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Original poster

Car hire company claiming damage 2 months later

25 replies

FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 19:06

Hi, I am after a bit of advice regarding how to respond to Enterprise who have sent me a bill for £274 for ‘tyre damage’ 8 weeks after I returned the car.
I had the car for about 4 months as a courtesy car, funded by Renault under warranty. I was asked to leave it at the dealership when I collected my car, which I did. The following day I had to return to the dealership due to an issue with my car and the hire car was still there. The day after this someone from the branch of Enterprise I collected the car from phoned me and said everything was in order, thanked me for ‘taking such good care of it’ and refunded the £1 they took from my card when I collected it so I thought that was that and thought no more of it.
Until today…I had an email from Enterprise with an invoice for £274 for tyre damage. I phoned the local office and they had no idea what I was talking about or any record of any claim. I phoned the number on the email and got sent photos - some show the car where I left it, some show (just) the tyres with a few ‘dents’ in the rubber. I emailed back and I have disputed the claim based on the fact that I was told the car was fine, the branch have no idea who has made the claim and it’s 8 weeks later!
I signed a document when I collected the car but nothing when I dropped it off. I didn’t take any photos of the car at any point unfortunately.
What are my rights here? They have my card details from the £1 they made me pay when I collected it and the email says they will be taking payment in 14 days. Dh uses hire cars for work and he says Enterprise have tried similar with him, his employer don’t ever argue it though and just pay up. I got £400 compensation due to my car taking so long to fix and this will nearly swallow it up.

OP posts:
PerfectPenquins · 05/10/2023 19:31

Cancel your card/report it lost so they can't take the money and continue fighting it. Considering they said all was fine, coming back for more money months later is not acceptable.

Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 19:45

My thinking was if they do take the money I can ask the bank to do a chargeback so I’ll have their support? I am worried if they can’t take the money they’ll keep adding on new charges Angry

OP posts:
sidebirds · 05/10/2023 19:54

PerfectPenquins · 05/10/2023 19:31

Cancel your card/report it lost so they can't take the money and continue fighting it. Considering they said all was fine, coming back for more money months later is not acceptable.

that's the best pieces of advice i have ever heard for the type of situation 🫡

porridgecake · 05/10/2023 19:59

I agree with pp saying cancel your card.
Every time I hire a car I spend 5 minutes photographing everything and same again when I return it. Get the name of every person I speak to and follow up every phone call with an email confirming the conversation.
This is the world we live in and I trust nobody. Sadly.

Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 20:03

The thing is even if I had taken photos I don’t think I would have taken closeups of every tyre!
Absolute rob dogs Angry

OP posts:
Cookerhood · 05/10/2023 20:12

We had this with a lease car. The lease company collected it after 4 years & said it was all fine. A couple of days later they tried to charge us several hundred pounds for various dinks & scratches. We told them that as we had been told it was all fine when it left our property they could not prove it was us. We didn't hear from them again.

Hawkins0009 · 05/10/2023 20:15

FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 19:45

My thinking was if they do take the money I can ask the bank to do a chargeback so I’ll have their support? I am worried if they can’t take the money they’ll keep adding on new charges Angry

@FlyingFlamingo sounds like a scam, have you used an different number than the one in the email ? for eg head office etc

Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 20:18

They had all my details and details of the car in the email, and I checked the email address with the branch and they confirmed it. That’s why I phoned them first.

OP posts:
Hawkins0009 · 05/10/2023 20:22

FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 20:18

They had all my details and details of the car in the email, and I checked the email address with the branch and they confirmed it. That’s why I phoned them first.

Edited

understandable but always better to still use a separate number from the main website for their hq rather than just going by the email details

pengymum · 05/10/2023 20:52

Cancelling your card won't necessarily stop any charges. But as they refunded the £1 held you can dispute any further charges.
I'd make your card provider aware in advance .
I am not an expert in this field though.

