What would you do? Billed for car rental damage, and then re-billed

I was about to move Don and Carri Schoeller’s car rental case into the “solved” file when I got the following email from them:

“Guess what?” wrote Don Schoeller. “These SOB pond scum jerks after months have out of the blue re-billed our credit card account again so we ask please do another expose article in your blog read by thousands of subscribers in regards to the unscrupulous business practice of Enterprise.”

Uh oh.

In order to understand why Schoeller is upset, let’s have a look at his case.

I’ll let his wife, Carrie, explain.

Enterprise is trying to hit me for $550 on a Ford we rented from their Phoenix office. When we picked the car up the representative viewed the vehicle with us but when my husband noted a couple small marks she said no worries as anything under four inches was waived.

However, we drove on some dirt roads so the car was quite dusty when we returned it and to say the rep eagerly went around the car like Sherlock Holmes looking for clues would be an understatement. She found a small scratch on the left rear bumper which appeared to be possibly from someone backing into us as we knew it wasn’t done by our usage.

Before one could blink we were hauled over to the processing office and our $256 bill now jumped to $772 of course taken from our credit card account without our authorization. Trying to get through to the representative assigned to handle our claim is impossible as she never is available on the phone but her assistant was very helpful in informing us that the bill for repairing what he even admitted from the photos was a small quite insignificant flaw was over 500 bucks.

Enterprise wants us to pay $440 for damages, $60 for loss of use and to add insult to injury a $50 administrative fee. When I challenged him on how in the world a small dent could cost $440 he said actually anything under a thousand from a shop is a bargain.

I contacted Enterprise on the Schoellers’ behalf despite having a few misgivings about his case. Many car rental companies have strict rules against taking their vehicle on dirt roads. Also, just because the couple didn’t scratch the car because of their own negligence, it was damaged during their rental, and they’re responsible for it.

Still, the Sherlock Holmes routine made me suspicious, as did the size of the bill. So I thought I’d send it to Enterprise to review it.

If Enterprise had come back to me and said, “We checked. The damages are legit,” then I would have let this one go. It was a borderline case.

But few days later, I got a note from the Schoellers: “We got a message from someone at Enterprise confirming that they are not intending to pursue us for any of the damages. Thanks!”

Three months later, the Schoellers’ credit card was re-billed.

Now what?

There are three options, the way I see it.

First, they could dispute the fresh $550 charge on their credit card. If they have documentation from Enterprise that says they’ve dropped the charge, it should be a slam-dunk.

Second, they could protest this action with an Enterprise manager. Here are a few names.

Third, there’s the nuclear option: take the car rental company to small-claims court to recover the $550.

What would you do?

Here’s what you said.

This one had a surprise ending. I contacted Enterprise again, and it verified that it had closed the case. Turns out the problem wasn’t Enterprise. It was a misunderstanding between the Schoeller’s and their credit card company.

Schoeller’s wife explains:

I did some digging with Capitol One regarding this re-charge of $500 for the car rental.

It turns out Capitol One reacted to my dispute charge back in September and took $500 off my account.

Then Enterprise reversed the charge of $516 and that also came off my account.

Capitol One never reversed the charge back in October and all these months have gone by. They must have reviewed their files at the end of the year and realized they did not put back the $500 against my account and did not inform me.

So my reaction of being billed again was automatic. In this case, I have to eat some crow and apologize to you and Enterprise Car Rental that they did what they said. It really was Capitol One who failed to send me any info by e-mail or regular mail that this was going to occur.

Lesson learned? It might be worth checking with your credit card before assuming the worst.

(Photo: Capt. Kimo/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • jon

    Option 4 – file a chargeback. After 3 months there’s no excuse – this is an unauthorized transaction, pure and simple.

  • SirWired

    A dent is different from a shallow scratch… If I was Enterprise, I’d charge for a dent too; those possibly don’t buff out.

  • Tom

    Driving a car off road causes damage. Those damages exceed anything the rental company would anticipate when they set rental prices so generally rental companies forbid off-roading or racing.

    Plenty of people drive a rental at 100 mph or otherwise abuse it which is why Jeff Foxworthy said buying a used rental car is like finding your wife at a who-re house.

    However, the heart of this dispute is not about abusing rental cars, but about misbilling. Instead of getting angry and imagining a corporate conspiracy, treat it as a billing error and dispute the charges with your credit card company.

  • Kevin

    seems pretty clear cut. They gave Enterprise the chance to fix the issue already, not you take it to the next step by disputing it on your credit card…

  • http://www.thetravelinggiraffe.com Crissy

    Filing a dispute with the credit card would seem to be the quickest most effective way to dispute this charge. Enterprise had their chance.

  • frostysnowman

    Definitely dispute with the credit card company, especially since they have proof from Enterprise that the claim was to be dropped.

  • Tim@OKC

    Enterprise new marketing slogan: “we’ll LIFT you up, and swipe your wallet”
    Sadly, this is the reason why I still have an email from Alamo Claim Adjuster, dated 2008. You just never know when you may need that proof.

  • Mike Z

    Enterprise actually has clear clip boards with circles drawn on them with the size of dents they check for. Very small dings go unnoticed for the most part, though even a small one on a door of a newer car is noticed and written down.

    My primary vehicle has been at the body shop for the past week. Since last Thursday I have had an HHR and now a Dodge Charger. In both cases both myself and the representative walked the vehicle looking for any scuff or scratch. (This is when I was shown the clip board with the dent size chart)

    My vote and first thought was to dispute the charges since they have the e-mail trail from the company. Though suing the company for something like CC fraud might work best since they might be entitled to money back plus reasonable legal fees plus damages.

  • Brooklyn

    If the OPs have the message from Enterprise, it should be easy; just call a supervisor and go from there. If it was a phone message, it could be harder to prove unless they saved it on their answering machine. They should still try a supervisor first but if that doesn’t work, they should dispute the charge with the credit card. I doubt that suing would work since if the damage happened while the car was in their possession, they would normally be responsible for it. Everyone should check with their own insurance company in their home state before renting; I had a rental car damaged out of state and when I called the local branch of my insurance company, I was told that it wasn’t covered. But when I got home and called the same company, it confirmed that rental cars were covered! Apparently the rules of your home state, not the state where the damage occurred, prevail.

  • Grant Ritchie

    It’s healthy that you’ve finally come to grips with this, Chris. Your long-term readers have ALWAYS known that you were in another time zone. :-)

  • MVFlyer

    First, I’d try Enterprise again to see if it was an “administrative error”. If not, I’d go through the CC company, since Enterprise already said it was OK. They can’t change their minds later on after the fact.

  • Joe Farrell

    Are you in the Warlock time zone or the Tiger Blood time zone?

  • Christopher Elliott

    @Grant, haha! Don’t you mean on another planet?

  • Thalassa

    While it sounds to me that the OP should have been responsible for the damage, they do have the paper stating that it wouldn’t be pursued, so I see no reason to not dispute the charge.

    I didn’t know there are rules about driving on dirt roads. I have a number of relatives around the country who live IN the country, and when we’ve flown to see them, we’ve taken our rental cars down the dirt or gravel roads to visit. I’ve never been told not to do that in a rental, and frankly, there’s no other way to get to their houses!

  • Mimsy Rogers

    I’d be more inclined to feel sympathetic if they’d outlined their grievances in clear, concise language without the immature name-calling.

    That said, I voted for credit card dispute.

  • David

    Sue. It’s easy, cheap and effective. Here’s the thing: People think suing is always using a sledgehammer to crack an egg. It’s not. I sued Continental over a dispute and phrased it like this to the CS Supervisor, “You think this, I think that and we can’t agree. Let’s have a neutral third-party decide for us.” By the way, three days after they got served, they decided to see things my way.

  • Carrie Charney

    Chris, please clarify, “If they have documentation from Enterprise that says they’ve dropped the charge…” Wouldn’t that be the first question you ask them upon hearing about the dropped charges? Do you know whether or not they have proof?

