Sometimes problems go from bad to worse and that was the case for a mom and daughter hoping to tour different colleges earlier this year. They rented a car, which ended up being a Tesla Model 3, from Hertz but ultimately didn’t have the knowledge they needed to use it. That led to a completely flat battery and the feeling of being trapped in the car.
Becky Liebeau says that she rented a car from Hertz and thought that it would be an everyday gas-powered vehicle. Instead, Hertz gave her the Tesla saying that it was all that they had available. “I have never driven an electric vehicle and it would not have been my first choice,” said Liebau to CBS 2 Chicago.
The issue wasn’t just that Liebau was unfamiliar with EVs but that the car was only half-charged, she says. Liebau says she wasn’t given any instruction about where to charge, how to charge, or how to find charging stations. As a result, she and her daughter ended up stranded on the side of the road with a completely dead Tesla Model 3.
More: How To Get Out Of A Tesla If It Loses Power And You Become Trapped Inside
Not being familiar with the Tesla, neither knew that there were physical door releases on the doors. Both believed that they were trapped despite having the handle to open the doors mere inches away. “I ended up having to crawl out the trunk, when he told me about the release button in the back,” said Liebau.
Notably, lots of cars, mostly gas-powered ones, have similar door situations including the Chevrolet Corvette, the Lexus RX, and the Maserati GranTurismo. The issue at hand was that Hertz employees didn’t do enough to educate these customers about how to operate and charge the vehicle in question.
Hertz has already responded to this story saying “we provide robust digital content and other resources to help them feel comfortable on the road. We regret this customer’s experience did not meet our service standards and have refunded all charges and provided reimbursement for related travel expenses.”
Of course, if the “robust digital content and other resources” are found in the infotainment system of the Tesla, that doesn’t do much good when it’s dead. Ultimately, this whole situation sounds like a mix of issues including a lot of customer ignorance about electric vehicles.
At the same time, rental companies are going to have to make sure that customers are at least informed about charging infrastructure and how to extricate themselves should the battery die. Who’s to blame here in your opinion? Let us know down below.