WWYD? Enterprise Car Rental

SatsumaCod

Hi

Looking for some advice. We had a courtesy car for less than 24 hours. No issues on return and our holding deposit was paid back to our card. Neither we or the guys at Enterprise made notes or ticked off any exisiting damage (the odd small scratch) on a signing out or signing in document.

3 weeks after return we receive an invoice saying we had gouged a tyre and they were charging us for replacement. They have provided no photos and as I say, they did not do a signing out or in sheet.

We have been to branch and someone from Head Office was there and he advised the branch staff to cancel the claim. Sadly, this hasnt been done. They are saying the claim is under investigation now.

The invoice states they will take the money from our card no sooner than 2 weeks from the date of the invoice (a date that is rapidly approaching).

Would you cancel the card and refuse to pay? 

Or would you pay "under duress" and then take them to small claims to get it back? Is that an option? 

What are our options please?

We didnt damage the car and they are trying to scam us.

Manxman_in_exile

So they wouldn't be able to produce any sort of return checklist of damage with your signature on it where you acknowledged the damage you had caused while in your possession?  Have you asked to see it yet?

How long was the period between you returning the car and them notifying you of the problem?

Did you take any photos of the car?

Aylesbury_Duck

Don't cancel the card, it won't stop them charging to the account and will just create more inconvenience and hassle for yourself.

Just ask for their actual evidence of the damage and reasonable evidence the damage was caused in your possession, and take it from there.  The onus is on them to provide the evidence.  You then decide if it's fair or not and take it from there.

DullGreyGuy

How much are they proposing to charge?

The vehicle inspection, both in and out, are really there for your protection, any reason why you didnt insist on it being done properly rather than accepting they could pin any of those small scratches etc on you?

SatsumaCod

The branch are stonewalling us so theyre not producing any evidence because theyre refusing to engage with us and are ignoring our emails. I've put in a complaint today about it to Head Office. There was 3 weeks between the day we handed back the car and the invoice arriving. "Damaged tyre" appparently "fixed" 9 days after we gave car back.

The damage is less than 200 quid, but its the principle of it.

I wasnt aware that they would usually do a checklist before and after until i saw it mentioned online, once theyd invoiced us. They went round the car on check out pointing out small scratches saying that anything less than 'X' size wouldnt be charged for.

What options do we have? I spoke to our insurer who said they wouldnt pay without seeing evidence either. BTW, the insurer doesnt cover "tyre damage".

SatsumaCod

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Don't cancel the card, it won't stop them charging to the account and will just create more inconvenience and hassle for yourself.

Just ask for their actual evidence of the damage and reasonable evidence the damage was caused in your possession, and take it from there.  The onus is on them to provide the evidence.  You then decide if it's fair or not and take it from there.

I know its not fair because the claims handler told me that the guys at branch had daid x,y and z to us when we returned the car and they hadnt. So i know theyre lying.

SatsumaCod

We didnt take photos of the car, no.

Thanks for all your comments so far. 

SatsumaCod

Sorry the tyre was "fixed" 19 days after we gave car back, not 9 days.

Also the invoice was the first we had heard of any issues.

Manxman_in_exile

My view (and I'm not saying it's the law) is that yes, the vehicle inspection is partly there for your protection, but it's also there to provide the hire company with evidence of damage that they can use to sue you.

If there was no vehicle inspection report on your return and you didn't sign one, then you have no paper evidence that you didn't cause any damage, but by the same token they have no paper evidence that you did cause it.  And it took them 3 weeks to tell you about it.

If they sue you, they have to prove on the balance of probability that you caused the damage.  At the moment I can't see how they could successfully do that.

Ask them again for their evidence and keep a record each time you ask.  If they keep on refusing to provide evidence I'd say that strengthens your case that you didn't do it.

If they simply charge it to your card, you'll have to put the same argument to your bank as you would have done to the court.

As @Aylesbury_Duck has said, if they want to charge your card you'll do no good cancelling and just cause yourself unnecessary hassle that'll get you nowhere and cause you inconvenience.

Aylesbury_Duck

^^  I agree with all of that.  Just be patient, don't try and resolve it immediately because it's in their hands as it stands and you can't get hold of them anyway.

If the date for charging passes without charging, they've probably dropped it, but keep an eye on your account for a while.

If they do charge your card, speak to your card provider, explain the situation and ask them to intervene.  Ultimately, if they can't provide reasonable evidence of the damaged tyre and that it occurred in your care, I can't see a small claims court siding with them if it came to that, which I suspect it won't.  If you're robust in your denials and actions, I expect them to fold.

DjangoUnchained

be robust with your denials and keep asking for proof. This i think is a game a lot of these companies try on. If they see you are not going to roll over they probably will drop it, if they think you will rollover they will charge you.