Ever since Hertz announced in October 2021 that it would put 100,000 Teslas into its rental fleet by the end of 2022, I’ve been looking for opportunities to rent one myself.
That opportunity came when I took my family on a much-needed vacation out to the West Coast in late February.
A very good friend of ours had arrived in the U.S. from Beijing in early February for a couple months and we promised that we would go see him. My daughter was on winter break the last full week of February and her birthday happened to be on Friday of that week. The omicron outbreak had subsided to a point where the family felt comfortable enough to travel, at least domestically, for the first time since the pandemic began two years ago.
So I wanted to make this a memorable trip. The selfishness in me wanted to also make it a fact-finding trip: it would be the first time driving a Tesla for an extended period of time for me (my first time ever driving a Tesla would be January 2018 when I test drove a Model 3 in San Jose owned by an acquaintance who had worked at NIO’s U.S. office at the time, interestingly enough). I also thought that it would be cool anyway for the whole family to experience an EV, especially my 11-year-old daughter who even knows a thing or two about Tesla and Elon Musk, and that it would naturally be part of the vacation experience.
I’m glad my friend was staying in the greater Los Angeles area. LAX, which we were flying into, is one of seven airport locations in the U.S. where the Model 3 is currently available to rent (FYI: the others are Washington DC, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, and Atlanta). The Model 3, thankfully, was available to book at LAX for the week that I selected.
The rental rate? I’ll be honest: it wasn’t cheap.
The total rental cost for the Standard Range version (approximately 256 miles of range, according to Hertz) amounted to nearly $900 (as you can see below), including the quoted weekly rental rate of roughly $450, daily loss damage waiver (LDW) insurance (the most popular, according to Hertz) of $39.99, as well as all kinds of fees and taxes. BUT, considering inflation, the Tesla brand, the fact that it wasn’t actually too much higher than that of a comparable ICE model, AND the fact that charging was FREE at Tesla network chargers for rentals booked before March 1, it was a no brainer (I think I was determined to book a Tesla on Hertz no matter what).
There was also an option to rent a Long Range version with 300 miles of range for slightly more money, but since I was heading over to Southern California and knowing that Tesla’s network of Superchargers and charging overall were abundant in that region, I opted for the Standard Range since the range it offered was more than enough for me.
I did save a few dollars off for being a AAA member. And after arriving in LA and seeing gas prices in the region at around $4.5-$5 per gallon (as I write this, regular unleaded gasoline just increased by 30 cents to $4.29/gal at my local gas station here in MA and the national average just surpassed $4 for the first time since 2008), I was even more convinced that I had made the right decision to rent a Tesla.
Our first family trip in more than two years had an eventful start: after a 12-hour delay due to aircraft and mechanical issues, we touched down in LAX at midnight local time, instead of the scheduled Noon arrival earlier in the day. After getting off the Hertz shuttle bus that took us to the Hertz rental location at LAX, the bus driver informed everyone where to go. For Gold Plus Rewards members like myself, they could head directly to their cars and just drive away. We got off the shuttle bus right in front of the Hertz rental office where an LED screen on the outside wall was showing names of people in alphabetical order that had rental reservations. And there it is, my name was up there, last on the list, with a number next to it: 255.
That was the number for the parking space where my Model 3 was waiting, among two rows of roughly 30 Model 3s of various colors, including red, black, silver metallic and white. One of the Model 3s even had a special happy birthday sign in front of it for a special customer. How considerate of Hertz!
Interestingly enough, of the two dozen or so people that got off the shuttle bus, only one other person headed towards the Tesla section. As it was late into the night and only one bus load of rental customers, I couldn’t conclude anything as far as how fast these Teslas emptied the lot. But I know I wasn’t alone (as evidenced by several customers returning their Tesla rentals when I did mine a week later).
All the Model 3s in the parking lot had these Hertz Gold Standard Clean Seal decals slapped on the B-pillars, which meant the cars had been sanitized with Hertz’s 15-point cleaning process following CDC guidelines. Mine was white, but it didn’t have “spotless exterior” as Hertz promised: in fact, there was a bird poop right smack in the middle of the front windshield right above my line of eyesight (no matter, a rare downpour a couple days later washed it all away).
