Complaint Review: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

This is another in what I now see is a long list of phony damage claims asserted against customers when they return rental vehicles to Enterprise.

In this case, in December 2010 I had to deal with Enterprise when my own car was rear-ended by another driver.  His insurance company told me a replacement rental car had been arranged while mine was being repaired, but Enterprise told me I'd have to wait 5 hours or more to get one.  When a car finally was made available, the management trainee who prepared the paperwork did so in a big hurry and said he saw no damage on the vehicle except a ding on the windshield, and I didn't either.  But when I returned the vehicle a few days later, the location manager pointed to what had looked like dust streaks on the rear bumper and claimed they were scratches that had been painted over with a paint pen.  She refused to refund my damage deposit and insisted that the matter had to be "investigated."

I provided Enterprise with a letter describing the facts in detail, plus a sworn affidavit stating under oath not only that to my knowledge no damage had occurred during the rental period, but that I had absolutely not done any "painting over," so that if the supposed scratches were painted over as alleged, this must have occurred before I took possession of the vehicle.  I asked Enterprise to include in its investigation the apparent age of the so-called "paint-over."  Enterprise has never responded or tried to refute this sworn testimony, or answered my question about the age of the "paint-over," but instead continues to send letters demanding payment.  And the payment they demand includes not only the supposed cost of repair, but compensation for 2 days' "loss of use" and even a $50 "administrative fee."

  In addition, although Enterprise acknowledged in writing that my high insurance deductible  is more than 2 times the amount of their claim, without my authorization they have filed a claim with my insurance company, apparently to put pressure on me to pay up.

It is interesting to note that while Enterprise is the subject of almost 150 complaints on this Website, including dozens of similar reports of phony damage claims against renters (22 in the past 6 months alone), the far larger Hertz and Avis car rental companies account for only 15 and 19 complaints here, respectively, with only 1 complaint each of this kind.