Today we have a Reader Question about a popular feature of the Amex Platinum Card, namely a 4-hour grace period for Hertz car rentals when using the correct Amex Platinum CDP number.
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Some premium credit cards have more or less useful benefits and often this includes the category of rental cars.
Our reader Jerome contacted me a few weeks ago asking if Hertz has done away with their 4-hour grace period that is still clearly advertised on some American Express Platinum sites such as their International Currency Card.
Jerome mentioned to us that he had problems getting the 4 hours extra to price correctly and Hertz locally to honor it. In the end they charged him a full extra day in Amsterdam.
I decided to investigate it and to run some rental options just to see how it shows up. I also called my Amex Platinum Travel Concierge to inquire about it just as the site lays it out.
You can add the CDP number for Amex Platinum yourself when checking prices on the Hertz website.
- Amex Platinum: 211762
For a rental at Frankfurt Airport I couldn’t get it to work at all. Neither by checking manually or by calling the hotline where the agent then had to call Hertz in return. Talk about complicated. The price they returned from Amex was actually 50% higher than just booking on the Hertz website itself.
Another try for a simple full size rental at LAX actually worked very well, no extra charge when returning 4 hours later:
Now it’s clear that the T&C say “participating locations only” but so far I didn’t find and neither were Hertz of Amex able to supply a list of such locations.
Here is the tally of how Hertz would charge this 28 hour rental at LAX including all the scam charges, especially the horrible Customer Facility Charge which LAX now charges for over a decade yet they haven’t even remotely started yet to build the facility.
So for some locations it clearly works properly while others including the Frankfurt Airport one I tried apparently does not.
The Amex rep was also surprised that I had the actual CDP numbers available, mumbling something like “you shouldn’t have this code, we never give those out”. In fact there are many of Hertz own country specific sites that show the CDP publicly.
Conclusion
As so often I wish there would be a clearer communication and a detailed list of where you can actually benefit from these perks. Amex advertises their rather expensive Platinum card quite broadly but when actually pressed upon it nobody is able to provide an explanation.
For U.S. based car rentals I so far never had a problem getting the 4 hour benefit but abroad it proves to be difficult.
There may be some confusion here about how the Hertz website shows results. If I look at EDI Airport for 27 hours, it says “£65 (£32.50 per day)” which IMPLIES the Plat CDP is not working.
Search for 24 hours, however, and it says “£65 (£65 per day)” – so the Platinum extra hours are being applied.
Never had an issue with this using the code in the UK many times (we don’t own a car). Note that bookings off Hertz Australia for UK rentals generates massive reductions in rate and combines with the Plat CDP.
So is it a grace period in the sense that you can drop off the car up to four hours later than scheduled without getting charged hourly/extra day fees? Or is it something you have to work into your original reservation schedule at the time of booking?
I tend to use autoslash most of the time, and I wonder how much more I would pay for using the Plat CDP. Will have to run a comparison next time.
Sorry but your article is off, the whole thing is very clear in Europe. If you want to give advice at least give the right advice:
4 hours grace applies to all Hertz owned locations (no franchises except Switzerland and perhaps onee other country).
And the CDP to be used in Europe is 633306
Car rentals are never ending frustration. One hour either direction and the bill isn’t accurate. The rates are odd at best with the double partner miles / points promotion at half the price of the walk off the street rental. If it sounds too goo to be true, it probably is (unless you are renting a car). The confusion with the Hertz CDP codes is understandable without some level of transparency. Time after time the counter agent isn’t clear on why the bill is high or low and after some 30 minutes or so the supervisor overrides the system and we on our merry way. Oddly enough, the issue is always the fault of the passenger, although the employees can never actually identify the issue. Point rentals have improved somewhat but I do remember the $1800 rental for 3000 points and the reluctant override by the supervisor resulting in the $8 bill. Not my fault your system is broken.
So is it a grace period in the sense that you can drop off the car up to four hours later than scheduled without getting charged hourly/extra day fees? Or is it something you have to work into your original reservation schedule at the time of booking?
