I got stung by Enterprise car hire.

[anonymous-user]

Wombat3 said:

gottans said:

Wombat3 said:

CABC said:

Funk said:

The spinner of plates said:

Salted_Peanut said:

You're not kidding. It's an industry ripe for disruption.

A glance at Tustpilot, plus my personal experience, makes the entire car hire industry appear borderline corrupt. Why does virtually every hire company try it on?

I think it's because they keep getting away with it...

And charging for 'damage' they never actually pay to repair is 100% profit.

such an easy business that Hertz went bust.
I'm not saying they're wonderful companies, but a little care to detail on handover can avoid most scams.
Also, some renters are like tenants or guests in hotels, "well they expect it don't they?" "just a little scratch, it's nothing"

So much this...according to many the odd scratch or dent or three is just "fair wear & tear"

No it's fking not! It's damage that either has to be repaired or devalues the vehicle such that on resale the rental business can't sell it for as much as they should be able to.

Either way, there is always a cost to it and that's before you get to the aggravation of having to fix it and the potential opportunity cost of having the thing unavailable to hire out while its being repaired.

Basic tenet of hiring anything: You give it back in the condition you got it or you expect to pay extra.

I think a lot of the people who get stung aren't the ones who did the damage, if the previous renter did it but it wasn't spotted on return the next renter if they don't check the car properly at pick up will carry the can.

The hire company doesn't care who pays so long as someone, anyone does.

Maybe so. The answers are obvious though - rental companies need better pre & post hire checks and sensible customers will also protect themselves with pre-hire photos & videos & excess protection insurance.

Bottom line is that unfortunately, too many customers are less than honest when it comes to damage to rental vehicles.

Agreed but that also applies to the car rental companies who fail to carry out adequate pre/post rental condition checks and the next hirer unless they inspect like a professional will risk getting stiffed on the return for pre-existing damage.

When was the last time any damage on a vehicle was pointed out to you by the rental company before you signed on the dotted line? Never ever in my experience but you can pretty much guarantee it will be identified when the vehicle is returned.

[Alex_225]

I almost had a similar situation with Enterprise back in October.

Picked up a Ford Tourneo for a family holiday, all looked ok until I went to drive off and spotted the drivers mirror glass was broken. I called one of the guys back outside and he took some photos and off I went.

Returned the car a week later and they signed me off, so I went home. Called me about 4-5 hours later and sheepishly told me about the glass on the wing mirror. I reminded the lad (who was very nice to be fair) that I reported this before I drove it away, he remembered, apologised and that was the end of it.

That said, if they had insisted the fact that I'd left the car in their care for 4-5 hours and that they signed off the condition of the car, I'm not sure how it would have gone if I'd dug my heels in as I know the damage was there before I took it.

[carreauchompeur]

The trouble is, hire agreements are much like a garageman’s lien: there’s no option not to pay, you are on the back foot to claim it back

[Teddy Lop]

gottans said:

Wombat3 said:

gottans said:

Wombat3 said:

CABC said:

Funk said:

The spinner of plates said:

Salted_Peanut said:

You're not kidding. It's an industry ripe for disruption.

A glance at Tustpilot, plus my personal experience, makes the entire car hire industry appear borderline corrupt. Why does virtually every hire company try it on?

I think it's because they keep getting away with it...

And charging for 'damage' they never actually pay to repair is 100% profit.

such an easy business that Hertz went bust.
I'm not saying they're wonderful companies, but a little care to detail on handover can avoid most scams.
Also, some renters are like tenants or guests in hotels, "well they expect it don't they?" "just a little scratch, it's nothing"

So much this...according to many the odd scratch or dent or three is just "fair wear & tear"

No it's fking not! It's damage that either has to be repaired or devalues the vehicle such that on resale the rental business can't sell it for as much as they should be able to.

Either way, there is always a cost to it and that's before you get to the aggravation of having to fix it and the potential opportunity cost of having the thing unavailable to hire out while its being repaired.

Basic tenet of hiring anything: You give it back in the condition you got it or you expect to pay extra.

I think a lot of the people who get stung aren't the ones who did the damage, if the previous renter did it but it wasn't spotted on return the next renter if they don't check the car properly at pick up will carry the can.

The hire company doesn't care who pays so long as someone, anyone does.

Maybe so. The answers are obvious though - rental companies need better pre & post hire checks and sensible customers will also protect themselves with pre-hire photos & videos & excess protection insurance.

Bottom line is that unfortunately, too many customers are less than honest when it comes to damage to rental vehicles.

Agreed but that also applies to the car rental companies who fail to carry out adequate pre/post rental condition checks and the next hirer unless they inspect like a professional will risk getting stiffed on the return for pre-existing damage.

When was the last time any damage on a vehicle was pointed out to you by the rental company before you signed on the dotted line? Never ever in my experience but you can pretty much guarantee it will be identified when the vehicle is returned.

Maybe the problem - putting aside some of the scammery - is as much the rental industries reliance on temporary stewardship of new cars that will be chucked back to dealers at 6-9 months whatever to sold as nearly new in immaculate condition - probably to shore up list prices of new cars - rather than long term fleets where a few knocks and scratches aren't a thing. What the renter wants and what the industry supplies are at odds.

[mikebradford]

Booked a small van as it was cheaper than a car. Turned up to be given a transit.
Considering it was just my wife and I traveling to north Wales for a bit of walking with one suitcase it seemed excessive.
Asked for a smaller car or the van I'd hired but non available.

It was pretty clean and had one large scrape in the rear door that was noted on there system.

Took as good care as possible, even parking away from others as I didn't take if the extra insurance that seemed poor value for money.

Also looked Everytime I got back to it for damage.

After a few days away pulled up at home, went to get the bags out and it's a wtf moment.

Dent in passenger door obviously from another cars door.
I can honestly say I didn't park near a car or return to see a car parked near us.

Plus the passenger side was scratched with I can only assume was branches on a country lane.

Looked a mess and feared the worse
Overnight dew helped and I did the pally thing when dropping off. The guy was trying to be a proper lad and spotted nothing in his rush.

So no additional charges

[carreauchompeur]

Agreed, I got a few years old car in NZ and it was far less stressful. I assume they may not have the same business model re churning out nearly new cars.

[Wombat3]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

They do. It's simple though, nothing caused by collision (however caused) is ever fair wear & tear.

As above, if you rent it, you give it back in the condition you got it or you should expect to have to pay for the damage.