Hertz location inside Union Station to the kiosk in the parking garage is a bit of a walk. You head towards the garage, take the escalator, walk to the other side of the parking garage passing all the bus services, and once you reach the end of the parking structure, you take the elevator up to the second floor. Not that straight forward. If you know where you’re going, getting out is pretty easy. There’s just a lot of cars in the garage. There may be traffic on the local roads going towards the 395.
Okay. The worst was trying to return the dang car. It was so confusing and the lack of signs don’t really help. This is where I re-​enter the parking garage
on H street between 1^st and 2^nd Street. Going East on H Street, after the light, you’ll make a right into the parking garage, but turn slowly to read the signs! I almost turned into the «taxi entrance» the first time. The taxi entrance is the first right, and the parking garage entrance is right after, slopping up. Drive up the slop and you’ll see signs where to return the rental, making a left after the stop sign.
Also, I want to mention that Steven Gomez is THE BEST. Maybe because I see him every week when I pick up my car, but he gives the best customer service!

So I want to give one star but will give two because my issue did get resolved (I have to wait a few days and will see).
Three days later, I finally receive the bill for my less than one day car rental which I used one day’s worth of points for. I got charged over $ 78 for having the car more than 24 hours and for not returning the gas tank full. So I called to dispute the charges and allegedly, I will see credit back to my card.
I’m annoyed because we definitely returned the vehicle before 24 hours and we consciously filled the gas tank up before returning the car.
Eh, you know what? The location isn’t even that great. I actually think Reagan might have an edge.

The service is lackluster, but the time to get your car and get in and out is very quick. I appreciate that.
Although I am not wow’d by their service, it’s a decent place to get a rental.

I always rent from Hertz (gold club five star member), however this location REALLY gives Hertz quality and customer service a bad reputation. While the staff are nice and work well with the limitations they are given, this is not enough to make up for all the bad points that I am going to describe:
First — There are generally longer than expected wait times at the counter.
Second — Long trek to go from the counter inside to the far end of the garage on the second floor to pick up your car.
Third — There is not much space for cars, so the return cars are often in the way of the cars to be rented, causing the customer to have to wait for a series of cars to be moved out of the way one-​by-​one.
Fourth — The drop-​off process is very shoddy. All other Hertz that I have been to have an electronic device that can be used to check-​in cars on the spot and print a receipt for the customer. Here, you have to trust that the single person who is dealing with a number of other phone calls and issues, to keep track of your rental agreement and record the correct time of your drop of so that you don’t incur a late fee.
Fifth — You do not receive a receipt or confirmation of what you’ll be charged so that you can correct any errors. This causes headaches later as you have to continuously chase down customer service to correct the problem.
There are a lot of ways Hertz can improve this facility. Given that Union Station is turning in a central transportation hub in the city, they should really put the time and effort into making the customer experience a good one so not to lose customers over the poor service.

Theirs is the longest line of all five agencies by far, but they have only 1 or 2 people at the counter. Though the staff is very courteous, there is NO GOLD SERVICE at this location, so you have to get in line. You’ll end up waiting for the schmucks who didn’t think to make a reservation & are taking their sweet time to choose a car. Then you have to walk several hundred yards with your luggage, taking an escalator AND an elevator, to find your car. But don’t take the stairs next to the elevator at the back of the parking garage, because you’ll only be able to reach the public parking levels, not the rental car levels. The staff probably won’t say this. Finally, when your (hopefully) pleasant vacation is over, you’ll need to spend some time becoming even more familiar with the labyrinthine complex that is the Union Station parking garage, simply to return the car. Be grateful if you weren’t enveloped by the odor of sour milk or cigarette smoke every time you opened the car doors. This is definitely a high-​volume, low-​rent Hertz location.

The overall experience probably deserves three stars («A-​okay»): the transactions were relatively smooth and quick, though it would help if there were more than one person behind the counter. I have to give Hertz two stars, however, because I bought the advanced fuel option, which is a total rip off. Whatever you do, DON’T buy the fuel from Hertz in advance.
First, if they’re offering you a service, chances are good they’re making money off of it. In this case, they give you a decent price for fuel ($ 3.87/gallon which was about a dime less than the average in the area), and charge you for what’s already in the tank. But because you’re not putting the fuel in the tank yourself, it’s not accurate. So I paid for a «full tank,» but the needle dropped below full right as I left, so basically I paid for an extra gallon or two that I didn’t use (let’s say an extra $ 7). Second, there is no refund on purchased fuel. In other words, they did not refund the quarter tank that was left when I returned it (so, that’s at least an extra $ 15 – 20). They then told me that I should have brought the car back on empty. But let’s be honest, who can plan to arrive with a perfectly empty tank. Even then, to really get your money’s worth, you have to arrive with the car running on fumes, which is a risk. So, no matter what, that big number on the counter — $ 3.87 — is just a ploy to get you to buy another service that you’re better off not getting.

