Travel Troubleshooter: I Have Proof I Didn't Damage My Rental, So Why Do I Have To Pay?

Stacey Wall has proof that she didn't damage her rental car, so why does Enterprise want to charge her anyway?

Q: I need your help resolving a car rental damage claim. I recently rented a car from Enterprise in Phoenix. The rental car had a small dent in one of the doors. I took a photo of it to document the damage.

When I returned the car, an agent did a walk-around with me and said the vehicle was good to go. Eight weeks later, I received a damage claim from Enterprise. The date of loss was three days after I returned the car.

I sent Enterprise the photos of the existing damage, but the company is insisting that I am still responsible. Can you help me get Enterprise to drop this $1,391 claim, please? -- Stacey Wall, Crestview, Florida

A: Technically, Enterprise is right. You are responsible for a car while it's in your possession, including any dings or dents. But if you have evidence that your car was damaged before you rented it, this should be enough for Enterprise to drop its damage claim. Clearly, this didn't happen on your watch.

You did the right thing by taking "before" photos of your rental, but it looks like you missed a few things. You want to take both "before" and "after" images of the car to show there's no damage.

If there is damage, you need to request a different car. If no other car is available, you should note the damage to the vehicle in writing and get a supervisor to sign the form. It appears you only had the "before" images, which showed the preexisting damage. They were timestamped, but this apparently didn't matter to Enterprise. Its records must have shown that the car was undented before your rental.

This is a common problem with rental cars. Many drivers assume that if they weren't directly responsible for damage to the car, someone else -- maybe the car rental company's insurance -- will take care of it. But unfortunately, this is not true. The renter is responsible for anything that happens to the car from start to finish.

It can take weeks, sometimes months, before a car rental company processes a damage claim. So, the dates you mention -- the claim being dated three days after your rental, for example --are not out of the ordinary.

Here's what is a little unusual: You had photographic evidence that the damage already existed, which the car rental company seemed to be ignoring. If the car was already dented when you picked it up, why isn't Enterprise taking that into consideration?

You were in contact with Enterprise's damage recovery unit, the part of the company that handles claims. But you also tried escalating this to an executive at Enterprise. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the Enterprise executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. But the managers didn't respond to you.

I contacted Enterprise on your behalf. It reviewed your photos and agreed to drop the claim against you.

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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.

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