SAN FRANCISCO—The city of San Francisco has settled a lawsuit with the Hertz Corporation and ATS for $3.65 million for charging allegedly hidden fees to rental car customers who crossed the Golden Gate Bridge.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Supreme Court on March 1, 2017 on behalf of the people of California, revealed news about the settlement on Tuesday, February 19. The lawsuit stems from Hertz’s PlatePass service, which permitted customers to bypass cash toll lanes and use the faster electronic FasTrak lanes without having to establish a FasTrak account. In 2013, Golden Gate Bridge went to cashless, electronic tolling in 2013 and Hertz’s PlatePass service provided no real benefit to motorists.
“People leave their hearts in San Francisco,” said Herrera in a statement. “We’ve made sure they don’t have to leave their wallets with Hertz when they do. Accurate pricing is the backbone of a fair marketplace, but in too many industries, consumers don’t know the true price because of hidden fees. Many Hertz customers were unwittingly paying more than quadruple the actual toll just to cross the Golden Gate Bridge once. The Golden Gate Bridge is an international icon, but charging someone $32 to cross it is simply wrong. We put a stop to that. And because of this case, Hertz has reduced its toll service fee nationwide. Hertz is also now upfront about its fees and disclosing to Bay Area customers how they can pay Golden Gate Bridge tolls directly to the Bridge District and avoid any fees at all.”
Hertz misled its customers about how to avoid PlatePass and its expensive fees by using the free and convenient payment options offered by the Golden Gate Bridge.
The result of these practices was that Hertz customers were unwittingly purchasing the supposedly-optional toll service PlatePass, and paying up to $24.75 in extra fees, including fees charged for every day of the car rental, even if the toll service was only used on one of those days.
In response to the lawsuit, Hertz attorneys claimed that the company made “numerous and robust disclosures” about the toll systems in its cars “at a price expressly disclosed in the Hertz rental contract.”
Written By Hilary Dorsey and Casey Jacobs
