San Francisco - Los Angeles - San Diego

Both pick-up and drop-off were very fast, and there was no issue with using a magnetic stripe card for the deposit instead of a chip card. We even extended our rental by a day without any formalities, and the fee was deducted directly from the deposit when we returned the car.

Satisfied

The booking page indicated free cancellation, but when plans changed and I needed to cancel, I was informed there were conditions. Why not clearly state the cancellation policy when booking?

The service from Hertz was very good, but Americans are not very efficient. We waited for over half an hour to pick up the car, even though there were hardly any people ahead of us. The best part about Hertz cars is that they all come with Fastrak, so you can use the Fastrak lanes on toll bridges and pay later when you return the car. The QX80 we exchanged for was excellent, white, with no scratches, very new inside, and highly equipped. It even had built-in navigation and XM radio. We had four suitcases and bought three more, completely filling up the third-row seats when folded. Luckily, we changed cars. However, parking a large car was challenging since many parking spaces were quite small. Hertz's phone service was very quick, and they answered our questions accurately and promptly.

Chinese reception, speaks Mandarin. They didn't inform us in advance that the reserved car was unavailable. Upon picking up the car, we found out and communicated with the staff. They offered us a smaller Dodge or a Chevrolet for an extra $300 per day. We ended up spending an additional $160 on two insurances (one of which was for collision with uninsured vehicles, which in hindsight, was unnecessary). Returning the car was smooth; it was inspected on the spot and the deposit was refunded within two hours.