A Hertz desk at Munich airport
Hertz Global Holdings said it had apologized to a customer from Puerto Rico after one of its employees refused to rent a vehicle to him that he had paid for in advance because he would not show her his passport.
Humberto Marchand had flown to Lousiana last Wednesday and went to the Hertz counter at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to pick up a prepaid rental vehicle. The employee behind the counter told him that he needed to present his passport in addition to his license even though all Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens because Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth. A U.S. citizen does not need to provide a passport to rent a car within the United States, according to Hertz’ published policies.
“Hertz accepts Puerto Rican driver’s licenses from our customers renting in the U.S. without requiring a valid passport,” the company said in a statement.
“We’ve had multiple different customers that come here that have an out-of-the-country driver’s license that present a passport,” the uninformed employee told Marchand, who responded that “this is not an out-of-country driver’s license,” according to body-cam video released by police in Kenner, Louisiana, on Friday.
The Hertz employee was not the only uninformed individual involved in the incident.
The police officer appeared to side with the Hertz employee and insisted that Marchand leave without his prepaid rental car.
“We are not going to sit here tonight and do this s— anymore,” he said on camera.
“Do not come back up here and cause any more disturbances,” the police officer continued.
“You’re going to call what? Border services?” Marchand replied rather sarcastically.
“We sincerely regret that our policy was not followed and have apologized to Mr. Marchand and refunded his rental,” Hertz also said in its statement.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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