Hertz is going to pay $168 million in settlement deals in connection with allegations of the rental car company falsely reporting customers for vehicle theft, according to a Monday press release.
The settlements, which the company said will be paid out by the end of the year, will resolve more than 360 legal claims of customers who have been accused of false arrests over stolen vehicle reports that were reported by the company to authorities. According to Hertz's release, more than 95% of the pending claims related to the false arrest issue reached resolutions.
Hertz said that the settlements, which the company expects to recover a significant portion from its insurance carriers, won't have a significant impact on its capital allocation plans for the balance of 2022 and 2023. I have said since joining Hertz earlier this year, my intention is to lead a company that puts the customer first, CEO Stephen Scherr said in a statement. We are holding ourselves to that objective in resolving these claims. Scherr had previously described rectifying the situation as a priority in an interview with Bloomberg in early April.
He said that we have put in policies that will mitigate, if not remove, the risk of that happening again. For a customer who was not dealt well, we're going to do right by them. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that customers were accused of first being accused of vehicle theft.