I think that someone posted this earlier in the year (maybe 7-8 months ago?), but I couldn't find it. Since this was a different source, I thought I'd post it again as a reminder for folks to be aware of this when returning a car.
A.I. Is Making Sure You Pay for That Ding on Your Rental Car (article unlocked)
Hertz and other agencies are increasingly relying on scanners that use high-res imaging and A.I. to flag even tiny blemishes, and customers aren’t happy.
I've read and heard a number of horror stories about Hertz. I won't rent from them after they switched my mid-size for a Jeep Comanche, which was too tall for my aged mother to get in. The ding-thing is just another cash grab from an already greedy company.
-- Mike Beebe
If they are doing this then it's time to require a prior Ai scan for just before when you drive it off.
And that's only after testing proves that multiple repeat Ai scans don't change when repeatedly scanning the same car.
And what do you want to bet that none of that happens?
I was Hertz President's Circle for years. After seeing a decline in service and reading about the scanners, I've switched to National. So far, very good service and no problems.
From the article;
When they returned the car in Atlanta, they inspected it and saw no
damage. A Hertz employee inspected the vehicle upon its return as
well, they said, and did not flag any damage.But once the couple had passed through airport security, they received
a notification via the Hertz app that its automated system had
detected a dent in the passenger-side front door. They were charged
$195: $80 for the damage and $115 in fees, including those incurred
“as a result of processing” the damage claim and the “cost to detect
and estimate the damage” that occurred during the rental.
In the comments section of the article the author; on numerous occasions replies that the renter drives the car through the scanner on the way out and on the way back in. But that doesn't jive with his article. Plus, processing fees that are higher than the actual damage?? Sounds like the Hertz mission statement is to drive customers away. My rental car company of choice is Enterprise and I'm glad to read they have no plans to use scanning technology. I hope it stays that way. At home, they consistently tell me that any ding smaller than a Loonie (Canadian dollar coin) is acceptable. They didn't use the Loonie analogy in Belgium in September but they had a card with a similar sized circle to compare the size of any dings.
Hertz has done some brain dead things before. This sounds like one of those "need to show Boss we're using Ai" type projects.
I subscribe to the free daily news letters from Chris Elliot, https://www.elliott.org/. This has been a frequent posting in the newsletters and it doesn't seem to be confined to only a few companies. There are also frequent postings about rental companies charging exorbitant fees for dubious cleaning services after the fact with little to no documentation to substantiate the fees charged.
I'm serious about "show Boss we're using Ai". Here's one link. There are many others.
https://hrtechedge.com/survey-finds-most-companies-now-require-employees-to-use-ai/
[snip]
Artificial intelligence isn’t just creeping into the workplace—it’s being written into the job description. A new survey from AIResumeBuilder.com finds that 58% of U.S. companies now require employees to use AI tools, and in some cases, refusal is grounds for dismissal.
