Enterprise Car hire £35 Admin Fee

kaurka89

Good evening members, 

I am posting this to see if anyone of you has had the same issue and if they have found a way to deal with this at all. I have hired a car with Enterprise through my dealership, as my main car needed repairing. Since then, because I travel a lot for work, I got 6 PCNs through the Dart Charge and a PCN through APCOA. This was due to the fact that my hire car was not added to my account in time. DartCrossing told me to pay the crossings, and they would deal with the car being added onto my account as soon as possible. I got the payments sorted, and reply to Enterprise telling them that these had been sorted, and that the admin fee could not be applied.
As for the PCN with APCOA they told me they had paid it, and that I had to pay the admin fee, which totals to £245 for all the PCNs. Needless to say I appealed the APCOA PCN referring to  Keeper Liability Under Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Schedule 4) and Unclear Allegation and Evidence. I am awaiting reply from them. NOW, the issue I have got is Enterprise still want me to pay £35x7 regardless of the fines being challenged or sorted. Has anyone had a similar issue? Did you manage to get it sorted?

Coupon-mad

You must refuse to pay any of it and point out to Enterprise that APCOA choose never to use the keeper liability law (Schedule 4 wording) so they cannot ever hold Enterprise liable under the POFA 2012. Due to this, it was never their invoice to pay and you won't be reimbursing them for their mistake just because they don't know the difference and can't work out that a 'non-PoFA' worded Notice is nothing more than a harmless invoice for the driver to appeal, and not Enterprise's responsibility to pay or get involved in at all. The driver was never obliged to pay the APCOA one and this was entirely the driver's choice and theirs alone. The hirer will not bail Enterprise out for their error. If they don't understand, you suggest they seek legal advice.

kaurka89

Coupon-mad said:

You must refuse to pay any of it and point out to Enterprise that APCOA choose never to use the keeper liability law (Schedule 4 wording) so they cannot ever hold Enterprise liable under the POFA 2012. Due to this, it was never their invoice to pay and you won't be reimbursing them for their mistake just because they don't know thd difference and can't work out that a non-PoFA worded Notice is nothing more than a harmless invoice for the driver to appeal, and not Enterprise's responsibility to pay or get involved in at all. The driver was never obliged to pay the APCOA one and this was entirely the driver's choice and theirs alone. The hirer will not bail Enterprise out for their error. If they don't understand, you suggest they seek legal advice.

Many thanks for your detailed explanation- I much appreciate. How about the admin fee they keep on insisting I pay? As the amount is nearing £300 for PCNs I managed to have cancelled or have settled with DarCharge and APCOA. 

LDast

What exactly does the Hire Agreement say about admin fees for invoices from private companies as opposed to "fines" or "penalties" issued by "authorities"?

Was the APCOA charge a "Penalty Notice" or a "Parking Charge Notice"? The former is not a real penalty notice but an "offered contract" using unlawful language that is not enforceable.

Coupon-mad

As I said: "You must refuse to pay any of it" but do check the wording of the hire agreement.

Umkomaas

Enterprise should have dealt with the APCOA PCN as outlined by their Trade Association (TA) - the BVRLA. The TA has an arbitration option. Check it out.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/c8hf28g1vbd48f30xxjkq/BPA-BVRLA-MoU.pdf?rlkey=dlq2lt286g73zsbgb9u6k1rbj&e=1&dl=0

The_Slithy_Tove

If Enterprise have paid the APCOA parking charge, then your appeal is meaningless and APCOA won't entertain it at all. As far as they are concerned, case closed, as it's been paid. As has been stated, Enterprise had no reason to cough up and it's a cost they should bear.

