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.
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.