Hertz Rent A Car

The staff was quick, polite and helpful. The car was clean and ready to go. Convenient location for me. The price was right compared to other local car rental places I have used, so I gave them a try and I will be back.

I am a Hertz gold member and rent often from Hertz. This is the WORST experience I have had. Unlike any other location, they would not pick up and deliver and refused to reimburse for a taxi or über. I saw a big sign about cleaning charges and figured it was probably a scam to add on but I went ahead and vacuumed out the car (I had a dog and there was some dog hair on the floor mats). He went ahead and charged me a cleaning fee even though it was vacumed because there was some dog hair on the floor mats, which I tried to remove and shake out but they were fastened. Also, when I returned it, I had to wait a long time because it is so poorly managed, they did not have staff available to acomodate people renting and returning on a Saturday before closing. The assistant manager was polite at least but I’m sure he has a lot of practice at saying «I’m sorry.» Last time at this location!!!

Very accommodating when I had a small repair needed at a local body shop. It was taken care of insurance and they picked me up at the shop, took care of my rental car in about 5 minutes and I was on my way. When my car repair was complete, they told me to leave the car at the body shop and they would take care of everything. Went as smooth as it could and I believe in supporting local businesses… especially when well deserved.

Rented a car here for the Thanksgiving break. I waited almost half an hour after I arrived with a reservation before someone could help me. The minivan I rented sounded like it had not been maintained well, very loud engine. Cigarette lighter/​electrical sockets did not work, so I could not charge my phone during the trip. After a day, the low tire pressure light came on. I called Hertz who told me to take it to a local Firestone, which I did. They checked the car and filled the tires and told me all was well. The next day, a tire blew out on the highway. It was a Sunday, so this office was not open. The Hertz roadside assistance line answered, but they were not helpful at all. Left us on the side of the highway, told us to find a way to O’Hare airport on our own since it was the closest open Hertz location even though it was two hours away. They said if the local office agreed, they would refund the cost to get to O’Hare. They said if the local office agreed, they would not charge us for the blown out tire. They said they could send someone to put the spare tire on, but, again, they would charge us unless the local office agreed to waive the fee. They said if they had to tow the car, they would charge us. Fortunately, a State Police Officer arrived along with the Indiana highway assistance truck, and they were able, with much difficulty, to dislodge the spare from underneath the minivan and put it on the car. They said it was very difficult to do even with their experience.
When I returned the car to the Green Bay Road Hertz location in Evanston and told them quietly and politely what happened, the nice gentleman said he’d have to get his manager. He came out, and I was met with icy stares, treated like I had done something wrong and told I would be charged for the blown out tire. When I told him about the problems with the car and that I had taken the car to Firestone as Hertz told me, they said that there was no problem with the car when they rented it to me. The manager, Mr. Addo, then started to fill out a Pre-​Rental Vehicle Inspection Form.
I will not rent from Hertz again.

I need to echo the numerous bad experiences and extremely poor customer service that others have encountered here. I cannot more strongly recommend searching for other locations before patronizing the 1901 North Green Bay Road, Evanston location, specifically because of Mr. Ransford M. Addo the branch manager. On 11NOV15, I extended an existing reservation G7462885736 to a weekly rental. I requested to keep the same car. The associate was happy to accommodate this request. He promptly checked the vehicle, and then issued it again under reservation G7481163359. I needed to extend this reservation under G7574503700. My wife and I arrived around 12:45 on 21AUG15 this is where the train went off the tracks. They were very busy and to complicate matters their systems were down. I waited for a while for Mr. Addo to finish with other customers. I then said I needed to extend this reservation and I would return it on Sunday. He indicated that if I returned it on Sunday that I would be charged an extra day until Monday. When I inquired why he stated «Because that’s the rules.» I then requested to close the reservation and start a new one with a weekend rate. He stated he could not do that since his systems were down. He said to call or make a reservation online and he could manually process it. I asked him to call and he refused. When I called Hertz they could not make the reservation because the facility was closed. After explaining that I was there and their systems were down I asked them to speak to Mr. Addo he spoke to them and could not resolve the issue. I was quite agitated and frustrated at this point due to previous issues with Mr. Addo and this facility (i.e being late for work because when I went there in the morning during business hours the office was closed because they were working on oil changes for the cars). He then turned off the lights and said were closed and asked me to leave and went to his office. I began inquiring why he continually provides such poor service and was so unwilling to assist. I did this from his office doorway where he ignored me and did not respond. He then came out and said that I speak to him like an animal I don’t want to rent from him because he was black and that I AM A RACIST! I was so taken back from this line of commentary and in total shock that someone in a management role from Hertz or anyone would personally assault me verbally and emotionally. He said go rent somewhere else if I don’t want to rent from back people and repeatedly called me a racist. His associate had to get in between us for him to stop assaulting me. His associate asked me to leave I concluded by stating that he is the worst manager that I have ever encountered at any company and should not be working for Hertz. I then left and spoke to the Hertz Gold Desk and they recorded the events. I cannot stress enough how unprofessional Mr. Ransford Addo is and that is verbal assault is one of the most unprofessional acts I have ever encountered either professionally or personally. Neither my wife nor I feel safe dealing with Mr. Addo at this time. It is without a doubt the worst customer service experience of my life.

