Hertz demands additional payment from me for damage to the car due to someone else's fault

[Tony_weho]

Jurisdiction

California

I received a letter that I owe $1000 for damage to the car (scratches on the mirror) and if I don't pay, they will involve debt collectors. Moreover, before this, Hertz charged $2,500 from me and did not answer for what...
And what could be the consequences if I refuse payment? Will my credit score be affected? I tried to dispute that transaction for 2500, but the bank refused to refund the funds, since I myself provided the authorization
Hertz says that I am responsible regardless of fault, although the person responsible for the scratch does not deny his guilt, providing his contact information.

 

[adjusterjack]

Taxing Matters, who wrote you a response on freeadvice.com, also participates here as Tax Counsel. The response he wrote there is the best answer you will see regardless of how many sites you post on.

In general, you assume all liability for damage done to the rental while in your possession regardless of fault. In order to avoid that problem, you generally need to either get liability and damage insurance from Hertz (which isn't cheap, but handy if the car is damaged while you have it), have a rental car damage insurance benefit on your credit card agreement, or have the optional rental car coverage on your own vehicle insurance. Read carefully the contract you received from the company when you rented the car to see exactly what your payment responsibility is. If you don't have that anymore, I suggest you ask Hertz for a copy of it. In the meantime you may read the basic Hertz rental terms and conditions online. If you didn't get the optional insurance coverage from Hertz and didn't have coverage for rentals on your own policy or with the credit card you used for the rental, you may be left with paying the fee Hertz is demanding for the damage and then suing the at fault driver yourself for reimbursement of what you had to pay out.

 

[Bill Miles]

Hertz once tried to charge me for a windshield ding even though I had the LDW. Managed to get it dropped without going the legal route.

 

[Zigner]

Hertz once tried to charge me for a windshield ding even though I had the LDW. Managed to get it dropped without going the legal route.

That has nothing to do with what the OP is dealing with.