Hertz Reviews 

I booked a car at Marseille airport for three days on 21/11. It was a Friday at noon ...aka rush hour. This coincided with the company going paperless at that very moment, which meant that the (very sweet but inexperienced) staff member could not provide me with a receipt/contract etc..etc..As I had booked through Booking.com and the latter's site is configured to give you the cheapest cars first...I was told that I had reserved an electric car, which I NEVER would have done as I have one at home and know the problems. They charged me 60 euros to move to a petrol car...nuts... Then, they said I had to pay a security deposit of 750 euros (!). Hertz's site mentions 200 euros...so this is false representation. Worse still, they charged that twice ! so I have 1500 euros blocked for goodness know how long. It has been a week already. The staff are kind and seemingly helpful, but they seemed pitted again a system that is built to cheat, obfuscate and exploit customers. I will NEVER use of recommend Hertz again in any country...and I rent alot of cars

flight was delayed
office was not reachable by phone to inform
no person available once arrived with wife and child
booking cancelled without refund
need for organizing alternative transport
no excuse, no refund, triple the cost, no sympathy
contacted CEO HERTZ FRANCE --> Nothing
HORRIBLE COMPANY!!!!!

Hertz Port Maillot - Paris
I purchased Hertz’s PREMIUM Roadside Assistance expecting proper support during an emergency. Instead, the experience was a complete failure.

Our car broke down on the highway outside Paris. Even though we paid for premium assistance, Hertz required us to fill out an online form and wait for a callback. We waited over 30 minutes on the side of a busy highway, and no one ever called.

My boyfriend then called Hertz Roadside Assistance directly . Their “solution” was to tell us to call SANEF (the highway roadside assistance), because Hertz only handles incidents inside Paris. They even assured us we would be refunded afterwards.

Because Hertz couldn’t or wouldn’t help, we were forced to call SANEF ourselves and pay €190 upfront.

Now, despite paying for PREMIUM roadside assistance and following the instructions Hertz gave us, they are refusing to reimburse the €190.

This experience was unsafe, unprofessional, and incredibly frustrating. I will never rent from Hertz again. Paying extra for “premium” assistance is meaningless if they abandon you on the highway and refuse to cover the costs they told you to pay.

Rental Agreement No: 554300644

Con Con Con be careful. Hertz at CDG Paris were absolutely disgusting. They did not have a car ready for us that was even close to what we had booked, then went on to lie about someone bringing one from an offsite location, after half hour of waiting were told by different agent therfe was never anybody at the site to bring a car !! Then we were lied to again by original agent who said he'd go and find a car or take us to find one, NEVER happened he just ran off and disappeared ! Asked to speak to manager, who just walked straight passed us totally ignoring us while pretending to talk on her phone carrying a coffee and her cigarettes and she disappeared ! Finally after getting angry with staff they Miraculously found a car suitable ?
By far the worst car hire experience in the 35 years i've been holidaying and hiring.
Then when I got sent the receipt I discovered they had overcharged me but double taxing me on the local tax due (check your receipts), eventually managed to get a refund on this

Awful experience with Hertz at Orly Aiport. They sent me a bill with invented fees and it is impossible to reach their agency by phone. They charged me for returning the car one day late which is a lie. They also charged me 32 euros for a very light electric charge. I will never rent again a car from this company. They do not care at all abour their customers, they just want to charge them as much as possible with invented fees. After that they send you a questionnaire to tell you that they care about their customer lotalty, which is a complete joke.

Bad service. This is theft and cheating. I’ll never rent a car by Hertz in Charles de Gaulle Airport again!

Rented a car near the train station in Caen. Right away the frumpy looking woman with dirty blond hair and glasses was rude and gave us a lecture on not having international drivers' license, among other things. I told her we both have US drivers' license and we checked before leaving home that France acknowledges US drivers' license for short tourist visits. She then said that we would run into trouble with the police. I said we have to be on our way, and we would deal with the police if they were to stop us.

The trouble started with the return. It was around 1:20 pm on a normal Thursday (and not a holiday). The office was closed. We drove around, waited on the street, walked around the office forever before I spotted a Hertz employee inside the office. I knocked on the window to get his attention and gestured to him that we need to return a car. He did not even bother to come out, and yelled at me through the window that we should just leave it on the side of the street. Since we already wasted so much time looking for a signs of life, we did just that and rush off to catch the train and made a huge mistake - we did not take photos of the car.

