I returned the car to the dealer the next day undamaged after it spent the night in my garage. The d

Note from Cathy: Please welcome Yi-ke Peng, the author of this post.  She was on Advocate travel agent jobs pittsburgh patrol while I was on assignment and vacation. A recent graduate of Cornell University with a bachelor of arts degree in history, Yi-ke is a guest journalist participating in a Hearst travel agent jobs pittsburgh Corporation fellowship.
"Rental car companies have a few tricks up their sleeves," Jennifer LaRosa's travel agent jobs pittsburgh mother, Katherine LaRosa, said. Enterprise dropped travel agent jobs pittsburgh the claim when The Advocate stepped in, but a mystery remains travel agent jobs pittsburgh as to what really happened. And this case offers lessons to anyone who rents a vehicle.
The story began last month. After Jennifer LaRosa, 21, got into a car accident, Geico, her insurance company, directed her to H V Collision Center in Troy, where Geico has an auto express repair shop. H V Collision Center provided her with one of the Enterprise cars it had on site while the car was repaired. A walkaround showed that everything travel agent jobs pittsburgh was fine with the rental car when she picked it up, Katherine LaRosa said.
Ten days later, the LaRosas returned to H V Collision Center to pick up their repaired car and drop off the rental car. No walkaround was conducted, but Katherine LaRosa says the rental car was returned undamaged.
The next day, however, the LaRosas travel agent jobs pittsburgh received a letter from Enterprise saying that the rental car the LaRosas had returned was damaged, and that Enterprise had submitted a claim to its insurance company.
According to Katherine LaRosa, H V Collision later told her that if there was any damage, Enterprise was legally required to notify her within 48 hours of when she dropped off the car. So why wasn't she notified travel agent jobs pittsburgh earlier?
What's odd is that Enterprise did not use the contact number LaRosa put down on the contract, which was for her cellphone, Katherine LaRosa said. Instead, Neuberger claimed to have called travel agent jobs pittsburgh her home phone and a number that used to be Katherine LaRosa's husband's business phone, neither of which the LaRosas had provided, Katherine LaRosa said. She presumed Enterprise had used contact travel agent jobs pittsburgh information from five years ago, when they last rented a car from Enterprise.
When Katherine travel agent jobs pittsburgh LaRosa's husband, Anthony, went to the Troy branch the next day, Enterprise employees told him that the car was in the body shop. They were not forthcoming about which shop it was, and they could not produce proof of the damage, Katherine LaRosa said.
H V Collision Center's vice president, Vartan Jieran, said that he has personally reviewed the security video and found that no one went near the LaRosas' returned rental car until an Enterprise representative came to pick it up. Jieran admitted it's possible to zoom in on the video to try to see if the side mirror was damaged, but said that it would take hours and he didn't have the time.
Laura Bryant, a spokeswoman for Enterprise Holdings, told The Advocate that Enterprise cars are often returned at a location other than the rental office, but the renter still remains liable for any damages until the car is picked up and inspected by Enterprise.
travel agent jobs pittsburgh What's more, in this case, the LaRosas were not aware that they weren't leaving their rental car at the rental office. There is an Enterprise desk inside H V Collision Center, and Katherine LaRosa said she was confused as to which company she was dealing with. H V Collision Center should have made it clear that it is a separate entity from Enterprise, and when a customer drops off a car there, the rental transaction is not yet complete.
My phone calls to Enterprise stirred some action. Katherine LaRosa soon received a call from the district travel agent jobs pittsburgh manager who said Enterprise is dropping the claim — the company acknowledges it was at fault for not notifying her earlier.
The Advocate travel agent jobs pittsburgh suggests to anyone who rents a car to make sure it is inspected before you leave the rental lot. Insist on a receipt that the vehicle was inspected when dropped off, and of course familiarize yourself with the full rental policy before you rent the car.
Check online for details as to how the rental car companies operate. Claims like these seem to be too common. I have no axe to grind, but there are an awful lot of complaints that echo this scenario out there. Take pictures upon drop off, and never leave a rental w/o a receipt stating no new damage since pick-up. And READ everything they write or fill in. Protect yourselves, people.
I would never rent from Enterprise again. Quite a few years ago, we were in an accident travel agent jobs pittsburgh and had an Enterprise car. We later found out that they were billing the insurance company a totally different price than the agreed upon price in our contract, of course finding out since we had to pay a portion. They were rude and wouldn t discuss it with us until our insurance agent stepped in on our behalf. Then they fixed it. Sneaky.
