Hertz delivery in Outback

My husband and I were traveling independently in the Outback of Australia’s Northern Territory in July ’04. Suddenly my husband and I looked to the side of the road and both said, “Oh, no, that ‘roo’ is going to jump right into us.” Within seconds that beautiful kangaroo had committed suicide and our car had a great amount of damage.

Three days later a flock of birds smashed into the windshield, doing more damage to the car.

The next day, on the way to the middle of nowhere, the car said, “Chug, chug, chug.” With great skill, my husband nursed the gas pedal and moved us along to a roadhouse where we would spend the night. We were on a tight time schedule and wondered how we would finish out the trip.

One phone call to Hertz was the beginning of a GOOD experience. Ninety minutes later a new, upgraded car was delivered on a flatbed and the broken one taken away. Numerous people at Hertz worked together to help us. We got calls making sure we were okay and that the new car was satisfactory. People in the campgrounds gathered around, truly amazed that this car delivery was really happening.

We followed up on the cause of the mechanical trouble only to learn that, somehow, mud and sand had gotten into the gas tank and moved through the engine, doing enormous damage.

We take two lessons from this story: 1) use Hertz to rent a car in the Outback and 2) take the extra insurance. The rental was not inexpensive, but it was well worth the price. Thank you, Hertz!

We reserved the car prior to the trip through a travel agent in Brisbane, Australia. (Actually, we made all our plans through this woman.) We paid approximately US$960 plus $420 for insurance. We took the extra insurance after we got to Australia and were picking up the car, so I don’t know if the $420 was American or Australian dollars. In addition, they were trying to charge us extra for the pickup at the airport, but my husband had everything in writing and ultimately we were not charged a surcharge.

KARYN KORNREICH
Spring Valley, NY