SF sues Hertz, says it’s ‘gouging’ car renters for bridge tolls

Cameras record license plates as vehicles pass through the automated toll plaza at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Ca. on Tuesday February 28, 2017. Cameras record license plates as vehicles pass through the automated toll plaza at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Ca. on Tuesday February 28, 2017. Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close SF sues Hertz, says it’s ‘gouging’ car renters for bridge tolls 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

For many visitors to San Francisco, a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge is a must. But if they’re driving a Hertz rental car, they’re being ripped off, the city attorney’s office says.

In a suit filed Wednesday, City Attorney Dennis Herrera charged that the rental car giant and a business partner have been fraudulently deceiving tens of thousands of customers into paying what amounts to millions of dollars in extra fees over the past four years “for the simple act of crossing San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge.”

At the heart of the suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, is a toll-paying product, Plate Pass, that the suit says comes with vehicles rented by Hertz Corp. Hertz and its toll-processing partner, American Traffic Solutions, describe Plate Pass as an optional tool to allow customers to cross the Bay Area’s bridges hassle-free. But Herrera says customers have little choice but to use the toll-paying product and end up being hit with surprise credit card charges several weeks after they return home.

The charges include a $4.95-a-day “convenience fee,” up to a maximum of $24.75, plus all incurred tolls, assessed at non-discounted rates. A single bridge crossing by Hertz customers triggers the convenience fee charges for the duration of the rental whether or not another toll is incurred.

For tourists who make one round trip across the Golden Gate once daily for five days, the bill would come to $62.25 for tolls that at $7.50 per trip should total $37.50. A five-day rental with a single round trip across the Golden Gate would cost $32.25 for a $7.50 toll. Hertz Corp. operates the Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly car rental brands.

“These practices are not only unfair, they’re unlawful,” Herrera said in a statement. “Rather than Hertz putting you in the driver’s seat, they’re taking their customers to the cleaners. I am not going sit back and allow one of the largest rental car companies on the planet to take advantage of a world-renowned San Francisco icon to rip off thousands of California visitors and residents.”

Tourists, who may or may not have left their hearts in San Francisco along with plenty of their money, say the unexpected charges leave them with a bad impression, no matter the amount.

“It adds up,” said Stephanie Lee, 50, a Seattle physician, who noticed mysterious charges on her credit card several weeks after a 2013 visit and one round trip across the Golden Gate Bridge, to visit Muir Woods. “For a lot of people on vacation, it comes as an unwelcome surprise.”

After researching the charge and discovering that many others were also upset about the practice, Lee filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. She said she’s pleased that the city attorney’s office is suing Hertz for failing to notify its customers about Plate Pass and the charges they’d incur by crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, which collects all tolls electronically.

“I do think it’s predatory not to tell people about it,” she said. “Once they get to the bridge, they have no choice.”

The suit seeks to halt Hertz and American Traffic Solutions from operating the service, which it says violates sections of the state’s business code banning fraudulent business practices and false advertising. It seeks financial penalties of $2,500 for each violation of the law. The court would determine how that would be calculated, but the total could be in the millions of dollars.

Neither Hertz nor ATS was available for comment.

Most car rental companies charge additional fees when customers accrue tolls by driving through electronic toll collection lanes on a bridge or toll road or in express lanes. Some assess daily fees, charged even on days bridges are not crossed, and others charge only on days the toll pass is used. At least one company charges a flat fee for unlimited tolls. Companies also have different processes for opting in or out of toll services. No industry standard exists.

The city attorney’s office singled out Hertz, Herrera said in a statement, because the company makes it difficult for its customers not to use Plate Pass. He did not rule out taking action against other car rental companies.

“Based on our investigation, Hertz’s practices were the most egregious in terms of both misinformation and gouging customers,” he said. “Hopefully this lawsuit sends a clear message that other companies heed.”

While Hertz, like other car rental companies, gives customers chances to opt out of insurance plans, refueling plans, child car seat and GPS use, and other extra-cost services, the suit says, renters aren’t provided an obvious choice to decline Plate Pass either when they reserve a car or when they pick it up.

The only information on how to avoid Plate Pass charges comes four pages in to the small type of its six-page rental agreement, the suit says. That’s where Hertz cautions renters that they are responsible for paying tolls and advises them that if they don’t want to use Plate Pass, they should “use only traditional cash toll lanes (if available) and make payment directly to the toll authority.” The Golden Gate Bridge eliminated cash lanes in March 2013, collecting all tolls electronically.

Several Hertz customers told The Chronicle they were never informed of Plate Pass, told about toll charges or warned that the Golden Gate Bridge had abandoned its Art Deco cash toll booths.

“There was no mention made of anything — of tolls, of whatever that pass thing was called,” said Ruth Newman, 68, of Louisville, Ky. “The first I heard of it was when I got a (credit card charge) from an unknown third party. I called, and they said it was from my Hertz rental.”

Newman stayed in Emeryville, rented a car there, then drove to Bolinas. She paid cash at the Bay Bridge toll plaza, then crossed the Golden Gate and figured Hertz would simply add the toll to her bill. When she returned the car, she said, they handed her a receipt and told her the bill was paid.

Golden Gate Bridge officials are aware that its lack of toll collectors can confuse rental car drivers. The bridge district has pages on its websites explaining how car rental toll programs work and how drivers can pay tolls in advance or up to two days after crossing the span online, by phone or at cash payment locations. Paying that way avoids Plate Pass charges.

But it’s up to drivers to discover that on their own. George Santulli, 64, a television producer from Lovettsville, Va., rents from Hertz nine or 10 times a year. After being surprised by Plate Pass charges, he learned how to get around them by using Golden Gate’s one-time payment system.

“On the Golden Gate you do have an option, and it’s quite liberal, but I’m sure 2 percent of the public knows about it,” he said. “Ma and Pa Kettle from Cornswitch, Iowa, aren’t going to know about that.”