Enterprise Rent-A-Car — Local services in Las Cruces

We rented from the Enterprise Rental on 1340 South Valley Drive, Las Cruces New Mexico. On 03/21/2016 Our auto insurance reserved us a vehicle from this Enterprise location. We arrived this location just past 5:00pm, and it was very very busy, and unorganized, didn't have a clue who was next in line. We waited and while waiting one of the employees, Tony, was very adamant about leaving by 5:30pm, he told the other employees he had to go, no excuses. When we went up to the counter Tony was the one who had helped us. He was friendly I will say that. When it was time to go look at the vehicle he walked us over to it, before getting to the the vehicle he had opened the trunk so we could see that there was a spare tire. He started walking to the passenger side of the car as he closed the trunk, and he said "All we are looking for are dents bigger than golf balls, and scratches longer than a dollar bill". My husband pointed to damage he had saw on the driver's side rear, but again the employee said "don't worry about it if it is smaller than a golf ball, but we can put it on the paper" and we continued with the inspection. There were a couple of other very small dings on the sides of the vehicle and Tony marked those on the paper, but not the place my husband had mentioned. When we looked inside we saw that it was not clean inside, there were plastic bottles left under neath the seat. We asked if we were supposed to clean the vehicle and was told no. On 04/01/2016 On the return it was a completely different story. Stephanie and Tony saw two dents on the driver's side rear of the vehicle. Two separate dents close in proximity that they decided that they would count as one total dent, so that it would be bigger than a golf ball. I said that we did not do that, I had not hit anything, and that for the most part the car had been kept inside our garage. They continued to inform me that they are very thorough on the inspections and that they would not have missed that mark, the same employee, Tony, who had walked with us during the rental told me that he ALWAYS makes sure to be very thorough with the trunk since the spare is inside. The vehicle that was given to us had been returned at 5:00pm that same day. We were completed with our rental at 5:29pm. So in a period of less than 30 minutes they say there were able to perform a "thorough" inspection of the vehicle, return the vehicle, re-service the vehicle, re-rent the vehicle to us, and do another "thorough" inspection. It sounds very fishy to me. Tony was in a hurry, he either missed the damage because he was busy and he had to go, or knowing the vehicle was being rented under an auto insurance contract he let it slide so that we could be responsible for it later. Probably why he didn't mark the spot my husband had said during our inspection of the vehicle, that happened to be the same driver's side rear of the vehicle. They are trying to charge us $300 before any estimate of damage or investigation has even been completed. Or w/out even knowing if they would even fix the damage itself. Steve told my husband that there was a good chance that they wouldn't even bother fixing it because it wasn't "that bad". We requested time-stamped photos of the return at rental, they said that they do not do that, because they have contract inspections. Sounds more like something that they can protect themselves with when they want to make innocent people responsible for damages that they did not do. About 6 Days later my husband received a call saying that they would be closing our contract that they charged the $300.00 that I had "agreed" to pay. I was explained at the time of the return that all that was happening that day was returning the vehicle. That the charges for damage would come after an estimate of damage had been done, and the investigation of previous contracts had been completed. I would avoid this place at all cost, It's a "Ding and dent" scam. Very disappointing that we cannot trust businesses...

I tend to have good experiences with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, but during my most recent experience Murphy's Law or just plain bad luck seemed to keep rearing its head. I rented a full size pickup truck for a trip from New Mexico to Wyoming and back in early October 2020. The vehicle that I picked up was a really nice 2020 Chevy Silverado and my experience picking it up from the Las Cruces Valley Drive location (with associate Zoe) was great - quick and easy. After getting my gear packed up and I started my north, the tire pressure notification came on saying that a tire had dropped below 28 PSI. I thought it was just the cooler temps and increase in elevation that could have caused it - happens all the time in my personal vehicle. Didn't think too much on it once I got to Santa Fe to stay the night.

