Overcharged for Repairs (UK)?

[cloughja]

I scraped the bumper of a car I rented from Enterprise - my fault and I admit it!

When returned the car and told them of the damage they took £500 from my car pending a quote from the bodyshop. I phoned their loss adjuster almost daily and over a week later finally got a quote for £417 to repair the damage.

Unfortunately I was cut off during the call and had to phone back the next day. I said that I was shocked by the price (I was expecting £150) and wanted a breakdown of costs. They said that it required a new bumper cover and that was why it was so costly. I asked them to hold off on the repair whilst I got an independent quote but they said that this was not possible as the repair was already underway.

I really felt that a new bumper was not required - perhaps I'm wrong (I've attached the photo). I took the photo to a local bodyshop but he was unable to say for sure. I can say that the scrape was about six inches long and there was no cracking of the bumper cover. He said that if it did require a new bumper cover and respray he would have charged £325 - almost £100 less than ERAC.

So I said that I'd like the old bumper cover so I could get an independent assessment of the damage. However they say that it's their property and they will not let me have it. They are offering to allow the local guy to see it - but only at their location. However the local guy - quite reasonably - is not prepared to make an unpaid trip to the local ERAC office.

This whole thing has left a really bad taste in my mouth. I'd always found ERAC to be a good company in the past.

To summarise - they should give customers reasonable time to get a second opinion on repair costs. Also they should have let me have that bumper cover - it's mine - I paid for it!!

Does anyone have any advice as to how I can proceed with this?

Thanks

Jonathan

[Grover]

Originally Posted by cloughja

I scraped the bumper of a car I rented from Enterprise - my fault and I admit it!

When returned the car and told them of the damage they took £500 from my car pending a quote from the bodyshop. I phoned their loss adjuster almost daily and over a week later finally got a quote for £417 to repair the damage.

Unfortunately I was cut off during the call and had to phone back the next day. I said that I was shocked by the price (I was expecting £150) and wanted a breakdown of costs. They said that it required a new bumper cover and that was why it was so costly. I asked them to hold off on the repair whilst I got an independent quote but they said that this was not possible as the repair was already underway.

I really felt that a new bumper was not required - perhaps I'm wrong (I've attached the photo). I took the photo to a local bodyshop but he was unable to say for sure. I can say that the scrape was about six inches long and there was no cracking of the bumper cover. He said that if it did require a new bumper cover and respray he would have charged £325 - almost £100 less than ERAC.

So I said that I'd like the old bumper cover so I could get an independent assessment of the damage. However they say that it's their property and they will not let me have it. They are offering to allow the local guy to see it - but only at their location. However the local guy - quite reasonably - is not prepared to make an unpaid trip to the local ERAC office.

This whole thing has left a really bad taste in my mouth. I'd always found ERAC to be a good company in the past.

To summarise - they should give customers reasonable time to get a second opinion on repair costs. Also they should have let me have that bumper cover - it's mine - I paid for it!!

Does anyone have any advice as to how I can proceed with this?

Thanks

Jonathan

Enterprise owns the cars and in their rental contract they have the right to repair the cars at their approved bodyshops. They get discounted parts and discounted labour and they will almost always get the cheapest available rate for the minimal repairs required to bring the car back to 'like new' and safe condition. Thousand and thousands of cars are damaged every year and it is not logistically possible to allow customer's to get multiple quotes for multiple shops. Again it is their car and they can do with it what they like and you have agreed to this.
Damaging a rental car is an eye opening experience but I can assure you that you would have experienced the same thing at any of erac's competitors.

PS. I hate erac.

[Tim O' Tei]

I hate ERAC too but you would have been told at the time of rental that the excess would be £500.

It is their property and their right to charge you for it.

Personally I'd have harged you the full amount for the car being off the road for a couple of days.

Tough.