Enterprise Van Rental - Roof Damage - Asking me to pay £11k

avxo

This happened in September 2022.

I was frequently renting vans from Enterprise Rentals. I always rented normal long wheel base and short wheel base vans (regular height vans). And I always took the premium insurance extra £25 on top be fully covered. This I thought gave me full cover.

One day they didn't have a standard size van, and they offered me a Luton van. A much higher van. I took the premium insurance as usual.

Just before renting the van, I moved to a new home, in my town is a train bridge that I go under with the regular vans. When I rented the Luton, I didn't remember the height of the van, and in a very big rush the next day I drove through the bridge and the roof got crushed as I forgot i was in a higher van. I drove under that bridge with normal vans many times so subconciously my mind was not thinking about checking the height (and i was in a rush)

I returned the van and the manager at Enterprise told me I just had to pay the £250 excess and that was all. So i paid the excess and left.

They then came back to me a few weeks later and told me that the insurance doesn't cover roof damage and want me to pay £11k for the repair.

I argued that I was not informed that I was not fully covered. If I had known I was not fully covered I would likely have not rented their vans. What's the purpose of hiring vans where you believe you have full comprehensive cover, but in reality you are not fully covered.

Anyway, throughout 2023 they chased me for the money, my business was in a bad state and I was struggling to pay rent and feed my kids. Their lawyers took me to court but they sent all the court hearing requests to my OLD ADDRESS, so I never once got a letter from the courts -asking me to attend (and defend myself)

The courts held a trial and I was automatically charged guilty however I was not even there to defend myself. Since then a high court RIT has been placed on me with "Court Enforcement Services" visiting my home to attept to remove my goods.

Additionally a CCJ has been placed on me and it's thrown my financial life into right mess.

My company finally closed in August 2024 ( 1 months ago) and I am now unemployed.

I have no real assets, as  all the furniture and white goods etc is in my Fiance's name (life partner/ mum to my kids). I literally have my phone and some clothes to my name.

Additionally inside the Luton van there was no "height" notice inside the van. Is it not a legal requirement to have these "height alert stickers" inside the van?

-----QUESTIONS---

Am I right in thinking I can fight the case to be re-opened as they sent all documents for the court hearings to an address I wasn't living at... hence I was not able to attend or defend myself?

Am I right in thinking that I have been unfairly sold a rental agreement without being made fully aware of the lack of insurance coverage for roof damage?

Can anyone recommend a solicitor?

---

I would like to fight this as I feel Enterprise are not educating the people renting their vans that they are not fully covered. We should be informed of this I believe so we can make the decision to rent or not. To take the risk or not. We are given a tablet to quickly sign the contract in a few places digitally and I believe 100% of people renting from them are not given this CRITICAL information upfront. It is not right in my view, i have seen many other threads about this topic on this and different forums and I believe Enterprise did their job to give renters this critical information beforehand we would have a chance to decide if we wanted to rent.

If they had told me this upfront a few things would have happened:

1) I would want to know the vans height, so I can check it against any bridge I needed to go under. (I did not know the vans height)

2) I would be incredibly concious of the van and any object I was trying to move underneath.

3) I woud have had the chance to seek additional insurance to cover against this.

I have emailed the courts yesterday 25th September 2024 to re-open the case so I can defend myself. I am waiting to hear from the courts.

In the mean time Court Enforcement Services have emailed to say they will still continue to attend to remvoe the goods until paid. I have no assets, or means to pay, and regardless I do not believe i should pay, I believe they have failed to give me the proper information on the rental risks (and lack of insurance coverage).

This lack of insurance coverage should be STEP 1 of the rental agreement, made clear and visible and explained by the employee of Enterprise when giving the tablet to the customer to sign. Do you agree?

 

Baldytyke88

The fact that you did not update your address and the documents were sent to your old address is your responsibility. In fact it was the wrong address when you hired the van. What would that mean for your insurance?

