Enterprise Van Rental - how long can they hold my 1150 deposit before fixing the scratch? ***Resolved***

[BankFodder]

Are you talking about this company here?  https://www.enterprise.co.uk/en/van-hire/uk/london.html

 

If you are then I'm quite amazed because I thought they were highly reputable but from what you say, the treatment of you is outrageous and frankly deeply suspect.

I think you need to move very quickly. Please can you confirm that this is the company you are dealing with

[BankFodder]

I wonder what their structure is. I wonder if in fact they are franchised so that each hire centre is actually an independent unit which is simply making use of branding and marketing et cetera. And subject to its own management.

Anyway, it's outrageous. I don't suppose you took photographs of the van in general so that we can see all the other scratches on it? I have to say that if you didn't then it's a Big Fail.

If you didn't take photographs then you had better make a note for the future that you should photograph any rental vehicles before and after. It's essential.

You're quite right that they have your money and it's costing you interest. You will not be able to recover the lost interest from them – but on the other hand if you start a legal action quickly then you will be able to claim 8% on the non-justifiable amount that they are holding until the day of judgement.

I don't think you should muck around. If you're prepared to issue a small claim then I would suggest that you send the letter of claim immediately and given 14 days or else you will bring a Canticle action and without any further notice.

The problem is to decide how much you are going to claim. Clearly you caused some damage and that has to be worth something. If you didn't take pictures the van then really we have no idea of its state already and the value of the deterioration that you caused.

If we could see pictures of the van with lots of scratches all over the side and yours just another one – almost indistinguishable, then they would probably be entitled to hang on only to a very negligible amount.

It crosses my mind – maybe uncharitably – as to how many other people might have paid some money towards the cost of damage which then is never repaired.

They certainly have a duty to get the damage repaired as quickly as possible and to return the outstanding balance to you. Do you know anybody in the trade who might look at the damage and give you an idea of the value of repairing it.

It also seems pretty unlikely that they would simply repair your damage without dealing with the entire side of the van. That means that they would pay a price for the whole job and yours should just be a percentage – and it is that percentage that you would be required to pay/forfeit.

If you can get somebody to assess the value of a repair on the basis of the photograph – then that will be extreme helpful. If not, it might be reasonable to suggest that £400 is the value of the damage and therefore you would be entitled to recover £750.

So the question is at the moment are can you get the repair is valued on the basis of the photograph – and I'm talking about very quickly.
Are you prepared to take a small claim in the County Court?
Are you prepared to move quickly on this?

 

Incidentally, I'm assuming that the damage on that wheel arch is all caused by you. If it's not, then maybe you could repost the image with the damage caused by you marked out in red

[BankFodder]

Thank you. I think that is very significant information. That could mean that they are expecting the OP to forfeit money in order to pay for the damage he caused plus any underlying damage.

Maybe we should make an allowance of £200 rather than the £400 I suggested above.

I think we would be entitled to have a proper independent evaluation of the damage and of the general condition of that wheel arch

[BankFodder]

Okay. That's interesting.

Please get a second quote in corroboration. ASAP

[BankFodder]

Also, please get a quote for repairing the entire door

[BankFodder]

Was that for the local damage or the entire door

[BankFodder]

yes, I think it's worthwhile finding out what the cost of repairing the entire door so that we are ready for them if they come back with some inflated quotation which in fact represents the cost of repairing the door.

obviously, you would not be responsible for repairing all the other damage caused by other people.

 

I sort of see these problems with doors as being a kind of collection box whereby you get pretty well everybody who ever caused any damage to cough up some money but you never get the door done.

 

Imagine that if you can charge 20 people £200 each for a scratch.

 

You're looking at a load of money and it's a nice little earner

[BankFodder]

Could you also please carry a bit of investigation to find out if this branch of the hire company is a franchise

[BankFodder]

Did you find out if it was a franchise?

They are obviously making their own rules up. When you provided with any of these rules when you sign the contract? Where are the terms and conditions that you signed?

Even if they are their terms and conditions, they have to be reasonable. This business about you being told that they were entitled to let it out for a single rental before they undertook any repairs is a load of nonsense – and I'd like to see that in writing as well.

I'm still waiting to hear from you about the approximate cost of repairing an entire door. Is a franchise?

[BankFodder]

It sounds as if you have had a good result.

I suspect that the branch you are dealing with are a franchise that they will have an area manager who looks after all of the franchises and monitors them for quality.

I can imagine that she  had a word in their shell-like.