Shortly after we received an email charging us for damages, administration fees, and loss of use totaling over US$300. I contacted Hertz US where we originally reserved the car, and they claimed that they could not help me and I had to deal with Hertz France. The thing is we were very careful and did not cause any damage to the car, but being that it was left on the side of the street, it is entirely possible that it got scratched by a another car, a bicycle, or a person passing by. Especially how narrow some of the streets are in France.

The correspondence went back and forth for a couple months, at the same time I filed a dispute with my credit card company, which sided with me and credited me the $300.

Almost a year later, on 9/15/2025, I received a bill from Hertz US for the $300. So while Hertz US could not help me and claimed no involvement when I requested their help with the fraudulent "damage" charges, they suddenly becomes involved when it is to their advantage.

Never, never, never rent from Hertz France.

I rented a car with Hertz France (Charles de Gaulle pick up, Mulhouse return) and the experience was extremely poor.

The car was dirty, the key was damaged, and the pick-up location was unsafe and unhygienic.

On return, the parking was blocked, no staff were present during normal hours, and I had to use the after-hours key drop.

Despite returning the car on time and undamaged (with video evidence), Hertz falsely recorded a later return, overcharged me by over €500, and even tried to add a damage claim that never happened.

After multiple emails and phone calls providing clear proof, Hertz still issued an incorrect invoice and refused to correct it.

This experience fell far below the standards expected of an international rental company. I cannot recommend Hertz France and strongly caution others to double-check everything carefully.

I booked a car from CDG Paris airport online for 4 days. With full cover the price was 325 euros. At the collection I got another car (lower standing). I added a second driver for 57 euros. When the agent handed me a paper in French to sign I saw that the amount was much higher than the total 382 euros I was supposed to pay. When I asked, he said "don't worry. The extra is a deposit for protection". When I brought the car back I was charged 461 euros. When I made the claim I realised that the agent had added Premium assistance and personal insurance. I wasn't offered these services, let alone I had never wanted them. When I made the claim to customers services my refund was declined on the basis that I had signed the contract. What Hertz doesn't want to admit is that the agent had fooled me and lied to me. It's a robbery. Trust me, Hertz at CDG Paris is a scam. Thieves. Avoid them. That's why they got 1 star only. regardless how vigilant you are, they always find a way to rob you. Very bad reputation .

They haven’t stopped here. Two months after they informed me by email that I would be contacted by a French agency to pay a traffic fine for exceeding speed. As planned, I was contacted by the agency and I paid the fine online. The same thing happened a couple of weeks later. Surprisingly, I found out that Hertz took twice 19.99 euros from my credit card without informing me. When I wrote to them, I was told that correspond to the fees of the 2 emails when they informed me that I would be contacted to pay the fine and that this is written in the Terms and Conditions of the rental agreement. I checked and even shared the contract with ChatGpt. There was no article or reference to such fees in the contract.

This confirms that Hertz France is a real scam. Once they get your credit card they keep charging you even without you knowing.

Avoid, avoid, avoid

Everything went wrong! I will never, ever again use Hertz France. They towed our car for a simple flat tire, and left us stranded for four days without a car in the countryside where we unable to even walk to a supermarket. The manager of Hertz Bordeaux airport was appalling - rude, unprofessional and icompetent. They charged us twice our original cost for not having a car and took the money from my card without first sending me an invoice. I am still in the process of a legal claim.

Never ever use Hertz France.
We flew into CDG, and we had to wait over 3 hours just to get the car. It was tiring and there was no place to sit, and we had a tired toddler with us. They had 2 staff on duty, one incompetent that kept making mistakes and the other left for a break.
The customer service is super bad. AVOID!!

Terrible service, the car we booked was unavailable and the substitute car they gave us was automatic (we booked manual) and did not have room in the boot for our 3 suitcases. This was particularly disappointing as this was a feature we specifically needed and it barely fitted two of our suitcases in

The car was not ready and dirty. They tried to upsell the car, the insurance and kept us waiting for 40 minutes.

