Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced on Wednesday he’s
called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the company’s inaccurate reporting practices and take appropriate action.
The announcement comes after reports revealed that Hertz -- for at least the past four years – has filed more than 3,000 stolen vehicle reports with law enforcement each year.
Dozens of these reports turned out to be inaccurate. It resulted in false arrests of innocent Hertz customers, with some arrested at gunpoint, jailed for days and sometimes months. Several customers also lost their jobs or homes and incurred thousands of dollars in attorney fees.
“It appears that Hertz’s practices have resulted in the false arrests of numerous customers through no fault of their own,” Blumenthal said in a statement.
“I urge you to open an investigation into Hertz’s inaccurate and potentially unfair practice of reporting its vehicles as stolen and take appropriate enforcement action to ensure Hertz’s consumers are not falsely arrested or otherwise harmed.”
Blumenthal sent a l
etter to Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr last week also demanding the company fix its reckless practices resulting in customers being wrongly jailed.