Cartalk
How fucked am I? Rental Car, dinged it in a door day 1🤦🏾♂️
I have this car for a week and the enterprise took a picture of the car before I got it so idk what to do right now…how cooked am I?
Discussion
Believe it or not, straight to jail.
What type of insurance does the car have?
Reddit Assurance
Oh shit those guys never pay
I’d wipe it down really good, maybe even return it wet and gamble that the $15.00 an hour employee that checks it in isn’t going to notice it, and if they do, they won’t care.
Fuck rental companies. I blame them more for the used car market we have than i blame any other person or entity involved in the used car industry.
Outside of the 2 year window of COVID crazy pricing, they buy cars heavily discounted, rent them for a year, and then sell them for basically what they paid for them and in some cases more, during covid, rental companies where the first to consistently pay over msrp for 1 and 2 year old cars.
No matter what they charge you, this will not take it off the road, and there is a 70-80% chance they will just notate it and rent it out again; and that sucks. As someone that use to buy a lot of rentals for various car dealerships, this doesn’t even affect its value that much either.
Hertz has new ai scanners that are stupid levels of ridiculousness and inaccuracy. if you so much as scuff a tire even it charges you.
That’s why I say, fuck them, try to get away with it. Dust and water hide alot
True. Maybe drive it down a dry dusty road lol
In the rain!
Aren't some rental companies using that automated ai camera system? Or is it still in test?
Hertz just pegged a customer for a 450 bucks this week for a door ding that you can’t even see without it being pointed out. But you can hide that kind of stuff pretty easily if it’s wet or dusty.
gamble that the $15.00 an hour employee that checks it in isn’t going to notice it, and if they do, they won’t care.
Those days are either gone, or very close to being gone now. It's AI cameras now, with a profit motive to recover as much money as possible.
Then dust and water it is.
This is the way. Either return it in the rain if you can, or take it through a car wash and return it wet. Make eye contact with the employee and say “I ran it through a car wash because it was pretty dirty”
Yup. They will charge you if they catch you so you might as well try to get out of it. I worked at a rental company for a year or two. I learned two things:
1) Not even the district manager cares, not about light damage, not about maintenance outside of recalls not about customer complaints on the drivability of the vehicle. Nothing. I remember one time I had an impala that needed a wheel bearing. It was under warranty would have been free. But it was a day out. He told us to ignore it and rent it out.
2) If you ever reserve a one way rental demand another car even if you have to pay more, because whatever they give you is gonna be the biggest piece of shit on the kot
Jesus christ what company did you work for? I'm a manager for Avis/Budget and I thank my lucky stars every day that we're privately owned. The things I've read here are not even remotely close to my experience.
Hertz. The DM was there for like 7 years after I left and had been the DM for a total of 10 years or so.
We would always send the worst car on the lot one way and he would regularly override the oil change block in order to get keep the car on the road because most of his branches only had 1 employee, which meant we’d have to close the store for an hour to get an oil change if none of the drivers where around. At the time my branch was opened to pretty much only service State Farm customers and unless you were a State Farm customer, you got an absolute shit ride from my store.
Don’t get me started on the “don’t deny a car to any customer”. At any given time I had 2 cars available, 10 on the road, 5 or 6 insurance customer appointments. SF got priority. Period. One Memorial Day weekend, I had a legal pad 4 pages deep of people who I promised was next in line to get a car. lol
And after this hertz article that floated around yesterday where a guy got charged 450 bucks for a single PDR dent … fuck them. I have as many tricks up my sleeve.
Get ready for 25 to life buddy
Did you pay with a major credit card and does it offer any type of coverage for car rentals if you pay with said card? Did you opt for the insurance for the car?
I rented with Alamo, unfortunately there was major construction all over the city I was visiting and a small rock chipped the window of the rental. I was covered by my credit card so didn't worry about it, but the Alamo rep who received the car didn't even notice the window chip.
I always get the insurance. Maybe hit up a PDR shop to see what they can do and they might get it passable on a visual inspection but with that creasing, there may be some small evidence of malarkey. Probably will be $100-200, maybe more but likely less than having to file under your auto insurance policy or them fining you.
Lots of kids in this place. Tough to take responsibility like an adult, I know. You’ll get there some day, everyone.
Bootlicker response, I bet you just love giving money to big companies because “it’s the right thing to do” fuck enterprise and any other car rental place.
