Sounds similar to a situation I had with a local Enterprise. I frequently made personal rentals from them, and they had a very lucrative contract with my employer for business rentals, so they knew me and treated me pretty well. I totaled my car in July and rented from them for the duration of the ensuing insurance nightmare (on the insurance company's dime). The car they gave me this time was a piece of crap, stains all over the seats, scratches all over the car, and stank of cigarettes. We went over the damage pretty well but must have missed that scratch on the front bumper - my fiance was in alot of pain at the time and decided he wanted to go to the ER, so I was a bit distracted. Well, 62 days later when we return the hunk of junk, they spot the one scratch that wasn't marked on the form.

We fought the claims dept. on it. Even though I know it was my fault for not being more diligent, the car was obviously in bad shape when we picked it up, and I felt they could have given me the benefit of the doubt, especially since they knew me and I wasn't in the habit of dinging up their cars. I ended up paying $170 out of pocket to fix a damn scratch, but not before they attempted to file a claim with the insurance company (even though we were trading calls nearly every day and I said I wanted to pay it myself). Mind you, I doubt they did anything about the rest of the existing damage, so the whole thing just seems silly to me.

Long story I know, but the point is, I'm never renting from Enterprise again. Oh, and I always do a thorough walkaround.

Recently I rented a large pick-up truck from Enterprise to move some furniture. It was a brand new truck - 202 miles on it - but it did have a few very minor scratches in the paint that I pointed out on the walk-around. The clerk said "Oh, those are so small, we don't need to note them." and I replied, after the very heavy pressure to buy supplemental coverage in case of "scratches or marks to our new truck" that "YES, you do need to note down every one of these marks now, and I want a copy of the form with the notations."

I don't know if she was just lazy or prepping me to pay for someone else's scratches, but I made sure every single mark was noted in advance, and had no trouble at when I returned the truck.

Every time I've strayed from the "3 majors" when renting in the US, I've encountered a big hassle (and often a long queue for the rental counter), at a minimum. For me, that alone is enough to avoid the second-tier and off-brand companies. Given the plethora of anectodal evidence of scamming (outrageous charges for "damage" - I wonder if THEY pre-scratch the cars and then charge every subsequent sucker who they can get to pay for the SAME damage - insurance ripoffs, deceptive/improper fuel charges, etc.)

Bottom line - stick with Hertz, Avis or National and it's much less likely you'll end up hassled and/or ripped off. I personally use Hertz exclusively, and if Hertz isn't an option I'll use Avis. With #1 Gold (express rental) I am usually in my vehicle, often with a free upgrade, driving away from the airport within 5 minutes of arriving at the Hertz location and have never been stuck with ripoff charges. The one or two times I've been overcharged, one quick call to Hertz saw the overcharges removed. One time they (wrongly) accused me of damaging a car in KOA, and again, a quick call and a one page fax to Hertz and no further hassles.

I'll gladly pay $5-10 a day more for this track record; often, I don't pay any premium at all.

As others have said, Hertz, Avis, and National are the best if you want to avoid any hidden fees or surprises at the end of your rental.

I've had good experiences with Enterprise in various parts of the country, but that power of attorney clause (in Texas at least) scares me. I read the fine print on rental agreements pretty carefully and have never seen that before.

One thing that bothers me about the cut-rate agencies (Enterprise, Dollar, and Thrifty) is that they take a rather large credit card deposit, $300 or more, when you rent a car from them, even if it's just a $20 one-day rental. I always check my card statements carefully after renting from one of these places, as I don't want the $300 to show up as a charge or give the agency leeway to charge me for damage I didn't do. National only authorizes your credit card for the estimated amount of the rental when you pick up the car; Avis the amount of the rental plus 20%; and Hertz the amount of the rental plus $100. Much more reasonable. I can understand why agencies want large deposits if you're paying cash, but not with a credit card.

I have a friend who works for "Hack Rent a Car" and the stories he tells are scary. The balding tires, the temporary tags that are replaced every 60 days with a new temporary tag (for 18 months), the squeaky brakes etc. That's not even mentioning the various scams that are pulled on customers. He told me that there is one Neon with a dinged bumper that has been charged to customers so many times the car should be paid off by now.



I rent from Hertz or Avis. End of discussion.

edited to add: He told me that one time his manager told him to stand next to a Taurus with really bad tires and position himself in front of the tire on the front drivers side so that the renters wouldn't notice it until they had driven away.