    From my experience, Enterprise turns a blind eye to dings and scratches before you rent. Then, after its return, they miraculously know what “damages” a car has sustained before they even inspect the car. I picture the employees driving the cars with abandon and then billing the customers for any in-house dings.

  • Josh

    Just want to clear one misconception — a “dirt road” isn’t necessarily the same as “off road”. Some agencies’ rental agreements state that the car can be driven on paved roads only, while others (incl. Hertz) refer to “maintained roads”; a regularly graded gravel or dirt road, while possibly quite dusty, qualifies as the latter, while a 4×4 trail doesn’t. You’re still responsible for damage caused by driving a particular road (same as a paved road with potholes), of course, but it may not be a violation of the rental conditions.

  • flutiefan

    question: the “message” they received from Enterprise stating that they were dropping pursuit of the damages…was it a phone message or an email message? in either case, was the message saved and able to be used as evidence? that makes a big difference.

  • Christopher Elliott

    I just reviewed the correspondence again. It appears to be a phone message.

  • Carver

    Disputing the credit card charge is a poor option. It does’t necessarily affect the underlying dispute. But it may cause Enterprise to blacklist them from future rentals.

  • Roberto

    This is an unauthorized charge. Dispute it.

    Also, you should follow up directly with Enterprise, in writing, explaining to them what happened. Include the documentation that Enterprise had dropped the case.

    Lastly, pull all three of your credit reports using the free https://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and make sure Enterprise didn’t ding your credit file.

  • Bob

    Even if the credit card company agrees with the Schoeller’s and takes the charge off their card, it doesn’t mean that original bill is invalid. If Enterprise wants to pursue the case, they can either take the couple to court or can turn the debt over to a collection agency for them to pursue.

  • http://aletterfromhome.wordpress.com Megan

    I was so paranoid on our vacation, I made my husband take pictures of the scratches on our truck right after we rented it and before we dropped it off.
    We had just been screwed over by Hertz who overbooked more than 12 rentals when we arrived on our vacation.
    Fortunately, our experience with Enterprise was much better (although we ended up taking a taxi from the airport to our hotel and not getting the rental from the airport). We even returned it in a different state.
    Although, I admit you have to stay on top of the rental agents because they almost took all of our paperwork from the first location!

  • suz

    Get the insurance!
    Backed a rental car up into a parked car – they took care of everything. The best way to cover yourself is to get the insurance.

  • Ed

    How come I hear this most about Enterprise? I thought that they were one of the good ones to use? I always use Avis, but on my trip to Hawaii in June, I’m going to try a local establishment…My AMEX card was just renewed and one of the features they offered was for $19/car rental (less than 42 days) they will cover all damage and loss of use for my rental. That’s a bargain against the rental car’s $19/day!
    I would suggest that others look into this as well!

  • S.Lynn

    I finally convinced my spouse to take extensive photos of the rental and odometer reading before and after renting just from reading your column. Last trip we had more photos of the rental car than our vacation!

  • Aaron

    >I have to eat some crow and apologize to you and Enterprise Car Rental … It really was Capitol One who failed to send me any info… that this was going to occur.

    Really? And this wasn’t your fault for not reading your credit card statements carefully and noting that you had both a $500 credit from Capital One and a $516 credit from Enterprise?

    This trend of finding someone to blame other than ourselves is really upsetting. We wonder why customer service is not what it used to be – well, perhaps, this is one reason.

  • http://flightwise.com.au Les Posen

    We now make it SOP to walk around our rental with our iPhones in video mode, both of us inspecting the car and giving a verbal description recorded on the phone. It time stamps at records location data.

    We also take our own TomTom fitted with US maps, and now also take an onboard video device which records to 2GB SD cards through the front windscreen. (arounf $75) Uses the accessory socket (cig lighter) plus about an hour without it when you leave the car parked.

    So far we’ve had the good fortune in 20 years of visiting the US not to have issues; just the occasional surly customer “service” rep., but we just smile and maintain our cool Aussie charm!