Rental car companies using AI to catch car damage, billing customers

HOUSTON - Heads up before you rent a car for your next trip.

Some rental car companies are using AI to detect damage, which can catch very small scratches and dents, and has left some drivers with hundreds of dollars in bills.

AI used on rental car damage

What we know:

What's considered to be damage vs. normal wear and tear when you rent a car?

Hertz's website says billable damage is scratches or scuffs over one inch in size.

Some customers say they've been billed hundreds of dollars for smaller dings that were spotted by Hertz's new AI damage detection technology, made by a company called UVeye.

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All it takes is a few seconds as a car drives through the detector, as a video from UVeye shows. This technology is known as the MRI for cars, with hundreds of scanners and AI detecting any damage on rental cars before pickup and after return. But it can be a much closer look than that of a human damage inspector.

Hertz says damage disputes are determined by humans and that they have made their Customer Care contact information more visible on the e-bill. They say customers can discuss these charges with them via email, phone, chat, social media, or with a staff member inside the rental office.

Hertz is planning to implement the UVeye technology at 100 of its airport locations across the country by the end of 2025. A Germany-based company called Sixt, which has 100 branches in the U.S., is using similar technology called Car Gate.  

What they're saying:

"Before we left the rental center, we got a text message saying there is damage identified, and we were shocked because we didn’t see anything," said Zhenguo Lin, who had rented a car from Hertz in Atlanta.

What he did see was a bill for $80 in damage, plus $140 in fees. It included pictures of the driver's side front door before his rental and after.    

"That’s ridiculous, right? To us, it’s normal fair wear and tear," he said.

And Lin tells us he had to drive through hoops to refute the bill. "I called a couple of times.  I didn’t speak to any person. I also tried to contact them on Twitter, X. And they said you should email Hertz damage, and gave me an email address. I emailed them again, still no response," said Lin.

Lin says it took filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau before Hertz removed the charge from his bill.  

A Reddit feed is full of people complaining that Hertz also charged them for what they say is minor damage.

Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott at the Elliott Report says consumers have given him an earful. "It finds any kind of discrepancy, dings, dents, scratches. It will bill you for the repair," said Elliott.

Can you avoid being billed for damage because of AI?

What you can do:

So what can you do to try to avoid that bill? Elliott says take photos and video of your rental car at pick-up and drop off, including the roof and undercarriage, so that you can refute damage that didn't happen during your rental.

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"You have the right to see images before and after, where the damage is, how much the damage is going to be, and an invoice for the repair. If they can't show you that, you don't have to pay," said Elliott.

What they're saying:

Hertz declined to be interviewed, but sent us this statement:  

"For years, vehicle damage inspections have caused confusion and frustration. The process was manual, subjective, and inconsistent, and that isn’t good enough for our customers or our business.

"With digital vehicle inspections, we’re introducing much-needed precision, objectivity, and transparency to the process – giving our customers greater confidence that they won’t be charged for damage that didn’t occur during their rental, and a more efficient resolution process when damage does occur. Of the 500,000 rentals scanned so far, more than 97% showed no billable damage. Discrepancies are the exception — and when they do occur, we are committed to making it right.

"We know change of this scale takes time, and we’re listening, learning, and improving every day. As we said from the start, our goal through this initiative is to enhance the safety, quality, and reliability of our fleet and to create a more consistent rental experience for our customers."

Should you buy the car rental company's insurance to cover possible damage?

To determine that, compare the costs.  The cost for insurance from rental car agencies is usually between $30 and $60 a day. For a week, that could cost you up to $420, but often has no deductible.

Elliott says you may still save money by using your own comprehensive auto insurance, or a credit card that offers rental car coverage. He says most damage costs will come in right around or under the cost of the average deductible, which is $500.