Blown in Missouri

[mohosed]

Hi all,

I had a blowout on a Chevy Cobalt that had 31,000 miles on it. I was driving 70 mph on a major interstate, passing a semi and I had a blowout on the rear passenger tire. The tire basically disintegrated. I was lucky that I didn't turn into a fatality.

I called the emergency number. They told me that they could send a AAA truck out to get me or I could drive on the doughnut for the remainding 200 miles of my trip until I could get to another large town. The call center rep told me that they would swap out my car for another one when I got there.

When I got to where I was going they told me that they couldn't swap out the car because I was in a different region than the one that I rented the car in. But they said they would replace the tire. That was fine with me. I was traveling with someone else and I wouldn't need the car again until I needed to go home.

When I got home I pointed out that the wheel well plastic had been torn from the blowout. The check-in agent said that it wasn't enough to file a claim on and he gave me a 10% discount on my rental for my inconvenience.

About 3 days later I got a call from the loss center stating that I was responsible for the damages. I said that I completely disagree with the evaluation.

Today (one month later) I get a bill for $489. It's interesting that my personal insurance deductible is $500 and I elected not to have the Enterprise insurance. In addition, there is about $300 worth of charges for bumper damage that I did not see and that the check-in agent did not see. And I'm really perplexed how they can claim bumper damage from a blown tire.

I'm considering suing Enterprise for faulty equipment that has endangered my life. I'm serious about that. If that had been a front tire blowout, I could easily have ended up under that semi.

Does anyone have some advice on how to proceed? I'd really appreciate it.

mo-hosed

[Tim O' Tei]

Originally Posted by mohosed

Hi all,

I had a blowout on a Chevy Cobalt that had 31,000 miles on it. I was driving 70 mph on a major interstate, passing a semi and I had a blowout on the rear passenger tire. The tire basically disintegrated. I was lucky that I didn't turn into a fatality.

I called the emergency number. They told me that they could send a AAA truck out to get me or I could drive on the doughnut for the remainding 200 miles of my trip until I could get to another large town. The call center rep told me that they would swap out my car for another one when I got there.

When I got to where I was going they told me that they couldn't swap out the car because I was in a different region than the one that I rented the car in. But they said they would replace the tire. That was fine with me. I was traveling with someone else and I wouldn't need the car again until I needed to go home.

When I got home I pointed out that the wheel well plastic had been torn from the blowout. The check-in agent said that it wasn't enough to file a claim on and he gave me a 10% discount on my rental for my inconvenience.

About 3 days later I got a call from the loss center stating that I was responsible for the damages. I said that I completely disagree with the evaluation.

Today (one month later) I get a bill for $489. It's interesting that my personal insurance deductible is $500 and I elected not to have the Enterprise insurance. In addition, there is about $300 worth of charges for bumper damage that I did not see and that the check-in agent did not see. And I'm really perplexed how they can claim bumper damage from a blown tire.

I'm considering suing Enterprise for faulty equipment that has endangered my life. I'm serious about that. If that had been a front tire blowout, I could easily have ended up under that semi.

Does anyone have some advice on how to proceed? I'd really appreciate it.

mo-hosed

Do you still have the original tyre that blew out?

If ERAC have taken it "for your convenience" and haven't had it looked at by anyone other than their loss control department, they are essentially taking away the only thing that can prove you were not a t fault.

In that case, call the area manager and really, REALLY kick off saying that you want the tyre back so your insurers/Accident specialists/whoever want to investigate it.

You should get your money back. Additionally if the tyre was faulty, ERAC can be sued for negligent entrustment - you might want to drop that phrase into your conversation.

If they have had it looked at by someone independent then you're buggered.

[C9Kid]

Like Tim said, good luck proving that they are guilty of negligent entrustment (putting vcls on the road that should not be)...a blowout is a blowout, no need to assume that the company was automatically at fault. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. But that's up to you to try and prove :/

[slave no more]

Originally Posted by mohosed

Hi all,

I had a blowout on a Chevy Cobalt that had 31,000 miles on it. I was driving 70 mph on a major interstate, passing a semi and I had a blowout on the rear passenger tire. The tire basically disintegrated. I was lucky that I didn't turn into a fatality.

I called the emergency number. They told me that they could send a AAA truck out to get me or I could drive on the doughnut for the remainding 200 miles of my trip until I could get to another large town. The call center rep told me that they would swap out my car for another one when I got there.

When I got to where I was going they told me that they couldn't swap out the car because I was in a different region than the one that I rented the car in. But they said they would replace the tire. That was fine with me. I was traveling with someone else and I wouldn't need the car again until I needed to go home.

When I got home I pointed out that the wheel well plastic had been torn from the blowout. The check-in agent said that it wasn't enough to file a claim on and he gave me a 10% discount on my rental for my inconvenience.

About 3 days later I got a call from the loss center stating that I was responsible for the damages. I said that I completely disagree with the evaluation.

Today (one month later) I get a bill for $489. It's interesting that my personal insurance deductible is $500 and I elected not to have the Enterprise insurance. In addition, there is about $300 worth of charges for bumper damage that I did not see and that the check-in agent did not see. And I'm really perplexed how they can claim bumper damage from a blown tire.

I'm considering suing Enterprise for faulty equipment that has endangered my life. I'm serious about that. If that had been a front tire blowout, I could easily have ended up under that semi.

Does anyone have some advice on how to proceed? I'd really appreciate it.

mo-hosed

A tire blowout can damage a bumper. I have seen it. The tire blows, the tread comes off and smacks against the inside of the wheel well and side bumper. Yeah it's interesting that the total comes to 489 but it happened on your watch slick. Best you can do is argue that the rep let you go without writing or signing a damage report absolving you of liability.

