Great Experiences
Written: Mar 23 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Extremely friendly and helpful staff; great rates; pick you up; no nonsense.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: The Enterprise agents I have dealt with really cared that I had the best rental experience and it showed. I've had nothing but great experiences with Enterprise.
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| pspenguin's Full Review: Enterprise |
I recently had to take my car into the shop to get it fixed up after an incident with a pickup truck. Fortunately my insurance covers $20 a day towards a rental car during the time that my car is in the shop so I was able to call up Enterprise two days before I was to drop off my car at the shop and arrange to have them meet me there with a rental. I had done the same thing with Enterprise last year when I had to take my car in to the shop for similar reasons and had such a good experience with them then that I had no doubts about choosing them again.
Customer Service
One of the things that has impressed me most about my experiences with Enterprise is how nice and accommodating their staff are. You really get the impression that they care that you have a great rental experience and they go out of their way to make that happen. The first time I had to take my car into the shop I didn't think about getting a rental until I was already there and had taken care of getting my car set up for repairs. Then my insurance agent got me in contact with an Enterprise agent who set me up with a car very quickly and sent somebody out to the auto body shop to drop off the car for me. They took care of the whole thing almost immediately, and I only had to wait about a half-hour which is impressive since the Enterprise location was at least 20 minutes away.
The second time I arranged to have them meet me at the auto body shop on the day I was planning on dropping off my car and they were there right on time. Or at least as far as I could tell because I was 25 minutes late and the agent was politely waiting for me, not at all annoyed by my tardiness.
Both agents that delivered my car (the two separate times) were extremely friendly and even concerned about my car and what had happened to it. They were so friendly it was almost a little freaky, kind of like one of those weird movies where everyone is too nice but you know that something is messed up in town. Fortunately they seem to skip the messed up part because both experiences were nothing but positive.
The agents quickly went over the rental contract with me explaining my options for additional insurance, in what ways the car was already covered under my current insurance, and basically explaining everything I was going to need to know about having this car in my possession for a week or so. Then they introduced me to the car and started to show me how everything works but both times I assured them that I would be able to figure it out, so we proceeded to do a walk around the car to verify that there were no scratches. The first time the car was completely clean, but the second time there was a small scratch less than the length of half of my pinky. The agent assured me that it was too small for me to have to worry about it but she marked it down anyway without any insistence from me which I thought was very nice of her.
Aside from the two agents who I have dealt with in the field, so to speak, the couple times that I phoned in to set up a rental the second time and again to confirm it they have been extremely polite and helpful in getting me exactly what I need as quickly as possible.
Enterprise is the first company that I have rented a car from and I don't know how the service compares at other rental companies but I have to admit I would be quite pleasantly surprised if the agents at other companies were half as nice and helpful as the ones I have had the pleasure to deal with at Enterprise.
Car Condition
In both my rental situations I wasn't really looking for anything fancy, just the cheapest car to get me around during the week while my car was in the shop. I made this clear to the agent both times and they gave me a couple of their cheapest options and signed me up for the one I requested without any heckling to upgrade to something more expensive. The first time I got a 2005 Toyota Corolla, and most recently a 2006 Chevy Cobalt. Both cars were in excellent condition. When I rented the Chevy it was in mid March and all the cars on the road (including mine) were covered in salt after the New England winter, but the Chevy arrived looking so clean that it stood out like a diamond among uncut stones.
Both cars had less than 20,000 miles on them and appeared immaculate inside and out. They ran great, and I had no problems for the week or so that I had them.
Extra Insurance
Both times the agents made a point of going over the extra insurance options for the rental, although when I made it clear that I didn't want any extra insurance they politely moved on. It seems to be a company policy that they explain these in detail though and in fact you have to signature on the rental form under each insurance option indicating that you have been informed of it and knowledgeably decline it. I don't know if this is something their own insurance company requires them to do or just a clever way for them to market extra insurance to their customers which I am sure they earn a good profit on. I don't know if this is the practice at other rental agencies as well (although I suspect it is) and I find it a little annoying that the company requires their agents to try to sell it to every customer, but at least the agents were quite polite about my declining it and didn't make me feel like I had done something bad.
Roadside Assistance
Enterprise has a 24-hour roadside assistance program that you can reach by calling their 800 number (which I believe was simply 1-800-rent-a-car, but I am not positive about that off the top of my head). Both times the renting agent encouraged me to call that number if I had any problems with the car, and especially if I got stuck somewhere. They claimed that someone would be able to come out at any hour to assist me with the car should something come up, but fortunately I never had the opportunity to test that claim. Still, it was nice to know that they were there for me to help me with the rental throughout the entire rental period and it made me feel much more comfortable about driving someone else's car.
Deposit
Enterprise does put a $250 deposit on your credit card for the duration of the rental, and both times it was credited back to me within a several days of returning my rental. Since I only have a debit card which is linked to my bank account they made a point of warning me that the funds would actually be withdrawn from my account for the duration of the rental, whereas with a credit card it is simply held on your account and you never actually have put up any money towards the deposit. The first time the agent wasn't even sure if he could charge my debit, but after discussing it with somebody at his office he said it was alright as long as I understood that the funds would come out of my account. The second time they actually only took out a $150 deposit (although they had told me on the phone it would be $250) which I am assuming was because it was a debit card, but I didn't ask so I can't be sure.
Insurance Payments
In both cases my insurance company was covering $20 a day of my rental, and Enterprise took care of all of that for me. The agent just took a copy of my insurance card and they then only billed me for the small amount over the $20 each day and I didn't have to deal with any of the insurance stuff which was great.
Drop Off
Both times I simply dropped my car off at the auto body shop and left the rental keys with the shop and that was the end of my rental. Enterprise took care of picking up my car, returning my deposit and billing me and I didn't have to deal with any of it. It was a clean end to a smooth rental experience.
Bottom Line
I have been extremely happy with my two rental experiences with Enterprise. The agents go out of their way to make your rental experience a smooth one, and it has always been a great experience dealing with them. They send the car out to whatever location you need to be picked up at and even allow you to drop it off at that same location. The cars have been clean and reliable, and while I wasn't renting anything fancy, they looked great.
If I have the choice to rent from Enterprise again I will certainly take it because it just makes such a difference to deal with people who seem to care so much about your experience with their company. I just wish dealing with other large companies like this was so easy!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pspenguin
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Member: John
Location: Worcester, MA
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 22 members
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