Upvote:2
Since Hertz doesn't charge up front for the rental, I completed the booking online to see what would happen. I used 3750 points for the one week rental of a Large Luxury Sedan. After completing the booking, a reduction was applied as a "Promotional Discount" of $390.00 (i.e. the full amount of the Base Rate).
The Taxes, which are clearly linked to the Base Rate, remained unchanged.
The Airport Concession Fee, which appears to be tied to the Base Rate, was removed from the final bill.
The Vehicle Licensing Fee Recovery, which appears to be a flat rate of $4.00/day (for the location selected), was not reduced.
The AP CONTRACT FEE, which appears to be a flat rate of $6.00/day (for the location selected), was not reduced.
I find it odd that the fee tied to the Base Rate was reduced, but the Taxes were not. I also find it interesting that the only change to out-of-pocket costs for the reward redemption is in Taxes, which suggests to me that it is worthwhile to book at the highest vehicle class available (within the standard reward tier).
Thank you to everyone that took the time to respond in comments and/or answers.
Upvote:6
Short version - Pick up the phone and call to make the booking. Hertz's website has been unreliable for points booking for some time.
Slightly longer version... Hertz's websites have had difficulty with points bookings for some time. The exact issues will depend on which counties website you are using (and possible which country your Gold Plus Rewards account is based in), however seems to affect most countries. I recently spoke to Hertz call center staff in both the US and Australia and they confirmed these issues.
That said, the next problem is that you have selected the wrong rewards redemption. You have selected "1 Free Weekly Rental" which only covers vehicle classes from Compact to Premium, however you've selected a "Luxury Sedan" class of vehicle. That vehicle falls into the "Specialty Vehicle" redemption class, which doubles the number of points required for the rental to 7500.
If you select that option and proceed with you booking then it's likely (but not guaranteed!) that it will work. Previously Hertz's website used to show the new rental total after you selected the reward type, however this feature stopped working sometime last year and now it is only displayed on the final confirmation screen.