As for the admin fees, there's a fair chance that the Dart Charge related fees are payable, as it's effectively a penalty (even if subsequently overturned) and may fall under the relevant terms. You may be able to negotiate a "bulk discount" with them to reduce the overall cost. The admin fee for the PCN is a different matter, and you'll need to check the wording of the rental agreement carefully. I think Enterprise cover themselves better than other rental companies in trying to include private PCNs in some way or another, but it's the exact words that count.

kaurka89

Hi all, just wanted to give an update on this matter. I am fuming, if I have to be honest. APCOA refused my appeal stating: 

'The records have been checked and we can confirm that this charge has been paid. Due to the payment being received, liability has been accepted The records have been checked and we can confirm that this charge has been paid. Due to the payment being received, liability has been accepted and we are unable to process your appeal.

However, we can confirm that we have reviewed the points made in your appeal in line with the facts and evidence

available to us and we are satisfied that the Parking charge was issued correctly for the following reasons:

The area where you have parked is private land, with a parking management scheme put in place at the landowners

request. The terms and conditions of parking on this land are stipulated on signage that has been displayed in clear and prominent positions throughout the site. Those terms and conditions explain that a Parking charge may be issued to vehicles that are parked in an unauthorised manner.

As the vehicle was parked in breach of the terms and conditions on the signage, a Parking charge was issued.

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the motorist to ensure that they seek out, read, and comply with the terms and conditions of parking that are in place. By parking on site in breach of these terms and conditions, it has been agreed that the charge detailed on the signs will be paid.

As you have now paid this Parking charge, we have closed the case on our system and noted our records to ensure that we do not send any further correspondence pursuing this charge.'

I do not understand what has given the right to Enterprise to pay the fine and accept liability! Why have I got to pay now because they decided to pay? Also, I have not signed any contract with them, but apparently it got transferred over by my dealership as they use Enterprise for such matters. 

Upon raising this as a formal grievance, Enterprise replied the below:

Please be advised that Enterprise are not the issuer of the fine neither do we have any influence or jurisdiction over the way in which the issuing agencies operate, the decisions they may make in regards to issued penalty notices or the timeframes they work to. 

Should you wish to appeal, please be advised that this must be done directly with the issuing agency – once the re-issued fine has been received in your name.

Should your appeal be successful we would require a written cancellation notice from the issuing agency and as a gesture of goodwill we will be more than happy to refund / cancel the admin fee charged against your account

We wish you well with your appeal, I hope this clarifies the matter and thank you for your patience during this time.

I have already contacted  Dart Chanrge, and they said that they cannot write anything, as on their side, the fines are dealt with.
I am considering following up onto this complaint and ideally taking it to Ombudsman for review. 

Coupon-mad

There isn't an Ombudsman to turn to, re the APCOA one but you can certainly refuse to reimburse Enterprise.

You don't have to repay them for paying a 'scam' invoice in error that could NEVER have held Enterprise liable if it was a Parking Charge notice.

But you haven't answered the question about that yet?

tincombe

This account appears to be at cross-purposes in my opinion. 

@kaurka89, can we get facts clear pl. You 'have a hired car with Enterprise through your dealership'(because yours was being repaired). So, you took your car into a garage and drove away in a hired car whose registered keeper was Enterprise, but who actually hired the car?
You, separate from the garage, or the garage who then provided to you(e.g. courtesy car), your part being that of the driver only who may have had a contractual relationship with the garage but none with Enterprise? 

'I got 6 PCNs through the Dart Charge and a PCN through APCOA.'. You personally i.e. addressed to you by name, or simply forwarded by another party and not addressed to you. According to your account, Enterprise are charging you personally for their contractual fees pursuant to a contract which of course must be with you. 

Who paid the Dart penalty charges? Who paid the APCOA charge(we don't know its precise nature e.g. parking or penalty etc.) if in fact it's been paid because on the one hand they've written to you as follows 'Should you wish to appeal, please be advised that this must be done directly with the issuing agency – once the re-issued fine has been received in your name.' which is clear: they have not paid(otherwise there's nothing to be reissued). But on the other hand you posted that you spoke to them and 'they told you that they had paid it'. 

The law is applied to facts which need to be clear otherwise.........