Rental car giant unveils Orwellian X-ray return tunnel for scratches (2025)

Airport car rental return lines are about to get a giant tech upgrade — and its bad news if you're a careless driver.

Hertz, the third-largest car rental company in the US, just announced a partnership with UVeye, an AI startup that runs vehicle inspection systems.

The upgrade — which uses cameras paired to powerful computers — promises to better detect damage incurred during a rental period.

That means dings, scratches, and divots on the car’s exterior are more likely to show up on reports.

Hertz said cars will be scanned twice: once before drivers leave rental lots to ensure the vehicle's quality, and again when the car is returned.

Renters will receive a report of any damages flagged by the system, along with before-and-after photos for added transparency.

Hertz sources tell DailyMail.com thatthe new system is aimed at improving vehicle safety and maintenance.They say customers won’t be charged for minor damage any more than they are now.

Hertz’s car damage policy excuses driver mistakes like tiny blemishes, but dents bigger than a golf ball — or scratches longer than a credit card — lands drivers in the damage fee danger zone

Still, experts note that while the rules around scratches and dings haven’t changed, they’ll be spotted much more easily.

UVeye said the fast-paced technology will spark a revolution in rental car lots.

'Hertz is setting a new standard for vehicle maintenance and fleet management in the rental industry,'Amir Hever, the CEO and Co-Founder of UVeye, said.

'Our AI-driven inspection systems complement manual checks with consistent, data-backed assessments completed in seconds.'

Previously, the car rental industry relied on physical checks from employees to assess any potential damage.

The employee assessments have obvious limitations, including reading overall tire tread wear and potential damage to a car's undercarriage.

Still, drivers are worried about the tech rollout, calling it 'yet another reason to avoid Hertz.'

'It's useful for places like undercarriage but must be done both sides on way out and in,' a commenter said in a blog post about the technology.

'While the concept seems reasonable, ultimately it’s about the money just like everything else.'

Hertz's tech focus may have contributed to some recent big news about the company's stock prices.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management revealed a 20 percent stake in Hertz.

He is betting on the value of the company's half a million cars to soar in value as used vehicle prices jump on the back of President Trump's auto tariffs.

The investor, who has flipped giant stock purchases and shorts into hordes of money, made regulatory filings to the SEC that revealed his new stake.

'Hertz is uniquely well-positioned in the current tariff environment,' Ackman said in the X post.

'Hertz owns a fleet of over 500,000 vehicles valued at approximately $12 billion. A 10 percent increase in used car prices would equate to a $1.2 billion gain on its auto assets — equivalent to approximately half of the company's current market capitalization.'

The announcement sent the company's stock price soaring in a two-day spree. Shares shot up over 104 percent in a two-day period.

It's welcome momentum for the iconic rental company, who has incurred billions in losses after declaring its first bankruptcy in 2020.

The company purchased 100,000 Teslas after the Chapter 11, hoping to modernize its fleet of vehicles and keep up with rising consumer purchasing demand for EVs.

But the plan largely went bust, as the cars rapidly depreciated.

In 2024, the company announced it hired a new CEO, Gil West, after sacking the former over the EV controversy.

West, a former automated driving executive, has a long resume atop leading tech companies.