Hertz Gold Review

I may have mentioned my distaste for renting a car in the past. However, I think you’ll see in my Hertz Gold review how I have sort of changed my mind.

We were able to test Hertz Gold out during our trip to Las Vegas/California, and we were overall very happy with our experience.

To me, renting a car is the equivalent of hell. I would pretty much rather do, well anything, but go on a trip that involves renting a car. So when Marriott offered their elite reward members a complimentary one year Hertz Gold membership, I thought, why not? My rental car hatred can’t get any worse. So once we were done in Las Vegas, we arrived at the airport to pick up our rental (and drive to California).

The Hertz line was massive. It had to be at least an hour deep. However, thanks to our Hertz gold membership we bypassed the line completely. We walked right to the car pickup area, and found our name on a board. It told us the slot our car was parked in, and we were in and out in under 10 minutes. Dare I say it, but it was almost an enjoyable process.

We returned the car same day to a Hertz counter located in the JW Marriott Palm Desert Resort. They emailed us the final receipt, and all was perfect.

I love when things work out as planned!

The second leg of our rental was not as easy. However, I don’t necessarily blame Hertz, as much as the guy behind the counter (and us for not looking over our paperwork). I guess I was just so excited to get to Disneyland!

So we picked up our rental car from the same place we dropped it off, the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort, and are driving it one way to the Marriott in Anaheim. The original car we were assigned was in need of an oil change, so we were about to be given a Mustang convertible. However, by the end of our transaction, the Hertz guy realized someone else had already reserved it for today. Ugh.

So we were given a minivan instead. Yep.

Anyway, our paperwork, which we didn’t realize until after we were already in Anaheim, still said we had a Mustang.

Unfortunately, the Hertz location at the Anaheim Marriott was closed when we returned the car. They have it where you just drop the key into a slot by the desk and park it in a certain area.

We stopped by the next morning once the counter opened, but the girl had no idea what we were talking about. Apparently, someone comes by to collect the keys and processes everything at a nearby, more central Hertz location overnight. Bleh!

To make matters even worse, we were already emailed the receipt and were overcharged (a lot) for things from this non-existent mustang they didn’t get back. Yikes.

Anyway, once we got home we contacted Hertz, and thank GOD we took a pictures of everything. We were able to prove their error and our credit card was refunded within a few days. But what a headache! We really should have double checked everything initially.

I’m happy Hertz refunded the error without too much issue, but they did require proof on our end. I’d like to think even if we didn’t take the pictures (which I’m so happy I thought of doing!) that they would have been able to figure it all out and still refund us, but who knows.

Anyway, overall the Hertz gold program is great. It makes car renting for haters like myself a much more enjoyable experience (or as enjoyable as renting can be). I LOVED not having to wait in a long line, or being sold things I don’t want or need (Hertz Gold has all our preferences saved).

Hertz charges $60 a year for their gold membership, and even though we received a year for free, I still think the price is well worth it. You pay a little for a lot less hassle.