Enterprise rent a car blaming me for damage

Ianne

on 17/08/2016 I was given a courtesy car from Enterprise-rent-a-car by my insurance while my car was in the garage for repair following an accident. The next day, we were at McDonalds and upon getting back to the car I've noticed a small scratch on the rear door handle about 4-5 inches long, and before leaving I rang Enterprise straight away and told them about the damage and told them that I think somebody else's car scratched it while we were inside the restaurant. I also told them that I was going to bring the car to the branch which is only across the road of McDonalds where we went to that day after I picked up my wife. 10-15mins later, I picked up my wife from the gym and went to the branche across McDonalds and I showed them the scratched and they told me that the damage wasn't there before. That was fine, I paid the excess of £350 even thought it feels unfair because it wasn't my fault. Also they wouldn't help in any way to find out who causes the damage even if the McDonalds' manager confirmed to me that there were 4 other cars parked beside the Enterprise car during the time we were in the restaurant.

My problem now though, I've returned the car 2days ago, and they are blaming for another damage which was there before, it was even marked on my copy of the contract, but they are saying the damage that was marked was the one above it, which is about 4inches long and not the 10inches long scuffed marks, they don't have any details of both damages and its also not recorded on their system. I've also noticed today that they have deducted another £350 from my account for this damage without my authorization. So all in all they have taken £700 from my account.

kindly please direct me on what to do in regards to this, I want to take it further but I don't know where to start and not sure if I stand a chance.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Sweetpie_2

See if they are members of any motoring group, guarantee scheme or professional organisation/body, you may be able to ask them to intervene

Dean_O

Had you not had an accident, you would not have had to hire the car, the car wouldn't have got scratched whilst it was in your care and you would be 700 pounds better off.

I would speak to the insurer involved in the original accident, they need to be made aware of it, so that your full losses in connection with the original accident are recorded.

I have always found Enterprise to be very good, I've rented off them for over 10 years and never had any problems, so I have nothing at all bad to say about them.

Some advice for the future, always look around the vehicle before you hire it, don't assume it's okay. If you spot something, make sure it's fully recorded on the sheet. I always check windows, paintwork, tyres, cracks in lights - look at as much as you can, take your time.

Most importantly, I take a camera phone and take pictures from all angles around the outside of the vehicle, including a photo of the mileage and the level of fuel in the tank at that time. I don't do this in secret, I do it very openly. That way, I have a permanent record of the condition of the vehicle.

When you booked the vehicle out, you would have been offered an additional insurance, which would reduce your liability in case of accident / damage, this bumps up the price by a few quid, however, as you have discovered it's often worth getting your liability down as much as possible.

Another trick, is to use a debit card account that only has the deposit and rental money in it. That way, if things did go wrong, it would just get declined by your bank.

arcon5

This isn't a loss recoverable by ops insurance! That's like saying had you not gone to McDonald's it wouldn't have happened so they should pay.

It all comes down to what ops pre-inspection sheet says with regards to the pre-existing danage.

I'd also be looking for them to substantiate the £350 for the first scratch

NewUserHere

as per EU regs hire companies can no longer allowed to bill you for more than 50% of the repairs

peter_the_piper

I know its not a lot of help to the OP but the other day I took my car in for paint repairs (not our fault) and the person booking it in took pictures of all marks already there and a video all round. If repairers feel the need to do this then we should all do it, both on collection and return. It would prevent the likes of car hirers milking the driver.

kitkatt1982

Hi, sorry to hear of your situation. I have had very negative experiences with Enterprise so don't trust them at all (albeit in different countries).

Firstly, cancel your debit card immediately so they can't help themselves to more money!

Personally I think £350 for a scratch seems extremely excessive, and I would argue that it is not a reasonable sum.

If you have the option of legal assistance included with any insurance (we have it on our home insurance and it is invaluable), seek advice, if not citizen's advice free helpline is great. I would seek advice regarding your rights and responsibilities immediately as it seems you're being billed unnecessarily.

