Hertz rental charge Italy

Someone else had a car just shut down and the rental company charged for damages due to incorrect fuel. Although if you had only had the car for an hour, the agency should have provided the correct fuel ( unless the prior renter had topped up the tank incorrectly.)
Ask for details of the repair charges. Insurance coverage ?

Thanks for your reply Laura! The car wouldn't go into gear, so it appeared to be something wrong with the clutch, the fuel level was fine. But if my understanding is correct, user error cannot cause a clutch to break

Did you report the problem to the rental company as well as record the date time you made the report? That could help you w/the credit card company.

I would ask for a summary of the charges. If they have nothing to do with anything other than normal wear & tear on a car, that would be something else in your favor.

Did you pay for extra insurance that in the event of a problem would not leave you financially liable?

The only times my personal car has stopped for no reason (outside of running out of gas) while running was when the fuel filter was clogged.

Pray tell, who is the CC company that is not protecting its customer?

Others will have better advice.

{Addition: Is it possible you were rented a car that needed repairs so you would be charged for said repairs?}

What did you do exactly when the "car just shut down?" What were your communications with the rental agency? Or did you get service from some third party (a towing or repair shop)? What exactly was wrong with the car? Did you get any paperwork as to the problem. If it was something you did, or could somehow be responsible for, that is different that a mechanical breakdown of the car that had nothing to do with you. What types of insurance did you have? Much of the resolution may come through the insurance.

Your credit card can't help you without these types of answers. You are asking them to void a charge and that only happens if the charge isn't valid, and you need to be able to prove that. If your CC was providing the insurance, you'll need to deal with them at that level. If there was a third party insurance, then they need to be notified.

And Hertz Italy is notorious for bad customer relations and padded charges, so do carefully review everything.

We were stranded in the middle of Tuscany, and got in touch with the Hertz that we rented the car from and they sent a tow truck, they asked us to send the paperwork for the car back with the tow truck then we had to take a taxi to another Hertz location to get a new car. After that we had no other paperwork given to us, and nothing else was communicated to us until we saw the charge on our credit card. We didn't purchase any additional insurance, we have just been trying to dispute the charge with Chase.

We did research on the type of car that we rented, and it appears that the car had recalls on the exact problem that they are charging us for.

Thank you, Sarah, for your last answer. The rental company would need to prove (to me) the recall work had been done. AND if it included the clutch, I would question if the clutch was properly aligned with the transmission parts. Clutch problems are not the responsibility of the customer. Even w/o the recall it would be considered "normal wear & tear".

Here's a video about clutch problems.
http://www.ehow.com/video_4977111_troubleshoot-carsclutch.html

Since you sent the paperwork back w/the car, do you have a pic of the car showing license plate? That could help the investigation to find the VIN number & if the recall repairs were not performed before the date you rented the vehicle.

This is curiosity on my part. Call the local (nearest) car sales for the type of vehicle you drove. Ask for the repair shop manager. If recall repairs were not done under the recall, what would the cost of repairs be?

Please let us know how this turns out!

Definitely contact whomever was insuring you then. That might be your personal insurance or your credit card. At the very least, they may be able to assist you.

You may also need to contact the rental agency and have them give you more detailed paperwork on what happened to the car and detailing the charges. They will have the rental agreement too. This may not be easy as it is a foreign agency and such, but it's the hassle that comes with not getting their insurance.

Best of luck.

Sarah: You could go through Hertz's home office in the U.S., but they'll just refer you to their administrative office in Rome.

You can find the Hertz Rome address and phone numbers easily online. You can also communicate with them via internet in English. They certainly owe you an explanation and documentation.

Forget turning this in on insurance, as they're just for body repairs, etc.
You should demand that your credit card put this transaction into "limbo"--pending time for Hertz to document their problem.
I cannot see where any rental company would have a charge back within 1 hour of your picking up the car. If anything, you're the victim having to take time to pickup another car.
If it's any consolidation, Hertz in large Italian cities is owned by the Big Hertz--not a franchise operation.
Anyway it goes, a clutch is not a $2500 repair.