Bald Tires in a Blizzard

My car failed about an hour from home last weekend and I had to get a rental car. The dealer recommended Enterprise. Wish I hadn't rented from them! Snow was coming down heavy when the driver picked me up. We chatted and he said they would rent me a type of car I was used to driving, all wheel drive. The story changed when I was working with the desk agent, "we don't have cars like that." (The lot was full of suv's, minivans etc). They gave me a beat up Lancer with over 33,000 miles and bald tires. The heat didn't work well enough to keep the windows clear. I realized I was in real trouble when I tried to back out of the lot, the car just didn't have the power and the tires were so bald that I couldn't back out! It took me an hour to go 5 miles, I got dangerously stuck on every hill. I realized it was suicidal to keep driving this car and parked it at a mall. I called my husband (who is in the military) to leave his duty and come get me (from 3 hours away) in a blizzard. He checked the tires and said they would "just" pass inspection. He couldn't even move it out of the parking lot 3 days later without spinning out. Does anyone have any advice about how to deal with Enterprise about this?

Do you still have the vehicle?

No, we returned it to the dealer who is doing the car repairs. (This is apparently a common arrangement) They were sympathetic and suggested I complain to Enterprise Corporate. It was only when I started trying to find a corporate mail address and then tried to get some help with the 800 phone number (never returned my call) that I realized they didn't want to know about problems.

Again, I don't miss dealing with customers.


The dealer told you they had cars equipped for the snow, yet you get annoyed at Enterprise.
Lancer with no power? Again, are you surprised?
Hour to go 5 miles? Maybe because it was snowing heavily? Just a possibility.


Gotta love the detail to add to the drama..

'suicidal to keep driving this car'
'husband to leave his duty in the military to come from 3 hours away' in a blizzard no less (blizzard..maybe this could be why it took you and hour to go a short distance?)

I'm not defending Enterprise as I'm not a fan of them as a company. But in my experience as both an employee at Erac and a customer myself, people tend to exaggerate when they are describing the bad experience that befell them. As for the heat, it didn't work well enough compared to what you were used to is probably more accurate. As for the bald tires, I know Erac rents cars like that out, but I'm sure the blizzard probably had a hand in the difficulty the car was having. It sounded like the dealer gave you inaccurate information about Enterprise having snow equipped vehicles and you were annoyed that Enterprise didn't rent you what you wanted.

If I was an Erac employee, I would apologize for the inconvenience and ask you what you think would be fair.
As a regular person I will say that you were simply used to driving an SUV and you didn't get what you wanted. You had expectations that you would get what you wanted because a a third party told you that you would. That's what you are really pissed about. Life will continue. The earth is still spinning on its axis.

I bet her husband had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get and bring her home.

" He checked the tires and said they would "just" pass inspection."

'Just' passing inspection is all it takes. You have no valid complaint.

Update: AAA intervened on my behalf and Enterprise dropped the total charge for the rental and apologized for not checking the condition of the tires before renting it to me. AAA told me that if there had been an accident, both Enterprise and myself would have been held liable. The driver is responsible for the condition of the car regardless of whether it is a rental or your own.

I was once had a customer who didn't feel she should have to pay for her rental because she didn't like the color of the car and found some ashes in the ashtray (after driving the car for a week). After much negotiation I offered to take care of $110ish dollars of her charges, which she accepted, then still complained to my supervisor until the remainder was refunded.

It doesn't make the complaint any more valid, but if you complain enough you can have the charges refunded for any reason you choose. If AAA (a huge referral source for Enterprise) starts making phone calls, the charges disappear even more quickly.

Next time you are stranded in the snow and you try to get a car from Enterprise I hope they tell you to put on your snowshoes and get to walking.

I NEVER thought I would say this, I actually agree with JeanHo. Jean is correct, if you get the referral source involved it is astounding how quick the charges fly off your bill.

Just thank God that this wasn't your story

www.ragarcialaw.com/alert...ental.html