Enterprise are trying to take all our savings

cbsurwf2938467

I'm writing in here as an act of desperation to be honest. 

My partner and I are young adults who graduated 2 years ago during the pandemic. We have been saving for years and years in order to get on the housing ladder to avoid having to sink loads of our income into rent and thanks to a lot of hard work and patience we are slowly getting there.

However, last autumn while on holiday in Germany, we hired a car from Enterprise in Munich. The car was brand new and I believe we were the first to use it but,unfortunately, about 30 minutes into our drive we had a tyre blow out which sent us into the hard shoulder on the motorway at 70 mph and we scraped along the barrier. The road itself was very quiet so thankfully no one else was around to be involved or even witness it, and my partner was able to simply bring the car to a stop on the hard shoulder without crashing into anything. No one was hurt though we were obviously pretty shaken up. We immediately called Enterprise for advice via the number provided inside the car and told them we had a tyre blow out and a collision with the barrier, and they sent a tow truck straight away to pick us and the car up. It arrived very quickly, in about 20 minutes. Thankfully, we had bought the maximum insurance. We then had a series of additional phone calls with Enterprise afterwards to arrange for a replacement car, which arrived that night and we heard nothing more from them.

That was until our return to the UK, when Enterprise announced that they were going to sue us for 10,000€ based on a technicality in their terms and conditions which according to them basically means that the maximum insurance we bought is invalid if we get into a road traffic accident and don't phone the police. I do believe that, as there was no one else involved and no damage to anything on the road (only the car itself due to the scrape with the barrier), it didn't cross anyone's minds that this could be considered a road traffic accident that required the police.  Phoning the police was not once mentioned at any point during the multiple telephone exchanges we had with Enterprise despite the fact that we informed them we had scraped along the barrier after the blow out, only that a tow company would be sent to us and indeed they did arrived extremely quickly. We specifically bought the best insurance as we knew we wouldn't be able to afford any obscenely large bills.

We have already contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau (who were unable to help) and the UK International Consumer Centre who contacted the European Car Rental Conciliation Service (ECRCS), who 'ruled in favour of Enterprise' and advised we wait for Enterprise to take us to court. We can't afford a lawyer, and will likely go bankrupt if we loose.

Any advise on this situation would be greatly appreciated. It just seems so unjust that a large multinational company like Enterprise can just wipe us out like this with no questions asked.

born_again

Even in the Uk if you damage Street Furniture it is a reportable action. As there will be costs to repair it.

https://www.reportingcrime.uk/HPRoadTrafficCollision/

From the ECRCS page.
>>The decision is binding on the participating company but does not in any way restrict a customer's right to seek legal redress.<<

Manxman_in_exile

This is a serious question - I'm not being "funny" or critical or sarcastic:

You had a tyre blowout at 70 mph on the Autobahn, causing you to career onto the hard shoulder and hit the safety barier, and after checking for injuries and getting to a safe place, your first thought wasn't to call the police?  Or report it to them at all?

I certainly think Enterprise were very much at fault in not advising you to report it immediately, but I'm a bit surprised you wouldn't think yourselves to do so.

If it is a requirement in the T&Cs of the insurance, did you not notice it?  If I were hiring a vehicle in a foreign country, I'd make sure I understood the insurance requirements inside out.  Do you still have a copy of the T&Cs and can you check them?

I'd be inclined to wait and see if they sue me - unless they intend to take it straight from your credit card.

For 10,000 euros you might need legal advice, but if the T&Cs show you were in the wrong, I'm not sure what you can do.

I don't know if they could sue you here or in Germany.  If in Germany, I'm not sure how they enforce it here post-Brexit

See what others think... 

[Edit: FWIW there's no such thing as a "technicality" in any sort of contract really - especially an insurance contract.  You either understand the terms and abide by them - or you don't and are in breach]

cbsurwf2938467

Manxman_in_exile said:

This is a serious question - I'm not being "funny" or critical or sarcastic:

You had a tyre blowout at 70 mph on the Autobahn, causing you to career onto the hard shoulder and hit the safety barier, and after checking for injuries and getting to a safe place, your first thought wasn't to call the police?  Or report it to them at all?

I certainly think Enterprise were very much at fault in not advising you to report it immediately, but I'm a bit surprised you wouldn't think yourselves to do so.

If it is a requirement in the T&Cs of the insurance, did you not notice it?  If I were hiring a vehicle in a foreign country, I'd make sure I understood the insurance requirements inside out.  Do you still have a copy of the T&Cs and can you check them?

I'd be inclined to wait and see if they sue me - unless they intend to take it straight from your credit card.

For 10,000 euros you might need legal advice, but if the T&Cs show you were in the wrong, I'm not sure what you can do.

I don't know if they could sue you here or in Germany.  If in Germany, I'm not sure how they enforce it here post-Brexit

See what others think... 

[Edit: FWIW there's no such thing as a "technicality" in any sort of contract really - especially an insurance contract.  You either understand the terms and abide by them - or you don't and are in breach]

We were provided with an emergency number inside the car and they advised us to wait for the tow truck. We didn't actually collide with the barrier as you describe, we only scraped against it. No other vehicles or objects were damaged and interestingly in the UK this would not be considered a road traffic accident.

cbsurwf2938467

born_again said:

Even in the Uk if you damage Street Furniture it is a reportable action. As there will be costs to repair it.


From the ECRCS page.
>>The decision is binding on the participating company but does not in any way restrict a customer's right to seek legal redress.<<

No street furniture was damaged. No rubble either. Only scrapes along the side of the car.

Manxman_in_exile

So calling the police never crossed your mind at all? 

I suppose whether or not it would be classed as a RTA  (or is it RTC?)  in the UK is a bit irrelevant, as you were actually in Germany.  Do you know what German law says?

Have you checked what the T&Cs of your insurance say and whether Enterprise are right or not?

Aylesbury_Duck

You need to read the terms and conditions of your hire contract, and of the insurance product, very carefully.  Only they will tell you whether you're liable or not.

bris

Is Enterprise self insured? It's likely they are but if they arent they would have claimed on their own insurance so can't get paid twice for this.

Has the German council in question sent them a 10k bill for the repair to the barrier? It would aslo be covered with insurance if they are not self insured.

Not sure if having to call the police would be considered an unfair term or not, if you believe they didn't need to be informed. 

But even if you did it's not an Enterprise problem, it may be a criminal problem for you though.

Enterprise should focus on the car damage rather than the law.

Jenni_D

It may be that Enterprise's insurer are using this contractual breach to avoid paying the insurance claim.  

sheramber

bris said:

Is Enterprise self insured? It's likely they are but if they arent they would have claimed on their own insurance so can't get paid twice for this.

Has the German council in question sent them a 10k bill for the repair to the barrier? It would aslo be covered with insurance if they are not self insured.

Not sure if having to call the police would be considered an unfair term or not, if you believe they didn't need to be informed. 

But even if you did it's not an Enterprise problem, it may be a criminal problem for you though.

Enterprise should focus on the car damage rather than the law.

Enterprise appear to be saying the insurance is invalid because the terms and conditions were not adhered to viz calling the police. So, they will not be getting any money from the insurance company.

I assume the costs claimed are to repair the car.

Sandtree

bris said:

Is Enterprise self insured? It's likely they are but if they arent they would have claimed on their own insurance so can't get paid twice for this.

The EU has mandatory third party insurance requirements and so you cannot fully self insure in the sense normally meant on this site. 

Have seen one multinational hire car company policy and on paper they were ground up cover but they had a side agreement to reimburse the first $100m (from memory) of any losses in a year and so whilst they had thousands of claims a year in most years the insurer didn't payout.