AI-Powered Vehicle Scanners Revolutionize Car Rental Returns, Sparking Controversy

AI is changing the rental car return experience - and it could cost you

Returning a rental car is already a bit of a stressful experience, but it might be getting a little more stressful soon -- you can thank AI for that. Over the past several months, people renting vehicles from Hertz noticed a new step in the return process -- a drive through a giant, glowing archway. Also: Perplexity's Comet AI browser is hurtling toward Chrome - how to try it It turns out that Hertz is employing a new AI-powered system called UVeye (from an Israeli startup that started out doing border security and military vehicle inspections). Instead of a human inspecting for damage when you return a vehicle, this new system scans the car in an instant. It takes thousands of pictures from all angles when you take the car, including the body, glass, tires, and undercarriage, and does the same when you get back, and compares the pictures to see if anything is different. If it detects any damage, it creates a report and sends the details to you, sometimes within minutes of your dropoff. This system is already in place at six major airports (Atlanta, Charlotte, Newark, Phoenix, Tampa, and Houston), and Hertz plans to implement it in nearly 100 more by year's end. Hertz isn't alone; Sixt, a budget-focused car rental company, utilizes a similar product. There are a few problems with this setup, though, and customers aren't happy. First, the system apparently detects any damage, even the most minuscule of scratches -- UVeye says its scanners produce "5X increase in damage detection." It's fair if a rental company asks you to cover damage you did to a vehicle, but some drivers are getting lofty bills for minimal incidents. One was hit with $250 for a repair, $125 for a processing fee, and $65 for an administrative fee; another driver shared a similar experience on LinkedIn, as have other users on Reddit. Even if you drive your rental very carefully, normal road wear can happen. These AI scanners are apparently catching the slightest damage that a human eye would normally miss. In addition to a damage charge, users experiencing Hertz's new system also owed a processing fee and an administrative fee; it's not clear if those charges were also applied under the old human inspection method. (I've reached out to Hertz to find out.) Also: Car owners are bullish on AI agents repairing the US auto industry - here's why If you do have a question about alleged damage, it's nearly impossible to talk to a human. An AI chatbot handles customer service for the process, and the only time you're able to interact with a human is if you officially file a dispute. According to TheDrive, the driver mentioned above wanted to inquire about the charge, but couldn't find a human to talk to. Hertz says its AI assessments are consistent in "frequency, accuracy, and efficiency" and that the system is intended to pass responsibility for damages to the person directly involved rather than spreading it out to everyone over the cost of rentals. Complaints, however, are so prevalent that one law firm has launched an investigation. The new AI inspection system may make things faster and uncover more damage, but it means customers will be paying more. Whether or not that's ultimately fair depends on which side of the claim you're on. Also: How passkeys work: Your passwordless journey begins here If you're renting a car, you should always take time-stamped photos and videos when you pick it up and drop it off. Include both close-ups and wide shots. Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.

Hertz Deploys AI Scanner That's Charging Hundreds of Dollars for Tiny Scratches on Rental Cars

Car rental giant Hertz is facing some blowback as customers report that its "AI-powered" vehicle scanner charges them hundreds of dollars for tiny cosmetic dings. Earlier this summer, a Hertz customer in Atlanta was charged a jaw-dropping $440 for an inch-long bit of curb rash -- a cosmetic scuff -- on the wheel of his rental, as our sister site The Drive first reported. Out of that, $190 was earmarked for "processing" and "administrative" fees, which were automatically calculated by the rental company's opaque scanning system. According to additional reporting by The Drive, another customer named Adam Foley was charged $350 for two dime-sized bumps on his rental car, which he said could have been "dirt or anything else that could throw off a camera." That fee, Foley seethed, was "literally the price of the entire four-day rental, minus $5." In both cases, the Hertz app refused to connect the customers to a human agent to explain the sky-high charges, or the vague processing and administrative fees behind them. What's more, the app pressured both customers into paying as quickly as possible, offering sizeable discounts if they settled the tab right then and there, and a smaller discount for paying within seven days. All this price-gouging is possible thanks to Hertz's partner, UVeye. Originally founded in 2016 as a military tech company in Israel, UVeye calls itself "a global leader in AI-driven vehicle inspection systems." Their bread and butter is diagnostic imaging equipment, which comes in a variety of sizes for different commercial applications, according to the UVeye website. While "AI power" features prominently in UVeye's marketing, it's not clear how exactly it fits into the scanners. The model Hertz is most likely using, the Atlas lite, is described as a "modular 360 scanner" featuring 15 cameras and a handful of LED strips to document a vehicle. "Machine learning detects any damages to the body panels, headlights, and glass," reads an Atlas lite press blurb. But as far as Hertz is concerned, it's less important to know how the "AI-powered scanner" works, and more important that it brings home the bacon. "A similar process that is focused on checking for true damages like a broken mirror would probably make customers shrug and go, 'you got me -- yeah I broke it parking in a garage,' and they would pay the fee," said Foley. "I suspect the math of investing in such expensive technology indicated they needed to go to extortive levels to get a [return on investment]." It's unclear how Hertz calculates these costs, but UVeye had previously leased a similar 360 scanner at a monthly cost of $6,000-7,000 a month back in 2023. Whether to pay back the cost of leasing the black-box scanners or to carve out an alternative revenue stream, Hertz's vague and sleezy price gouging hidden is sadly par for the course in the age of AI. Speaking to The Drive, Hertz said that "the vast majority of rentals are incident-free. When damage does occur, our goal is to enhance the rental experience by bringing greater transparency, precision, and speed to the process."

The hire car scanner that could cost holidaymakers millions

Using AI for advanced image processing isn't particularly new: the technology is already being used in everything from guiding self-driving cars to analysing X-rays. But this could be the first time that many people encounter it in the real world - and feel its impact on their wallet afterwards. Understandably, the scanners haven't been without controversy. Earlier this month, The New York Times reported on an American couple who claimed they had been falsely charged $195 (including $115 in processing fees) after a dent was identified on a front door. Even AI's greatest advocates admit that the technology isn't flawless (at least not yet), especially when it comes to image recognition: AI facial recognition systems have occasionally flagged the wrong targets, for example. Though on this particular occasion, Hertz told The New York Times that it had reviewed the case manually and was satisfied there had been no mistake. Hertz confirmed that its current policy is to check the AI reports manually only once they are contested by a customer. The company says that, of the thousands of vehicles that have already been scanned, 3 per cent showed signs of billable damage. Covering up Of course, one way to avoid getting stung with unexpected charges is to make sure you have the full damage waiver on your car - but that isn't without its own issues. The consumer champions at Which? have consistently criticised the big car rental companies for selling policies that are pricier and less comprehensive than those you can get directly from insurers. Given AI's potential to identify even the slightest scrape, it's not implausible that this new technology will help persuade many to buy coverage from car rental companies - and could thus end up costing travellers millions. Right now, Hertz is using the technology at six US airports (including the busiest airport in the US, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson), with plans to roll it out to others before long. Its big rival Avis is also using AI software to analyse potential damage, though it told The New York Times that its policy is to have humans check any findings before bills are sent to customers. Could these kinds of systems be on their way to the UK? When I contacted UVeye (which has a London office address), a spokesman told me that it couldn't comment on any specific discussions, but that the company was in touch with "many leading rental and fleet providers".