Why I Contacted Hertz Corporate to Complain
On November 22, 2015, some girl rented a car from Hertz for a drug dealer who had no driver's license and his girlfriend. He apparently got high and drunk and the girlfriend was wasted also. He fell asleep driving down my street in my neighborhood and ran off the road through my neighbor's yard, missed my husband's car and the cable hub by less than 2 feet on either side and ran straight across my yard into the corner of my house. Luckily, my retaining wall stopped him from hitting my house and continuing on to my other neighbor's foundation.
The driver and his girlfriend were so wasted that they sat in the car with it running for over an hour with the lights on and the radio playing. We called the police and they had to wake him up to get him out of the car. The cops said he has multiple aliases and they found two crack rocks the size of golf balls in trunk in the pocket of a pair of pants.
The cops also said that he normally carries a gun but they didn't find one that particular night so we were very lucky. He tore down my retaining wall and broke all of my solar light fixtures, as well as leaving two long tire ruts in my yard which the rain collected. He tore up my freshly planted grass and what was left washed away and turned into muddy puddles.
I called Hertz once I got the police report and they jerked my around for over 3 weeks just to get a claim number assigned, then when I finally got a claim reviewer, he say Hertz was not responsible for the damage to my yard and belongings. It was very hard to get Mr. Gutierrez to return phone calls. Finally, I was able to get his email address and I emailed him the police report and the pictures. He sent me a letter saying Hertz wasn't responsible. His boss actually told me to file it with my homeowner's insurance which I promptly told him that I did not have to do that and make my premiums go up because of his lack of due diligence when renting cars.
He then told me when I kept calling back that the renter of the car was claiming identity theft (yeah right - she pocketed the money from the drug dealer to keep her mouth shut) and until the investigation was over, there was nothing he could do. So I waited and waited, and waited. He told me to send in estimates and they would have their insurance carrier look at them.
Of course, they closed the claim and never told me while I was waiting to hear the investigation results.
I called back last week to inquire where Hertz was in the investigation and was told that the claim was closed in January. The manager for the following office which covers my state - Matthew Clark, told me that Hertz gets no compensation for the damage to their cars so I would be in the same boat for the damage to my yard, etc.
Here is the office location:
Miami, FL
3400 Lakeside Drive, Suite 520
Miramar, FL 33027
Toll Free: (800) 543-0499
Telephone: (954) 436-7434
Fax: (954) 624-7326
Email: HCM01Miami@Hertz.com
Office Manager: Matthew Clark
Covered Accident States: AL, FL, GA, PR, DC, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV
