Posted on 01/04/2014 10:17:26 AM PST by rickmichaels
An international car rental company says it wants to work with a Dartmouth, N.S., woman who's on the hook for $47,000 to replace a stolen Mustang convertible.
"We are continuing to review the case," Enterprise spokesman Ned Maniscalco wrote CBC in an email.
"It is our intention to work with the customer and her insurance company to achieve a fair and reasonable outcome."
Kristen Cockerill rented the Mustang GT convertible from Enterprise Rent-a-Car in October. At the end of the two-day term, Cockerill returned the car to the Enterprise rental lot on Portland Street in Dartmouth.
She dropped the car off on a Sunday. Most Enterprise locations in the Halifax region are closed on Sundays and people who need to return vehicles that day are instructed to leave the key in a secure drop box.
When Enterprise employees arrived at work the next day, they found the keys, but no Mustang.
Police determined it was stolen.
In response to Cockerill's situation, Maniscalco wrote CBC, saying: "Keep in mind that a sign prominently displayed on the key drop-box reminds customers that the vehicle remains their responsibility until it can be checked in by an employee."
“I was pretty panicked, wondering where this car went, and actually went in to the shop that evening after work just to speak to [the manager] in person and kind of find out what's happening here,” Cockerill said.
After police contacted her in October, Cockerill didn't hear anything more until Enterprise sent her a bill last Monday for the replacement cost of the car.
"Sometimes customers mistakenly believe if they didn’t personally cause or witness any damage that they are not responsible," Maniscalco wrote.
"This is one of the most common misconceptions," he said "In fact, customers are financially responsible for any damage or theft that occurs during a rental transaction, regardless of fault or negligence — just as if they owned the rental vehicle themselves."
Cockerill's insurer said the car wasn't in her control, so it shouldn't be her problem.
Not quite. The law says you must have insurance to cover damage to other people and their property in the event of an accident -- liability insurance. There is no law that says you must insure you own car -- collision, damage or theft insurance.
“Working with?” Does that mean they’ll be more than happy to accept any bank financing she can get on an unsecured note?
Who are they trying to kid with this BS?
“Or the car is on a slow voyage to Dubai, the renter having scored a low 5-digit payday.”
That happens, too. Back in the early 90’s, the police chief of Tijuana was driving a Cadillac stolen from Avis in Las Vegas.
As a former Budgeteer, and a franchise owner of four small cities in the 90’s, I’ve seen every scam in the book, believe me...
We had our share of wonderful customers like yourself :) and it’s clear that your Enterprise agents rightly appreciate you. It was always nice to see favorite customers on the reservation list. You’re very well informed. Most people are not, usually because they don’t travel enough to be familiar with how the process works.
People would ask me at the counter “Does my insurance cover that?” because they don’t know their own policy. Credit cards may only cover up to a sedan, but not a specialty vehicle like a minivan, luxury, or SUV. You have to call your credit card’s customer service and ask these things. They may not cover theft, just collision, and may not have liability or may not cover it if another driver is driving at the time of the accident. They may reimburse you *after* you pay for the damages yourself so you could be expected to pay upfront. If you damage a car and your credit card covers it, do not change the method of payment upon return because that could be their wiggle room to deny payment. I’m just throwing these suggestions out here for the benefit of anyone who may be reading this - details which can prove important to know.
BTW I genuinely sympathize with those renters who have gotten billed for damages later - I don’t dispute that that has happened. But you are right, it’s always best to get a signed slip when possible. Our location was rigorous about doing a walkaround together with the customer before they left the lot, having them sign the damage sheet, and then do a walkaround upon return. I suggest that people do their own walkarounds if the location does not have that policy, and then bring the contract to the counter for the agent’s signature before leaving the lot.
Your example of the girl renting for the bf is very common, I’m sure, but that is rather fraudulent.
I’m going to be a lot more careful next time I rent a car, that is for sure.
Technically we could not report the car stolen if a renter gave the keys to that person now driving it. And again, the customer is fully responsible - unauthorized drivers are considered a serious matter.
Basically, people need to fully understand their own auto insurance policy, be clear at the time of rental who will drive (spouse generally drives for free as do colleagues on business, but that may be contingent upon an established corporate account with said business and reserved under that business’s rate code. Additionally if on a business rate code your business may not cover damages sustained if you’re traveling off duty, say if you’re at a nightclub - check there too), and be sure to get a signature for damage both before and after returning the car. It’s just not wise to leave an unattended car after hours at an off-airport location.
Shoot I rented a nice sedan a year or so ago (back then I was traveling back and forth between Idaho and North Dakota, a 2,000 mile round trip—on a week’s rental they weren’t making anything on me!) and we did the walk around, etc., during which I always paid close attention to the windshield, ‘cause I didn’t want to pay for chips that I hadn’t caused.
At any rate I was way down the highway when I stopped for something, gas, whatever...and I glanced at the hood of the car and there were two obvious hammer blows right in the middle of the hood!
What the hell?
Wouldn’t you know it was Saturday and the office closed at noon so I couldn’t call anybody. I took camera photos and that, but I mean the car was in my possession...
When I finally got hold of Kelsey (ah she was a dear) she said, Oh yeah, those...the five-year-old kid of the guy who had it before you did that in his dad’s garage...so no worries!”
Point being it’s amazing what you can overlook. To be honest I brought the car back with unexplained little dings in the roof, once, and on the passenger door once (I had locked myself out and had to get a hanger through the door) and I never got charged for them...one of them was evident enough that I had called my insurance company and got the paperwork going, but Enterprise never followed up...well, I paid for a few tires too that I didn’t feel very peachy about so I guess it all worked out.
You can’t have it both ways.
