Cheap Car Hire in Historic Ybor, Tampa

My rental was suppose to be at Tampa airport, But upon arrival, Hertz apprised me it was at its North Tampa location. There was no mention in my itinerary of North Tampa. To resolve, I had to pay current rate of $400 vs. $200 I orriginally contracted in February.

The Hertz rental location manager did not have my vehicle ready and available for me at my scheduled time and then proceeded to blame my frustration on my being 30 minutes late past my scheduled pickup time, which was kind of an odd excuse for why my rental was not ready or available. An hour later, the rental vehicle arrived on the lot in horrible shape (dirty on the outside and a complete mess on the inside). The story from the store manager was that the vehicle needed an oil change and that's why it was not on the lot. So, I drove away in my filthy late vehicle that I had prepaid for about 3 weeks prior. The most intriguing part of my Hertz rental experience was when the Hertz rental location manager arrived at my home un-announced and un-invited about 2 hours after I picked up the rental vehicle and told me it was an emergency that the prior renter had left something inside the vehicle. I was flustered not only at the fact that this manager had decided to show up without my knowledge or consent, but also because I was still working and on a phone call so I wanted to just make him leave. At this point, my children had already put some of their bags into the rental vehicle as we were about to depart on our road trip within the next hour. So, as I allowed the Hertz manager to search for this mystery item I noticed that he was being extremely guarded and not sharing what he was looking for. I understood why when he located the item and tried to hide it from me... It was a GUN. A pistol inside the rental vehicle right next to where my kids would be sitting. I was so amazingly upset, angry, frustrated and utterly dumbfounded that I just wanted him to leave. I reported all of this experience and information to Hertz and I am still awaiting an apology, a confirmation, some form of compensatory value but most importantly an explanation as to how this happened and how they will ensure that it never happens again!! I have contacted Hertz multiple times through social media, by phone, by email, but every response has been "we are looking into it". Unless something unexpected happens, I fully expect to ignore me unless legally forced to do something. I would probably try and avoid a company like this - especially because they are just coming off of a massive lawsuit settlement where they falsely claimed renters had stolen their rental vehicles and had them arrested!! What a great company! Avoid Hertz. You'll be happier.

The car pick up and drop off experience was smooth but Hertz charged me multiple extra charges (including a charge double the entire cost of the car rental and the cost of the toll when I had paid the toll in cash and intentionally declined the toll pass) that I had to call them about after my trip, which was time consuming and annoying.

Even thought I called a week, and again a day in advance to confirm reservation, I was told the morning of the rental that if I didn't arrive at the office when it opened, I could not be guaranteed a vehicle. The car that I was given smelled so terribly of disinfectant, we had to purchase bottles of vinegar to dissipate odors. We also had to leave windows open at night and wash all clothes that came in contact with seats and floors.

The rental process was quick and very welcoming. The staff was knowledgeable and helpful and polite. The return was easy and extremely pleasant and thorough. The office was large and clean