Damage scanners are taking over more rental car return lots — and customers aren’t happy.
Since Hertz rolled out AI scanners in April, it has faced backlash for charging almost $1,000 for tiny scuffs.
Now Sixt, a premium rival with 100 locations in the US, has in recent weeks begun using a similar tool called Car Gate.
Already, it is creating problems. One customer told The Drive he returned a Mazda CX-50 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport only to be billed $605.82 for wheel damage.
Documents sent to the renter showed that the damage occurred before the rental period.
‘They were using the wrong photo,’ Badi said. ‘After escalating to management, they dropped the claim entirely.’
Sixt scans each rental car when the driver picks it up and again when return it — with a powerful computer highlighting even the slightest damage.
There are fears Avis will adopt similar tech. Meanwhile, Enterprise — America’s biggest rental firm, which owns National and Alamo — is testing it in Europe.
More rental companies are turning to AI-enabled scanners to spot damage on cars and charge customers
Vehicle scanning companies defend the technology, and say it makes cars safer by spotting issues like tire wear and undercarriage damage more reliably than human inspectors.
Sixt told Daily Mail: ‘Our customers value transparency — and we take that seriously.
‘We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to the customer. This experience does not reflect our high service standards.’
The Daily Mail asked the company twice if the fees paid by customers are used to fund vehicle repairs rather than boost profits. Sixt didn’t respond.
Hertz was the first to roll out damage scanners in April. Since then, six customers have told Daily Mail that they’ve incurred similar charges for minor dents picked up by scanners, which are built by AI startup UVeye.
‘It’s a shakedown that is extremely off-putting,’ Adam Foley, a driver who received a $285 charge for two small spots, said.
Unlike Sixt, which employs humans to review all damage scanner fees, when Foley attempted to dispute the charge, Hertz only offered a chatbot.
Every Hertz customer has said the chatbot offered lower damage rates if they paid the fine immediately.
Drivers complained about new technology rollouts at rental car companies
The AI scanner picked up two small ‘dents’ on Foley’s Buick rental
‘This basically seems like a money-grabbing exercise by Hertz,’ Neil Saunders, a retail expert at GlobalData, said.
‘If there is no way to discuss with a human, then that is also extremely poor customer service.’
Foley is not alone. Other drivers received a $440 damage charge for a small scuff on the wheel, $190 charges for minor dents, and $935 for nearly invisible blemishes.
Dr Ramnath Chellappa, a technology scholar who coined the term ‘cloud computing,’ said the AI-based scanners aren’t being used ethically.
‘If anything, AI should be reducing the human effort in assessment and walk-through with the vehicle,’ he said. ‘It should end up offering cost savings.’
Since July 2, DailyMail.com has asked Hertz representatives six times to clarify whether damage charges fund actual repairs or compensate for diminished vehicle value.
Hertz declined to comment on the record and did not directly answer whether fees collected from customers are always used to fund repairs.
A driver said they were charged $190 by Hertz for this damage on a returned vehicle
Meanwhile, other major rental firms are testing AI scanners into their vehicle lots.
Avis has previously said that a majority of its damage assessments remain ‘human-led,’ but hasn’t explained what that means.
The company did not respond to Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, Enterprise said it does not use computer-powered inspection tools in the US.
‘There are some limited instances, such as the Berlin and Munich airports, where this technology is being implemented airport-wide,’ a spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
‘But we are not utilizing this technology without an internal review of the image capture.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .