What is Hertz Italiana Spa?

»S.p.a.« is good Italian for »Inc.« or »Ltd.«.

This is an older thread on the same subject but it might be helpful, especially the comment from Ron:

""Hertz Italiana Spa Roma" is a franchisee of Hertz. It is in this sense a separate entity - related by name."

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/hertz-rental-car-charges-in-italy

Does the bill state what the charges are for? They may be for providing your rental info to the authorities for individual traffic violations caught on camera, such as stumbling into multiple ZTLs or bus lanes, speeding, etc. but it's interesting that the charges have been applied so soon. Most people report that these types of charges don't hit until weeks/months after they returned their rentals but that may not always be the case.

If it's for violations, you'll be receiving additional fines from the authorities for the violations themselves.

You also have to consider the possibility that it is for alleged or real scratches on the car. Did you have the CDW? Since Hertz is a big company, you might get some help from the US phone bank. This is not a scam, but it might be something you could protest - did you take photos of the car just before you turned it in?

She hasn't turned the car in yet; it's rented from 6/15/16 - 6/20/16.

A quick check shows that you've been charged €200. Did you have any fees on top of the prepayment? When I rented a car in Palermo through Kemwel, the car actually came from Hertz. It was prepaid to Kemwel, but we then paid extra fees direct to Hertz for the second driver, the window and tire coverage, and gasoline (€80 so we could return the car with an empty tank).

If you do get any tickets, there will be a fee charged by Hertz to turn your information over to the ticketing agency; you then get the ticket itself. However, this process takes weeks to months, not 2-3 days, so it's VERY soon for this to be the explanation. Also, people report that the car rental agencies charge about €45 for this (per infraction), not €200.

I thinks it's too early to be for violations too, Harold, but who knows, maybe someone was weirdly efficient!

Is it a posted charge, or simply a "pending" transaction? It could simply be a "hold" that Hertz placed on €200 euros to cover potential damage. Pending transactions can disappear if they are not finalized in a few days.

Since you rental period has not expired at the time of your writing, that is likely just the credit card "hold" they put in your credit card until you return it. Check the details in your card website, if it's a round €200 it is almost certainly that.

Charges for communicating your name to authorities in case you get a traffic violation (like a speed ticket) are generally under 50€ and they would never arrive that quickly. Usually they arrive after weeks if not months from the violation.

Even if you prepaid your rental, there will be additional charges locally. Mainly the road tax, which is about €3 a day, plus any additional fees you may have agreed on at the time of pick up, such as: extra insurance coverage, additional driver(s), prepurchase of fuel, GPS, child seat. The charge for additional driver is about 10€ a day, GPS a bit more than that. Insurance varies. Whatever it might be, you should have agreed to on the contract at the time of pick up. However those charges are usually applied to your credit card the day you return the car, when the rental is settled, not before. If the charges are a round €200, that would be a clue it's the credit card hold.

SPA is the acronym for Società Per Azioni (Stock Corporation), it is equivalent to the American Inc. or Corp. I laughed my head off when I saw your post. That will make a great joke. It's like my wife telling me that a lot of streets in Germany had the same name: EinbahnStrasse (One Way) or like the guy who couldn't find his car in Honolulu but remembered he had parked in a street called Towaway.

I also rented a car in Italy in June for five days returning it on June 26th, 2016. About three weeks later we received a letter from Hertz Spa Italiana requesting $380 euro (I don't remember exactly how much but around that amount) and it had very little explanation. After numerous emails back and forth it turns out they said we damaged the car. When they finally sent me pictures of the damage it was a very large and very noticeable crack in the windshield. Also, the report was dated three days after I dropped the car off. I know that damage did not happen when I had the car in my possession. it would have been impossible to miss that level of damage and it would have been impossible for them to miss that level of damage when their rep looked over the car when I dropped it off.

I don't know how the contracts and rules work there but I do know that when I drop a car off in the US they annotate the damage immediately. In this case that was not done - because there was none to annotate.

They continue to ask me for payment and I continue to tell them the damage did not happen while the car was in my possession and to please explain to me how that level of damage would have been missed by me and, more importantly, by their representative. To date I have not received an explanation and they have not received a payment.

I certainly would pay for any damage that occurred while the car was in my possession but I know that damage was not there when I dropped off the car. I would have seen it and their rep would have also.

I'm not saying this is a scam but I still have not received anything that answers my question rationally.

What I do find interesting is their email address [email protected]. Not sure what itfnol stands for but the rest is curious.

Start a new thread, rather than tag on to an ancient thread.