Complaint Review: Enterprise Rent-A-Car - TX

My daughter was provided a rental car from Enterprise through her insurance company after her car was totaled in April of this year.  The day the car was returned, April 20^th, 2016, she went through the normal process and did a walk around with the take in attendant.  No damages were noted as expected since there was none.  About 10 minutes later the same employee called my daughter back to inform her that she had left some items in the trunk.  We returned she got her items and we thanked him and nothing more was said. 

Three weeks later we got a packet in the mail from Enterprise out of Kansas City, MO saying that she owed $600 for hail damage plus $50 for “Admin Fees.”  There were several pictures of what we assume was the car she had rented with little circles but no visible damage.  My insurance company advised me not to file a claim and to speak someone outside of the branch.  I made several phone calls starting with the branch manager here in San Antonio, who referred me to Kansas City, who referred me to Fort Collins, CO.  While speaking to the branch manager he told me that while there was no visible damage we had to pay the amount they claimed.  He told me that while the damage “is not visible to the naked eye” they used a special light to see any “damage.”  I was finally passed around to the damage recovery section.  I told the gentleman that there was no visible damage as the branch manager had stated and that I refused to have my daughter pay the claim.  I asked if there was any appeal process and he told me that he was the appeal process and that if we refused to pay she would not be able to rent from Enterprise or their affiliates Alamo and National and that it would turn it over to a collection agency.   I told him that I was shocked that they could issue a judgement like this without any recourse for the renter other than to hire an attorney. 

Yes, there was a hail storm in town while she had the rental.  A lot of cars sustained hail damage.  One car dealership reported 30% of their vehicles out of 1,000 had hail damaged.  Her car had no hail damage from the storm of April 12^th, 2016.  Everybody inspected their car for hail damage the next day. I personally looked at her car on several occasions after the storm on Apr 12^th, specifically for any damage from the storm and found none.  Her brother, who is a trained auto body technician and working in the field for the last 7 years, saw no damage after he inspected it and seeing it every day since they live together.  To summarize there was no damage to be seen as was evident when we turned the vehicle and did the return inspection at Enterprise.

There was another hail storm comparably worse on April 25^th, after her car was turned in and before we received notification of the claim from Enterprise.  I cannot say if the damages they are claiming are as a result of that storm, I can only say that there were no damages when she returned the rental on Apr 12th. 

I am curious to know the percentage of customers that had a rental on the day of April 12^th, 2016, here in San Antonio and received the same type of letter.  I’m all for paying my way and doing what’s right but I feel this is uncalled for.  How is that Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the largest rental car company in the United States, can be allowed to do this?  Google it, the Internet is littered with other consumer complaints against Enterprise in regards to the very same issue.  I can see this happening in some far away corrupt country but wow it’s like somebody stuck a gun in my back while I was at the ATM.  I don’t know what kind of regulating the FTC does with rental car agencies but I think they should look at some of their practices and policies.