I tend to use autoslash most of the time, and I wonder how much more I would pay for using the Plat CDP. Will have to run a comparison next time.
It is something that must be included in the original offer/rental agreement making it part of the reservation. Also, you must use the AmEx Plat card to pay for the rental charges when the vehicle is returned to Hertz.
For other CDP offers/non AmEx Platinum secured reservation, you typically have a 30 minute grace period.
QUOTE: “Here is the tally of how Hertz would charge this 28 hour rental at LAX including all the *scam* charges, especially the horrible Customer Facility Charge which LAX now charges for over a decade yet **they haven’t even remotely started yet to build the facility**.” END QUOTE
Actually, with regards to your *scam* comment, an argument can be made that it isn’t really a “scam” if it were (1) authorized by law, and (2) disclosed to you at the time the contract that includes this charge is provided for you to review, at which point to can refuse to be scammed by declining the rental offer and walking away.
FYI: You could literally go to an alternate Hertz facility that is NOT located on LAWA property to avoid having having to pay the customer facility charge (although they have a bunch of idiots working at this one particular location, Hertz Rent-A-Car located at the Marriot hotel (walking distance from the LAX location @ 9000 Airport Bl) I’ll still use it an an example where you won’t have to pay at the “scam’ customer facility charge).
As for your **”they haven’t even remotely started yet to build the facility**, actually, they have….
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti broke ground on the facility back on September 12, 2019.
https://www.lamayor.org/mayor-garcetti-and-los-angeles-world-airports-break-ground-historic-consolidated-rental-car-facility.
It is expected that the LAX Con-RAC facility will be open for business in 2023.
Carry on….
Of course most other auto companies are half the hertz rates
Of course, that is not even remotely true…
Just look up rates for lax . hertz will always be the most expensive. Fox , ace , etc Re typically half price of hertz . lax Jan 4-11th fox is $11 versus hertz at $22 a day .
Just look up rates for lax . hertz will always be the most expensive. Fox , ace , etc Re typically half price of hertz . lax Jan 4-11th fox is $11 versus hertz at $22 a day .
I was stymied as well about 10 years ago in Europe … and although I did get Hertz to refund the extra charges, I found out that the “fine print” has for many years said “US only”
https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/misc/index.jsp?targetPage=AMEXPlatinum.jsp
“2) In the U.S., a 4-hour grace period for return of a rental car at no charge for time or mileage before an extra day charge is applied. The 4-hour grace period excludes (i) optional items such as Hertz NeverLost, car seats, and satellite radio and (ii) optional liability/loss coverage such as Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) and Personal Accident Insurance (PAI). ”
I use this a lot — do note that some of the various surcharges still apply
Note even if not on an Amex rate and you use the 29-minute grace period, that various surcharges still apply as well — the grace period is for the daily charge only, which often is quite low:
https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/reservation/reviewmodifycancel/templates/rentalTerms.jsp?KEYWORD=GRACE&EOAG=JFK
“Rentals have a grace period of 29 minutes. Optional coverages do not have hourly charges/grace period, but are charged as a full day. Extra hour charges will be incurred at the 30 minute mark if the vehicle is returned more than 29 minutes past the original rental time.”
Within the last few weeks I’ve been very frustrated by having the Amex Plat CDP not work for a 4-hour grace period when booking at a London Hertz location. I got on the phone to UK Hertz Customer Support (in Dublin). The very helpful support guy was baffled, and said that so far as he knew, the code(s) should work. Then, after a some experimentation, said that for some reason the code(s) only worked for booking at a Hertz UK location when booking via the Hertz UK website, but didn’t when used for a UK rental booked from the US Hertz website. I had been booking via the Hertz US website. In the end I had to forego using the CDP for the 4-hour grace period and simply book an extra day, which when booking via the US Hertz website worked out less expensive than when getting a 4-day grace period for a shorter rental via the UK Hertz website.
Seems as though Hertz has changed something.