Unfair van hire excess charges?

octo_2

My daughter hired a van from Enterprise to move home last September. As she doesn't drive, I was listed as the main driver on the contract with Enterprise and purchased an insurance excess policy from Eversure. On returning the van (one-way hire) some damage was picked up for the first time. Fortunately my daughter had taken a video of the van when we picked it up, which on close viewing did show the damage was present when we collected the vehicle. Enterprise initially accepted we weren't to blame, but months later have contacted my daughter saying they can no longer see the damage on the video clip and are pursuing her for almost £2,000 in repair costs. Eversure won't help me unless I pay up on my daughter's behalf then file a claim with them. Seems to me Enterprise are just trying it on and it would be much better if Eversure agreed to act on my behalf to get Enterprise to stop harrassing us and accept we proved the damage was not caused by us. Anyone had similar experience? Any advice welcomed, thanks.

sheramber

they can no longer see the damage on the video clip

Does that mean they did see originally?

Does your daughter still have the video showing the damage?

Aylesbury_Duck

octo_2 said:

My daughter hired a van from Enterprise to move home last September. As she doesn't drive, I was listed as the main driver on the contract with Enterprise and purchased an insurance excess policy from Eversure. On returning the van (one-way hire) some damage was picked up for the first time. Fortunately my daughter had taken a video of the van when we picked it up, which on close viewing did show the damage was present when we collected the vehicle. Enterprise initially accepted we weren't to blame, but months later have contacted my daughter saying they can no longer see the damage on the video clip and are pursuing her for almost £2,000 in repair costs. Eversure won't help me unless I pay up on my daughter's behalf then file a claim with them. Seems to me Enterprise are just trying it on and it would be much better if Eversure agreed to act on my behalf to get Enterprise to stop harrassing us and accept we proved the damage was not caused by us. Anyone had similar experience? Any advice welcomed, thanks.

I suspect the insurance doesn't work like that.  Whenever I've taken out third party excess insurance, it's always been made clear that I am liable to pay the excess to the hiring company, and then recover it from the insurer.  Have a look at your policy documents, I'm sure Eversure don't act on your behalf, like a normal car insurer would.

If you no longer have the evidence of pre-existing damage, you have two options.  Well, strictly speaking your daughter has one option and you have the other (if I've understood you correctly).  She can ask Enterprise to provide evidence that the damage occurred in her care (which presumably will be the signing-out sheet and the signing-in sheet) and dispute it.  If that doesn't work, you need to pay the excess and then recover it from your Eversure policy.

I trust that Eversure are ok with the fact that the hire was in your daughter's name and the excess policy is in your name?  Be careful that it doesn't invalidate any claim.

DullGreyGuy

Was the damage on the handover sheet when you took the van? If not why didnt you point it out then? A video could have been recorded any any time/date 

Remember a third party denied a claim saying their vehicle was in the area but hadn't made contact. They sent a photo of the back of their car with "todays" paper in the shot to prove their car was undamaged but the area was the only clean part of the car and with a bit of photo manipulation was a moderate different colour to other bits of the car. Now maybe they cleaned the panel to check for damage but more looked like cleaned for repair/respraying. Thankfully the ExIF data showed the photo was taken much later than the date on the paper. Had they known, they could have edited or removed the ExIF data 

pdel61

Not sure how easy it would be to get, but you could ask them if the van has been hired out since your daughter had it and if so was the damage pointed out to whoever hired it. If they have hired it out and listed it with no damage then clearly you can't have been responsible for it.

eskbanker

pdel61 said:

Not sure how easy it would be to get, but you could ask them if the van has been hired out since your daughter had it and if so was the damage pointed out to whoever hired it. If they have hired it out and listed it with no damage then clearly you can't have been responsible for it.

I suspect that would be a fairly short conversation, along the lines of:

Q: Could you pass on some information that would weaken your case and strengthen mine please?

A: No

Alderbank

eskbanker said:

pdel61 said:

Not sure how easy it would be to get, but you could ask them if the van has been hired out since your daughter had it and if so was the damage pointed out to whoever hired it. If they have hired it out and listed it with no damage then clearly you can't have been responsible for it.

I suspect that would be a fairly short conversation, along the lines of:

Q: Could you pass on some information that would weaken your case and strengthen mine please?

A: No

Q: Well at least give me contact details of the people who hired it after me so I can dob them up?

A: Go away

born_again

pdel61 said:

Not sure how easy it would be to get, but you could ask them if the van has been hired out since your daughter had it and if so was the damage pointed out to whoever hired it. If they have hired it out and listed it with no damage then clearly you can't have been responsible for it.

That is why you need the sheets confirming state of van when returned.

Quite simply GDPR. No way will they provide 3rd party details. 

onomatopoeia99

eskbanker said:

pdel61 said:

Not sure how easy it would be to get, but you could ask them if the van has been hired out since your daughter had it and if so was the damage pointed out to whoever hired it. If they have hired it out and listed it with no damage then clearly you can't have been responsible for it.

I suspect that would be a fairly short conversation, along the lines of:

Q: Could you pass on some information that would weaken your case and strengthen mine please?

A: No

Only if you employ the same lawyers as the Post Office and have the same attitude to disclosure.

octo_2

Thanks for all the above! To be clear, my daughter submitted a video clip (and the time stamp) which the Enterprise branch manager (and the agent handling the claim at Enterprise's Damage Recovery Unit) both agreed in writing (e-mail) showed the damage in question was visible when we collected the vehicle, though not noticed at the time by either party (it was a dent in the roofline above the rear doors on a high-top Transit). Now, months later, Enterprise say they no longer accept the video showed the damage in question.....

Meantime I had an interesting telephone conversation with another member of staff at the sign-in depot, who informed me that in this situation the company routinely harrasses its customers using automated "do not reply" e-mail, since the alternative is the branch franchisee who allowed the vehicle out with unrecorded damage gets clobbered for the (inflated) repair costs. My daughter has had yet another of these e-mails from Enterprise today, and we have decided to engage a solicitor to try and get them off our backs.

I hear what one of you said about Eversure possibly declining a claim under my excess insurance policy, and since I've been open with them I guess the chance of that happening is high. Also Eversure are not interested in intervening, even if it would relieve them of an unjust claim. It's become a matter of principle now - a solicitor won't be cheap, but I've always believed consumers should stand up and be counted when service providers behave badly, otherwise bad behaviour becomes the norm and we all collectively bear the cost....think on that when you next renew your car insurance, for example!

Lessons learned:
1. Be very wary of ENTERPRISE CAR and VAN RENTAL
2. Bring a drone when picking up a hire vehicle, so you can get a full 360 view....
3. The CAR HIRE EXCESS INSURANCE so enthusiastically endorsed by this website may not be all it's cracked up to be

Okell

octo_2 said:

Thanks for all the above! To be clear, my daughter submitted a video clip (and the time stamp) which the Enterprise branch manager (and the agent handling the claim at Enterprise's Damage Recovery Unit) both agreed in writing (e-mail) showed the damage in question was visible when we collected the vehicle, though not noticed at the time by either party...

If you have the Enterprise branch manager's and another Enterprise employee's confirmation by email that the video shows that the damage was already present when you collected the car, I wouldn't waste my money on a solicitor.

Just tell them that you are relying on that confirmatory email to prove that the damage was already present when your daughter collected the van.  And tell them that you won't engage in any further correspondence with them.

Then ignore any future correspondence from them unless you get a formal Letter Before Claim and/or you get notification that they've issued a court claim against her.  Either of those cannot be ignored and require action.

(But see what others say.  Hire firms can prove tricky...)