Enterprise Car Rental Scam - Help Please

liljodes · 12 June 2017 at 9:16AM

Hi All.

Pretty new here but I am desperate for advise.

I believe I have been scammed by Enterprise Car Rental.

Last October, a driver pulled into the side of my car and claimed on his insurance. During this time his insurer arranged car rental for me (my first one).

Enterprise came and I checked the car, they mentioned that any scuffs etc that were not bigger than the circular template he handed to me do not need to be noted.

In hindsight I would have now been more particular to mark every scuff on there but it was my first hire car and it seemed easy enough. Boy was I wrong.

I had the option to pay their daily insurance of £10 per day (at this point I had no idea how long they would have my car in for repairs) or use the excess on my own insurance if I am in an accident etc.

I opted for my excess as I wasn't going to be driving the car that much.

Upon returning the hire car, the representative spent a lot of time looking at the passenger right hand side door. Asked my opinion if I could see a dent. I spent a while looking and said, no, I cant see anything.

To cut a long story short, he took the car back to Enterprise to get an opinion as I said I don't believe there is anything, and obviously called me to say "Yes its definitely had a dent in the door, most likely when you're in a car park and someone has opened their door onto yours"
I said I didn't agree but they mentioned they would be taking the payment from my card of £300 for damages. It just so happened that I had cancelled my card during the time I had the car on hire because I had lost it!
I advised they wouldn't get payment as the card was cancelled.

A few months later I had a claim through my insurer mentioning that Enterprise wanted to claim against me for damages. I emailed my insurer back with the outline of what happened and I believe it was Enterprise trying to scam me, along with links to other customers being treated the same. My insurer dropped the case against me and advised this wouldn't need to go any further.

I then didn't hear from Enterprise again, until months later (Around March I believe) they started sending me letters asking for payment. I have had 1 letter a month at least, one being a full invoice with breakdown of works for this imaginary dent, which has now totalled £462.27 (because I assume they are not letting me use my insurance excess any more)

I have read online about similar cases and I really do believe they are trying to scam me.

I have not replied to any letters they have sent ( none via special delivery ) but now have received a letter threatening legal action.

Any ideas of what steps I should use next please? Or what to do?

Thanks in advance.

Quentin · 12 June 2017 at 9:46AM

They will pursue you for the money.

Pass the correspondence on to your insurer (who dealt with their initial claim mentioned in your op)

I'm_not_going_into · 27 July 2017 at 9:20AM

My wife once worked for Enterprise Rent a Car, this is not a scam at all.
Did you sign any paperwork when you took on the hire car? You agreed to their terms and conditions if you signed their documents.

By ignoring their invoices, letters etc they will more than likely send your details onto a debt collection agency which will possibly have a detrimental effect on your credit file. The amount has possibly increased due to interest.

I hope you get it resolved.

slinga · 27 July 2017 at 10:17AM

We've used Enterprise twice in UK and thought they were great.
So when we went to Pisa earlier this year we booked through Enterprise only to find on arrival that it was Locauto rental the car was coming from, maybe a franchise of Enterprise.
Cutting a long story short we were charged for damage that I was sure wasn't due to me, lot of discussion about it etc etc.

We won't use Enterprise again outside UK if there is any hint it might be a franchise.

dacouch · 27 July 2017 at 5:22PM

I'm_not_going_into wrote: »

My wife once worked for Enterprise Rent a Car, this is not a scam at all.
Did you sign any paperwork when you took on the hire car? You agreed to their terms and conditions if you signed their documents.

By ignoring their invoices, letters etc they will more than likely send your details onto a debt collection agency which will possibly have a detrimental effect on your credit file. The amount has possibly increased due to interest.

I hope you get it resolved.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/4033850/car-hire-scandal-half-a-million-brits-could-have-been-overcharged-30million-by-europcar-for-inflated-rental-repairs-as-fraud-probe-is-launched/

Geoff1963 · 27 July 2017 at 6:10PM

I was going to suggest that when hiring a car, one should take a 360 degree video, starting and finishing with a few frames of the insurer's representative. However, I think the "scam" aspect of it, is that the damage being complained of, is so imperceptible, that only a very close-up shot, at the correct angle and lighting, would show it.