OP would ask the same question even if it was a small business car rental place. If you’re not gonna own up your mistakes after damaging someone else’s property then maybe you shouldn’t be renting a vehicle at all
I could just as easily say he wouldn’t , you don’t know. Regardless fuck enterprise and I hope he doesn’t have to pay them a dime for the damage.🥾👅
Awwww look at you. All keyboard warrior-ing it up.
How’s the boot taste?(ps you never had the making of a varsity athlete.)
Go play in the woods with your friends
Ok :(
I slammed a rental door into a brick pillar at a gas station bc it was such a significantly lighter door than I’m used to in my own car. It bent in the bottom corner of the door. Not super noticeable if you’re not looking for it. Never said a word. Neither did they.
Use rubbing compound to polish the scratch. I will make some of the white part disappear. Then drive down a dirt road before returning the car. Be super chatty with the person checking you in, quickly finding something they want to talk about. Like “how did you guys stay dry when it was pouring rain this morning”. Get them distracted.
+1. I've returned rental cars with damage like this on a couple occasions and they either didnt notice or didn't care. They barely even glance at the car unless you give them a reason to. They probably don't want to deal with the paperwork anymore than you do.
Easy. Just hold onto it until a very rainy day. If you return it while it’s raining, the rain will hide most of it. Plus, they will be in a rush while checking it, and more likely to overlook. Good luck
If you got the 11 dollar insurance you’re good.
Nothing Will happen. They do not check that Well.
Say nothing and see what happens. Go with the flow.
Someone backed into an Enterprise rental I had last year and I didn't even try to hide the huge white scuffs on a black truck. They didn't care and that was the end of it on the spot.
You’ll be fine.
The person checking it in ain’t the same one that rented it. Probably be good. Slip the agent a $5 for his/her help and you will be good to go. They are in a hurry too.
Nobody is going to care as long as it's a big dent. So don't worry.
If that’s the case then OP better kick that door in a few times, make sure it’s as big as possible
If it was me I wouldn’t worry too much. I have rented multiple cars and always take before and after pictures and video. I know there have been small normal use dings and scratches that have happened while renting the cars and I have even pulled the emergency brake to “drift” putting a flat spot on the tires and have not been called out yet. I believe rental companies have said anything smaller than a US quarter dollar is normal use and not to worry.
Sometimes paint from the object that made the dent transfers to the door making it looked scratched, check to see if you can rub the scratch off with your fingernail.
We hit some road debris on the highway, scuffed up the front driver of our rental, and lost a piece of the airdamn this summer. Called E-prise and said it was still driveable so they said they’d look when we brought it back and l told us not to bother with insurance until they saw it.
They looked and determined it “wasn’t the kind of damages we are looking for” and never charged us and returned the deposit. I guess when you rent someone a car they don’t usually drive, often to drive many miles into unfamiliar places, they aren’t surprised by minor dings and scratches. I would try to clean this up a bit with standard wipe down or light wax but I wouldn’t let it ruin your trip. You have a good chance of them just ignoring it.
Did you opt into the renters insurance?
I rent cars all the time and have been told numerous times they don't care about minor dents and dings. Ymmv
Going forward, always pay for your rental with a credit card that offers rental car coverage.
Most decent CCs offer it.
A lot of cards quietly stopped offering that benefit after covid.
I'd be shocked if they noticed.
That varies dramatically. Was it a brand new car or is it near the end of it's service life? The newer/more valuable it is the more likely they're going to charge you for it.
For instance I rented a Kia Soul in Syracuse a couple of weeks ago. 2024 model, tons of dents and scratches and it'd been smoked in constantly. Front tires were bald, rotors were warped and it'd had the front bomber replaced at some point. There was chalk marking on the window about it being towed in the day before I picked it up. I returned it to Philadelphia.
I panicked and was worried about the bumper since it was a shitty repair and the retainers were popping loose. They checked the fuel and closed out the ticket. Economy rental cars in NY and Philly are generally crappy, they get dings and scratches all the time and the agencies can get away with charging $80 a day for a car worth maybe $8500.
Rent a Denali in Miami or Fort Lauderdale and you're going to probably get charged a fee if it's dented. Rent a Kia at LaGuardia and they'll be happy you didn't defecate on the windshield while dropping it off.
Jesus
I'd honestly not say anything (I'm kind of dumb so take this with a grain of salt) and just bring it back. Act stupid if they say something. Hopefully, you paid for the coverage thing in case they notice. If they ask about it later (I dont see this happening), play dumb again and ask about proof of damage. Goodluck. That's my dumb two cents.