I should have been forewarned by all the existing terrible reviews on here, but oh well I went ahead and rented a car. What a hassle. In the end I got a car and things were OK, but this involved more headaches than necessary. I reserved a one way rental from this location with drop off in Iowa the following day. Both pick up and drop off at 4pm as
told me that the location in IA closed at 4pm on the return day. I show up to the Evanston location at 4:10 or so. I was relieved when they found my reservation right away. They asked what kind of a car I wanted and I said that I had reserved a full size car — wasn’t that noted on the reservation. The response «We have some, but they aren’t clean, you’ll have to wait 15 minutes.» Ok fine, I thought. Given how many bad reviews stated that they didn’t have cars available at all I should consider myself lucky. Then they proceeded to ask me all sorts of questions that should have been available from when I made the reservation online. Like when and where I was returning the car. Huh? Then the told me that the IA location closed at 1 the next day. «No,» I replied, «I made the reservation on
and it says they close at 4 tomorrow.» They said that
was wrong but suggested I could call the other location to ask about their hours. Um… shouldn’t they have been the ones to call the other location? But I did and the other location said they close at 3. Not 4 as promised online, but better than 1. Then I finally went out to the car once it was «clean.» The windows had sticky residue and couldn’t be rolled down. Not really a big deal as I knew it was going to be very hot and would be using air conditioning only as a result. But still, absurd. Car was not all that clean. Then they said that the gas was half full so I should return it as half full too. I expected and preferred a full tank, but whatever. Then when I get in the car the tank was only about ¼ full. By this time I had been there long enough and just wanted to get out of there, I let it go even though I realized it would cost me extra gas money that it should not have. What a joke this place is. I don’t often, or ever, rent from Hertz, so not sure how much of the problem was this location or Hertz in general (certainly the bad info on its website about operating ours is a larger problem), but I’ll never be back.

Beware! After being hit by a State Farm client, I was told by State Farm to go to this location to pick up a rental car. When picking up the car, the Hertz rep offered me insurance. I asked if State Farm covered it, and was told they cover $ 25 a day, so I picked one that was much less. I asked and verified multiple times that I would not be charged for anything. After returning the vehicle, I find a charge for $ 154 on my card. I had to call 3 times, was put on hold, and then was told by the manager that he would call me back — he never did. After calling again and finally catching him at a time that was convenient for him, I was told it was my fault, and I should have known better. Wow! So, beware! If you believe whatever lies they tell you at the Hertz counter, it’s your own fault, apparently.
I’ve spoken to the manager at Hertz, and the corporate office to no avail. They are more concerned with misleading customers to get more money than having repeat customers. I will never go to Hertz again. Do yourself, and your wallet, a huge favor, and avoid this place.

Reserved (and paid for) a compact car. When I arrived, the parking lot was completely empty and the clerk told me that they didn’t have any cars. Rather than trying to help me, he suggested that I call the corporate toll free number.
Fortunately, about 45 minutes after my reservation time, someone finally returned a Corolla. I’m giving it two stars instead of one because:
— I did eventually get a car
— It was quite a good deal
— The clerk didn’t try to give me the hard sell on optional insurance
Still, I would recommend that if you need to use this Hertz location, arrive early!

Also believe this place should be a negative star. I had a reservation from State Farm to pick up a vehicle at this location I have been told for the last four days they do not have any cars and good luck calling this place they do not think it’s important to pick up the phone. This place is a disgrace no customer service! Rude Employees very dis organized Hertz should be embarrassed to put there name on this building. I will make sure my insurance company knows the kind of place there are doing business with. Stay away from this place by all means!
I have cancelled my reservation and rented a vehicle elsewhere I gave them 4 opportunities. If you want peoples business you should start by picking up the phone and be more respectful towards the customer.