I’ve used the Union Station Hertz counter a few times, but last time was the worst ever. When we joined the longish line to pick up our reserved car, the sole Hertz employee was tending to a couple who apparently were having problems making up their minds which (if any) car they wanted. This was good for over 10 minutes of waiting, whereupon they decided that they didn’t want a Hertz car at all. When the employee started helping the next person in line, he left the counter for some reason. He was gone for well over 15 minutes, during which time the counter was unstaffed, the phone rang unanswered, and the line grew longer and longer. It must have taken us the better part of an hour to reach the counter, whereupon we found out that the individual who was handling the rentals at the car lot had not shown up for work, forcing the counter man to do both jobs! But wait– this gets better:
Upon heading back to Union Station at the end of our visit to DC, we forgot where the rental car return was. There are signs, right? Nope, not a one. We circled the entire station complex and found none at all. Our GPS could not furnish the location either. Well, the little map furnished by Hertz will show where to return the car, right? No, it didn’t. By this time we were getting a little panicky, as train time was approaching, so we figured that we’d call the counter using the phone number on the little Hertz map. Surprise! The Union Station Hertz counter was not even shown on the map! Fortunately, I thought that i recognized a bridge we saw behind the station, so we took it. At the top was the entrance to a parking garage (which one?), but in desperation we tried it. Incredible! About 200 ft. into the dark interior of the garage there was a sign for «Rental Car Return.»
Lessons learned: Don’t use the Hertz counter here unless things have improved markedly (apparently they haven’t), and make absolutely sure that you know where to return your rental car. Oh and by the way, good luck!

I made the mistake of choosing Hertz at Union Station this weekend. When I arrived to pick up my car the line was eight people deep and there was only person working at the counter. A few minutes later another person showed up at the counter helped one customer and then left, while the line just got longer. 45 minutes later I got the paperwork. I then went through the maze to pick up my car. I had to look around for someone to help me. When the person finished their cell phone call they finally were able to get me keys and point me to a car.
When I dropped off the car the guy told me I had to wait inline to drop of my paperwork at the counter. I’ve never had to this at any other place with Hertz or any other rental company. I walked down to the counter there was again a line eight people deep not wanting to waste another 45 minutes. I threw my paper work on the counter and left.
NOT exactly is a great motto. They are exactly what you don’t want.
For future reference there were no lines at the other rental counters.

I am a big fan of Hertz. Really — I always get great cars, and usually their customer service is great. But this facility really is the worst. Ever. In the history of rental cars.
I returned a car 5 days ago, and have still not been sent a receipt. I used Hertz Live (a great feature) and figured out that as far as they are concerned, the car has yet to be turned in. I have to call the facility directly to resolve it.
OK. No problem. I was thrilled at how fast the mystery was solved. So I call the Union Station desk and I am on hold for an hour, but not all at once. After 10 minutes, an answering service comes on, and there is no option for holding longer, so you have to call back. After doing this 6 or 7 times, I am getting either a busy signal or an answering service that does not allow you to leave a message.
I wish I had other options, but in reality, I can’t switch. I just hope somehow a manager realizes what a horrible staff they have and does something to fix it. As soon as it’s resolved, I’ll be calling customer service to talk to them about the level of service at what I would assume is a rather busy facility.

I loooove Hertz. But this outlet was a disappointment. When I made my reservation, the Hertz Gold Service site clearly states that there is a Gold service available. Forget that. One person at the kiosk for whom I had to wait interminably. Then I made the line waiting for my turn as more people assembled behind me.
The worst part was when I got my rental car. There were none others so they gave me a small upgrade. A newer Camry, yes, but wreaking of cigarette smoke. Gross. Disgusting. The two days I had the rental, I had to drive with the windows open so I wouldn’t gag or puke from the stench of cigarette smoke that had obviously permeated every fiber of the seats and fabric. Frankly, car rental companies should charge a $ 500.00 penalty fee if a car is returned with cigarette stench.
I’ve been dealing with Hertz for 30+ years and this was the worst disappointment. Then there was the rental return. Again, one person at the counter for whom I had to wait again for nearly 30 minutes.
I did contact their customer service on both counts, the cigarette stench and the poor service.