pfqrst

Back in December I rented a car for a few days from Enterprise and at some point picked up a door ding from some other car - probably the giant honking Audi SUV that parks in the spot next to mine in my condo building's garage.

When I returned the car, I pointed out the dent and asked the manager what type of bill he typically sees for this kind of damage - he said about $200.

Well, the bill arrived at the end of January and it's actually $900. I have insurance, but my deductible is $500 and I'd prefer to not put it on my insurance. I called Enterprise & spoke to an adjuster who says the maximum amount he can adjust is $150. Waiting for a manager to call me back now.

Has anyone had any experience with trying to get Enterprise to work with them on these types of situations? I'd really like for them to waive the administration fee ($75), waive the loss of use fee ($150), and work with me on the repair bill (ideally I'd like to split it 50/50 with them). Is this unreasonable/unrealistic of me?

JSteele

Sounds unreasonable, yet sadly, par for the course. I have no experience w/ Enterprise, however I have had great luck fixing minor dings with paintless dent repair (PDR) places. It is much cheaper than traditional body work, as obviously they don't have to paint it. The lack of repaint also helps the resale value. In most major cities, there is even mobile PDR, it only takes an hour or two to get the ding out.

While that is the reasonable thing to do, sadly, rental car companies aren't known for being reasonable. See if you can convince them to get a PDR estimate, or you can get one for them with merely a picture. Best case scenario, they might let you get off with the PDR work plus admin fee.

If playing nice doesn't work, get a picture of the damage and try to hold the $900 estimate as unreasonable in light of your PDR estimate. Send emails to corporate, tell them you are going to create a website, call the local news, contact magazines etc. I bet they become more reasonable with merely the threat.

DouglasBoyd

Tell the firm, specifically the manager, that you will not pay the bill until you talk with the manager of the shop that repaired it. That way you can determine if they fixed other areas on the car at your expense. Texas Duck

Tuneman1984

$900 for a door ding?? Yikes. They'll make their money any way they can these days. Was there any paint damage?

My advice for next time would be to go to Canadian Tire and get one of those $10 ding pullers.

As far as dealing with Enterprise, I haven't, but I did deal with National last year over a similar matter. I backed into a parked car (some '93 rusty beater) and put a couple of small dings in the rear bumper of a Ford Fusion. I did the damage report, got the letter in the mail, and then heard nothing about it. I just had to speak to an adjuster regarding the car I hit, but heard nothing about my rental. I figure since it had 35,000 km on it at the time that it was probably retired as is and a used car lot touched it up before re-selling.

Auto Enthusiast

Enterprise in NY said the state does not allow them to charge for bumper damage.

jackal

Likely WAY too late for that. The car has already been repaired and has been rented out two or three times. They don't wait for you to approve of the repairs before beginning them--they can't afford to keep a car out of service any longer than necessary.

Auto rental companies are not usually up for alternative repair methods, especially if they're not eating the cost of the damage. Cars need to be fixed by licensed/bonded/insured/reputable body shops so everything is as squeaky clean as possible and the job is done as professionally and perfectly as possible. This is especially true at Enterprise, who basically functions as the world's largest used car dealer and who actually makes a good chunk of their profit on selling their cars (their rental operations basically serve as a way to make money on what would otherwise be sitting inventory--think of it as the world's largest floating used car lot). In order to keep their cars as presentable and resalable as possible, they want top-notch body work done (especially, again, as they can pass the cost of that on to you).

That's why I always buy CDW or, barring that, at least use my Amex with PCRP. If I get a rock chip or door ding on my car, I always have the option of letting it go or repairing it on the cheap. Not so with a rental car: you WILL be charged for the damage, and you will have no say in how that damage gets repaired.

Also, the vast majority of rental agencies out there are reputable (contrary to popular FlyerTalk opinion ), and reputable agencies don't mark up damage. In my personal experience, what the body shop charges the agency is what the agency charges the customer (with the exception of the loss-of-use and admin fees). I have only known one unscrupulous franchise that did some dirty tricks, like charging replacements for chipped windshields multiple times before repairing them or who had an arrangement to get a high estimate from one body shop and actually get the cars repaired at another, lower-cost body shop. I would not expect this from any corporate-operated store or the vast majority of franchise operators, who are good, honest people trying to run a successful business in what is (much like the airline industry) an industry that isn't really very profitable (think: in many places, profit margins of around 1-2%).

pfqrst

No paint damage at all - but the dent was quite long, probably 4 or 5 inches long =/ Someone really let their door fly into mine.

Hopefully Enterprise will call me back today & be willing to move a little on the bill. =/

pfqrst

Just an update - after a few weeks of phone tag I managed to speak to a manager. He waived the loss of use fee & an administration fee but explained that the repair costs come out of the budget of the individual branch. Likened it to calling the manager of the branch and asking him to whip out his credit card to pay the repair bill for me. Maybe I'm a softie but that did it for me. I paid the ~$700 for the repair costs. And in the future I may be persuaded to get their overpriced daily insurance instead of relying on my own :P