Unfortunately, I got up the next morning and the tire (passenger side rear) was totally flat - thus making me glad that I got the 24/7 roadside assistance service. I called them up and they got a tow truck to swap out the spare so that I could take the truck to a local auto shop to patch the tire so I could get on my way. I first took the vehicle to Pep Boys in Santa Fe who found a nail in the sidewall of the tire - unpatchable - and told me to go to the nearby Firestone in Santa Fe, as the Pep Boys didn't have the correct size tire in stock. I drove over to the Firestone to see about getting the tire replaced - again, they didn't have the correct tire in stock... kind of surprised, being that a stock Chevy Silverado is a pretty common vehicle.

Thankfully, I was able to get a hold of the Santa Fe Enterprise location (just a couple blocks from the Firestone) and they had a pickup truck that I would be able to swap out. I got my gear switched over into a Ford F-150 and was able to get on my way after spending the morning running around Santa Fe seeing if the places had the correct tire (not Enterprise's fault, but maybe I should have just opted for swapping vehicles from the get-go, but what can you do? Hindsight is 20/20).

After I got north out of Santa Fe towards Colorado and stopped to let my dog stretch her legs, I found that on the new truck there was a large chunk of rubber missing from the sidewall of the driver's side rear tire, with a large ding in the rim - and nothing that I did while driving could have resulted in such damage. I'm not sure how it was missed during the earlier vehicle inspection, but it had me on edge for the remainder of the trip north. Thankfully the tire wasn't compromised and it was a surficial damage, but I let the Enterprise office know so that I wouldn't be responsible for said damage when I returned the vehicle.

All this to say, I had a good experience with Enterprise's customer support folks at both the Las Cruces and Santa Fe locations and over the phone for the roadside assistance, but was disappointed in the tires/tire inspection of the vehicles I rented. I suspect the nail in the sidewall of the Chevy's tire was there prior to me driving it, though I can't prove it 100%, and it was odd how two of the larger tire shops in Santa Fe didn't have the correct size tire...

So, double check your tires before you get started, I know inspecting body damage is important, but don't...

I really wish I could say 5 stars, which Jonathan the person that took care of me deserves, however when I picked up my rental. The car was kinda dirty, and I told the young woman that helped me that the tire looked a bit low. She assured me it was aired and had the car vacuumed again. However, before my journey, i got a message that the front tire was low, since they were close I couldn't take it back, I took it to Discount Tire, where they aired the tire, and checked for nails, but they said I should be good to go. On my way to Albuquerque with my elderly mother in the car, it started to tell me the tire was low again. David at Road side assistance had me pull over to check the tire, I went to a gas station to put air again, and when I had almost arrived, I got the message it was low again, I called back and of course they want to ensure you feel safe, at that time I didn't, I told them I would call once I was at my Airbnb, the next morning and when things had settled I was on my way to the Enterprise at the airport and the tire was flat, they sent someone to change the tire at a $50 charge, though later got reversed, and all this less than 24 hrs of having the car. A woman where I returned the car was helpful. I had filled the car with gas just in case they felt the need to charge me, I took the slip to Ozzie the man that was going to help me but instead made me feel like he didn't care about anything I had gone through, very nonchalant about the situation asked where the car was parked after I had already explained where it was, again nonchalant "Is there a Problem?" And I told him. I know it wasn't him but that I was very frustrated. I was almost in tears and he asked what kind of car did I want, he said I got you a better car, I told him some sympathy would go a long way, and he nonchalant again. That's what I'm here for... I was happy to get out of there for sure. The new car drove better and didn't give me any trouble. The next day, Jonathan called me concerned about my ordeal as he noticed the many times I called Roadside Assistance and he ensured me he'd take care of me when I returned, Ozzie had made my rental shorter but thank goodness Jonathan caught it and helped me set it for the week as had planned. When I returned the car, fuel full and washed, he helped me and graciously reversed my $50 tire charge... I used to have great experiences with Enterprise but had stopped due to the pandemic and this time after many years I had so many lows and fortunately there was only one person that went above and beyond to make me want to rent from them again... Jonathan, you deserve a medal, Ozzie needs to rethink if this is what he wants to do cause customer service was not his strong attribute. Either way, thank you Jonathan you made Enterprise...