[mohosed]

Thanks for all the input! I have had the same thoughts that all of you mentioned. I do not have the original tire. It was replaced by the local Enterprise when I got to my destination. One other piece of information is that I believe that I saw that the car had a new tire when I rented it. I distinctly remember that there was a patch of orange on one of the tire. When I returned it there was no orange on any of the tires.

My suspicion is that the tire that blew was replaced before. I think that I've read in other threads that I can request all the checkout inspections for a vehicle. That would probably help my cause.

I also have the Enterprise people at my destination that saw the tire. It literally exploded. There was no sidewall left.

One of the more interesting parts of this whole fiasco is that I don't think that they know that Enterprise replaced and paid for the tire. Otherwise, they would have put that on the bill too.

And, for the record, I did ask for the tire back. But the lady at the loss center probably just thought I was being irate - which I was.

[tailfins1959]

Originally Posted by slave no more

A tire blowout can damage a bumper. I have seen it. The tire blows, the tread comes off and smacks against the inside of the wheel well and side bumper. Yeah it's interesting that the total comes to 489 but it happened on your watch slick. Best you can do is argue that the rep let you go without writing or signing a damage report absolving you of liability.

As usual, your response is to a customer, "just eat it". You have nothing to lose with a Federal Trade Commission complaint. You can fill it out online at www.ftc.gov . Don't forget to find the Attorney General's or Consumer Affairs Website in the state where the charges occured and fill in their online complaint form as well.

[mohosed]

I just visited the local Enterprise office. They explained to me that they found more damage to the car after I had left on a Saturday. They said that they left a message for me on Monday to let me know (they're closed on Sunday). But I didn't get that message.

The damage is to the rear bumper that wraps around the side of the car to the wheel well where the blowout occurred. I actually talked to the guy that did the walk-around with me to inspect the car. He gave me the same story - that they didn't see the damage until later.

I got a copy of the damage report and a copy of the original contract that I signed. I also asked that they run a report to see if any other claims had been made on that car. They did that and said that there were two other claims for broken windshields.

The reports that I saw mention that the car had 21,000 miles on it. I asked them to recheck that. We found that it had over 30,000 miles on it. That seems like a lot of miles for a rental.

I then went, in person, to talk to the repair shop that did the repair work. They explained to me that they had to spend a lot of time fixing and repainting the bumper - the part that I never saw.

So now it seems that I have two defenses;

(1) the reporting and repairs were done completely without my involvement. I knew nothing of the most expensive part of the repair. And I was told that the car was fine at the return inspection. I was even given a discount for my inconvenience.

(2) the tire was faulty. The damage was not caused by me, a third party or an act of God. It was caused by Enterprise's neglect or the tire manufacturer.

Have I lost everyone? Anyone have any other ideas? I may be able to find the blown tire. But it's 400 miles away from here.

Thanks again.

[mohosed]

Originally Posted by tailfins1959

As usual, your response is to a customer, "just eat it". You have nothing to lose with a Federal Trade Commission complaint. You can fill it out online at www.ftc.gov . Don't forget to find the Attorney General's or Consumer Affairs Website in the state where the charges occured and fill in their online complaint form as well.

Thanks. I will do that. At least it will make me feel better.

The tire blowing out is neither your fault nor is it Enterprises fault. Due to the fact that you were driving at the time of the blow out, you have to be held responsible. It doesn't sound fair, but it is. Enterprise does do a number of sleezy things. I know, because I worked for them for 4 years. But hosing people for damage they are not accountable for is not one of them. Sometimes there is prior damage an agent doesn't see before the customer leaves and it is blamed on that customer when they get back, usually because a different agent checks it in. There is an easy way to get out of these situations, make sure you look over the car extremely well with an agent before and after you leave with the car. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sticking up for E in any way. They treat customers horrible and they treat employees even worse. But the tire issue can't be argued. E can't help it if you drive over a nail or something that causes a tire to go down. Hopefully this helps people in the future.

p.s. It's not a bad idea to check tires for nails before leaving E lot.

[Tim O' Tei]

Originally Posted by mohosed

I just visited the local Enterprise office. They explained to me that they found more damage to the car after I had left on a Saturday. They said that they left a message for me on Monday to let me know (they're closed on Sunday). But I didn't get that message.

The damage is to the rear bumper that wraps around the side of the car to the wheel well where the blowout occurred. I actually talked to the guy that did the walk-around with me to inspect the car. He gave me the same story - that they didn't see the damage until later.

I got a copy of the damage report and a copy of the original contract that I signed. I also asked that they run a report to see if any other claims had been made on that car. They did that and said that there were two other claims for broken windshields.

The reports that I saw mention that the car had 21,000 miles on it. I asked them to recheck that. We found that it had over 30,000 miles on it. That seems like a lot of miles for a rental.

I then went, in person, to talk to the repair shop that did the repair work. They explained to me that they had to spend a lot of time fixing and repainting the bumper - the part that I never saw.

So now it seems that I have two defenses;

(1) the reporting and repairs were done completely without my involvement. I knew nothing of the most expensive part of the repair. And I was told that the car was fine at the return inspection. I was even given a discount for my inconvenience.

(2) the tire was faulty. The damage was not caused by me, a third party or an act of God. It was caused by Enterprise's neglect or the tire manufacturer.

Have I lost everyone? Anyone have any other ideas? I may be able to find the blown tire. But it's 400 miles away from here.

Thanks again.

You can argue that the inspection was incorrect. They have already admitted they have not inspected the vehicle correctly by missing 9,000 miles on the clock. If someone can't read numbers how can they be trusted to miss damage on a tyre?

Go for that angle.