Totaled rental car causes headache

Q: I need your help with an insurance claim. I recently damaged a car I rented through Enterprise while I was in Germany. In a nutshell, my car insurance company has been requesting a repair invoice from Enterprise for the past two months to close the claim and determine how much to pay them.

Enterprise wrote that they will not share additional documentation as requested by my car insurance and instead demands immediate payment.

My insurance company is giving me two months to get those documents from Enterprise. If I don't obtain them, the claim will be closed, and the insurance company may not pay for it. Can you help me? — Michael Roehricht, Austin, Texas

A: I normally handle complaints from car rental customers who claim that they've been falsely accused of damaging a rental car. It's nice to hear from someone who wants to own up to the damage and is trying to do the right thing.

Based on the claim information you sent me, it looks like you totaled your rental car. Enterprise originally wanted to bill you for the full value of the vehicle ($31,309) but then agreed to settle for about half ($15,654).

The offer was contingent on your paying quickly. In fact, by the time you reached out to me, Enterprise's offer had expired, and it had been extended for another 10 days. If you didn't pay, you would be liable for the full $31,309.

Enterprise says it does not have to provide you with a repair invoice under German law. It says that it has the right to choose to receive the amount of money that would be required to return the car to working order under the law. "This is also a case of restitution in kind, since the value of the money is also intended for the recreation of the hypothetical undamaged state," Enterprise said. In other words, it doesn't have to show your insurance company a repair invoice.

There's another twist: Your car insurance is actually covered under your travel insurance. Car insurance companies are well-versed in damage rules and regulations, but travel insurance companies answer to different underwriters and have different requirements. And I could see that your travel insurance company would not pay up without the necessary documentation.

So, why wouldn't Enterprise send you the invoice quickly? Reading between the lines, it looks as if the company negotiated a settlement with you and expected you to pay the claim out of pocket. Car rental companies often prefer to deal directly with customers because they're less likely to question charges like administrative fees, loss of use and diminution of value.

Once an insurance company gets involved, there's often a negotiation that results in the car rental company being liable for more damage. Perhaps this is what Enterprise was trying to avoid in this case.

A brief, polite email to one of the Enterprise executives I list on my site might have cleared up the matter for you. Again, you were trying to do the right thing and own up to the damage. I think Enterprise would have appreciated the fact that you were taking responsibility for the car.

I contacted Enterprise on your behalf. Your insurance company contacted you shortly afterward and told you that it agreed to pay $17,552, which is about half the claim. Enterprise has accepted the insurance company's offer.