Enterprise Rent-A-Car

[Jtels2593]

Three weeks ago my wife was taking her father out to lunch and they were rear ended by an F-150 while driving her '02 Cavalier. Both parties have State Farm Insurance and initially they wanted to total out her car, but a local body shop that our family deals with is able to repair the body damage for less than the cars value. The Cavalier needs a new rear bumper, ground effect, trunk lid and minor work on the quarter panel. The car was driven there last week and will not be ready until sometime late next week.

State Farm is providing her with a rental vehicle through Enterprise Rent-A-Car, a white 2008 Kia Spectra. Keep in mind that when her car was hit around the same time last year (front end damage), the other parties insurance company, Progressive I believe, provided her with an almost brand new 2009 Prius through Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

I am not concerned with the fact that the Kia Spectra she is currently driving is a 2008 model. What concerns me is the fact that the vehicle has an 1 inch crack in the windshield, the alignment is so far off that you have to put your weight into the steering wheel in order to keep the car from violently drifting to the left, the front tires are bald and the windshield wiper blades are completely shot. This morning she woke me up to inform me that the driver side front tire was flat and when I went outside to air it up, I noticed that the steel belt was popping out. The car has 40,600 miles on the odometer which means that the tires are more than likely original to the car. The interior of the car has a foul pet smell to it which is evident by the white pet hair that I vacuumed out of it.

I called Enterprise this morning to inform them that I would attempt to return the vehicle tomorrow morning and requested a different car that is in better mechanical condition. After getting the run-around I was finally able to reach a district manager who did not seem very helpful and completely disagreed with me over the condition of the vehicle. His statement was that Enterprise does not allow vehicles in poor condition to leave their facility and that each vehicle undergoes a thorough mechanical inspection and detailing before leaving the lot with its next customer. I explained to him that the associate who dropped the car off to me at the body shop did a visual walk around of the vehicle and made me aware of the crack and other cosmetic issues, which I signed off on. I then explained that the cosmetic issues would not be a problem if the car was in good operating condition.. but it just adds to the problem that they provided my wife with an unsafe vehicle that needs immediate attention.

This is the second time that my wife has received a rental through Enterprise, I have received a vehicle through them once, and we have never had a problem until now.

Has anyone else ever had a problem similar to this??

[Heywood]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Give em hell! Tell them the longer this car is in your possession, the more people you will tell that Enterprise gave you a POS abused clunker to drive and thus the more business they will lose.

[truekoa]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

I got a rental from them once, a 2010 Cobalt, when my Corolla was wrecked.

The car was immaculate in and out and functioned like it should, no complaints at all. I'd bring it back to their lot and show them all the things that are wrong with the car, get your insurance involved if you can.

[Jtels2593]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

I would be happy to take the Kia back and drive it if they replace the wiper blades, tires, give it an alignment and give me another walk around to sign-off on. It's too bad they have not taken care of it, because it would be a great little car.

[pace2006]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

My experiences with Enterprise have always been of the best.... except for this last one in a little town called Campbellsville, KY. That is the one place I've ever had a less than perfect experience with them. It was, in fact, the worst service I've seen and was unheard of from such a previously-prestigious company.

After calling ahead to confirm my reserved car was going to be ready when my flight touched down, I asked if the car could be picked up at the airport because I hadn't taken the time change into account and didn't want to make the guy working that afternoon stay late at work. He refused to bring it to the airport and wait, and wouldn't drop the car off, so he instead insisted that I call once on the ground. I did so, only to receive no answer. Fortunately, one of the private airport workers was kind enough to run me out there, where I found a locked door (at 20 til close) and no car. Upon knocking on the door, the guy came out and told me that he didn't get any calls and had just given the car away to someone else. He had pretty much abandoned me in this small town without a ride to the hotel. :mad: The guy from the airport had several other stories to tell about that particular location and was kind enough to run me to my hotel.

My dad works with Enterprise through his insurance company and got the story across to one of the corporate people. Along with apologies, I received a free rental card and word that the worker at that location was currently looking for another job.

I think a big factor in it is location. While they always seem to be professional in most areas, a few are still sub-standard and need to be reformed. Unfortunately, it sounds like you found one of those companies. Take some pictures for proof and send those with a written complaint to one of their corporate offices.

[Jtels2593]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

pace2006, That was a great read. Thank you.

It is hard to say who is at fault when a situation like this occurs. Given that these rental cars likely end up at different locations all of the time it would be a safe bet that it has been overlooked and neglected by many Enterprise employees and locations. If that is the case, I blame the company for hiring people who simply don't care or did not want to deal with it.

The Kia that we have is registered in Boone County, Kentucky, right across the river from Cincinnati, but was delivered by the Cincinnati location right down the street from the body shop. All I can say is, if I worked for a rental company and received a call from a client who was not pleased by the condition of their vehicle, it would be my job to replace the vehicle, ensure that the customer is satisfied and repair/clean the vehicle that was returned. It doesn't seem like a difficult task.

Once the rain stops, I am going to take pictures and hopefully throw a few on here.

[12secondv6]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

I would have called them up immediately and tell them to come and pick it up - if they refused then I would call my insurance company and tell them.

Enterprise gave me a new Dodge Challenger when my Mercedes got smashed - I had it for 30+ days.

[nascar24jd]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Get it swapped out for a different car. Then look the car over before you take it. They must give you a 100% safe vehicle. Age and mileage don't matter, but it must operate perfectly.

[darkflare999]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

wow...much as i hate enterprise im surprised they did that....i used to work for them a while back....and they really never let there cars get in that condition...where i worked if they had to rent a car out in that bad of a condition its because they ran out of cars to rent....and that usually happens alot....you can just take it back and have them switch it out...i have seen people done it..

[Everglades W68]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

I've rented many cars from Enterprise and have never had anything like that happen to me.

[steddy]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Haven't had a bad experience with them, but I wouldn't have accepted a cracked windshield from them. In MI, it's a pretty hefty fine, plus the cost of a new windshield, so I'm used to just avoiding that altogether.

[sac2165]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

They basically provided a car that may be legally deemed unsafe?? They should be bending over backwards to make it right.


Call your insurance, and tell them the car provided by their rental company is unsafe, and you will not use it. (They should start making phone calls to Enterprise at this point)

Then call Enterprise and tell them you have stopped using the car because its unsafe, and you expect an exchange car driven to your place within 12 hours.

Your state police, or highway patrol should be able to document the safety of the car and you could own their rental lot when your lawyer gets done with Enterprise.

[Jtels2593]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

I returned the Kia to Enterprise this morning and they were more than happy to take it back once I showed them everything wrong with the car. They replaced it with another Kia Spectra, silver in color, and I am more than satisfied with this car. It is also an '08 with 28k and everthing on the vehicle works great. My wife is also very happy. I thanked them for their assistance, they were very apologetic and the issue was resolved.

4 stars..

[T-Mill]

Re: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Our police academy uses enterprise Rent-a-car for their driver training... My friend showed me some videos and they beat the hell out of the cars and then return them... just sayin, lol