Rental Company Data Breach Hertz publishes customer personal information
Car rental company Hertz says the data breach has damaged customer information. (Scripps News)
Scripps News
Hertz Rental Car Company, along with its dollars and rif-around affiliates, deploys AI-powered vehicle inspection scanners that scan when you put out a car or damage a car. The motivation here is clearly to improve rental fleet maintenance and introduce objective data into the traditionally rather subjective damage reporting process. But just two months after the initial deployment of the scanner at the real-world Hertz facility, there is already a problem.
That skinny was a Hearts customer Patrick, and rented a Volkswagen from Hertz from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. drive. Patrick later returned the car, but there was an inch of scuffing on the rear wheels of the driver’s seat. Apparently, after passing the vehicle through the scanner, “a few minutes” said he received a curb rash claim. I added $250 to repair it, $125 for “processing” and $65 for “administration fee.”
In total, the fee was $440.
It hurts, it’s a lot of scratching – and fast
It is not clear what is the typical Hertz repair cost, or how quickly human-earned damages will turn into customer repair estimates and claims, but the company defines processing and management fees as “the cost of detecting and estimating damages that occur during rental (includes) as “covering (Hertz)”. drive.
We also consider that humans focus on rentals of damages, entering such damages into the corporate system, and generating estimates of repair fees, will certainly take longer than the end-to-end process, and will definitely take longer to start immediately after the car rental return.
To put things in perspective, professional curb rush repair jobs usually cost between $100 and $250 per wheel. Heck, all-new wheels (rental VW looks like the late model Jetta, based on the wheels in the photo drive) The repair estimate given to Patrick may be price competitive, but the list price is just over $500.
Patrick agreed to the terms and claimed that if paid within two days, Hertz would give him a $52 discount. Or, if he paid within a week, he could get a $32.50 discount.
Patrick told the outlet he wanted to talk to someone and ask about the accusation. Hertz’s website allows customers to connect with live chat agents, but the same doesn’t seem to be said about the app yet. They can only flag claims in later reviews. Patrick followed the company prompts and sent an email, but it could take up to 10 days for the response to appear. The discount is only good for 7 days, remember.
As of Monday, June 23rd, Patrick had not paid the bill. drive: “It’s not worth saving $30 to accept responsibility.”
What can you do?
Following this, Motor trends We reached out to our company representatives to ask what Hertz is doing to make it easier for customers to access live agents in the face of automation of the rental process. We also asked whether rental prices and rental repair costs are high for customers who rent from locations where they don’t use scanners.
On the record, a Hertz spokesman said, “The majority of rentals are safe. In the event of damages, our goal is to improve the rental experience by increasing transparency, accuracy and speed in the process.
Meanwhile, if you pick up a car rental at the start of your trip, forget to take a photo or overlook existing damage. The scanner can prevent you from accidentally charging for dents already there. You can freely depart the rental lot without worry. When returning the car, I can leave without stressing about missing something when I first picked it up, and I’m sure I didn’t add any patina to my car while I was renting.
Hertz announced its use of AI scanners in April. It is partnered with former Israeli defense and current AI vehicle inspection system company Uveye. The scanner can measure the treadware and provide 360 views of the car’s underlayer, body and glass. Instead of humans coming out and doing visual inspections, the scanner can do it consistently and frequently. Uveye claims the system increases the accuracy of damage detection five times.
Hertz plans to implement 100 Uveye scanners at approximately 1,600 US airport locations by the end of 2025. It promotes “transparency” as one of the main benefits customers can expect from technology, but hasn’t seen it yet. how Transparent remains when customers require them to speak to living humans to contest the findings at all times.
To be careful, this left a 6-hour unmanned rental desk, attempting to charge customers $10,000 despite its unlimited mileage policy, attempting to charge Tesla customers for gas, attempting to settle $168 million, and firing hundreds of customers for stealing their cars, settling $168 million after hundreds of customers accidentally accusing them of stealing their cars.
Hertz filed for bankruptcy in 2020, but left the bankruptcy a year after the trip was fully recovered. They were able to offload more than $5 billion in debt, buy cars for the fleet, and invest in modernizing technology.
Photo by the manufacturer