If I have to bring a camera with me to take pictures of the rental car I m leaving off, then that alone is proof that rental car companies operate are prone to ripping off the customer, and not the case that consumers aren t reading the fine print.
It is the responsibility of the rental agent to TELL THE CUSTOMER of the conditions regarding the drop off. If there is indeed a raise in complaints of this nature, then it is because the car rental companies are pulling a fast one on the public, hoping that they will break a condition of the rental agreement and hike the fees they charge, travel agent jobs pittsburgh assuming that most of their customers do not read their ever-changing fine print.
Always had great experiences with the folks at H V. Have brought two of my personal vehicles, recommended family and friends to them, and the service and care has been outstanding. Will not hesitate to recommend travel agent jobs pittsburgh H V in the future.
Also why its recommended to get insurance though the car rental agency instead of using your personal collision insurance. I have heard horror stories about vacationers in florida from our insurance company that used their normal insurance and someone at Disney did a hit and run on them and they had to pay their own deductable and front the entire travel agent jobs pittsburgh repair cost until their insurance settled everything after a month or two.
We had a similar instance with Enterprise (also would never rent from them again). Took a rental car at Portland Airport, badly lit and wet from washing. Walk around showed nothing. Upon return, travel agent jobs pittsburgh they found a number of dents on the roof that were blamed on us. Luckily, we had charged it with Amex, and had the additional travel agent jobs pittsburgh car rental coverage through them (the 9.95 plan that they add to the charge). They handled everything, including negotiating the repairs. Moral of the story, never take the car in a dark parking garage, insist on all marks to be notated on the contract, and unless travel agent jobs pittsburgh you re willing to pay for all the rental car coverages, get something like Amex s plan.
When I rented the car, not only was no walk around conducted WITH me, but they gave me a vehicle that was different to the one I had asked for. Since I was pressed for time, I didn t argue with the car I was given.
When I returned it, the representative told me that the front bumper was loose on one corner. I informed him that I had not gotten into any accidents/mishaps/scrapes/incidents that could ve caused ANY damage to the car. Furthermore, I keep the car parked in private garages both at home and at work (the only places the vehicle was located while in my possession). He even acknowledged that there were no scrapes, travel agent jobs pittsburgh scratches, dents or marks on the bumper. He said it was very likely a loose screw. I filled out my paperwork and left. My paperwork travel agent jobs pittsburgh indicated that there was no accident and that I had no knowledge of the damage . He promised to follow up with me on Monday travel agent jobs pittsburgh if there was a claim. He didn t. TWO WEEKS LATER I get a letter in the mail stating that I am responsible for damages. When I asked what the damages were they told me they were dents near the rear passenger door. This was never discussed or mentioned to me when I did the return walk around. It s not on my paperwork, no one called me to tell me about it. I feel completely victimized. I feel like they probably damaged the vehicle themselves and are trying to pin it on me. What makes this all worse is that they do this to countless people. One could liken this to highway robbery and it s disgusting how commonplace this practice is. Its a matter of principle and I will do whatever it takes to fight their spurious claim.
It doesn t take much looking online to see there are a lot of us Enterprise victims. I took my car into a dealership for required work and was given a dripping-wet Enterprise rental car (the better to hide dings and scratches, I have apparently now learned) instead travel agent jobs pittsburgh of a loaner as promised.
I returned the car to the dealer the next day undamaged after it spent the night in my garage. The day after that, I received a call from Enterprise alleging minor damage ($490 worth) to the car that they stated they intended to charge to me, despite no evidence of me causing damage and the dealer having possession of the car for a day. I was informed by the national office they would look into it.
Now, a month later, travel agent jobs pittsburgh I am being called by a collections agency on this! I actually rent cars during travel relatively often, and have never had this type of experience from other rental companies, nor from a dealer coercing me into a rental travel agent jobs pittsburgh car situation.
If you have been the victim of a similar problem with Enterprise and would like to be part of a possible class action lawsuit, please contact me at althepa at yahoo dot com (written longhand to avoid spam, hopefully!) Thank you.
I m currently going through the same thing. I had a rental car overnight, I returned the car and they suggested I damaged it. The rep said it looked like I was hit by a shopping cart. Where he indicated, there was no visible damage. And since the only place I went was Target, and they have red, hard plastic shopping carts, damage would be evident. They dropped the subject, and I went on my way. I never acknowledged damage at the tim