Other Car Rental Programs/Partners (ie. Alamo, Enterprise, Sixt) - Car Damaged and Reservation Cancelled

This post actually applies to Enterprise Rent A Car. I reserved a car in Hawaii from a non-airport location. The rate was fantastic and the Van I reserved would be perfect for the family. The reservation was for 9:00 am. I arrived a little late at 10:15 but I was not concerned as usually car rental places hold your reservation all day in my experience. Anyway, Enterprise, apparently does not. They say the non-airport locations only hold the car for one hour. So, since it was christmas, my car had been rented to someone else in those fifteen minutes. Now I was stuck with a smaller car for nearly the same price. This policy does not appear anywhere on my reservation nor can I find any mention of it on their website. Am I wrong that most rental companies hold your reservation all day? Do you guys think I have a valid dispute with Enterprise?

On the last day I had the car, I was taking it to the gas station to fill the tank. I noticed as I drove the two blocks from the house to the station that the tire had run flat. I filled it at the station and advised Enterprise when I returned the car. Later, I got a letter from enterprise saying the tire was damaged and could not be repaired. Damaged from what they could not tell me. While they would not ordinarily charge to repair a tire they now want to charge me $80 to replace it. In the broader scheme of things $80 is not going to kill me. There was no evidence of damage to the tire when I returned it. In fact the damage could have been caused when the car was driven by enterprise to the goodyear tire shop with a flat tire. Anyway, it burns me up and I am curious to see if you frequent renters have any advice on the issue.

Thanks for your help

I am not familar with Enterprise.

But, I do know something about cars.

If you have a flat tire and continue to drive it while it is flat, you run the risk of damaging the tire beyond repair, even if you had drove it for a short distance. The weight of the vehicle on the wheel is literally scraping off the insides of the flat tire. If scraped enough, the tire is damaged beyond repair, and a garage would deem it unfit. And, the rental car company is going to bill you for damaging their tire beyond repair.

Thanks for the response. From what you say it is possible that I caused the damage. Enterprise had the car fixed by Goodyear. So its possible too, that the damage occurred when they drove it to Goodyear assuming the tire was not fully inflated. In the end Enterprise decided to charge me half of the cost of replacing the tire in part because of the poor treatment I received when the reservation was cancelled.

Did you personally witness them driving off to Goodyear for repairs on a flat tire?

If you did, take them to small claims court for it.

If not, you're on the hook for the tire.


The moral of the story is that anytime when you rent a vehicle, you are responsible for it, including road hazards. In some other states, if you had purchased LDW, you would have been off the hook...not sure if it applies in your state.

If you are renting next time, you might want to inquire about LDW and see if it applies to tires.