Hertz's fees ran to 57% — and its discounts never touched the total — $1.25M

Hertz Canada and Dollar Thrifty — both owned by Hertz Global Holdings — advertised enticing low rental prices, and then added mandatory fees that took the bill 10% to 57% higher. Some fees were described as government taxes or surcharges when they were the companies' own charges to recover business costs. The advertised discounts were misleading too: they implied a percentage off the whole bill, but were not applied to the total, and the mandatory fees still had to be paid in full.

The Bureau also rejected the companies' fallback: showing an estimate of the total price only before completing a reservation was not enough. On 24 April 2017 the two companies signed a consent agreement: $1.25 million in penalties between them, corrected fee descriptions, compliant advertising including online, new procedures and proof of a corporate compliance program.

Commissioner John Pecman noted the companies acted proactively once the investigation landed — but they were the second car-rental settlement in eleven months, after Avis and Budget's $3 million. The Bureau was working down the industry one consent agreement at a time, and the fee dressed as a tax kept reappearing.