Charged for a broken windshield that I didn't break

I recently had to rent a car after my car was rear-ended and was in the shop for a month. I picked up the car just before closing time on a Friday afternoon, and the salesman took me out to the car, said "I noted the burn hole in the passenger seat--sign here", and that was the extent of my "walk-around". I was not told that I should inspect the car for any small damage. The salesman also stated that he had cleaned the car up for me. When we drove off, my daughter noticed a partially eaten chicken bone in the back window area. YUK! When I returned the car, the same guy went out to inspect it and came back saying there was a crack in the windshield that was not there when I picked up the car. The crack was on the passenger side of the windshield in the blind-spot area from the rear-view mirror, so I never noticed it. My daughter said "mom, that was there the whole time we had the car. I noticed it when we first got it". I argued repeatedly with the salesman that I had not caused this damage, but he insisted that I was responsible for it. I also called the district manager to complain and was told he would look into it and get back to me, which he never did. The bottom line is I am stuck with a $100 deductible from my insurance company to cover damage that was not my fault. I just want to warn people not to trust these salespeople to do their jobs like they are supposed to. You had better inspect the car thoroughly and make sure any little damage is documented. I will never rent a car from Enterprise again. I have reported them to the Better Business Bureau but I don't expect any action to be taken. I am also planning on writing a letter to their national manager.

Normally if an insurance claim is filed the adjuster handling the claim requests copies of the previous rental contracts. Most of the time, if the damages were there prior to you getting the car it will be noted on at least one or two of the recent contracts. If not, please accept the possibility it happened while you had the car and pay the money you owe. A crack in the windshield is not really minor damage, and you can't expect people to just take care of the cost simply because you don't want to pay it.

By the way, check with your adjuster to make sure they did research past contracts. If they didn't, ask them to do it before you pay your deductible.

Did the crack run to the edge of the windscreen? If so it may be a pressure crack - they happen from time to time

Your stupid for letting the salesman take control of the rental process. If I was renting anything I would do the walk around myself and be real anal and time consuming making sure the sales person walked around with me noting every little thing. Your fault for being lazy and letting that sales guy push your thru the process....It is another way they make easy money.


An employee probably caused the crack but again your stupidity supercedes that. Happy paying.

Hey Dummy
Thanks so much for your helpful friendly advice! I'll be sure never to return here again.

I have some advice, but it may be too late. (In the least, it may help you if you're ever confronted with a similar situation.)

Complain. Complain complain complain. Complain to the branch manager, complain to the area manager, complain to the city manager, complain to the regional manager, complain to the regional vice president.

Complain loud enough and high enough, at least with ERAC, you will usually get just about anything you want. Go high enough and someone whose salary won't be greatly effected by reimbursing you will be happy to sacrifice that in the name of good customer service. (See managers are tight because they make money off of one branch, area managers off of a handful of branches, their boss off of more, etc...)

You'll get what you want or some other form of compensation 99% of the time.

I cannot believe people like you still exist !, you must be some werid serial complainer !. People at ERAC have their promotion and careers on line to make sure people leave happy, and wankers like you ruin their careers !, you make me sick. I would love you to come to my branch and complain. I will whoop your candy ass so far, you wont find the need to complain again ! bring it on @#%$........

hey monkey,

this customer was screwed but we have to feel sorry for the people at ERAC who did the screwing but whose "careers" are on the line? This particular employee, who I'd bet was the BM, sounds to me purposely didn't do a thorough walk-around with this customer in the hopes that she wouldn't notice the crack, and then he could charge someone for damage that was never documented and would have come out of his paycheck otherwise.

i saw this happen too many times. I'd like to ask the original poster if they were pushed to take the damage waiver. If they weren't, you can bet the crack was there in the first place.

To say she was screwed is to assume she didn't damage the car. I saw way to many people say they didn't damage cars when the damage was blatant to simply take her word for it. It is the simplest of fixes though, get your insurance company involved and they will straighten it out. At least one of the recent contracts should have a crack in the windshield listed if it was already there.