Enterprise Rent-a-Car Elrac, LLC Held responsible for prior damage Little Falls New Jersey

I rented a car from Enterprise in Little Falls NJ on 3/26/15 while my car was being repaired at a nearby Dodge dealership. It was cloudy and drizzling that day, and the only car available was dirty and dusty, but they did not wash it.

The manager-in-training led me around the car pointing to areas likely to be scratched, such as doors and bumpers, very insistently reminding me that if I didn't buy their extra damage insurance I would be responsible for anything that happened to the car. I did not see any scratches "larger than a golf ball" & declined the extra insurance as I knew my use of the car would be very minimal.

When I returned the car on 4/30/15, the Manager went out to inspect the car and called me outside to show me scratches and a dent on the hood of the car on the passenger side.  The scratches and dent had been painted over with matching touchup paint--so, no, I didn't see them on the day of the rental. He insisted I'd done the damage, which was absurd, since it had already been touched up--and not recently, from the dullness of the touchup paint.

He insisted I file a claim with my insurance company, and then proceeded me to charge me $500 as my deductible, even though the question of whether I did the damage was in dispute. We each took pictures and I sent mine to my insurance company, while he said that Enterprise's own body shop, "Tony's" would determine whether or not the damage (and retouching) was done within the last 4 days.  Needless to say, I don't trust one of Enterprise's own repair shops to render an opinion against Enterprise.