Enterprise claim for damage we didn’t cause

gavhelen

Long story short. My wife was given an Enterprise curtesy car when someone crashed into hers.

Since return the car after a week of use, they have been in touch to say there is damage to the headlight, and are quoting £200! My wife is as honest as they come, shaken from the original accident, and would not dare hide any form of damage, so is really upset by this. 

First off, how do we best challenge this, and prove it if they argue back,

Secondly, whilst I am adamant it shouldn’t come to this, if we end up court or whatever to pay, £200 feels massively excessive! 

Any help would be massively appreciated!

thank you all

DullGreyGuy

How do you know a stone chip didnt hit the headlight? It's not like they say the frame is bent and the back door is missing. 

Did you do a proper check with them at the two handover points? Or did you leave it out of ours for them to check in the morning? Was there damage before that they brushed off as nothing to worry about?

£200 is fairly reasonable for the cost of parts, labour and loss of hire whilst its in being repaired. 

Aylesbury_Duck

How do you challenge and prove it?  I'm not sure how you can.  If your wife inspected the car when she received it and no headlight damage was apparent and not detailed on the condition sheet, and there is now damage when she returned it, that suggests the damage occurred in her care.

Did she walk around the car at handover and does she have any paperwork from when she handed it back?

cannugec5

Surely the courtesy car is insured by the lender. 

A number of years ago my car was written off by an oncoming car bouncing of a tree and into the side of me. 

I was given a courtesy car and a week later wrote of a sheep after dark in the middle of an icy road. The courtesy car was substantially damaged. The insurance company took care of it all. There was no extra cost, or excess charged to me. 

born_again

Only way to challenge this is the forms you/they fill in when picking up & returning car. Marking out any damage.

Which of course you did get & still have????

Without these, sadly you have no chance.

lisyloo

I always take photos inside and out when I get a hire/courtesy car (more difficult at night granted) and there is paperwork too.
I also make sure I have 0% excess as it's pennies for excess insurance.

Stone chip or damage whilst unattended are possible.

gavhelen

Thanks for all of your replies. Unfortunately, unlike myself who works in a commercial role in a corporate company, my wife has always worked in her vocational calling as a nurse. To that end, she is very (maybe overly) trusting, and doesn't always think to do what I may see as obvious things to do (in case the worst case scenario happens) in situations like this. 

With that in mind, does the fact that they contacted her several days after returning the vehicle give any grounds to challenge back, as it's not like it was spotted by them immediately on return, and as such, how is she to know they haven't since done it after returned by her?

Thanks for your help / advice

Aylesbury_Duck

gavhelen said:

Thanks for all of your replies. Unfortunately, unlike myself who works in a commercial role in a corporate company, my wife has always worked in her vocational calling as a nurse. To that end, she is very (maybe overly) trusting, and doesn't always think to do what I may see as obvious things to do (in case the worst case scenario happens) in situations like this. 

With that in mind, does the fact that they contacted her several days after returning the vehicle give any grounds to challenge back, as it's not like it was spotted by them immediately on return, and as such, how is she to know they haven't since done it after returned by her?

Thanks for your help / advice

It comes down to the damage forms.  If the form she signed for when accepting the car didn't have the damage marked, and the next time it was checked the damage was present, that suggests the damage occurred during her time with the car.  It could of course have happened as the car was moved/cleaned between her returning it and the next customer taking it.

I'd go back to them and ask what evidence they have that it occurred in your wife's care.  Then take it from there.

DullGreyGuy

gavhelen said:

Thanks for all of your replies. Unfortunately, unlike myself who works in a commercial role in a corporate company, my wife has always worked in her vocational calling as a nurse. To that end, she is very (maybe overly) trusting, and doesn't always think to do what I may see as obvious things to do (in case the worst case scenario happens) in situations like this. 

With that in mind, does the fact that they contacted her several days after returning the vehicle give any grounds to challenge back, as it's not like it was spotted by them immediately on return, and as such, how is she to know they haven't since done it after returned by her?

Thanks for your help / advice

In my experience nurses aren't trusting, you tell then its been 12 weeks since your last injection but they work it out themselves and state you are 1 day early (arguably its more like 14 hours) so need permission from a doctor to administer the next injection. 

Several days is nothing in business terms. One person has to complete the inspection, then someone else has to arrange for someone else to look at it, they then have to prepare the quote for repairs and send it to the person that instructed them. That person has to then get to it in their inbox, maybe go back for clarification on a point or two, then they have to work out the loss of earnings claim. Often it then goes to someone else where it sits in their inbox to double check the numbers. They then authorise it and so eventually someone then sends you the email to say this is the bill. 

Several days is impressive, most times the response is in weeks not days. 

TELLIT01

There is nothing to indicate that Enterprise is saying the damage was caused deliberately, or even that your wife caused the damage.  It could have been caused by somebody in a car park for example.  The simple facts are that Enterprise are saying there was damage to the car when returned which wasn't there when your wife took delivery.

VegetaDBZA

Your lucky it's £200 you obviously took out the excess protection which reduces the insurance excess from £2000 to £200 you agreed to it and took out the protection just incase anything happened which it did