You would think that insurance would cover 100% of the van. Do you have funds to pay a solicitor?

FlorayG

Baldytyke88 said:

The fact that you did not update your address and the documents were sent to your old address is your responsibility. In fact it was the wrong address when you hired the van. What would that mean for your insurance?

You would think that insurance would cover 100% of the van. Do you have funds to pay a solicitor?

OP is not actually saying he gave the old address. On the day he may have given his new address but the rental company didn't update their records - I've had this happen to me loads of times and just lucky I didn't move far and my postman knows where I actually live.

DullGreyGuy

You would need to pay to have the case set aside, to do this you need to do two things:

1) Show there was good reason why you didnt defend the original case
2) Show you have a reasonable prospect of winning the repeated claim

If they had your new address and incorrectly issued on your old address then that gives a reasonable chance on point 1 and so it comes down to showing that you can win the retrial. 

If a vehicle is over 3m it does need a sign saying its height, I've hired many luton box vans and all have had such a sign so I'd be highly surprised if the van didnt have one. 

Have you gone back and read the terms you signed up to? Normally its clearly stated roof and undercarriage damage is excluded if you go through a tunnel too low or ground the vehicle on speed bumps etc. 

Aretnap

Yes you can apply to have the judgement set aside of you were not aware of the hearing. However there is a time limit for doing this - when did you become aware that there was a CCJ against you? If you were outside the time limit then you can still apply to have the judgement set aside, however you may have to persuade the court that there is a good reason for the lateness of the application, as well as a reasonable chance of a new hearing giving a different outcome. 

https://nationaldebtline.org/get-information/guides/setting-aside-a-ccj-ew/

If you can overcome that hurdle then as far as the substance of the case goes, there is a general principle that the more unusual or onerous an exclusion in an insurance policy is, the more clearly it has to be highlighted to the customer at the time of purchase. Personally I would argue that an exclusion that leaves you liable for the full cost of a major van accident is fairly onerous, so if it wasn't clearly highlighted when you bought the policy but rather buried deep in several pages of terms and conditions then you might have a case.

I would have suggested a complaint to the insurance company, and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service if necessary along those lines earlier in the process, as the FOS generally has more of a pro-consumer bias than the courts. Not sure how well that option works now that court processes are already running though.

EssexExile

Baldytyke88 said:

The fact that you did not update your address and the documents were sent to your old address is your responsibility. In fact it was the wrong address when you hired the van. What would that mean for your insurance?

You would think that insurance would cover 100% of the van. Do you have funds to pay a solicitor?

There was another thread on here recently that explained that roof damage on higher than normal vehicles isn't covered by the usual insurance.

cw8825

lets not beat around the bush, OP has still driven into a bridge
The OP needs to take some responsibility, if it was the difference between a slightly higher then usual roof, fair enough but a luton is a massive change

WellKnownSid

EssexExile said:

Baldytyke88 said:

The fact that you did not update your address and the documents were sent to your old address is your responsibility. In fact it was the wrong address when you hired the van. What would that mean for your insurance?

You would think that insurance would cover 100% of the van. Do you have funds to pay a solicitor?

There was another thread on here recently that explained that roof damage on higher than normal vehicles isn't covered by the usual insurance.

Even car rental insurance rarely covers roof, underside, theft with the keys, windscreens, etc, etc.

Mutton_Geoff

EssexExile said:

There was another thread on here recently that explained that roof damage on higher than normal vehicles isn't covered by the usual insurance.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6530668/enterprise-van-write-off-charges-after-roof-damage

Usual story, new poster, couple of questions, loads of suggestions inc request for follow up, then doesn't bother logging in again.

ontheroad1970

They only posted today!  Not everyone is hanging on their computers all day

Mutton_Geoff

ontheroad1970 said:

They only posted today!  Not everyone is hanging on their computers all day

I was referring to the other thread OP, not this one. The MSE forums do seem to have a high incidence of hit and run posts though.