If I could give negative stars I would… and while I don’t doubt some have had a positive experience or two with this (or any) Hertz, based on previous reviews and my own experience I would HIGHLY discourage anyone of EVER renting from this (or any) Hertz.
My wife and I were coming home to Evanston for 6 days around Christmas from the 22−28^th. On November 28^th I made a reservation for a Premium car in which I pre-​paid, in FULL for the entire week’s rental.
Coming in on the 22^nd we were slightly delayed, so I called Hertz and let them know we would be late. The Hertz employee I spoke with said that was probably a good thing because cars were a bit tight, so I voluntarily told him I would not come in on the 22^nd and instead show up on the 23^rd to make sure they had the car I want. I gave him my reservation #, let him know I was a «Hertz Gold» member, let him know my exact needs, let him know that I was only interested in a Premium car and told him I would be in first thing on the 23^rd.
When I arrived on the 23^rd at 7:45 in the morning, the employee I spoke with wasn’t there, but the branch manager was who told me that not only did they not have the premium car I had reserved and pre-​paid for one month in advance, but they didn’t have any cars. On top of that, the employee I spoke with the day before made no mention whatsoever of my call.
The manager simply told me there was nothing he could do. My wife and I had a VERY tight day planned of visiting relatives and running errands, it was our only day with time to get some very important stuff done before the holiday and we had no hope of accomplishing anything without a car.
After much pleading, the manager agreed to call another location to see if they had a car. He walked off away from me a bit, but I clearly heard him call someone, tell them that he had an angry customer and ask if they had any FULL SIZE cars. This was in many respects the most egregious sign of disrespect in an experience chock full of them. He knew I wanted a premium car (I had reserved one, paid for one and made a pretty big deal out of it) and yet he made NO attempt to find me the car I wanted.
In many ways I don’t blame the manager, it is the awful systems of Hertz that is most at fault. Yet the managers plan was simply to try and wait me out and hope I would go away. I had no intention of doing so. I looked around at Enterprise and Budget, but their rates were now nearly triple of what they were back in November when I booked and I was stuck at Hertz.
The manager told me he would try his best, but in the meantime went out to a lot still with about 6 cars in it and took the smallest compact car in the lot and gave it to me.
I only had bad options at this point: 1) take the compact car, 2) pay about $ 1000 extra dollars to rent the car elsewhere or 3) take no car and cab it everywhere until they could find the premium car I wanted.
At NO time did the manager offer any sort of compensation or do anything besides make one phone call. I even called Hertz corporate who said they werent surprised as this tends to happen, and they promised to have the Area Manager call me (he never did).
I rent cars (mostly from Enterprise) for about 5 – 7 days out of a month as I travel for work. And I have never, ever experienced anything like this.
I would strongly, strongly recommend that you NEVER rent from Hertz. In particular this Hertz.
It was an experience along the lines of those I’ve had trying to get stuff done in the third world, but not anything I ever expected from an American company who I thought had some modicum of business integrity.

Rented a car, and asked to be picked up at noon, as I needed to drive to Indiana. They were late to pick me up, and then you me that they did not have a car available, and that I needed to drive to a location more than 45 minutes away (on the opposite direction from where I wanted to go) to get a car!
When I told the representative that they should have informed me, so that I could have made alternate plans, he said that’s not how they operated!

The worst. Staff is usually one person handling 10 people waiting for customer assistance. He was incredibly late picking me up, maybe he’s overworked, I don’t know, but the friendliness is pretty minimal. I had to go through some intense and kind of mean up-​selling, agreed to pay for the fuel, was charged for the fuel when I picked up and when I dropped it off, charged for it AGAIN. Of course, when I called back to tell them to refund me no one picked up. This was after they were supposed to contact me before my insurance coverage ran out for the car, I had to find out from my insurance much later that coverage ran out, which means they got an extra $ 300 from me. Never rent from this location.