Warning – Hertz France charged me €183 for pre-existing damage despite clear video proof

Avoid Hertz France at all costs. I rented a car from their Nice location on July 3, 2025 (Rental Agreement #551367541) and returned it on July 5. Just hours after returning it, I received an email saying I had caused “new damage” — and that I’d be charged for repairs.

But I had video and photo evidence clearly showing the damage was already there at the time of pick-up. I followed their own staff’s instructions and recorded the condition of the car, including close-ups of the exact area they later claimed was “new.” The videos are timestamped and include metadata proving they were taken on July 3, before driving off.

Despite this, Hertz charged me €183, including a bogus “loss of use” fee. I sent all the evidence, but they simply ignored it and replied with a generic email citing their internal inspection process.

This is a scam tactic — charge customers for damage they didn’t cause, then hide behind “company policy” to avoid accountability. If I hadn’t recorded the car myself, I’d have had no way to defend myself.

Be extremely careful if you rent from Hertz France. Take detailed videos and photos, and even then, don’t expect fair treatment. I’m requesting a full refund — and I hope this review helps others avoid being taken advantage of like I was.

I had a nightmare experience and continue to do so with this company. I got a flat tyre in Bordeaux, after many failed attempts at getting through to anyone on the phone, just AI bots, in the end I had a french person help me to deal with the tow truck and assistant when it finally arrived hours after the event. There was no spare tyre in the car. I got a replacement car and new agreement that night. They just took 2,500e from my VISA card for the flat tyre and new agreement. As I diligently handed the car back a day early, confirming at the counter that I would be re-imbursed they penalized me instead. They are now charging close to 1,500 rather than 800e for the car rental as I broke the agreeement when I handed it back a day early so they decided to charge exorbitant daily rates. Then, with all the damage loss, admin, assistance call-out I am being billed close to 900e for the flat tyre.

I had booked a 7 seater vehicle. When I got to the desk they informed me it was manual transmission and automatic would cost more. Initially 200 euros more, then this was dropped to 140. I still refused.

When I got the car I discovered that it was automatic after all, the guy in the car park said they don't have an manual 7 seaters. It was clearly just a scam to extract extra cash!

I rented a car from these people because I didn’t read the reviews. I trusted the brand, huge mistake. I like so many was scammed for made up damage. They are well known for the “wheel” scam where they make up wheel damage. I returned the car at 9:03pm though they were open, not one employee in the lot or terminal. Huge red flag. Sure enough, the next day I got the scam $140. They also charged a deductible which means they are also likely scamming an insurance company. I called and was lied to and told that they would refund additional charges. Emails are not responded to. Somehow they can respond to vast amounts of negative feedback but not actual email. DO NOT do business with these people. I’m working with my CC to reverse the charge I was told it will be quick as “this merchant has a history of overcharging customers and not responding to customer’s requests”. Document your attempts to fix it, give em a week, then reverse the charge on your cc.

It’s also important to send a letter informing the Centre Européen des Consommateurs France of instances of overcharging and made up claims. This company is pure unmitigated fraud.

Only 5 people in front of me yet it took 40 minutes to get my pre-booked car. The staff and absolutely no interest in attending to customer. AVOID THIS COMPANY AT CDG airport.

The car a C3 was ok but pick up in CDG Paris was a catastrophe 3 hours waiting only one person for 2 hours and he was extremely slow.
Returning the car was easy, but i passed the pick-up please and it was exactly the same long que as a 4 days before sow they have a problem.

Unexpected Hidden Charges – Beware of Excess Mileage Fees

I rented a car from Thrifty (Paris CDG Airport) for 3 days and was shocked to receive a final invoice charging me €196 for 333 “excess” kilometers, even though I was never informed about any mileage limit.

Thrifty often advertises unlimited mileage, and at no point during booking or vehicle pickup was I told that a cap applied. Had I known, I would’ve made different travel plans. The vehicle was fully refueled before return, and with just €30 worth of petrol, it is physically impossible to have driven the 1083 km they claim.

I’ve contacted customer service for clarification, and if this is not resolved, I will escalate the case to European Consumer Protection Authorities.

This feels like a hidden fee tactic. Be very cautious and double-check your contract for mileage limits, even if the website says otherwise.