Enterprise rent a car sent me a full cost of repair even after paying SB

    Hi Everyone,



    Writing in English as i can explain the situation better this way. Hope that's ok.



    in September 2018, I rented a car from Enterprise and drove to Switzerland. While parking in a parking garage, i hit the side of the car on a pillar and this resulted in a dent on the side of the car. Since it was a parking incident involving only myself and no damage to the property (i checked) and in a parking garage I didn't think of calling the police at that moment. I later realized this after reading on the internet that I must call the police under all circumstances. 2 days later I called the police and explained the situation. They cooperated with me and gave me a police report explaining the situation that no other person was involved and no damage to any property was done. when i returned the car to Enterprise, i paid a deductible of 1100 euros and thought this matter was over. this is also what the employee at the desk told me. I had a third party excess insurance so i claimed this money back.



    Now, 3 months later i get an additional bill of 2700 euros. They're telling me since i didn't call the police at the exact moment, i must pay the full repair costs myself.



    is this a normal case? can anyone offer me any insights or advice on how to proceed from here?

    if i do have to pay them, worst case scenario, can i at least argue with them to lower the repair costs? since they only are asking for the repair costs excluding the 19% tax amount.



    Thank you for reading this.

    Any help is appreciated,

    kind regards,

    Ameen

    i have emailed them as of now. I got the letter Friday evening so can't really proceed over the weekend. i plan on calling them on Monday and try to explain the situation again. Given that i do have a police report and the matter is reported, i don't know why i should pay extra.

    Exactly. Send them the police report and cancel the booking on your credit card if they dont agree.


    Are they charging you the repairmemt cost and in addition the insutance deductabile? That sounds like fraud then.


    Besides the terms if enterprise do not say that you have to call the police immediately, i guess.

    You have to call the police, fair enough, but immediately?

    yes, they have sent me the full repair bill. they have removed the paid deductible amount from the full bill and are now asking me to pay the remainder. they are not withdrawing from my credit card but are rather asking me to make a bank transfer to them in the next 10 days.


    in the terms they mentioned i must call the police 'ab sofort'. i didn't do that, but i did call them and followed the procedure. hope this resolves soon.


    Thanks for the reply everyone.

    In my opionion the only thing that counts is you have the police record.

    Explain you have a record and don’t go further into the it’s somehow to late.


    Keep up the pressure from your side that you won’t pay the additional amount and wait for non pre built letters to you.


    In most cases I have read here you get like 1-3 pre built letters/emails where nobody really reads your explanation in hope you will pay the amount they want.

    Was the rental a private one and in Germany? In this case just contradict the claim as you have a police report (of course it should be handed over). Even if they repeat the claim, that's only to get you to pay. I do not think they will go to court and sue you, as, especially in combination:

    1. They do not have any theoretical or practical additional harm only due to the delayed calling of the police.

    2. The clause in the general terms may be invalid due to unreasonable disadvantage (complete loss of

    liability limitation although no third party involved and only delayed)

    3. The clause in the general terms may be invalid due to surprising, no one will expect to call the police if no third party is involved.

    I do not think they will sue you, the risk that a lawyer officially voids the clause in the general terms seems to be much too high. On the other hand, if that clause was really court-proof, any damage that is not found until the return of the car could be treated the same way - complete loss of liability limitation and full liability for any scratch, dent or other damage.

    But that is only my opinion and no legal advice.

    Hi Everyone,


    Thanks for the replies.


    Just to answer the questions above:

    1) I had the police report when i returned the car and i did submit it to the folks at enterprise. In return they gave me a damage report acknowledging the receipt

    2) They are asking for additional payment on grounds of not calling the police at the exact time of the parking accident

    3) the car was rented in Germany (from munich) and i drove to Switzerland. The police report is also from Switzerland. Details of the police station and the officer to created the report are mentioned there. This should be standard i guess

    4) The police report clearly states that it has been clarified with the local police in Zurich (where the accident happened), that no one but me was involved and there was no damage to the property of any sort.


    I should also mention that Enterprise is asking me for the repair cost without tax.


    The repair cost without tax is = 3791,11 Euro.
    The repair cost without tax is = 4511,42 Euro.

    Bärabeitungskosten = 49,5 Euro



    Already paid 1100 euros as Selbstbeteiligung before. so now they are asking for 3791,11 + 49,5 - 1100 = 2740,61 Euro


    Thanks a lot for reading this.

    just to add, i am attaching letter here as well. i have cropped the details related to the contract so just the context is there.

    According to this posting of a lawyer, Enterprise might be correct in asking for this amount if the Police was not contacted immediately -> https://www.frag-einen-anwalt.…erstaendigt--f223392.html


    However, as this is a minor accident, you should be able to ask for a discounted price. I personally think you should contact a lawyer as this is not a small amount. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has previously decided that the renter should be able to pay a fraction of the total amount but you might have to pay some amount nonetheless.

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von kh.irs. ()

    Zitat von kh.irs.

    According to this posting of a lawyer, Enterprise might be correct in asking for this amount if the Police was not contacted immediately -> https://www.frag-einen-anwalt.…erstaendigt--f223392.html


    However, as this is a minor accident, you should be able to ask for a discounted price. I personally think you should contact a lawyer as this is not a small amount. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has previously decided that the renter should be able to pay a fraction of the total amount but you might have to pay some amount nonetheless.

    Hi,


    actually i called them last week. they simply told me that they never received my police report which to me sounded very weird since i did submit it. the employee who i returned the car to even wrote the police information on the damage report.


    I sent them an email on 4th Jan (when i got the letter) with police and damage report as attachments and on the 7th Jan by post as well. i told them that i submitted the documents on time and that they are wrong to accuse me and that i'll not pay for this.


    They told me are now processing my 'new' documents and will get back to me. i am currently waiting for a reply now. been thinking whether i should wait or ask for an update.


    Regards

    I wish you best of luck with that and hope that Enterprise is accommodating of the fact that you did file a report with the police , but in case they want to play hardball, beware of what the linked posting says. I hope this issue is resolved for you without much fuss.

    Zitat von kh.irs.

    I wish you best of luck with that and hope that Enterprise is accommodating of the fact that you did file a report with the police , but in case they want to play hardball, beware of what the linked posting says. I hope this issue is resolved for you without much fuss.

    thanks for the kind words. if they decide to play hardball then i'll have no choice but to consult a lawyer. considering i've already paid them 30% of the repair estimate in deductible, i hope i won't have to pay the full amount.

    ok so i called them. they told me it's still in process. they will now get in touch with the police and get a copy of the case file. they told me at the moment i don't have to do anything but wait. this process might take a month. they didn't give an exact time. said that i'll get a letter this week from them explaining that they are currently verifying the case from the police.


    well now i hope it all works out in my favor. will update once i hear something from them.