Enterprise Van Hire Damages - advice please!

Maklr3

About a month ago we hired a van to move into our new home. Upon reaching the branch of Enterprise, we were offered additional cover which we took out. The guy briefly went through what to do if we had an accident and my partner signed the agreement. That night after a long day of moving stuff in, he drove to a local supermarket where he went under a sign stating the clearance. The main reason being he has a lifelong medical condition and he urgently needed to use the facilities. When we took the van out we weren’t informed of the height clearance of the vehicle. The van did actually go under the sign, which was also really badly lit so you could barely see it, which stated clearance but once under the van hit a metal beam at the very back - some damage was caused and we rang Enterprise as soon as was safe. Having read through the terms and conditions it was my understanding that we would be covered by their insurance as the guy at Enterprise had stated to us when we picked it up. However, a month later we have received an almost £10,000 bill (£9,300 to be exact) stating me breached the rental agreement because we had driven under a barrier that was lower than the vehicle clearance, when I asked for clarification on this they informed us that we did not take care with the vehicle. The next day when we returned the vehicle, our excess was taken and the security deposit was held which was reasonable, totalling £500. The guy rang his manager to make sure that would be the last of the issue and we were assured by both of them that it would be. Whilst we do accept that we caused damage, my issue is that they have basically said we deliberately drove under a barrier. However, we did not drive under a barrier and the vehicle did actually fit under the sign. Furthermore, the terms and conditions of the agreement were only emailed to me after the signing of the agreement, meaning we weren’t fully aware we’d even incur these costs in the event of an accident or collision, we were assured by the staff at the branch that we covered and would be insured against accidents and were certainly not made aware of their damage waiver conditions at the time of signing. Does anyone have any advice on this situation? I’ve asked to dispute this but they have not responded about the accident in weeks and then we are hit with a very expensive bill. Can we reasonably dispute this given it specifically states a barrier, when we didn’t hit a barrier, and we weren’t made aware of the T&Cs nor the vehicle height clearance on pick up of the van. What could our next steps be? They are asking for the money within 7 days or they will pursue us legally. Obviously £9000 for two people who have three young children, a mortgage and sky high bills is not reasonable for us in the slightest. I have no idea what to do and I’m suffering sleepless nights over the whole ordeal. 

Please no silly responses I need genuine help. 

Herzlos

Height clearance is one of the biggest pitfalls with new van drivers, but I don't think they are obligated to warn you about it because most people hiring vans are van users who are used to it.

Their insurance won't cover misuse, and unfortunately driving into a car park that is signed as being too low for the van and then hitting something at that height would be misuse. So you're likely on the hook for paying something.

That said, £9300 for hitting a beam seems excessive so I'd be querying the breakdown of it. What did the damage actually look like? Did you take photos of it? What age/model van?

Sandtree

You will have signed the T&Cs when you picked up the vehicle... did you not read them before signing? Obviously know most people dont but its a risk many take.

Each van I've hired has had a sticker in the cab giving the hight clearance required which negates the need for the member of staff to advise you as its there to be seen each time you approach something low.

What does the T&Cs actually state? Looking on the website I cannot readily spot their T&Cs but the plain English version doesn't list hitting height restrictions as an exclusion however does exclude reckless use. Are they arguing it was reckless? 

Its not clear what you meant by the fact it went under the sign but hit the beam at the back? £10k is a lot for repairs for scraping the roof!

Maklr3

Thanks for the replies, guys. This is the exact issue I’m taking with it, we don’t dispute that the damage has been caused or that we are responsible but we were told by the staff member at the branch that if we took out the extra insurance we were protected against ‘any costs from damage’. He then asked us to sign which my partner did, he then told us that the terms and conditions he had stated would be emailed to us. Fair to say the terms and conditions we were then emailed were a lot more elaborate and included things he did not state. 

Maklr3

Sorry, I’ve just realised there were most questions. The T&Cs read that they don’t cover if you are reckless and drive under a barrier, however again it wasn’t a barrier. There was a sign with height clearance but the van went fully under that it was only once a few meters into the car park that it hit an additional metal beam of which nothing similar appeared before that. To get out I then let the tyres down and we drove out easily. We have photos of the damage that were taken by Enterprise at return of the vehicle which we agreed was our fault. We were then assured it happened all the time and we were covered by the additional insurance we took out. We paid the excess and deposit and that was the final word on it until now. There was no sticker inside the van indicating height as we also have photos of that as well. He asked upon collection at the desk if my partner had ever driven a van to which he replied no so he was aware that this was the first time. 

Grey_Critic

When your partner drove into the car park there will have been a notice telling him/her that the clearance was 2 metres (6ft 6 inches)

They all have them/

Maklr3

I’m not disputing there wasn’t however Enterprise are taking the position their insurance won’t cover us because he was driving ‘recklessly’ that being said the car park sign was 1. Badly lit, and 2. The van did fit under the clearance - my issue is that when we were sold additional cover we were told that this covered us against any and all damages and this has turned out not to be true, which is the real issue that I need the advice on here, am I able to dispute the invoice they have provided on the basis of us being told word of mouth that we were covered and the fact he told us we wouldn’t receive our terms and conditions until after we signed the rental agreement. In terms of the sign, yet there a a sign stating clearance but the terms of conditions specifically mention driving under a barrier; which is not which was drove under. 

The_Fat_Controller

As you hit a fixed object due to your negligence you are rather out on a limb.

You need to read the Terms and Conditions of every part of the contract, word of mouth at handover will never cover all eventualities.

You may be able to query the estimate for repairs but it's highly unlikely you'll get out of paying for the damage.

Maklr3

My main issue really is with the fact that he read verbal terms and conditions and said we would receive the full ones following. Obviously we’ve taken him at his word only to realise we’ve paid more whilst still having to be fully liable for the damage. Having looked at the report we’ve requested from them though it seems a lot of the damage was at the front despite this not being what was noted at the vehicle handover upon return - £9300 seems really excessive when the breakdown states that the repairs to the back of the van which was the part that was hit came to just under £2000, we agree that the very back right hand of the vehicle was what was damaged at this incident however the front did not have a single mark to it, luckily we have taken photos of the full vehicle and the photos taken at return don’t match the ones taken prior to the work being done so hopefully something else has occurred and the amount due should actually be less. We did expect some form of payment to have to be made but certainly not to this extent 

Sandtree

The law generally understands that a sales person doesn't read out all 200 pages of a contract but just key features and you are expected to read the fine print BEFORE signing

There is a potential argument that you were careless rather than reckless but you seem more fixated on the sales process... which is broadly superseded by the contract you sign

Maklr3

I’m not fixated on this process I understand there are documents to be read, that being said I don’t believe we should have been sold for an additional £500 the extra cover and told (and shown the document backing this up) that we were covered from all accidents by us or a third party. And if we are technical about the contract they presented then it wasn’t actually a barrier that was hit, and the word used specifically is ‘barrier’, not for example gate, sign, structure, etc. Having sought impartial legal advice this evening, we believe we have a clearer picture of the situation and have been advised to exhaust all lines of dispute over the full cost and contact the ombudsman and then if that fails try to come to some kind of mutual agreement on costs and timeframe of any kind of payment. If that doesn’t work I suppose the last step is they take legal action in which case we can only afford to pay a very minimal amount a month anyway, we can’t pay what we can’t afford at the end of the day. I just wanted to know if anyone had advice on how to approach these types of situations or indeed any first hand experience of a similar situation.