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| - I rented a Ford Fusion hybrid for a five day vacation visit. Before leaving the rental center, I had to switch the first car for another like it as the 12 V plug wouldn't charge my GPS.
After leaving the rental center, the car issued a loud clunk from the front end and another bang noise. In addition, there were intermittent front end whirring and occasional snapping sounds. I thought maybe something had happened to the front end on a previous rental. As I had time commitments, I drove on. Later, I called Hertz and McCarran field, but no answer. I left a message on their machine.
On the 2nd day, on the freeway, the car issued a dash visual warning with a loud 'ding, ding, ding'. The warning said (in red) 'pull over safely' on the dashboard display. I was on a busy freeway and there was no place to pull over, so I kept going as long as I could at about 10 miles per hour with my emergency flashers on and my heart rate at about double speed. Finally, just as the car died, I found a place to stop out of traffic. I got out and called for a tow by calling the Hertz 800 emergency number, who answered. They called Nevada AAA. I was towed back to the Hertz rental center at McCarran. Once there, the staff had little empathy. I barely got a 'sorry'.
The replacement non-hybrid Buick Verano was a much better ride for the remainder of my Hertz car rental. I didn't get charged again fortunately.
Once you leave the airport rental center, the line to call Hertz at McCarran field (the Las Vegas airport) has a message machine on it, and no one answers it. I would have returned the second car on the first day if I could have contacted them then. But, I survived.
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