When Frederick Dintzis returns his rental car to Enterprise, it tells him the car looks fine. But four hours later, all is not well. The underside of his car has been damaged, it claims. It wants him to pay for the repairs. Is that fair?
Brad Joiner discovers a damaged underside to his Enterprise rental after he parks it in his driveway. He’s sure it isn’t his fault, but the car rental company begs to differ. It wants him to pay $826.
After Ben Harris dropped off his Mazda 3 rental at the airport in Maui last December, a Hertz agent pointed to some scuffed paint on the underside of the front bumper. Although the employee asked Harris to fill out an incident report, he assured Harris that it was just a formality, and that he wouldn’t get a bill for the damage.
A few years ago, car rental companies made a small but profitable change to their contracts. They said if one of their vehicles was damaged by an Act of God, you were on the hook for the car.
Carri Schoeller is charged an extra $500 after she returns her rental car to Enterprise. The reason? There’s a small scratch on the bumper. Didn’t they say little scratches don’t count? Yeah, but talk is cheap.
With all the recent stories about questionable damage claims on rental cars, it’s no surprise that motorists like Mike Weaver would insist on inspecting his vehicle before renting it. Or that he expects to note every ding and dent before he drives away.
When Leigh Barber returns his rental van to Enterprise, he discovers a small scratch that was overlooked when he picked up the vehicle. He signs a form acknowledging the damage, but with the assurance from a manager that thee scratch can be “buffed out.” Now Enterprise wants him to pay. Does he have to?
When Stacey Koprince rents a car with her partner in Hilton Head, SC, there’s an additional driver fee of $5 a day – a fee Enterprise had promised not to charge. What now?
Enterprise Holdings, which owns and operates the largest fleet of rental cars in the world under the Alamo Rent A Car, National Car Rental, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car brands, will announce tomorrow that it is ending its relationship with Orbitz.com and its sister site CheapTickets.com on April 1 after “months of difficult discussions.” I asked Pam Nicholson, the president and chief operating officer of Enterprise Holdings, to explain the decision and what it means to travelers.
I was about to move Don and Carri Schoeller’s car rental case into the “solved” file when I got the following email from them:
