A few months ago, I wrote about how I accidentally let my Hertz Rewards points expire as I didn’t rent from them for quite a long time following the pandemic, and I finally got a positive reply from Hertz to get them reinstated.
Hertz previously extended members’ points balance due to the pandemic, but that moratorium ended (at least for elite members) on Dec. 31, 2021 after which accounts without activity were reset to zero balance.
I was an avid Hertz renter since the mid-2000s when I lived in the U.S. and had a Hertz local edition nearby, where I rented on average twice per week. After that, I mostly rented at LAX Airport, where I always received pretty decent cars, first as Platinum and later as Presidents Circle.
Over the years, I must have earned close to 20,000 Hertz points with my leisure rentals and countless frequent flyer miles.
I used most of the points for rentals in markets where the prices usually shoot through the roof, especially when it’s high season, which includes Canada, Alaska, and Australia. By early 2020 I had about 1700 points left.
Admittedly I haven’t paid much attention to Hertz since 2019, and whenever I visited the U.S., I started to rent from Sixt instead as I got sick and tired of Hertz’s lackluster vehicle selection.
When I rented at LAX Airport, I chose Sixt instead of Hertz and looking back, I should have paid some attention and at least clocked one quick Hertz rental to extend the points. Well, I didn’t, and they all expired:
Oops: I Have Lost All My Hertz Rewards Points Due To Inactivity
I eventually decided to contact Hertz Rewards customer care to ask if they could make an exception and reinstate these points, either complimentary or against payment.
It took them about three weeks to get back to me, but the reply was positive:
Dear Sebastian,
Thank you for your recent inquiry. We greatly appreciate your loyalty as a Hertz Gold Plus Rewards member and remain committed to you.
As noted in the FAQs on line, in order to keep points from expiring, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Rental Activity must take place within an 18 month period, where points are either earned or redeemed. Our records indicate your last rental activity was more than 18 months ago. Unfortunately, as a result of this inactivity, any prior points expired. For more information, please visit online: https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/misc/index.jsp?targetPage=GPR_FAQs.jsp
As an one time gesture of consideration for our valued Gold Plus Rewards member, management has made an one time exception. The 1,700 expired points have been restated for the next 180 days. Unless you complete a qualifying rental prior to 10/14/2023 the points will expire and no additional extension will be allowed. You may extend these points by completing a rental that either earns points OR redeemed points for 1 day at any Hertz location, including thousands of HLE’s in your neighborhood.
As stated above, your current balance is 1,700 points with the current expiration date of 10/14/2023. We look forward to seeing you rent soon to extend the expiration date.
Thank you again for allowing me to assist you. Should you have any further queries with regards to this matter, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Carla A.
Customer Correspondence Administrator
Excellent. They reinstated my 1,700 points and in order to carry them over longer Hertz required me to have at least one rental that earns Hertz Points (ZE1) until October 14th.
As luck would have it I needed a rental at a local station in San Pedro after getting off a cruise ship last week so I had a two-day reservation at that particular Hertz HLE station for two days, dropping it later at LAX.
The amount of points Hertz now requires for a rental has gone up considerably. I had a look at the award chart, and the points are actually worth much less now:
950 points per day (previously 700) for a standard award and 1,900 points for an AnyDay award free day. For a one-way rental it’s now 1,900 (previously 1,700) on a standard award and 3,800 on AnyDay award.
The high rates for awards are the reason why it almost never makes sense to use them. Last weekend I rented a full-size car for $62.50 total (two days). 1,900 points for that? Nah.
Availability for redemptions has also gone down, and they have gotten expensive. The good old days are definitely over including for the company itself which is still reeling from the bankruptcy process.
Conclusion
I made a blunder not monitoring the expiration of my Hertz Rewards points, and roughly 1,700 of them expired sometime in the last 15 months (based on what Hertz published, likely on DEC 31, 2021).
After some consideration I contacted Hertz and they reinstated the balance for six months during which I either had to use them or extend the validity further by renting at least once, earning additional points.
I decided to do a quick rental following my cruise, use the car for two days, and then this matter gives me another two years of flexibility to come up with some decent use case for the points. Unfortunately, prices for the awards have gone up so much that it’s hard to find a sweet spot these days where it’s actually worthwhile using points rather than just paying cash.