Enterprise Rent A Car Charges for preexisting damage on rental cars Dover Delaware

07/15/2009

On 7/2/2009 our car broke down in Lumberton, New Jersey. My wife and I rented a car from Enterprise to get home. I rented the car at 5:36 PM as the Enterprise office was closing. I was instructed to return the car to an Enterprise location in Dover, DE to save transportation charges.

On the trip home my wife heard a faint scratching noise that seemed to come from the tire area of the car. I stopped and checked the tires and wheel wells for debris and found nothing. The noise was faint and intermittent and the car was running fine. I could not hear the noise, but my wife could.

On 7/3/2009 we returned the car to Enterprise in Dover DE. My wife was following me in my pickup and noticed a loose object under the car. My wife pointed out the loose object to the Enterprise employee Daniel Jones. Looking under the car, we saw the object was a plastic panel that had come loose from the car. My wife speculated that the loose panel might be the cause of the noise. Mr. Jones accused me of damaging the car and said he had to file an accident report. I loudly protested that there was no accident and we got the car this way. Jones said I should have reported the defect to the Enterprise office in New Jersey. I replied that the office was closing when I left at 5:36 PM. Jones filled out an accident report and invited me to add my notes. I wrote that the car was in this condition when I rented it.

On 7/9/2009 I received a letter from Enterprise demanding either insurance information or a credit card number to pay for the damage. On 7/15/09 I called the Enterprise Damage Recovery Unit at 866-300-4407 and spoke with Kim employee number e221gy. I told Kim that I had not damaged the car in any way and I was refusing to pay for any damage. Kim said she would pass this along. I also told Kim I was posting an article of Ripoffreport.com and filing a complaint with the local District Attorney's office. To date, I have not been contacted by Enterprise to get my side of the story.

I believe Enterprise is trying to make me pay for pre-existing damage to the rental car by filing a false accident report.

Additional info:

Enterprise office in New Jersey

Enterprise Leasing Company of Philadelphia 595 route 38 Lumberton, NJ, 08048-2929.
(609) 518-9920 We rented the car from D. J. Salvaggio
Enterprise office in Delaware

580 Bay Rd, Dover, DE, 19901 (302) 674 5553
We returned the car to Daniel Jones

Rental contract number D 842943

Tom
Elkton, Maryland
U.S.A.