Problem with Enterprise rent a car, legal advice needed

[Ref600]

This is my first post and I hope the last, so hello everybody!


I have rented a cart from them since end of August, 2 days ago they entered my house private drivaway and through the open gates (fully detached house with driveway for 12 cars and clearly visible cameras everywhere) and the took the car back, without any warning, any issues and NO outstanding debt ! Last conversation I had with them, was a day before the incident and I asked them to change my car with another one and also asked them to forward to me an invoice, as they never issue one and breakdown of charges. I send a letter to their head office, fca, bvrla , I enclose copy of the letter, do I need to report and involve the police as they entered my property ? What are my legal options against them please. Many thanks and forgive the length of the post.

letter enclosed.
Dear Sirs,

My name is Xxxxxxxxxxx, I would like to complain about Enterprise Car Rental Company, especially the St. Johns Wood Branch in London.
I had a horrific experience with this company, I am not a new customer to them, as I hire a car from this company since end of August 2018.
During this period, I paid more than UK5500 to them for rental and service charges. as I hired a mid Executive car from them.
Until October everything was nice and smoothly, since then they started to take unauthorised payments without my knowledge from my credit card for silly reasons (administrative charges without explanation, handling ticket charges and so on), I had to cancel my Amex credit card and replace it as I wasn’t confident leaving a card with a very high limit on their system, I gave them a debit card to use and when they need to take payments, I asked them to call me, issue an invoice to me and then charge the card after my authorisation.
Since that day I was receiving threats and warnings on a daily basis, that they will report the car as stolen to the Police (many SMS messages for evidence) and to avoid this to happen, they asked me to prepay the rental period in advance (one month in advance), they also requested from me to pay higher monthly rental fare than the agreed amount, and a higher deposit.
As I am using the car on a daily basis, in order to go to work and to pick up the kids from school, I paid them the money requested, however it didn’t end , they requested the car back in December stating that BMW recalled all cars for security checks (again they told me that if I will not comply they will report the car as stolen !) and they replaced the car with a much inferior Hyundai ! I accepted as I didn’t have other options. Until yesterday and after many messages they never replaced the car with the BMW that I had since September, instead and without ANY notice or warning they came to my house at 7.35 in the morning (with cameras evidence), took the car and left me WITHOUT a car, with an overcharged card and a set of Hyundai keys !
I would like to add that one day before I was reassured by the Branch Manager (with SMS text evidence) that the car will be replaced with the BMW and that there are no outstanding payments.
Since day one, I NEVER received any invoice or account statement from them so I don’t know how much money they have taken in total and for what reason and rental period.
They NEVER refunded any of the deposits back to my card and they always came with excuses that the accountant is sick, fired, etc
I have contacted my bank and credit card providers and asked them to investigate the matter and if needed to dispute all payments until the issues are resolved.
I also instructed my Solicitor to be in contact with the regulating body and their executive team and instructed him to go ahead with court proceedings and seek FULL compensation.
If you need additional information please do not hesitate to contact me.

[Amethyst]

The BMW was replaced with a Hyundai, due to the security recall of the BMW, and the car they took from your drive without prior arrangement/ agreement was the Hyundai ? without replacing it with another BMW ? so Enterprise have terminated the agreement without notice?
Did they leave any note when they removed the car ?
Of course they should provide you with a full breakdown of charges - have you requested this in writing ?

Recall ( there have been a couple bmw recalls in the last year ) check - https://www.bmw.co.uk/landingpages/b...e-recalls#gref

Admin fees wise

(iv) an administration fee in the range of €/£ 5 to 45 for processing any fines or offences against the Vehicle, Owner, Renter, any Authorised Driver or any other person Renter permitted to use the Vehicle during the Rental Period, unless caused through Owner’s own fault;

Also seems to be a £200 charge for using a different card than that you used to pay the deposits.

Termination wise

Owner may terminate the Rental Agreement with immediate effect if Renter commits a material breach of the Rental Agreement or if security risks for Renter, Authorised Drivers or other third parties require an immediate return of the Vehicle. A violation of Renter's obligations in section 3, 4, and 5 is a material breach.

Dispute

Alternative dispute resolution is a process where an independent body considers the facts of a dispute and seeks to resolve it, without the Renter having to go to court. The online dispute resolution platform of the European Commission is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. For rentals originating in the UK, Owner agrees to alternative dispute resolution. Renter can submit a complaint to the BVRLA via their website at http://www.bvrla.co.uk/advice/guidan...iation-service. The BVRLA will not charge Renter for making a complaint and if Renter is not satisfied with the outcome Renter can still bring legal proceedings.

[2222]

This whole thing is bananas! The OP has been a wonderful client of the rental company, hiring a car on a long-standing basis and paying them a fortune. He has also been troublesome for the administrative staff, changing his card, and so on. The car hire company seem to have handled this very stupidly, annoying what should have been an excellent customer.

However, in answer to the questions raised, it's not illegal for the hire company to come onto private land. It's almost certainly within the terms of the agreement they wrote for them to take the car away.

So, my advice is to settle up with them, disputing any bills as appropriate, and hire a car from a different company.

Incidentally, it's normal for hire companies to charge a fee for settling parking tickets on hire cars.

[ostell]

Unfortunately, for Enterprise, those terms apply to fines or offences. A private parking invoice is neither of those so that term does not apply and any additional charge has not been agreed to

[Ref600]

I would like to hear different opinions before I commence any action.
Points are :
There were no outstanding payments towards Enterprise.
I was overcharged on more than 3 occasions.
Car taken without notice or warnings, not a single phone call.
No invoices issued since day one.
Threats in more than 3 occasions that they will report the car as stolen (what for ), they forced me to renew contract every 28 days and make a new contract every time.
Charges without permission for parking tickets that they never submitted to me (I am not aware of any parking tickets issued).
Entered my private property without warning.
Inside the car were my bag, personal belongings, money ,phone chargers etc , they didn’t even contact me to deliver these items back to us.
I wonder, these are not enough for legal action ?

[2222]

You need to contact them before issuing proceedings. Letter before action, and so on.

[ADDLED]

Dude, i also had a pretty unpleasant case with a car rental company also in UK, but it wasn't anything similar. I rented a Hyundai as i remember, the car was almost new, i mean its millage was only of 2000 miles. I was driving to London, and the brake just wouldn't work, so i crashed into a tree, and the company made it look like i have broken the breaks and it is all my fault. Can you imagine. After that i didn't want to take any car or rent, until i was traveling in the Eastern Europe. I was in Ukraine as i do remember, and i really neened a car, so i a called for the services of https://narscars.com.ua/en. I guess they had the best cars and best prices on the market, and their attitude towards the client was really amazing.

Nice advert for Narscars! Sorry to pop your little bot-bubble but theres not a lot of call for a Kyev car rental company in the UK: it's a hell of a drive from Ukraine to London!.