Perhaps instead we need an independent third party, who could be called in to take a look at the time of returning ; but the police wouldn't be interested, and Trading Standards probably wouldn't get there quickly enough. In some cases, the hirer might be able to keep the car another few hours, to get TS involved ; leaving the car wouldn't work because it could be hired out again, or deliberately dented.

unholyangel · 27 July 2017 at 6:19PM

I'm_not_going_into wrote: »

My wife once worked for Enterprise Rent a Car, this is not a scam at all.
Did you sign any paperwork when you took on the hire car? You agreed to their terms and conditions if you signed their documents.

By ignoring their invoices, letters etc they will more than likely send your details onto a debt collection agency which will possibly have a detrimental effect on your credit file. The amount has possibly increased due to interest.

I hope you get it resolved.

If T&C's are unlawful/unfair, they are not binding - even if you agreed to them. One type of term that may be regarded unfair would be a term requiring a consumer to pay more in compensation than the amount of loss actually suffered due to their breach.

Furthermore, your credit history can only be affected if:
1) You signed a credit agreement and do not stick to the terms of that agreement
2) You are taken to court, lose and then fail to pay the awarded amount within the specified time (usually a month).

missile · 28 July 2017 at 2:55AM

If you do not pay, they may take you to court. They would have to show evidence of the cost for repairs. I would be very surprised if they had such minor damage repaired.

I hope you took a photo of the door which they claim you damaged?

Apodemus · 28 July 2017 at 8:10AM

unholyangel wrote: »

Furthermore, your credit history can only be affected if:
1) You signed a credit agreement and do not stick to the terms of that agreement
2) You are taken to court, lose and then fail to pay the awarded amount within the specified time (usually a month).

Is this a matter of terminology? The first reference was to credit file, yours was to credit history.

For most people the important thing would be the score that the credit reference agencies quote for you. As far as I am aware there is a whole lot more taken into account than the 2 items you mention, and things as simple as shopping around for a good insurance deal, with repeated insurance firms accessing your credit file, can affect your credit score.

takman · 28 July 2017 at 10:02AM

Apodemus wrote: »

Is this a matter of terminology? The first reference was to credit file, yours was to credit history.

For most people the important thing would be the score that the credit reference agencies quote for you. As far as I am aware there is a whole lot more taken into account than the 2 items you mention, and things as simple as shopping around for a good insurance deal, with repeated insurance firms accessing your credit file, can affect your credit score.

Most people may think the most important thing to them is the score but they would be wrong. A number calculated by credit reference agencies (that do not lend money) and is not shared with any creditors is pretty useless.

Shopping around for a good insurance deal will not affect your credit file in any way because ID checks are not visible to lenders.

But that is irrelevant to this thread, if you want to learn more about credit files visit the "Credit File & Ratings" part of the forum.

unholyangel · 28 July 2017 at 10:49AM

Apodemus wrote: »

Is this a matter of terminology? The first reference was to credit file, yours was to credit history.

For most people the important thing would be the score that the credit reference agencies quote for you. As far as I am aware there is a whole lot more taken into account than the 2 items you mention, and things as simple as shopping around for a good insurance deal, with repeated insurance firms accessing your credit file, can affect your credit score.

No its not a matter of terminology, they're both the same thing.

Shopping around for insurance doesn't affect your credit score. Taking out an insurance policy might though (when you take monthly insurance, credit is involved).

Clue is in the name - credit history/file. It is your history of repaying credit that has been extended to you. Not a full payment history of how quick you have been to pay up any time someone alleges you owe them money. If (for example) you ask a graphic designer to do something for you and you're supposed to pay within 30 days of receiving the invoice but dont, they can't affect your credit file without first taking you to court, obtaining a CCJ and you failing to pay within the allocated time.

In contrast, someone who has loaned you money via a credit agreement - either to extend you £x amount of credit on an account (like a credit card with a £10k limit) or to loan you a specific amount (say £250k for a mortgage), can affect your score if you don't keep up payments in line with the terms you agreed to.

However I think this misconception has possibly come about due to some shady practices by those chasing owed money (in particular, debt collectors). They obviously want paid so will often use clever wording to imply severe consequences...neglecting to mention the steps in between. They used to be a lot worse and would tell outright lies but got their hands slapped for it ages back.

Enterprise Car Rental Scam - Help Please

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