Hertz Global Holdings will pay $168 million for 364 claims that it falsely filed criminal reports against customers who did not return vehicles on time.
In February, CBS News reported that Hertz was facing lawsuits from hundreds of customers who said they were falsely arrested for auto theft. The charges stemmed from thousands of criminal complaints the company files each year, according to court documents it sued to unseal.
In one instance, CBS reported that a man in Colorado spent 24 hours in jail after he was arrested on charges that he had stolen a Hertz rental vehicle in Georgia, despite never having been to that state and never had rented from Hertz.
Hertz Global Holdings also operates Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental.
The complaints caused police to pull over innocent customers on suspicion of driving stolen cars.
Since joining Hertz earlier this year, my intention is to lead a company that puts the customer first, Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in a statement. We are holding ourselves to that objective in resolving these claims. The Hertz professionals will continue to work hard to provide best-in-class service to the tens of millions of people we serve each year, even though we may not always be perfect. Hertz believes it will recover part of the settlement amount from its insurance carriers. More than 95% of its pending theft reporting claims were resolved by the settlements.
Hertz left bankruptcy oversight last year. Its shares were down nearly 2% in Monday trading.