There are dents on Mark Ferguson’s rental SUV, and Enterprise wants him to pay for the repairs. But there’s just one problem: they’re on the roof, and neither Ferguson, nor the manager who inspected the vehicle, checked the top before he accepted the car. Is he still responsible?
ENTERPRISE
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.
Since my last conversation with Roger Van Horn, the vice president for corporate loss control at Enterprise Holdings, a lot of questions have been raised about one of the most controversial damage-related fees: loss of use charges. I decided to put some of those questions to him in a telephone interview yesterday.
Peggy Suvak’s car rental started routinely enough. When she picked up the car from an Enterprise location in Indianpolis, an associate walked around the vehicle to check for damage and seemed to have “no concerns.”
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 Enterprise rents Janice White a car in Chicago, there’s damage to the fender. No worries, says an associate. It will be noted. But a few days after she returns the car, she’s being asked to pay for the dent. What now?
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?
This is the front bumper of Jeffrey Scheid’s rental car in Reno. See anything? Yeah, neither do I.
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:
Nancy Westcott’s rental through Enterprise does not go well. She’s handed the keys to a junky car and then she’s accused of damaging it when she returns it. Now the company wants $775 from her. What can she do?
Mary Dampier’s rental from Alamo was problem-free until she returned the vehicle to San Francisco International Airport. That’s when she was drawn into what she says is a frivolous claim that has ended with Enterprise (which owns Alamo) threatening her with a collection agency, legal action and being blacklisted from renting with the company again.
I see strange cases all the time in my line of work, but fewer are stranger than Rebecca Davis’ rental from Enterprise in Norwood, Pa.
The late-model Chevrolet that Sukumar Thanawala rented from Thrifty Car Rental in Munich in the spring looked “absolutely fine” when he returned it, he said.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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