Enterprise Rent-a-Car fraudulent damage charges Stanstead airport, London United Kingdom

When the storm hit and trains from London to Brighton were canceled on 24 December, I was prepared to pay premium rates for a 4-day car hire, Christmas with my daughter’s English family, a first for my 11-month old grandson, was more than enough justification. I signed off for 220 pounds, by week’s end my credit had been pillaged for almost a thousand. Ebenezer Scrooge would have nodded in approval.

It all started out well enough. Cheery staff with Christmas bonnets sped through paperwork like Santa’s reindeer. Here are the keys, take a quick look around, let us know if any obvious damage, don’t worry about little stuff. It was night, the lot was dark and no torch was offered. 

No Christmas bonnets in sight as I entered the lot to return the car. Bureaucratic politeness replaced holiday spirit as attendent X went straight for the front bumper with high-power torch. Did he already know what he was looking for? A fifteen-inch ‘scuffed area’ was assessed, no dents or cracks, just some light abrasion (I have photos). I was offered a form to add comments and an equally sterile discussion of the matter with an ‘assistant manager’. That was a deep as I could penetrate the corporate cortex. There was clearly no decision-making at this level, only well-rehearsed algorithmic çlient processing. I was informed that the assessment would take a few days and given a number to call later that week. The 700 pound damage charge was made the next day.

Among the well-rehearsed lines was the one to counter driver denial of any incident that could have caused damage. It could have occurred in a parking lot, another driver, but you are still responsible… Fine, probably a good line for a lot of renters, but not in my case. I drove the car short distances to two family homes, two-thirds of a tank of petrol total, and parked the car off the street. So I know the ‘scuffing’ didn’t occur on my watch.  Problem is, after the initial dead-end encounter with the lot minions, there turns out to be no avenue for problem resolution or redress. Emailing ‘customer service’ is like a black hole, nothing comes back. 

I decided to see whether this was an isolated incident or fit a pattern. An preliminary internet search for Enterprise Rent-a-Car reveals hundreds of consumer complaints, most of them related to ‘fraudulent damage charges’ or describing similar ‘scams’. Two cases were detailed in the Dallas News (March 2013), and the list goes on… class action material?

The potential for abuse, for fraudulently assessing damage charges is clear enough – customers reassured when releasing the car, powerless to contest unverifiable and exorbitant claims when it comes back, no accountability or functional consumer protection mechanisms. Questions remain, interesting speculation, difficult to find answers... How systematic is this practice? Are repairs even made? how much might bogus repair charges – several times the cost of the car hire – contribute to corporate profits? Is the spectre of exorbitant repair charges part of a strategy to sell additional insurance? 

Whatever the answers, the corporate greeting for my family this Christmas was a resounding ‘bah, humbug’.

I intend to pursue this by all available means...