Best wishes and good luck

Fat_Walt

kitkatt1982 wrote: »

Hi, sorry to hear of your situation. I have had very negative experiences with Enterprise so don't trust them at all (albeit in different countries).

Firstly, cancel your debit card immediately so they can't help themselves to more money!

Personally I think £350 for a scratch seems extremely excessive, and I would argue that it is not a reasonable sum.

If you have the option of legal assistance included with any insurance (we have it on our home insurance and it is invaluable), seek advice, if not citizen's advice free helpline is great. I would seek advice regarding your rights and responsibilities immediately as it seems you're being billed unnecessarily.

Best wishes and good luck

Cancelling the card won't do that.

Fat_Walt

NewUserHere wrote: »

as per EU regs hire companies can no longer allowed to bill you for more than 50% of the repairs

More rubbish.

Mercdriver

I don't know where to start. There is so much bad advice in this thread. OP Ignore ANYTHING Newuserhere says. He isn't on this planet. Much of what could have been done should have been done before you took delivery of the car. If you're not taking their extortionate excess waiver and even if you have excess insurance like I have, thoroughly look at the car first. Take photos/video of any existing scratches with your phone. They are then time and date stamped and depending on the model GPS stamped too.

When I hired a car in Italy recently from Avis, the vehicle damage sheet was completely void of any marks, suggesting the car was spotless. Since this was Italy and the car had done 38,000km, I didn't trust that, and sure enough the car was covered in scratches all around the car. Different sizes, different times. I photographed them all marked the sheet and called one of the guys. He walked around the car with me and signed my amended sheet. Had I not done this I could have been absolutely hammered for it, though I have the excess insurance, I would have had to pay up front and do all the admin - that's the downside that you get for saving massively on cost.

I've noticed on a few hires both here in the UK and elsewhere (I've hired in Germany, Italy and New Zealand) that the damage sheet is often blank. This is indicative of how many people do take up the excess waiver.

OP, see if the hirer is part of the vehicle renting association and see if they have a laid down procedure for charging for damage. If the rental company is following that then you'l just be relying on their better nature.

In future, do a FULL review of the car document it and make sure it is photographed too. You could get your bank to review the payments but since you will have authorised the rental company to deduct money for damage, you won't have much luck. If you had photographic evidence of that other scratch that existed then it might be different.

You could try getting a quotation from a body shop, and if it is lower than what you have been charged, use that in your complaint - they would be able to say that the bodyshop wouldn't have seen the car so couldn't have quoted accurately, however. If it wasn't a deep scratch, it could have been dealt with with T-Cut.

Mercdriver

Dean_O wrote: »

Had you not had an accident, you would not have had to hire the car, the car wouldn't have got scratched whilst it was in your care and you would be 700 pounds better off.

I would speak to the insurer involved in the original accident, they need to be made aware of it, so that your full losses in connection with the original accident are recorded.

I have always found Enterprise to be very good, I've rented off them for over 10 years and never had any problems, so I have nothing at all bad to say about them.

Some advice for the future, always look around the vehicle before you hire it, don't assume it's okay. If you spot something, make sure it's fully recorded on the sheet. I always check windows, paintwork, tyres, cracks in lights - look at as much as you can, take your time.

Most importantly, I take a camera phone and take pictures from all angles around the outside of the vehicle, including a photo of the mileage and the level of fuel in the tank at that time. I don't do this in secret, I do it very openly. That way, I have a permanent record of the condition of the vehicle.

When you booked the vehicle out, you would have been offered an additional insurance, which would reduce your liability in case of accident / damage, this bumps up the price by a few quid, however, as you have discovered it's often worth getting your liability down as much as possible.

Another trick, is to use a debit card account that only has the deposit and rental money in it. That way, if things did go wrong, it would just get declined by your bank.

Not all hire companies accept debit cards. Not only that, they take a large preauthorisation from debit cards so this wouldn't necessarily work