Call the vacuum guy and ask for a Hoover Max Extract Pressure Pro Model 60 vacuum cleaner
I've rented from Enterprise, and they seem to only really note dings and chips larger than 2 inches. That aligns with their damage evaluator tool, not sure if it's still used.
If you're worrying, I'd call one of their other branches, maybe in another state with another phone number and explaining a hypothetical situation and what would happen with your insurance you got (or lack of it.)
70% they're not going to care.
Did you pay with your credit card? If so check to see if it has included rental car insurance.. most do. I had one refund over 2k in damages with absolutely no questions or fees.
2k of damages?? For what?
It’s really easy to get to 2k when body work is involved… I on the other hand, basically destroyed the front end after driving through a washout in the Mexican desert.
Maybe try the compressed air and boiling water trick.
Hey OP, wipe down the white line with a rag it’s probably just a minor surface scratch. If the whole white line is a dent you’re fucked lol.
If it’s only dented at the top and it’s less than 2” across you’re completely fine.
That’s considered wear and tear.
Make the line disappear and you’re good to go.
I VERY highly recommend you listen to me because I have A LOT of experience in this type of stuff
Edit: if it really is just that top dent and you wiped down the line don’t say a word and they won’t say a thing. It looks fine to me from the pic tbh
Not sure a lot of these comments are helpful. Do you have time to stop by a place that does body work to get a quote? Might be faster, essier and cheapier to just get it repaired before you turn it in.
Not fucked at all, as long as you opted for insurance.
If not, PDR is usually only a few hundred bucks.
Facebook marketplace, paintless dent repair, 80% chance that goes away for $200ish bucks.
Else, enterprise is gonna get you for fake days without their car, a full paint-sand-bondo experience, and probably some made up loss of value.
Buy a dent removal kit from Amazon. 1 or 2 day delivery and pull the dent wise the rest of the scratch away and boom you're good
If you're in a larger metro area look up someone who does paintless dent repair and have them pop it out. Shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks.
Do you have a transferable insurance policy from your car? If so, claim it was a hit and run (unless you did it yourself) if you didn't get CDW and don't have transferable insurance (collision damage waiver) you are cooked. You can still get transferable insurance and have it occur tomorrow but it will look sketchy and that's technically fraud so be careful (usually a 27S endorsement) this is for Alberta (Canada) if you're in the states it should be non owned vehicle coverage which transfers your coverage ie collision and comprehensive (collision is a collision on the surface of the earth) and comprehensive is everything except including deer as we define them as unavoidable and hail, fire, water, etc.
count your days
I don’t think insurance is going to cover this. You’re going to have to pay out of pocket
If they took out the optional insurance with Enterprise, this is exactly the type of thing it would cover.
That is why i always take it. Could have been worse and peace of mind is cheaper for their insurance. Credit cards reimburse stuff but you need to have capital to pay upfront until reimbursement comes in 2 months, it also won’t cover loss of use - daily rental charge while car was in the body shop.
Absolutely. I don't rent vehicles often but when I do, I get the insurance. They say you can bring back just the steering wheel and it's covered.
There was one time without the insurance and the car we had was a big hit and run in a parking lot not even 2 hours after renting and paying that cost WAY more than what the insurance would have cost
Just give it back to them. If they care enough they’ll let you know and you just gotta own it. However the employee likely makes like 14 bucks and hour and probably doesn’t give a shit if there’s no structure damage or something isn’t hanging off.
Find a paint less dent removal place and get it fixed. Couple hundred vs possible few thousand
Edit spelling.
i think you're onto something. Its a pointless dent, so why fix it? just tell the rental agent it's a pointless dent. your good. How much could they change to remove something that's pointless?
Try to make it look the best you can. A little wax, hope they don't see or don't care.
If you got the full coverage relax lol
If it's Thrifty car hire they will call it a write-off and charge you for a whole new car. Then they will mark the sign out paperwork with a new ding for the next customer and do absolutely nothing about it.
Buff it off and paintless dent repair.
The comments are very doomer-y. Did you pay for the bare minimum or do you have any insurance coverage through enterprise?
I did almost exactly this same thing once with an enterprise rental, but on the front quarter. I told them about it when I dropped it off, they noted it, and that was it. I did have coverage on my rental so YMMV.
