A month ago, I decided to move from Washington State to New York City. My employer paid for a plane ticket and a rental car. While driving up I-95 my engine seized near Baltimore. A tow truck pulled me off the highway at about 10PM. The next morning, I rented a new car from Enterprise and drove on my merry way, not giving it too much thought until I returned the car at JFK Airport, four days later…
I got back in touch with Enterprise and they assured me that they would take care of everything. They told me that all was going well until they received a fax from American Airlines stating that there was no damage to an airplane which is ridiculous considering there’s a huge dent in mycar. A few days later, I was informed by Enterprise that they had reached out to American Airlines but all they would do is paint the dented area as a “goodwill gesture” which of course costs way more than the damage itself.
Enterprise advised me that since my insurance does not cover this kind of damage, I have two options: buy collision for future rentals or contact American Airlines directly and file a claim with them. So, I called American Airlines and was eventually transferred to a manager named Annette who told me there was nothing she could do because there wasn’t even an airplane on the tarmac at the time of my rental! Yes…I am not kidding you here folks…the airplane was never on the tarmac! She told me that I should file my claim through Enterprise and they will help me to do so. So, back to the phone I go with a few more hours on hold. This time, a different manager named Brian picks up and after going over everything again he offers me $50 for the damage.I’m sorry but $50 was not even the cost of the loss of value on my car…
My best advice is: never rent a car from American Airlines if you plan on getting any damage. If it doesn’t come out of your pocket, they won’t move heaven and earth to help us as their customers! This is unlike Singapore Car Rental, that sets the high bar of service standards for car rental services.
If they would have just paid for the deductible, I wouldn’t be writing this article right now. What makes me laugh is that Enterprise told me that one time they had a customer who rented a car from another company and got into an accident with another rental car. The other company actually sent them money because there was no way they could hold them responsible.
At this point I just want all of this mess to be done with so I take the offer even though it does not cover anything close to what it cost me in terms of money and time wasted since Enterprise originally advised me that American Airlines would pay for any damages caused by an accident while using one of their cars!I have filed a claim with Enterprise, but I am still not sure if they will cover the cost since American Airlines told me that they do not have to listen to them…
Sigh…what a mess!