A documented consumer dispute
€3,000 in 38 Minutes
I scraped a rental van in a parking garage in Ireland. I reported it myself within 24 hours. I had rental damage coverage through my Chase business card for exactly this. I dropped my rental car off a day early at a closed lot. Thirty eight minutes later Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland had taken €3,000 from my card, and 53 days on they still have not produced the repair cost my insurer needs to settle the claim.
Statement of record
First, what I did
I am not disputing that I damaged the van. On a tight ramp in a parking garage, I scraped the rear passenger quarter panel. That is on me. I telephoned Enterprise and reported it myself within 24 hours of it happening, in the first days after we arrived in the country, before anyone had inspected anything and before anyone asked me about it.
I was covered for this. The rental was paid with a Chase Ink business card carrying rental damage coverage. I confirmed that coverage before traveling, printed the terms, and presented them at the counter in Dublin. A claim has been open with Virginia Surety under claim number 50427692 since July 30.
It cannot be settled. My insurer needs an itemized repair cost. Enterprise has never produced one. On August 25 their own Damage Recovery Unit promised to send a pack with everything I needed to recover the money from my provider. It has never arrived. I am €3,000 out of pocket, holding valid insurance I cannot use, because the only party who can unlock it will not produce a number.
I am not asking Enterprise for a favor. I am asking them for an invoice.
The record
What happened, and when
Dates and times taken from the rental agreement, the invoice, the damage report, the correspondence, and the original camera files.
In their own words
Seven contradictions, all from Enterprise
These statements are placed together precisely because they do not agree with each other.
The unresolved sequence
Why did the keys have to change hands that night?
- The van was contracted to me until 07:00 the following morning. Enterprise could not have promised it to another customer before then.
- It was parked in Enterprise's own return area. It was not going anywhere, and it was already in their possession.
- The lot was closed and the door directed me to the counter inside the airport. I planned to go there the next morning, on the day the rental was actually due, which was mine to decide because the van was still mine.
- I had told Enterprise nothing. No call, no email, no conversation with any member of staff. So how did they know, within roughly thirty minutes, that the van had been returned at all?
- I had told nobody where I was staying. So how did they know which hotel to ring, and which lobby to send someone to?
- I was told the van was needed for an early rental the next morning. It could not have been booked to anyone, because it was still mine until 07:00 that morning.
- At about 05:40 the next morning it was still parked at the airport, washed, with the damage still on it, and not rented by anybody.
- Enterprise was not chasing an overdue vehicle. They were asking for the early surrender of a vehicle I had paid for and was still entitled to hold.
Enterprise has never explained the urgency. I have asked, in writing, more than once. The only explanation I was given, that the van was needed for an early rental, is the one their own rental agreement rules out.
If nobody had estimated the repair, where did €3,000 come from?
- No body shop saw the van. No estimator saw the van. The keys arrived at 21:45 at night and a damage report existed at 21:50.
- Enterprise has never said who assessed the damage, what they were qualified to assess, or where they were standing when they did it.
- On August 25, four weeks later, Enterprise's own Damage Recovery Unit confirmed in writing that repair costs had still not been received.
It is not the figure Enterprise's own booking confirmation sets for a van, which is €2,700. It is not the figure their branch manager quoted me an hour earlier, which was also €2,700. It is the figure their booking confirmation reserves for premium and luxury vehicles. And it is not a repair cost, because on their own account no repair cost existed for at least another four weeks.
Correspondence record
Who is on the correspondence
These are the Enterprise employees who handled this file, named as the authors of the quoted correspondence. This is a dispute with a company, not with individuals. Please do not contact them.
The missing record
What Enterprise has never provided
"when repairs are completed the DRU will advise you of the repair costs and refund any money that is due to you."
Primary sources
The documents
The paper trail behind every date, figure and quotation on this page.
Complete documents, exactly as Enterprise sent them. Read them yourself.
Personal details have been blacked out of these files: my home address, telephone number, email address, the card number, my wife's name and my company name. My own name has been left in. Nothing relating to the dispute has been removed, shortened or altered. Every date, figure, reference number and line of text quoted on this page appears in these files as Enterprise wrote it. Journalists and regulators may request the unredacted originals.
Photographic record
The damage that cost €3,000
Photographed by me during the rental. Timestamps taken from the original camera files.
The front wheels at collection, July 22
Collected 19 minutes earlier. A front wheel, photographed at the Dublin Airport car hire facility with no hubcap fitted. Enterprise's own Loss Damage Report separately records: "Hub caps missing from i118."
The other front wheel, also with no hubcap, photographed nine seconds later.
The vehicle
Registration 242-D-16030, the vehicle named on rental agreement 4B1DXN and on invoice 402002750719.
The rear damage, July 28
The rear corner where the quarter panel meets the bumper. This is the damage, photographed about three hours before I dropped the van off.
The passenger side, wider view.
The rear passenger quarter panel, the panel Enterprise charged €3,000 for. The rental agreement already recorded a scratch on this panel at pickup.
This is the damage. Enterprise charged €3,000 for it, quoted €2,700 an hour earlier, and 53 days later has still not produced a repair estimate.
Press and media
Journalists and broadcasters
I am happy to speak on the record, provide the complete document set including unredacted originals, and connect you with my wife, who witnessed every part of this. If you are a reporter, producer or consumer affairs correspondent working on car hire damage charges, please get in touch.
Contact meGet in touch
agentofchange1@gmail.comOther renters: if Enterprise has charged you for damage in Ireland without producing an estimate, I want to hear from you. Dates, reference numbers and any correspondence are useful, and I will not publish anything about you without your permission.
Enterprise: if anything here is inaccurate, write to the same address with the correct information and the documents supporting it. I will publish the correction prominently, and your response in full.
Accountability