In response to the recent posting about windshield damage, I decided to share some personal experience.
First, after renting 50-60 cars over a one year period, I had three scam attempts by Enterprise out of 5 Enterprise rentals, and zero scam attempts from any other company. The most egregious Enterprise scam was a low tire pressure warning coming on as I drove out the lot. I backed back into the lot and told them of the issue, their response was that they did not have a tire pressure gauge, and to drive the car to Les Schwab, as they had no other cars at this location, I had no other choice. Les Schwab said the tire had a separation, so back to Enterprise I went, only to be accused of damaging their tire, and being told they would bill the tire to my credit card. After a heated debate the manager backed down and said he would not bill it to me, but he did anyway. My credit card company took care of the charges, and I've never rented from Enterprise again.
Back in the early days of this century, I was the wholesale parts manager of Huling brothers in Seattle, Huling sold Chrysler and GM, and owned the Thrifty Car rental location at SEATAC, as well as some other locations. The scams perpetrated on Thrifty customers were nothing short of fraudulent.If someone was unlucky enough to damage a Thrifty rental, the estimates were prepared with genuine parts, and labor at the dealerships. After the victims and or their insurance companies forked over the money, the repairs were actually done by cut rate no name body shops using aftermarket parts sourced by the dealerships,and rebuilt bumper covers and so forth. Ultimately these poorly repaired cars were sold on the Huling brothers car lots as certified used cars to unsuspecting buyers, often with clean Carfax reports.
First, after renting 50-60 cars over a one year period, I had three scam attempts by Enterprise out of 5 Enterprise rentals, and zero scam attempts from any other company. The most egregious Enterprise scam was a low tire pressure warning coming on as I drove out the lot. I backed back into the lot and told them of the issue, their response was that they did not have a tire pressure gauge, and to drive the car to Les Schwab, as they had no other cars at this location, I had no other choice. Les Schwab said the tire had a separation, so back to Enterprise I went, only to be accused of damaging their tire, and being told they would bill the tire to my credit card. After a heated debate the manager backed down and said he would not bill it to me, but he did anyway. My credit card company took care of the charges, and I've never rented from Enterprise again.
Back in the early days of this century, I was the wholesale parts manager of Huling brothers in Seattle, Huling sold Chrysler and GM, and owned the Thrifty Car rental location at SEATAC, as well as some other locations. The scams perpetrated on Thrifty customers were nothing short of fraudulent.If someone was unlucky enough to damage a Thrifty rental, the estimates were prepared with genuine parts, and labor at the dealerships. After the victims and or their insurance companies forked over the money, the repairs were actually done by cut rate no name body shops using aftermarket parts sourced by the dealerships,and rebuilt bumper covers and so forth. Ultimately these poorly repaired cars were sold on the Huling brothers car lots as certified used cars to unsuspecting buyers, often with clean Carfax reports.
