Car Hire Italy to France
Hertz had our reservation for a vehicle from Mestre - I made sure of this the day after we arrived in Mestre - Thursday 08.May.
When I went to pick up the car on Saturday 10.May morning - as arranged at 08:30 - it turned out that the car I had requested (Ford Mondeo Station Wagon) was in fact not available and I was handed the keys for C220 Mercedes Station Wagon (the arrange price was still the same - including a Return “Drop” fee of 735 EUR. This is charged when you take a car out of one country and they have to return the car to the originl country of pick-up. Obviously I was expecting an Italian licenced vehicle (in the normal Hertz standard clean condition) and I would drop the car in Nimes (France) on 12.May in the afternoon.
To my surprise I found the car to be dirty - ie NOT cleaned at all after the last hire - outside with dead insects all over the grill, panels, mirrors and windscreen and “dirt road” dust and water marks all over the rear of the car - and inside we (Jacqui) found old chewing gum and some what appears to wire from a bra on the floor on the passenger side. And as if this was not enough of an insult - I discovered the vehicle was in fact registered in France and I was taking the car back to France for Hertz - ….. I have obviously taken photographs of all the outside of the car.
QUESTION: Why should I pay a “Drop” (one way) fee of 735 EUR for a vehicle that we are taking back to it’s country of origin for the Hertz company ? - Obviously the last person who hired the car and left it in Italy (Mestre) has also been charged a “Drop” fee for the vehicle to be returned to the place he picked it up from.
I call that “double dipping” - Note: Obviously I also paid for the hire of the vehicle for 3 days - 10, 11 & 12. May as I did not return it before 08:30 on the 12. in Nimes.
We will follow this up on our return
NOTE: You can not get any response from the desk of a Hertz branch about your hire if you do not drop it back to the same place where you picked it up - certainly never if their are two countries involved!
Hertz FR is NOT able (or willing) to give (or offer) any help about the actions of Hertz IT.
I do wonder how HERTZ head office feels about this (?)
PS - The requested Renault Scenic was not available in Nimes either and we had to settle on an Opel Zafira 1.7l Diesel - which will only just serve our requirements for the rest of the trip.
And once again the usual spotless condition is not as expected. And I had to take a photo of a bad scretch on the Driver’s Door.