I rented a car from Enterprise Monday (2009, 22K miles), drove it this week and returned this morning. When I returned it the rental agent found a 2-inch crack on the rocker panel on the very bottom of the car below the driver's door. It was not on the initial damage walk-around (20 second glance, noting of several scratches) and he insisted on filing a damage report. To the best of my knowledge I did not cause this damage and I contend that it would have been easily missed on the walk-around initially. He countered that HE would have noticed it because he is a trained professional and that we noted smaller scratches. I contend that those were easy to spot since at eye level and that this would be easy to miss.
I refused to sign the report unless the agent would note that I disputed the damage and he did. He said an Enterprise person would assess the cost of the repair and let me know in which case I could file a claim or pay out of pocket. I imagine this won't be more than a $250 repair and my insurance deductible is $500 so that's no help.
Questions: (1) Can I continue disputing this? I would imagine that the 20 second walk around won't necessarily hold up if I dispute it and pictures would really need to be taken to make it valid at the time of rental and (2) I paid with my American Express (Blue Cash) and believe I have rental car coverage. How does that work? The AMEX site says that it is secondary to my insurance but I would rather not (and will not) file a claim with my primary insurance.
Again, this was a small crack in a piece of plastic, not a large dent or collision.
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Same thing happened to me. In my case, the car had plastic plugs where the fog lights usually are (this model didn't have them). I signed the waiver and never heard from them again.
This is exactly what happend to me. He pulled a "20 sec" walkaround at the beginning. He said everything is fine and I didn't notice anything. When I returned the car, another guy took at least 2 minutes checking Every nooks and crannies. Found a dent on the bottom drivers door...cannot see it unless you get really close. Charged me $450 bucks. Let AMEX deal with it and file with BBB. This is a known practice they do. DO NOT rent from Enterprise!!!
It sounds like the best thing to do is to file an AMEX claim - can I do that without divulging my primary insurance? I thought I had read you could somewhere but can't find it now.
ltcm said:It sounds like the best thing to do is to file an AMEX claim - can I do that without divulging my primary insurance? I thought I had read you could somewhere but can't find it now.Well first wait to see if they even try to pursue this...half the time they threaten to send you a bill but never do.
Some people tell AMEX they have no coverage, which makes AMEX primary. If the bill is less than $500 technically it is true that you have no coverage for losses of that amount. Personally I would just give AMEX the insurance info if they ask for it.
SIS' statement regarding airport rental is soooo dead on. I have rented on airport locations for years and NEVER have dealt with any car damage issues. Heck I ussually choose a car from National emerald isle and just drive it off the lot - no one checks for damage.
Due to this I used to ALWAYS turn down the rental agency insurance for $12-14 per day.
As of late, I have had 3 bad experiences ALL WITH ENTERPRISE off location and, now, I ALWAYS take the rental agency insurance. I don't want enterprise messing with my insurance or my credit card. If you read the contract carefully, you are liable for that damage and they play all sorts of games.
I have rented cars in Europe and Central America and at one agency , upon return, an employee walked around the car very meticulously looking for damage. The guy even had a mirror on a extension rod to look under the car. (It was like something you use to check for bombs in The Godfather) After that experience, I meticulously check for damage BEFORE rental and have every nick, scratch, rub or paint briuse noted on the contract.
ltcm said:He countered that HE would have noticed it because he is a trained professional and that we noted smaller scratches.
You should have told him this could not have happened when you had the car because you are a professional driver and showed him your drivers license as proof. And you had to pass a test too!
Message edited by: niktobos on 2009-08-21 14:51:08 CDT
My buddies once put a noticeable crease in the hood of Saturn (I think) we rented from Enterprise. We were so worried they'd catch it, but nothing. The lady walked around the car (in about 20 seconds!) gave us our receipt and we took off to catch our flights. It all depends on the location (This was Vegas).
patch96 said:SIS' statement regarding airport rental is soooo dead on. I have rented on airport locations for years and NEVER have dealt with any car damage issues. airport locations dont seem to view damage claims as profit centers, while off airport local agencies do.
I rent often, sometimes using Priceline, sometimes using a good code from FW travel forum.