OnAir · 05/10/2023 20:58

Ask for a copy of the delivery and collection photos. Someone from enterprise will need to take photos of the vehicle before driving it back to their site and when the vehicle was dropped off to you or when you collected it or they can't prove what damage was from who or when. It's standard they will have these, if they don't they don't have a leg to stand on regarding claiming against you.

Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 20:59

pengymum · 05/10/2023 20:52

Cancelling your card won't necessarily stop any charges. But as they refunded the £1 held you can dispute any further charges.
I'd make your card provider aware in advance .
I am not an expert in this field though.

Edited

That’s my thinking - they gave me back the reserved pound so how can they now decide there is damage?

OP posts:
Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 21:02

OnAir · 05/10/2023 20:58

Ask for a copy of the delivery and collection photos. Someone from enterprise will need to take photos of the vehicle before driving it back to their site and when the vehicle was dropped off to you or when you collected it or they can't prove what damage was from who or when. It's standard they will have these, if they don't they don't have a leg to stand on regarding claiming against you.

They have sent photos today of when they collected the car - some show the car where I left it and some are just of wheels

OP posts:
OnAir · 05/10/2023 21:13

Are the dents on the wheels or the tyres ? They should be time stamped photos or with your rental agreement plus you have to sign it off when the vehicle is collected/dropped back from you. I'd dispute it all the way. Ask for the photos from the delivery/collection before you too, More than likely the damage would have been there previously. I'd even go into enterprise and if the photos are unclear don't pay it's their word against yours.

OnAir · 05/10/2023 21:13

You need the photos of when the car was delivered to you. Before you had it and after you had it request these photos.

YoBeaches · 05/10/2023 21:22

Is there a date of the photos they took OP? If not can you ask them to confirm the date the photos were taking and/or ask the dealership when they came for the vehicle.

Then you can prove a timelag, you dropped back on A, they collected it on B, you cannot be held responsible for any damage since they approved all was fine and have no evidence you caused the damage.

Since when is tire damage not wear and tear anyway?

Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 21:31

I didn’t sign anything when I dropped it off because I didn’t drop it off directly to them.

I also agree that tyres are wear and tear and when I picked it up they even told me that they expect wheel damage so not to worry if there was any!

OP posts:
Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 05/10/2023 21:32

The photos aren’t dated and today is the first time I’ve seen them

OP posts:
nevynevster · 05/10/2023 21:36

Definitely cancel the card ! I'd just write back to them also and say you dropped the car back, your holding deposit was refunded and the photos do not show evidence that the car was damaged by you and therefore you do not accept the damage claim.

Poppyblush · 06/10/2023 06:54

Challenge this. They need to provide evidence of damage by you and based on what you’ve said, they can’t. You won’t have to pay.

Reallybadidea · 06/10/2023 09:32

You don't necessarily need to cancel the card. When we had a dispute with a company and were concerned that they would take payments that we didn't want them to, our credit card provider was able to put a temporary block on the card. Once the issues were resolved they were able to remove the block and we continued to use it. Meant that we didn't need to change our card details with other companies/websites etc.

Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 06/10/2023 14:09

I think I will phone the bank but I don’t want to block the card completely for the next 2 weeks because I will still need it.
No response yet to my email disputing their claim…

OP posts:
nevynevster · 06/10/2023 15:40

If you don't block the card you will risk being charged. Can you not manage without or transfer funds into another account? Good reminder to have a couple of cards just in case one gets lost or stolen

Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 06/10/2023 18:49

I spoke to the bank and the call handler sounded really shocked at their behaviour which I guess is a good sign? He said they can’t block them from taking the money but if they do I can attempt a chargeback.
I am a little worried about them blacklisting me though in case I need a courtesy car again!

OP posts:
Original poster
FlyingFlamingo · 12/10/2023 07:30

UPDATE
Enterprise requested evidence from the dealership of when I collected my car (no idea what this proved but never mind!) and when they got that they dropped the claim, phew!
Thanks everyone

OP posts:
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