Enterprise Car Rental Fraudulent Damage Claim Tenafly, New Jersey

In October of 2009 I rented a small econo car from Enterprise Car Rental located on Piermont Rd in Tenafly NJ. I was driving it to York PA and dropping it off there as I was buying a new vehicle from a car dealer in York. When I picked the car up in Tenafly it was very busy at 5:30 p.m. I waited until after 6:00 p.m. to be served, It was pitch black out. The staff was rushing and had their coats on wanting to leave. I had called ahead to book the car. They brought two cars out and said they were too damaged and if I returned them elsewhere I'd be charged for damages.

They brought out a third car that was the best they had. You couldn't properly assess its condition in the dark. I accepted the vehicle and took it home. It was parked on its own in my driveway and I took it to work and back where it was securely parked in a parking garage by me. I did not take the car anywhere else. Nobody else drove the vehicle. When I drove the car to York PA two days later to pick up my new vehicle I was delayed two hours by ARRA construction on the PA highway so I missed the closing time of the Enterprise office there.

I drove the rental car to the car dealer I was purchasing my vehicle from and the Sales Manager accompanied me to the nearest Enterprise location and we jointly dropped off the keys. He too will confirm there was definitely not $1500-$2500 damage to that car. I was stunned to hear a week or two later that I had returned a damaged car. When I contacted Enterprise the claims department suggested that a shopping cart had run into it. I did not take it to the grocery store or any shopping mall. They tried to get $1500 from my insurance company but I advised them not to pay as it was a frauulent claim. Enterprise is now demanding $2500 from me and a collections firm is hounding me.

The "alleged damages" consisted of random scratches in various locations on the car, clearly not an accident or a single incident. Clearly Enterprise uses this tactic to spruce up their fleet. I'm beside myself. I carry auto insurance and would use it if I had had an accident or caused this so-called damage but I didn't. We are always told to report insurance fraud. This is what drives up the cost of insurance. All accidents over $500 are reportable. I am not negligent. I didn't have an accident or cause $1500 or $2500 damage to this car!