Enterprise Rent a Car Dispute

Peter.Siffredi

Hi,

Around 2 weeks ago, I hired a van from Enterprise-Rent-a-Car just Outside of Liverpool (St Helen's) and booked a 1 way drop to London (Park Royal).

I was quoted an initial price of £239 with a £200 deposit, I provided my card details for this on the Friday afternoon when I picked up the van.

When I picked the van up from St Helen's the employee spent 2 minutes checking the van over and from my point of view, other than a missing door handle and a minor scratch I didn't notice anything untowards - I signed a statement saying that I witnessed the pre existing damage.

The next day I returned the van to Park Royal in the morning. The checkin assistant spent 10-12 minutes thoroughly checking the van over with a fine tooth comb and noticed some scratches\scuff marks which had to be pointed out (as they weren't noticeable after a quick 2 min look around the van). We're talking a scratch some T-Cut would get out and a minor scuff mark to the plastic on the back of a side mirror. I asked upon checkin if it's all OK and the enterprise employee said it looks fine, but wanted me to sign a change of condition form which had 5 items (2 pre existing), I naively said OK as the form had the words "pre existing in the incident details". I then asked if there'll be any charges and if I'll get my deposit back, to which he replied no and yes respectively.

On the Monday I checked my bank account and found that enterprise had debited £139 and then refunded £300 on the same day. 2 weeks later I get a call from Enterprise saying that there has been damage to the van and they want to put it in for repair and I'm liable for expenses - this came as bit of a surprise and that's not what was stated verbally. Enterprise also said they made a mistake and refunded too much money to my account, but they'll accept that as it's an admin error on their part. I've asked for a break down of the price and they've said it's under evaluation and I'll find out, my concerns are:

1. Being charged for damage which I didn't even notice (note the change of condition form said "pre existing").
2. Being over charged, i.e. if it's a minor scratch and they decide to repaint the entire van and throw the bill at me.

It was naive of me to trust enterprise cars (I've rented cars in the past and never had this experience before). I would advise anyone looking to rent a car or van to thoroughly inspect the vehicle before and after, plus take photos before and afterwards.

From a legal point, where do I stand? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Jay

richardw

Sounds like somebody has made errors elsewhere and is having ago to find money from somewhere.

Ask for full photographic evidence of the damage and if you don't agree, dispute it.

Peter.Siffredi

Thanks richardw,
Already done so, I've been told it'll take 4 to 6 weeks for an invoice\price break down - already braced for the dispute...

Peter.Siffredi

I never heard back from this one, I guess they've just forgotten about it! Still, I've learnt a lesson - always take pictures before and after a car rental