Enterprise Rent-A-Car — Local services in Salt Lake City

I rented a black Nissan Pathfinder from this Enterprise Rent-A-Car location on December 23rd, 2019 and returned it on December 27th, 2019. My rental agent was an assistant manager at this location named Joe.

The second I walked through the door, this terrible company began trying to squeeze me for money. I was told that I was going to get a car for $53 bucks per day plus some taxes and small fees. What I wasn't told by either Joe the assistant manager or the scheduler was that they had a "young driver fee" of an extra $20 bucks per day for anyone between the ages 21 and 24. I'm 24. Of the 2 or 3 times I rented from Enterprise before, I was NEVER charged this fee, despite being younger. Joe had failed to mention it, despite mentioning pretty much everything else that was going to be charged, including a security deposit fee. Even if it was "company policy" to charge that fee, it certainly was enough of an anomaly for a professional and honest business to inform you of the charge. The page that I was suppose to sign for the charges had only the final charges and a signature line, I had to scroll up on his tablet to see what the line item charges were. I was an idiot, and I was too trusting of this company. I didn't even look at the charges when I first rented the car and signed it away. So I paid the fee as tuition in learning how to read fine print. Can't trust these guys to tell you what exactly is being charged on the card.

When I was inspecting the car, Joe gave me a little strip of paper with a circle on it and told me that any dents bigger than that circle should be noted. There was a dent on the driver side panel, but Joe told me it was smaller than the circle and that I wouldn't have to pay for it.

Lo and behold, after I returned the car on the 27th, after Joe himself inspected the condition of the car upon return and said there was no issues, I get a call while on vacation on the 30th saying that they "rubbed some dirt off" later and found a dent on the driver side panel and the rear bumper and that I would be paying an undisclosed amount of money to take care of it. I didn't take this car on any dirt road! I drove up to Logan, Utah to have Christmas dinner with my in-laws on a relatively snowless Christmas. Didn't touch a single person or vehicle. I kept all my luggage in the trunk, so I spent every single day, up to and including the day I returned the car, staring at that rear bumper where they claim there is a dent. After I returned the car, I even had to wait with my face next to that rear bumper for my ride home.

This company probably thinks that just because I'm young, they can push me around and farm money off me. If you have anyone who is in need of a rental vehicle, do not trust these guys at Enterprise to be on your side. Read the fine print, because they won't read it for you. Take photos, videos, and other documentation before and after you rent the car, especially if they give you a car with a dent in it.

I have invited Enterprise Rent-a-car to sue me in court for the "damages" to the car. Either that, or they can pry it from my cold dead hands. I will NEVER use their service again, even if it is paid for by an insurance company. I suggest you...

Manager Alan Wilder, and associate Deacon helped turn a challenging experiencing that could have resulted in permanent loss of business from me and my wife, who have very much preferred Enterprise over all other rental services, into something that actually makes me even more comfortable using Enterprise moving forward (especially this location) than I was prior to this experience.

The vehicle I ended up with had some problems that I was unable to call about in transit due to driving through a long remote and service-less stretch of Southern Wyoming on I 80 on the way back from a likewise rural section of Northern Colorado. This wasn’t their fault or mine, but had they handled things differently when I explained it, I was ready to take my business elsewhere.

When I dropped the car off and explained what had happened with the vehicle, I was blown away with the level of empathy and kindness they both extended. I could tell they both genuinely cared about how I had been impacted and about making sure the car was inspected and fixed before going back into the fleet. When addressing the issues I had experienced, Alan took the time to listen and make sure he could do what he needed to make this right. It was clear he is not just there doing his job, but was exemplifying that phrase “be the change you want to see in the world.”

I know that sounds melodramatic for a rental car experience but the reality was that although I had mentioned at checkout I was taking the car for a fishing trip (and that was indeed part of my trip), the trip was part of a broader effort that happened to be a part of one of the most challenging times in my life and though I would not have been surprised to have been brushed off, as it’s easy to be jaded with service these days, the kindness and compassion Alan and Deacon showed me without even knowing that this was more than a vacation literally moved me to tears on the way home.

You never know what people are going through in life, and though I never would have expected something like this in a rental car experience, I could tell that these guys get this and are just great humans first, and excellent employees second, which is something I think we could use more of these days.

Oh… and it’s worth noting, when I first walked in to drop off the car, before even mentioning anything or reminding him who I was, Deacon, who had checked us out upon rental, remembered me and that I had mentioned I was going fishing and asked how fishing was. I think that’s special in its own right. Deacon, I was a bit too zoned in on the other stuff, so I didn’t mention, fishing was good (we caught a few Pike). Thank you both for being extremely compassionate to someone you didn’t even know really needed that at the time. Enterprise HQ: take note. Keep hiring people like Alan, Deacon and the other folks at...

Untrustworthy business!

Brief summary: We paid for a Standard SUV but left with a regular sedan with no discount, instead we've been given some stories about "how this Altima is actually an upgrade from an SUV" with no proof of this statement. We've been quoted a price of $100 for the airport drop-off again with no proof. This was the only car rental that asked for my insurance policy number, usually just a name of the company is enough. We have never been charged extra if there were AWD vehicles of the same class in the lot and there were at least 5 AWD SUVs in their lot and we were the last customers that day, but they all were "booked out". BTW this was a week before the President's Day and they could easily sell those AWD vehicles for extra cash toward the weekend.

I booked a Standard SUV for a week with this store because of their high rating. When I came to the store, they already prepared a 2WD Chevy Equinox for me which is a Compact/Small SUV not a Standard one. I asked if they had an AWD vehicle because we're traveling 130 miles north with a baby and it will snow for the rest of the week. They said that all of their AWD/4x4 options were booked out and offered me an Audi Q5 for double the price or a Nissan Altima AWD (a standard sedan). Unfortunately, a Q5 for almost $800 was a bit too much for me, as opposed to my reservation of $330. So I had to go with Altima. When I asked about a discount since it's a regular sedan and not an SUV, the staff began telling me different stories that "this Altima is technically an upgrade from a 2WD SUV (really?) and it should be priced the same if not more than an SUV", in fact there's no proof of this statement on any website (costcotravel or enterprise).

Our friends who booked with Avis have been offered a free airport drop-off option, and our Uber driver who used to work for this Enterprise store confirmed and encouraged us to request a free airport drop-off. When we asked about this option, the staff member said it's available for $100. According to him, this was something that just started earlier that day.

Another "newly introduced (literally earlier that same day)" regulation was to provide full details of your car insurance if you're not buying one from them.

These and some other stories that sounded purely made-up make me wonder how this store maintains such a...