TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Do not rent a car from Hertz

I've rented from Hertz for years and have always been happy with their service and equipment. Last year I hit a pothole and blew both tires on the passenger side. Both tires were very worn with very little tread. They charged $280.00 for 2 tires but said I could submit the claim to my credit card company. Since I rent for six weeks I have to return the car after 4 weeks and start a new rental because credit card companies won't cover rentals longer than 4 weeks. I went thru this drill last year and got the receipt for the first 4 weeks. BIG PROBLEM hertz didn't submit the charge to the credit company and waited until I returned the car after 6 weeks and entered the entire charge as a single line item. M/C refused the claim based on this. I have since learned from a friend at Hertz that they don't buy their tires 2 at a time(as the bogus bill from a tire company they showed me indicated) but buy tires in bulk at very good prices. The topper was when I picked up the same car the next morning it had 2 very worn tires to replace the ones that were damaged!

This year, after the first week we had one flat tire(the spare was as bald as an innertube) and one dead battery.

I'm not renting any more junk from Hertz.

Sorry for your issues with Hertz. I returned a car yesterday and had zero issues with the rental experience both pick up and return. The car was in great shape and the employees were very friendly. I should add that this is my third rental with them and have had great vehicles every time.

It's fine if every goes right, but if you have a problem with the car it's a different story.

I had a less than desirable experience with them many years ago. I have gotten a quote from them each of my past 2 visits and they were off the charts expensive when compared to others. I know some on here have great experiences with service and pricing but I have not had the same. Not charging your card to cover for the 30 day clause would be a major concern.

We got a quote from Hertz SXM last year for our February 2022 trip. We reserved approximately 4 months in advance. A few weeks before we were to arrive, they sent me a revised confirmation with a MUCH higher price than what we had originally been quoted. When I reached out to them and asked about it, they said they no longer carried the class of car I reserved, and they would not honor my original quote. Needless to say, we cancelled. Will not use them again.

Sorry for your experience. I've been renting from them for over 20 years and have never had any issues. Always cars in good shape except for one time the car was less than stellar which I returned and was promptly upgraded to a nice new car. No questions and no extra charges. I will continue to use them this May. As far as discontinuing a class of car, they no longer carry the cheaper economy class and see why they increased the price. At least they notify customers before arrival so they have time to make a decision to accept or decline and book somewhere else.

We have used them many years ago Sometimes no problem but most times problems so we now rent from Kenny's an advertiser on this site.

Lesley at Kenny's goes out of his way to please. Once we had a dead battery and he showed up within 10 mins. with another car for us. But that was the only problem we've had with Kenny's in 25 years.

same thing happened to us last dec21/jan22...booked months in advance with Hertz for 2 rental periods....then a couple weeks before arrival, received new confirmations but price went up by 2x on one, 3x on the other!!....contacted them and was able to get some additional discounts...ultimately kept one reservation but canceled the other and went with another company...this past dec/jan their quotes were crazy high, even with our "repeat customer" discount

Lesley Bruce really is the best, isn’t he?!

We rented from Hertz once years ago and once was enough. There are probably those who have had issues with every company on the island but I can honestly say we’ve NEVER had a problem with KennyS and we use him typically twice a year and have for ages.

We reserved a Corolla sized car with a hertz and when we arrived, they put us in a huge van saying it was all they had available. It wasn’t even a passenger van…… We believe in trying to get along so we accepted it and off we went. The full sized van was a pain.

A couple of days later we were on our way to an early morning boat trip and discovered we had a flat tire. Hired a cab to get to the boat trip and called Hertz telling them EXACTLY where their van was parked with all the details and that we’d be returning at a given late afternoon time and asked it be repaired by then. We got back and not only was it not repaired but a tire on the other side was now leaking as well. Not bad but you could clearly see it was leaking.

Called them one more time and they finally came out with our Corolla-sized car and took the van back. We went to their office where we had to argue with them not to charge us for the van rental price beyond the economy car we had reserved and then they wanted to charge us for the road call for the flat tires.

As I said, once was enough.

We agree with Pat that Lesley from Kenny's car rentals is the best. We have rented from a few car rental companies on the island and have settled in with Lesley the last few rentals. Last September we contacted Lesley for a 2 week rental in Dec and a 1 month rental this coming Mar/Apr, he promptly contacted us to confirm the rentals and quoted a great rate for us. All that's left is to see his smiling face at the airport, sign the agreement and off we go. No worries.

Just wondering if Hertz is a sponsor of this site. I try to only use sponsors. Best

SXM Sponsors

The sponsors are listed at the top of this page and are easy to see.

No they are not. Click on the sponsor link on the top of the page to see the list of sponsors. There are 3 car rental sponsors.

I am very sorry for your experience and can understand why you wouldn't want to rent from them again. Disappointing.

I have been renting from them twice a year for perhaps three years now without issue. In November, I had a nearly new car - under 7,000 miles. As Scubaman said, they no longer carry economy models, but my quote for the next-larger model was only $15/week more than the economy quote. I have two rentals booked for this year and still find them to be less expensive than other agencies from whom I get quotes.

Good for you. I tell them I don't want a new car; I just don't want a car that I can get from Rent a Wreck.

I don't drive a wreck at home, why would I pay to rent one!!! We have been renting from SAX for the last six years (2019 not) and all there cars are either new or within the two year of service. Each car is inspected with a fine tooth comb. That's BS that a rental company would endanger their customers with worn out tires!!! These employees are hired help, you think they care if your claim is taken care of??? LOL!!! They want to put in there time and go home. SAX is a family owned company most of the staff is family!! With over 100 vehicles to choose from, they have what you need!! IMHO, the service is AMAZING and the rates are competitive!! All of their fleet have GPS trackers in case it is stolen!! Cindy and Anil Puran are lovely business people to do business with! We've become friends over the years! We've never had a problem! https://www.saxcarrental.com/