Other than that, the car I got looked really new, in fact I found out once I got in it had less than 500 miles (the receipt I got from Hertz showed it had 455 miles). It had the all-black interior trim and looked extremely clean. The key card enclosed in a thin plastic case along with a key chain of the usual rental car info was placed right on top of the little compartment cover below the center touchscreen, and a plastic wrapped water bottle with the Hertz logo and “Lower emissions, not standards” text was in one of the cupholders.
On the non-slip phone tray with wireless charging (nice little feature that just makes charging your smartphones hassle free) in the front of the center console, there was also a welcome pamphlet with useful info on operating the vehicle such as charging. But I didn’t need any of that: I was already familiar with the gear selector stalk operation as well as that big “touchpad,” which was intuitive to operate with no latency (maybe because the car was pretty new), and Hertz did a good job of prepping the renters by sending several educational emails on vehicle operation prior to the rental.
So once we “settled” in and got the rearview mirrors/seating adjusted and set the navigation to our Airbnb address, off we went (just had to show driver’s license and credit card that booked the rental reservation to an attended as we exited the rental plaza, as usual).
I ended up driving 573 miles in a little more than five days (128 hours to be exact: I picked up the car at around 1am on February 21 and returned it at around 9am on February 26), according to the final receipt I got from Hertz. It involved local urban driving conditions, as well as highway driving mostly in the Irvine (where our friend was staying) and Newport Beach (where our Airbnb was) vicinity and along Route 1 and Interstate 5 (we drove down to Torrey Pines State Reserve one day which was roughly a 150-mile roundtrip). I charged the Model 3 a total of five times, all at Superchargers, each time spending around 30–40 minutes, adding 25–30 kWh for roughly $10-$15, totaling around $60 (which was on Hertz).
Here are my thoughts on driving and charging the Model 3:
Ride/comfort/handling:
Like I said it wasn’t my first time driving a Tesla or an EV in general, but as with most of the EVs, the regenerative braking feature needed a bit of time to get used to. The sudden deceleration you feel once you let off the “gas” pedal is different for different EVs and can be adjusted “softer” or “harder” based on user preference in most of the EVs. I didn’t bother tweaking that setting on the Model 3 and just went with the setting that was selected. Obviously, it also took me some time to get used to the feel but I’d say I got over it later on the day of the pick up after a few drives and was pretty much one-pedal driving the rest of the way.
The use of the gear selector stalk to put it into drive, reverse and park was easy and simple, and once you put your foot on the “gas” pedal the car just goes, that’s the best part about driving a Tesla (and any other EV for that matter): there is no hesitation or jerking that usually comes with a traditional transmission.
In terms of craftsmanship and build quality of the interior and exterior, I think it was ok, not super, and not luxurious, but well done. The opening and closing of the doors, frunk hood and rear hatch definitely didn’t make it premium like Lexus, BMW or Mercedes, neither did suspension, which was “sporty” to put it nicely but a bit “bumpy” if you asked my family’s opinion. The wind and tire noise were also worse compared to the traditional premium brands, especially Lexus which both my father and brother-in-law drive and which I’ve driven numerous times. But these were minor issues and did not dent the overall experience from the family which was great. My wife loved the panoramic sunroof which was perfect under the California sun.
It’s difficult to position Tesla as a premium brand but it’s often compared to the traditional premium brands and is taking market share away from them as we all know. Where it lacks in terms of craftsmanship and build quality, it more than makes up with its intuitive HMI, simplicity, OTA update capabilities and charging convenience, which I’ll talk about next.
Entertainment/HMI:
The Model 3 had the latest software update (I think it was 11.0) and free music streaming, which was a great feature that my daughter loved, not to mention that “touchpad” which kids are so used to these days. She was old enough and weighed enough so I had her sit in the front passenger seat and she loved fiddling with music streaming playing her favorite pop songs and movie soundtracks. I asked her what she liked the most about the Tesla, her reply was the “pad” right in the middle and Autopilot!
