For my daughter’s 10th birthday party, I recently rented a mini van from Enterprise car rental at 653 Post Road in Fairfield, CT (http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?gpbr=243C&bid=004&cnty=US), so I could drive my daughter and five of her friends to a restaurant eight miles from our house, with my husband following in our SUV with the rest of the party. I’m about writing that experience now to warn you about the scam I found myself in. When I rented the car, Brendan, a college intern, showed me some previous damage on the mini van’s front fender. “I’m going to make a note of that on the contract so you don’t get charged for it when you return the van,” he said. Turns out that was a cue to inspect the van thoroughly that I didn’t pick up on. I should have walked around the van and taken photos of its exterior with my iPhone. That’s what I’ve since learned, having just read about rental-car scams on the Internet. Instead, I simply initialed the contract, hopped in the van with my daughters and merrily drove off. Since the van wasn’t ready until 2:30 PM that day, we had minutes to get home before the guests arrived. The next day, however, when I returned the van, the manager pointed out some damage to the right side door–a section of chipped paint that looks like it resulted from wear and tear, and a light scratch. That so didn’t happen on my watch. I purposely parked the mini van away from other cars at the restaurant to avoid any possibility of damage. But now, it’s my word against this Enterprise dealership’s. I’m entitled to see a copy of the contract from the person who rented the mini van just before I did, to see if that damage was notated. But Enterprise is trying to pin this damage on me and get my insurance company or my credit card to pay. None of that applies to me because I used my debit card to book the purchase and my deductible is too high to cover this expense, so I’m not filing a claim. They’ll have to come after me for the money, and I’m not paying!
Bottomline line is that I should have known better, especially since I write for Consumer Reports. I haven’t rented a vehicle in years. I was just a mom who was in the midst of executing a birthday party for 11 10-year-olds. I’m kicking myself about this consumer experience, but I’ve learned the hard way and it’s safe to say that that’ll never happen to me again.