Whenever I've rented a car from them they seemed to care more about the fuel level than anything else. They spend less than 30 seconds looking at the condition of the vehicle. I just use my own insurance, too; I never buy their overpriced insurance.
Side note: If they ever do note something and flag it on your insurance, you’ll have a claim on your record; however, if you buy the insurance, they’ll use their policy (or most likely, not fix it at all) and you will still keep your (hopefully) clean record. This claim could haunt you for up to 5 years in many states.
I live in Canada
I’m unfamiliar with how insurance works there, but I assume it has some form of rate penalty for claims, as well.
My insurance provider has claims forgiveness which prevents my first at-fault claim from impacting my premiums. So far no at-fault claims on my record. And not-at-fault claims can't impact my premiums, either.
So I guess whenever I eventually make my first at-fault claim (if that ever happens) I might consider additional insurance on rentals.
A not-at-fault can affect your premiums in many states! It cannot be charged against you, but they CAN remove your “accident free” discount.
Same thing with a claim losing your “claim free” discount; of course if you have a claim forgiveness, first one is on the house, but the second would affect it.
I personally would save my free claim for a big one, and pay a dentless repair guy to fix something like this before I file it on my own policy.
Also in Canada, we chill bro! We are covered, insurance won’t get affected. Trust me. Even if at fault or not. I can drive my car in to the wall 2 separate times total loss each time and I’m still at max discount!
You can also just pay whatever they want to “fix” it, or use a credit card that has primary insurance.
Credit cards have specific wording that says they kick in ONLY AFTER your primary insurance is exhausted.
That's true for most cards, but take a look at something like the Chase Sapphire Reserve (or any Amex that's enrolled in their premium rental protection for $20/rental). Those actually cover you as primary insurance - so if you use those, you never have to file a claim with your personal insurance.
Very true, but those aren’t the most common cards within the common public. I do have the AMEX with that coverage on both my platinum cards (business and personal).
I’d rather buy the overpriced insurance than get stuck with some issue a former renter left that surfaces later and gets pinned on you. I’d rather not have my already high rates go up higher if I have to file on my personal policy.
Just take a video walking around the car before you drive off. Anything they later claim you did, you can pull up and show the video. Saved me from like a £250 charge for existing damage from a dodgy Enterprise in South London, on like a Vauxhall econobox no less.
I agree but door dings happen. Broken windshields happen. Getting your trunk crow-barred open or a window shattered to snatch something in a bad area unbeknownst to a person unfamiliar with a particular neighborhood happens. People steal $2K LED tail lights off of Ford F250s all day in my city from Holiday Inn lots. Cats can be cut out in minutes. Uninsured/underinsured motorists happen.
Point is, I don’t need some rental car company coming at me with a tab in the thousands when my Kia rental gets hotwired by the latest TikTok how-to trend or the door takes a direct hit from a stray cart in a lot. I’ll pay $20-30 a day for peace of mind so I can just enjoy my trip and not sweat if the rear view mirror is going to get taken out by a passing truck parallel parked in old San Juan while me and my lady are seeing sights. If I can’t afford that, then I can’t afford to rent a car and can hoof it, hitch, or get a bike…although let’s talk about the e-bike rentals. Now those motherfuckers are expensive.
THANK YOU!! I pay for the additional insurance for rental cars and also truck rentals (Uhaul, Home Depot). I seem to have the worst luck and I have spent less than $1000 total over the course of my life, 28F, compared to the thousands I saved after I scraped the side of a uhaul during a cross country move and someone let their doors swing open too wide twice into the side of my rental car in a Walmart parking lot. (Her excuse was the wind took the door out of her hand, but twice?! I don't think so b****.)
Well, your first comment was about issues from previous rentals that get pinned on you and that was my suggestion on how to handle.
The events that happen during a rental are a totally different matter and I would give rather different advice depending not least on location and how insurance agencies there handle claims.
I would never sign a rental agreement that holds me liable for anything found before or after my rental period. I make sure to return the vehicle during business hours so that I can be present for the inspection and sign off on the actual condition at that time. The contract is legally binding and would not allow them to claim any damage after they confirmed that no damage was found.
Have you seen where Hertz is scanning cars with AI cameras, even the under carriage... They find everything. Lehtos Law on YouTube just covered this. They charged someone 450 bucks for curb rash on a wheel.
Wow! Fancy stuff. Every time I've rented a car it's just some kid with a clipboard doing a quick walk around and then checking all the boxes to mark it as perfect condition. Guess I'll have to ask more questions next time I rent a car.