At the Hertz off airport locations, guy tried to get me for a scratch on the top of the bumper where luggage rolls into the trunk. I told him he must be joking bc I didnt do it and never get treated like this as a #1 club gold member. He asked for the walkaround form, I told him nobody did a walkaround with me. They never pursued it. But they left the bad taste in my mouth nonetheless that their office looks to make money from damage claims.
Best course of action at this pt: 1.) Don't waste time arguing with local agents. They are there to get the most money out of you without any regards to customer service. 2.) Contact Enterprise via email (fill out the form on their web-site). You will get an email with their regional manager's information. At that pt, you can wait for him/her to reply OR call him/her to discuss the matter. They are much more understanding as their priority is customer satisfaction. I have tried this for different matters and it always worked at the regional level (getting them to honor coupons, rates quoted, etc...) 3.) If that doe snot work out, have them charge the damages to your AMEX. then contact AMEX to inform them of the claim. Note that your AMEX coverage is SECONDARY, which means they will cover what ever your insurance does not cover. Best way is to give them a simple call after you get the total and verify the steps.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation, and Hope it works out for ya!
Thanks for the reply. I'll try emailing the regional manager. My one concern is about delaying the AMEX claim - the Enterprise rep said I should hear in 7 days re: the damage estimate. If I don't contact AMEX until that point, will that still be sufficient? I would call and ask but I'd rather not unless I know what I'm going to do first.
I try and go with hertz. They never give me problems. Hell, last car I accidently ran over a rock, scratched up the bottom side panel. They didn't say anything. The contract noted minor scratches around the car, and it looked like they were going to get ready to retire it anyways.
Anyways, I love the codes and such on the travel forum, easily dropped that last rental cost in 1/2.
Something similar happened to somebody I know. Enterprise was also the rental car company involved. Enterprise dropped the claim after she continued to deny she was at fault and asked Enterprise for lots of paperwork showing she was responsible and how much the repair would cost (multiple repair estimates, the condition forms from the last X times the car was rented to see if the damage was noted before, whatever else you can think of). Make Enterprise do as much work as possible to prove your responsibility and their losses. Enterprise will probably be too lazy and just give up.
My experience. I always rent with a goldcard as they cover such items. I also always do the walkaround myself and mark up the form -- with scratches and dings that they say are too insignificant and they will not bill for.
Last year I rented a car from a large airport (will not mention which one, don't want to get the nice person in my story in trouble). Half hour after I left the airport, first place I parked, someone put a major scratch on the rear bumper (naturally, no note left). I noticed the scratch right away, knew that it happened on my watch. I spoke with the CC company right away and they were willing to take the claim. I figured I would wait till the end of my trip in case I had any more similar experiences -- and put all damages on one claim.
When I brought it back to the airport, I pointed the scratch out to the woman checking the car (as it was so obvious, she was bound to catch it anyway). She noticed that I had opted out of their insurance so she said that she would just ignore the scratch/ not mark it in the report.
For every 1000 stories like yours, there is 1 like mine.
ardentazn said:Best course of action at this pt: 1.) Don't waste time arguing with local agents. They are there to get the most money out of you without any regards to customer service. 2.) Contact Enterprise via email (fill out the form on their web-site). You will get an email with their regional manager's information. At that pt, you can wait for him/her to reply OR call him/her to discuss the matter. They are much more understanding as their priority is customer satisfaction. I have tried this for different matters and it always worked at the regional level (getting them to honor coupons, rates quoted, etc...)
I agree w/ contacting the national office via their website e-mail. I've had only 1 experience w/ Enterprise and it was fine.....thought it was an airport location but might be wrong. I've had a problem w/ a "big name" National in a small town (Juneau) airport location where they didn't want to honor the reservation rate. I think I learned that , although major city airport locations are company-owned, small city locations often are franchises owned by others. The national company might want to know about shenanigans because they degrade their brand reputation. One phone call fixed the rate problem for me and I avoid that particular location now.
Despite me telling them not to, Enterprise notified my insurance (Geico) who just called me and have assigned an adjuster, etc... I will fight this to the end of time and not pay those bastards anything - it is completely ridiculous. My wife had a $1000 claim a few years ago and it caused our insurance to go up $600/year for the past 3 years ($1800 total thus far) - I can only imagine the impact this will have.
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