Hertz Credit Application: Fill & Download for Free

The difference between Hertz car sales and a traditional dealership is night and day. When buying a car from Hertz the salesman will actually show you the inventory sheet with a list of every car they have available and the price upfront. The price is non-negotiable but the benefit is you know what you’ll be paying right from the beginning. They are very transparent about the whole process. The salesman even shows you the vehicle’s value on Kelly Blue book so you can decide if it is priced far enough below the book value to be worth buying. If you test drive it and you don’t like it, you move onto the next one. Simple as that. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and they let you take your time, as long as you want, and no one will pressure you into buying the car unless you say yes. (most likely because they are being paid an hourly wage and not solely on commission). Then when you agree to purchase the vehicle the finance manager will take your credit application, run it through the system and then bring you back to the office and have you sign the paperwork and you’ll be out of there in about 15 minutes. It can be a very quick process. The salesman was very laid back, friendly.However….It wasn’t until I went into the finance manager’s office that things felt rushed and unfriendly. They do not spend a lot of time explaining what you’re signing as it’s really up to you to know. They WILL try to get you to buy the extended warranty, but stay firm if you don’t want it. From my experience there is far less pressure buying from Hertz than at a dealership. I only wished that they would have kept all the service records, but that is the risk you take when you purchase a non certified pre-owned vehicle.

The Hertz Platinum Card. Seriously!(http://www.hertz.com/rentacar/productservice/index.jsp?targetPage=PlatinumService.jsp&leftNavUserSelection=globNav_3_5_1&selectedRegion=United%20States).After some 20 years of being the world's most exclusive, unpublished, card (you used to have to be either Chairman or CEO of a company doing over $200K of business annually with Hertz), they have *just* this year opened it up for applications to anyone with a 700 FICO Credit Score willing to pay $1500 a year.What's so special about it? Not much, if you're the kind of person who rarely, if ever, rents cars. But if you do, hoo boy! For details, check out the link above, and then let your imagination run wild. Imagine Alfred bringing you the Batmobile right in the nick of time as you're being pursued by terrorists. It's that cool.In fact, it was just voted as the single best rewards program benefit of 2012 by the members of FlyerTalk (THE website for people who are fanatical about reward programs.)(Thanks to Steven Grimm for following up on my original answer and discovering that it was now open to the public!)

Our Hertz rental car hit by a deer. Hertz asks for physical damage $7.7k, loss of use $1k, diminution of value $2k, admin fees $300. Our auto insurance only paid the 1st item. Are the rest charges typical? Should auto insurance cover more?You (or your lawyer) need to very carefully read the appropriate parts of (A) your car rental contract, and (B) your insurance conctract.It is not possible to state a “blanket,” one-size-fits-all answer here, since this depends on what the specific contracts both say. In most U.S. states and other jurisdictions, most of these terms are not dictated by law, but the parties (you and your insurer on one hand, you and Hertz on the other hand) have quite broad latitude of freedom of contract. Whatever it is that you agreed to, is what will govern the outcome.Most of the time, unless you’re willing to “roll the dice,” or unless the additional cost is prohibitive (such as on a long-term rental), the safest way to go is to accept the “collision damage waiver” offered by the rental company. This is NOT insurance; it does not pay YOU anything. What you are paying for is simply an agreement by, in this case, Hertz, that THEY will waive any legal claim they may have against YOU, for damage to their car while it is in your possession.Otherwise, the rental contract USUALLY says that you, the renter, are liable to the rental company (Hertz) for ANY damage to their car while it is in your possession, WHETHER OR NOT it is your fault. You would have to look to the actual wording of the rental contract to see whether you are ALSO on the hook for such things as loss of use, diminution of value, and admin fees.As for the “collision” coverage in your own auto insurance policy, that too usually covers (A) physical damage to a covered car (and either the policy, or applicable law, would have to define a temporary rental car you are driving as a “covered car” under your policy — CHECK WITH YOUR INSURANCE AGENT before you rent), and SOMETIMES (either by law, in your state, or by specific wording of the insurance contract) covers loss-of-use damages and diminution-of-value damages. You really ought to check with a local lawyer if push comes to shove on that issue — which it sounds like it has.As for “admin” fees, your collision coverage probably won’t cover that. But Hertz is only allowed to charge you that if there is something in your rental contract that says so.The bottom line is, you’ve got $3,300 in claims that your insurance refuses to cover. Has Hertz sued you for this? Have they made a nick on your credit report? In either event, it will probably cost you almost as much as (or more than) the amount of money you have at stake, to bring in a lawyer to defend you against Hertz and try to avoid or minimize this claim. Think about whether you feel you can handle the defense of a small-claims case all by yourself if Hertz does decide to sue you for it. What’s the worst that could happen? Well, the “worst” is that Hertz may ALSO have a clause in their rental contract that says LOSER PAYS THE WINNER’S LEGAL FEES if they have to sue you. If so, that may be another incentive for a lawyer to get involved on your behalf — he would be paid by Hertz, not out of the amount he saves you (or by the hour), if he wins.Situation sucks, doesn’t it? The whole thing was not your fault, and now they want even more money. Talk to a lawyer. Good luck.