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Fort Myers man – s complaint among many against rental car rock hard, WINK NEWS

Fort Myers man’s complaint among many against rental car hard

Updated: February 22, two thousand seventeen 8:08 PM EDT

FORT MYERS, Fla. – A Fort Myers man says National Car Rental attempted to charge him for harm he didn’t cause to a rental vehicle, echoing dozens of others who have filed similar complaints with National’s parent company.

David Howe rented a car Oct. Twenty eight from Miami airport. His problem began when he returned it the next day at Southwest Florida International Airport, he said.

“When I entered the garage, it was demonstrable to the person looking at the cars coming in that there was some harm,” Howe said. “When I got out and I looked at it and I eyed how insignificant it was, I think I laughed in his face.”

Howe signed an incident report in which an employee wrote on his behalf, “I did not cause those dents. I will not be held responsible.”

He thought the affair was over. But then he got a call from National telling he owed $502 for harm done to the front grill.

“I was very, very angry,” Howe said. “One of the things that worried me is when I picked up the car and drove to the exit booth rental, there’s no one to check the car. It’s just assumed that the renter is going to find all these things and notate everything, evidently these are very minor things. Of course when I returned the car, the scrutiny was much different, there were people basically on their knees looking around for anything they can find.”

Pattern of complaints

In the last three years, a total of seventy four people have filed similar complaints against National’s parent company, Enterprise Holdings, with state attorney’s offices in Missouri, where the company is headquartered, and in Florida.

One man wrote he rented a car from Enterprise and drove it forty two miles. When he returned it, employees noticed scrapes on the rear bumper. He said he heard nothing for weeks, but then got a bill $427. He said when he asked for repair estimates and pictures, the company refused.

A woman wrote she returned her rental to Alamo with a key scrape, which she knew she would have to pay for but then got a letter telling the rear bumper and tail light had to be motionless. She said they told her she had to pay $638.

Harm accusations

After Howe received the claim, he contacted National asking for pictures to prove there was harm significant enough to be repaired. He received six pictures, which he says demonstrate “they are absolutely hurting their own vehicle.”

One of those photos from National is below.

This is a photo that Howe took.

National drops claim

National wound up removing Howe’s charge.

“Unluckily, because of human error and miscommunication, Mr. Howe is inadvertently contacted about the vehicle harm,” said Lisa A. Martini, a spokesperson for Enterprise Holdings.

National responded to an inquiry about the case by sending a report titled “Enterprise’s Van Horn: Vehicle harm recovery is ‘not a profit center.'”

“Our Harm Recovery Unit office does not operate as a profit center, and we attempt to be very conscientious about decently assigning all related costs associated with vehicle harm claims,” a National official says in the report. “It is significant to note that no rental or Harm Recovery Unit employees are compensated for identifying, assigning or collecting on bruised vehicle claims.”

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