That pad right smack in the middle that controls everything without any other physical buttons might be a little intimidating at first, but it’s intuitive enough that most people should be able to get the hang of it without too many efforts, which is one of the great things about a Tesla. It’s relatively simple and the drop-down list are arranged in an easy-to-understand manner. My daughter figured it out pretty fast!
I didn’t have to fiddle too much with the settings. Navigation was use the most and the two scroll wheels on the steering wheel were handy in terms of changing volume settings or temperature. But there was no lag whatsoever throughout the rental experience, everything worked smoothly and as intended.
I can’t say the Tesla HMI experience is the best out there among all of the EVs available since I’ve only driven a limited number of different EVs, but it’s without a doubt one of the best in terms of intuitiveness and simplicity.
Charging:
Charging, both in terms of the plug-and-charge experience as well as Tesla’s Supercharger network coverage, is still the best-selling point for a Tesla, and I got a good taste of it.
All five charging sessions took place at Supercharger stations, with the exception of one location that had an issue with one charger that wasn’t working (luckily another charger was available that did work just a couple of spaces away), every charging session was very smooth and hassle free. You back in, park, take out the charging gun from the charger and just plug it in to your Tesla and it starts charging, simple as that.
One thing that Hertz does on the Tesla rental cars is that it limits charging to a maximum of 90% SoC to optimize battery performance, which means a theoretical full range of 237 miles, but even that was enough for me. It also recommends charging at around 20% SoC. One great charging scenario I had was on that trip to Torrey Pines, I “topped it off” in the morning before hand, and on the way back our friend wanted to stop at the Carlsbad Outlets to get some sneakers. Lo and behold, there was a set of Superchargers inside the complex so I “topped it off” again and did some shopping while the car was being charged. All five Supercharger stations were either next to stores like Costco or Starbucks or inside shopping complexes, so you could do something else while the car is being charged.
Throughout the entire rental experience, I did not have much range anxiety, obviously I wasn’t traveling long distances. But nevertheless with a little bit of planning, knowing that it takes about 30–40 minutes to charge to 90% SoC, and knowing that there are Supercharger stations all around you in Southern California, there isn’t much to worry about.
Three of the charges took place in the morning, one in the afternoon (the Carlsbad Outlets stop) and one late in the evening (the night before the rental return). Each time there was available chargers to charge so I never had to wait in line or anything. I can’t say for sure that charger availability would be an issue, but it looks like in Southern California where there always seems to be a Tesla next to you, it might be an issue and maybe owners have confronted this. But luckily, I did not face any situation where I had to wait in line for an available spot.
And again, the fact that all the charging sessions or free made it all the sweeter. The only thing I didn’t get to experience is destination/third-party charging. The rental car did come with a mobile adapter which I did not use.
Autopilot:
I liked the driving feeling of the Tesla so much that I did not use Autopilot that much. The few instances where I did activate Autopilot were on the freeways, which worked perfectly fine and worked exactly as intended, both during the day and at night, and at various speeds. The scroll wheel on the steering wheel made it easy to change max speeds while Autopilot was activated.
Summary:
Overall, it was a fantastic experience renting and driving the Model 3, which also fit perfectly into the family vacation. The entire rental process was pretty hassle free, and it was simple to drive and charge the car. It was great that the two iconic American brands Hertz and Tesla came together to offer this experience to customers who may have never driven an EV before. Granted that the rental was not cheap, but nothing is cheap these days with average gas prices already at all-time highs, and it was worth every penny considering the experience that my family and I got and the peace of mind that free charging offered.
I know my views might be a bit biased as renting a Tesla for a week does not equate to owning one for years, and since this was in Southern California where charging infrastructure was abundant. So yes, I did not have to face any issues pertaining to charging, quality or service that I otherwise might have faced had I owned one.
But as the saying goes, seeing is believing, and operate to appreciate. After driving the Model 3 for a week thanks to Hertz, I now understand much more about the Tesla ecosystem and why it’s the top selling EV brand in the world.
Let’s go!