Wish I could give less than one star. I booked a car three days in advance through their website. Even signed up for their Gold Club Membership or whatever and paid for the car ahead of time. Got a call the day of pick up saying that they, «May not have a car for me.» I asked if they knew the odds of them having a car and if they recommend I book through someone else. Was told, «I don’t want to get your hopes up that we’ll have one, but we don’t want you to book with someone else. This was a courtesy call to help you out.» Helping me out would have been finding me a car… I called the 1 – 800 number to share this with them and they were less than helpful. They completely blamed the branch but didn’t offer to do anything to help me. He did tell me that if they didn’t have a car, they’d refund me my money. I literally laughed out loud. Obviously they would refund my money if there was no car for me to rent. He also told me that there is no cap on their bookings and their fleet was low because of recent recalls. Sure enough I could still go book a car on their website, even though their lot is empty. Not once did either person apologize for the inconvenience. Poor business plan, and poor customer service.
I ended up booking through Budget on Chicago Ave. (and paying $ 50 more because it was the day of — not their fault, but totally sucks). They were very helpful, I’ll exclusively work with them from now on.

Helpful and reasonable staff; free upgrade. Lots of information offered. I would come back.

Most highly would not recommend.
It’s obvious, and even pointed out by the staff, that the company does not care about customer service and returning customers. I guess they make enough from over booking reservations online.
I had two bad experiences, and they are my last:
First booking through another site that searches for the best rental car rates. Even though I had a Hertz reservation number and a reservation that showed on their system, they would not honor the rate that I was quoted online and had proof in a email because as they put it «It was not booked through our site» (it was only a difference of $ 3/​day.) They said they cannot honor the prices quoted from other sites even if they result in a Hertz reservation. I have never heard of that before.
Second experience was the worst. Not only had I decided to sign up for their ‘Gold Plus Membership’ and booked through their site this time, I had also paid in advance for my car and reserved to pick it up on Sat morning. To my surprise as well as many others I found that morning, they did not have my car. They asked us to wait as they called around to other locations and tried to get cars sent over. The staff member said that it was not his fault, but that of Hertz as they do not put a cap on reservations based on available cars. They simply take an unlimited amount of reservations and sometimes they «over book» and it’s not uncommon. I found that they had cars available that morning but had ended up giving them out to people who showed before me. So neither my ‘Gold Plus’ status, NOR the fact that I paid in advance actually reserved me a car for the time specified, let alone the fact that I indeed made a reservation for a car. Also, when I called ahead that morning on my way to the location they didn’t even inform me on the phone that I would have to be waiting around another 45mins before a car was available.

Booked a rental car through Priceline at this location. I took the Purple Line to Dempster and walked to 1326 Dodge Avenue to discover… nothing.
There was an empty storefront at the far end of a strip mall with no signage.
I called Priceline and discovered that this particular Hertz had moved to 1901 Green Bay Road. I walked to that new location from 1326 Dodge Avenue. (Note to Unilocal,you might consider updating the address.)
No apologies from either Priceline or Hertz.
Very dissatisfied customer. I would recommend renting with either a different Hertz location or a different company such as Enterprise.

This was the worst experience ever. They were supposed to pick my up at 9am by 930 i have to call them to find out whats going on and they «are in delay» so probably another 30−45min. And i start work at 1030, really i mean really, and no sorry no apology. I don’t care if you say you will pick me up at 9 do so otherwise i would have booked 8 and maybe they would pick me up by 930. For this money you can get better rental place. Agree absolutely no wonder they are no longer #1 rental company.

I had an absolutely wonderful experience at the Dodge Ave. Evanston Hertz office. Me and the gf reserved a car for a month — there prices were very affordable and the staff was so friendly and professional. We called to request a pick-​up and were picked up by Tiffany the manager. They didn’t have the car we reserved there so we got a two-​level upgrade from the small economy car we requested to a 2011 Toyota Corolla with GPS for no extra charge. The GPS (I think) has a daily use charge but we were also given this option at no extra charge. As we were driving across country this came in really handy.
Tiffany was flexible and accommodating and met the needs we had, she wasn’t constantly trying to «up-​sell» us with unnecessary charges which has been my experience with other car rental locations/​staff and in my opinion makes for some pretty bad customer service.
Despite me and the gf returning the car at the last minute in a snow storm Tiffany was so pleasant and professional — despite her having to stay late on a friday night. She dropped us off back home in the middle of the snow storm. I would definitely recommend this location — if only all businesses had such good customer service!

I rent cars frequently for business. I was so astounded at the rudeness of the staff at this location that I called the 800 number after I picked up the car. When I returned it, nothing had changed. The staff is dismissive, unfriendly, rude. They act as if you are hassling them by giving them your business. When I called the 800 number (customer service) again today to complain, they simply said, «Thank you — have a nice day». They don’t care at all. Better go to Thrifty or Enterprise. There’s a reason why this is no longer the Number 1 rental car company in the country. They are beyond rude (not to mention the car was dirty)