The story says she rented the car for two days and returned it on the day her contract obligated her to.
She fulfilled her part of the contract returning the car both on the day and in the manner she was instructed and indeed required to do.
It isn’t her fault Enterprise failed to secure the car after she fulfilled her obligation to return it. No court is going to hold her responsible when she did exactly what was required of her under the contract. If Enterprise wasn’t able to receive the car on a Sunday they shouldn’t write a contract requiring it returned on a Sunday.
That’s like renting a movie for 24 hours and then the next day finding out the business is closed for the day and they want to charge you for another day.
And this wasn’t “after hours”. It was on a Sunday when Enterprise required the car to be returned or face additional charges.
This is entirely Enterprise’s responsibility.
That's not entirely clear here as many contracts contain onerous and unenforceable clauses, or what the ramifications are of the Company making it's lot available and providing a drop box for the keys. Point is again, it's not cut and dry as you think it appears.
Stomper I have to ask you about Enterprise’s (and maybe everybody else’s too, I don’t know) crazy policy of rolling over the rate on a weekly rental into the next week, or as many weeks as the renter cares to keep it.
Know what I mean? I would always watch for the specials and was usually renting a mid-sized car for $150 to $200 for the week.
But if I wanted to keep the car I could keep it two weeks or four without the rate going up (indeed I could keep it up to ten days and have the cost prorated, based on the original 7-day charge).
One time I was in Bozeman when I was trying to work on a home in the area. My wife was near Pullman, Wash., and my family business was in North Dakota. I had lots of running to do and was driving my gas-burning pickup so I checked Enterprise online.
They had an economy car rate going for $49 a week.
I went and rented a car, drove from Bozeman back to N. Dakota, then to Bozeman, then several times to the property I was working on, then ran out to Idaho to get some extra tools and stuff, then back to Montana of course, went up into the mountains fly-fishing a time or two, ended up running back out to Idaho again to do something for my wife, and in time drove the car out to the Enterprise office at the Bozeman airport.
I had kept the car five weeks and put on 5,000 miles. My cost was something a bit shy of $300, which I paid for a couple times over in the gas savings, let alone vehicle wear and tear.
Sheesh. I’m still a little embarrassed about that one. My cousin in Bozeman who is a world traveler and a world-class cheapskate still teases me about that deal. Says, “I don’t know why they still let you in the door of that place!”
lol...
It’s not both ways. The customer understands that until Enterprise comes into possession of the vehicle, it is her responsibility. If a customer signs a contract to that effect, should that signature be considered meaningless? I am truly sorry for the customer that this happened, if I haven’t said so.
You are mistaken in thinking that Enterprise will pay for the Mustang. Every other Enterprise renter will pay for it, via increased costs.
I used to explain the weekly rate as getting cornflakes in a bigger box - you know, 20% more free? Yes, the rates can fluctuate wildly, usually seasonally. Longer rentals are cheaper (I don’t know why but think they do that in order to guarantee that a portion of the fleet stays rented); conversely, returning early may cause a default rate which will make a higher daily rate. Strangely, local rentals (returning at the same location) are cheaper than leaving it in another state, even though locals usually result in much higher, even extreme in your case, mileage and wear and tear on the car. It’s something I wondered about myself. You got a screaming deal, that’s for sure, but we always liked it when good customers made out.
Also, if you see a special rate on TV, you have to call that dedicated phone number set up for that purpose - the rental agent usually will not be able to match that at the counter because those promotions are generated by a different part of the corporation and are not local.
Happy renting!
And yes, Enterprise customers will pay, at least those who remain. But Enterprise itself is also going to pay for all this bad publicity. Bad move on their part.
Throw the bill away. That’s what I did with a similar bogus bill from a rental company regarding one of their cars I got rear-ended in, got a police report saying I wasn’t at fault, and filed all the paperwork when I turned the car in. They billed me anyway. After throwing away the 3rd bill I never heard from them again.
Keys were out of her possession, and in the Enterprise lock box, so in their possession. Car parked on property own or leased by Enterprise. Enterprise controls when an employee is there to inspect car. Enterprise designs and controls any security in the lot.
Sounds like as soon as she dropped off the keys, the car was Enterprise’s problem. Good luck with that fine-print boilerplate on this one.
It is both ways if you want to penalize someone for not returning something on a given date but also hold them responsible for other potential damages if you do return it on that date.
Hence both ways.
If Enterprise requires something returned on a particular date they better be prepared to be responsible for it on that particular date. My bet is a court will see it the same way.
Ditto.
It isn’t clear if she decided to return it on Sunday of her own volition (and risk) rather than pay for an extra day and return it on a Monday when they were open and staffed. That is not the same thing as saying that Enterprise *demanded* she return it Sunday when they were closed.
She met the terms of the contract by returning it on Sunday, if that is what she agreed to do. I am not a lawyer, obviously, but having been in the business I can tell you that people are willing to assume risk because they assume nothing is going to happen to them.
“WRONG...”
Not necessarily. Simply because the woman in question signed a contract with those terms does not mean that those terms apply.
Contracts are not in and of themselves law, it’s not possible for parties to a contract to lawfully agree to disregard the law. A contract is not legally binding unless the terms and conditions of the contract also fully adhere to the law.
As an example, if the courts hold or have held that a reasonable person exercising reasonable caution cannot be held liable for a rented automobile after the customer has returned it in good condition to the rental lot, then it really wouldn’t matter what in the hell the contract spelled out.
A good argument could be made that it is the duty of the rental agency to ensure basic security on their rental lot, and that it is unreasonable to expect a customer to adopt the burden of security on the rental agency’s property, and hence that any damage or loss suffered while the auto is on the rental agency’s property is likely to be substantially the fault of the rental agency.
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