Question: I hope you can help me with a dubious repair bill I received. I rented a car from Enterprise in Newark recently, and we did a cursory walk-around inspection with the agent in the rain.
The agent did not mark the “no damage” box on the contract, but I did not see any damage, either. When I returned the car three weeks later in Manhattan, the Enterprise employee did not tell us there was damage, but a supervisor told me there was a scratch on the roof. I couldn’t see it until I opened the car door and stood on the sill.
I told the supervisor I had never been asked to check the roof on a rental car, and that the Newark agent had not asked me to. The supervisor said she “agreed with me” regarding the agent error and would ask her regional manager to help us out. We were promised a call back within 48 hours. No one called.
We got a bill for $600, including three days of loss-of-use and eight hours of repair work for something that definitely does not need to be fixed, and that we did not cause. When I asked for documentation, the recovery agent sent me pictures of long, wide scratches on two different cars, not the car we returned. This is truly an attempt to rip off the customer! — Sandy Lamke, Mill Valley, Calif.
Answer: That must have been some scratch on the roof! When the Enterprise supervisor discovered the damage, you would have been asked to sign a form acknowledging the scratch and agreeing to pay for it. After that, the car rental company should have sent you a repair bill and documentation, including a photo of the car. Not any car.
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