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Hi,
I rented a Polestar 2 from Hertz at FCO yesterday afternoon with my Amex Platinum card. The car had a few scratches and dents but looked alright otherwise. While I was driving towards Naples on the highway, a warning message of ‘stop safely, brake failure’ suddenly appeared. Then every warning light on the dashboard came on. The brake felt weird (maybe due to loss of ABS) after the warning message. I managed to exit the highway safely and pulled over. The car won’t turn off (all the warnings were still on) and I felt it’s unsafe to drive any further. I then called the roadside assistance of Hertz and they arranged a tow truck. Because it was a bit late (8pm), I had to get a taxi to Naples airport to get a replacement car.
This is the first time I ever had a brake failure or roadside assistance in my 12 years of driving. Therefore I’m a bit lost about what to do next. Should I contact Amex travel insurance? Should I ask for a report when I return the replacement car to Hertz?
Also the tow truck driver kept saying ‘collision, collision’ while pointing at scratches at the scene. I tried to explain to him that the scratches were already there when I picked up (it’s on the vehicle condition report) but he couldn’t speak much English.
To be honest, I’m really glad that no one got hurt yesterday and felt pretty lucky. However, I really have no clue what to do next. Hertz hasn’t contacted since . Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.I am a bit confused as to what you’re after? A problem arose, it got resolved, you wasted some time, but all is well?
I guess if you complain to Hertz they’ll refund you the booking charge for the hassle. And I guess you’re due the taxi fare to Naples Airport.
The tow truck driver’s job was to tow the vehicle, the scratches were nothing to do with him. You didn’t cause any damage so there’s no need to get the insurance involved unless Hertz start alleging otherwise.
What I would do is submit a complaint to Hertz head office and ask them to investigate how you came to receive a vehicle with a potentially catastrophic defect. It seems to me as though the state of rental vehicles has got worse and worse since the pandemic and local offices are trying to get away with not carrying out repairs and maintenance to save on costs.
The back of my Avis rental in Glasgow in September was severely dented – it was detailed on the rental agreement and I was only using it as a run-around for a few days, but if it happens again I’m going to refuse to accept the car.
Thank you everyone! I’m gonna continue my journey and submit a complaint to Hertz afterwards.
I don’t think I will get back the taxi fare though. Since I was stuck in “kind of nowhere” (no uber etc.), I asked a staff at a nearby cafe for help. The taxi was not metered and the driver asked for 250 EUR in cash, no receipt. The only evidence that I have is a bank statement showing a cash withdrawal at the ATM in the cafe.
I saw some Polestar owners on Reddit saying that they encountered brake failure as well and it turned out to be software issues. Actually this is the second time I encountered issues with Polestar. Last month in Germany, the exterior plastic cover of the A-pillar of my rented Polestar flew off on my way back to the Airport. I guess I will never drive a Polestar in the future.
Did Hertz assistance line or the offer any way to transport you, or did they just leave you at a roadside junction to fend for yourself? Seems kind of strange (and inadequate) that they’d recover the vehicle but leave you to fend for yourself in the middle of nowhere?
Hertz assistance initially told me that they will send a tow truck and a replacement car. Once the tow truck arrived, the driver said it’s too late for any replacement car and that I need to get a taxi to Naples Airport. He gave me a lift to the nearby cafe.
@FlyerSam – sorry to hear of your rather frightening experience; as you have now discovered it’s not so uncommon for Polestars to fail in this or similarly critical ways.
I would complain to Hertz and seek the €250 anyway, even without evidence (you can offer to provide an affidavit) and say you had no choice but to take that option as Hertz offered no alternative solution to resolve a) your absence of transportation in a timely manner and no other taxi service was available from the breakdown location and b) their provision of an unsafe vehicle. Maybe you can see what an uber or similar should cost for the journey.
Thank you @JDB, I will include a quote from uber in my complaint!
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