Being wrong isn't actually a crime, thankfully. It's not a "false report" unless they intentionally lied, it's just stupid. That said, it doesn't mean they're not liable for the harm, it's just not criminal. Edit: Before interjecting, keep reading all the other comments which explain why what you're about to say is wrong. Or at least see if somebody already said the exact thing you're about to say. Unless the rental company *deliberately* lied on a police report, it's not a crime. Being stupid and very wrong *on a police report* is not a crime by itself, nor should it be. This is exactly what civil liability is for.
@@GamesFromSpace This goes FAR beyond "Being wrong". If a doctor is "Wrong" and he causes someone's death, is he liable? (Yep). Ask Steve this, if a Lawyer is wrong, and he causes someone to lose their freedom or money, is he liable? (Absolutely). This woman was sent to jail because some fool was wrong. At the very least, that fool should spend six days on jail, just like her. Her record should be expunged. The fool's record shouldn't. Thankfully, you're a clown who doesn't know what you're talking about.
@@Kahless_the_UnforgettableI *said* they were liable... You just wrote a whole paragraph arguing about the thing I agreed about. Liable doesn't mean it was a crime.
Isn't it odd that all a major corporation has to do is ACCUSE someone of theft. Then, despite proof showing that someone is, in fact, innocent. The police then arrest and jail that person, again with no proof, for an indefinite period of time.
That is because the coruts and police work for monied interests FIRST. Average Joes have to fight and lose most of what they have to even attempt to get out from under their BS.
The police and prosecutor's office do more. Taking a companies word and holding someone in jail over it without evidence is fascist totalitarian stuff.
The only way to protect citizens is to make it economically painful to be incompetent. Also, start requiring officers of the company to sign off on the police report so if it comes up as false the executive can be arrested. It has to be an executive or they will just force some kid making minimum wage sign it with out knowing the risk they're taking.
Arrests should get expunged anyway if they don’t result in a conviction. There have been some pretty terrible abuses where I am of the opinion that arrests shouldn’t be kept track of since they often are held against people in getting jobs or apartments, even if the people were never charged, let alone convicted. In Baltimore under Martin O’Malley they tried to “cleanup the streets” by arresting every black male 15-40 they came across on Thursday or Friday, holding them to Sunday or Monday and letting them go if they signed a release saying they wouldn’t sue. If they weren’t on the streets, they couldn’t commit crimes being the theory, even if most of those people weren’t going to commit crimes, anyway. You could have looked at the records of people in Baltimore and asked some law abiding citizen who lived in a bad neighborhood why they’ve been arrested so much. Lots of employers wouldn’t accept “because the mayor is a piece of garbage”, even though that was the actual answer.
In phoenix arizona we had a truck and trailer stolen from a business. I was with the police at the recovery at which time they took it off the "stolen list" and let me take off with it. Two weeks later in mesa az i was stopped talking to a pig and everything was fine, we were having a normal morning conversation with absolutely zero threat. Then all of the sudden 20 pigs come running from behind the truck with guns pointed at me. The reasoning was because the truck wasn't removed from the "stolen list". Bottom line is once a vehicle has been marked as stolen its always at risk for causing problems. The police system is broken
It's only a crime if they knew the report was false. Making a mistake is not a crime. She has a good lawsuit against them she'll probably win (assuming they don't just settle). But it's not a criminal matter.
It is sad that arrest records do so much damage to a person and most states provide no way to ever rectify that. It makes a wrongful arrest into a truly destructive event that never goes away.
It's insane that an arrest in and of itself has any consequences. Cops can just arrest anyone anywhere for any reason, they can only hold you so long without charging you, but they can mess up your life for fun if they want. More often they'll also charge you with something stupid like obstructing pedestrian traffic for walking down the sidewalk just to make sure you have to go to court and pay court fees.
A friend of my daughter got a traffic ticket. She went to court and she paid a fine and thought that was it. About a year later she got arrested on an outstanding warrant. Apparently, the court clerk had failed to properly register the result of the hearing. She ended up paying about $150. But, that’s not at all. About six months after that she got arrested again because the warrant was never retired. This time the judge just shook his head and apologized for the mixup. 😑
NCIC recently (past few years) changed a rule which will allow you to have any criminal history restricted and expunged if it is inaccurate. Minor crimes with no other criminal activity gets restricted so no one can obtain it other than law enforcement under a specific purpose code indicating an active ongoing criminal investigation. It will not surface for any employment or housing based inquiries. And anytime the criminal history is used for those purposes you now have the legal right to challenge the validity and accuracy of the record and you are entitled to being given a reasonable amount of time to do that. Just go see a lawyer and they can help. The money spent will be worth it. If you are indigent you can get free legal aid.
If the Law doesn't allow her to apply to have this Wrongful Arrest expunged from her Record, she should Sue the State Government to have her Record Expunged...
I think if she purchased insurance through Enterprise then she could tell them to go pound sand, but I wonder if insurance coverage through their credit card would cover it these many years later (assuming there was actual damage and not just phony ones). Maybe she can rent but just don't extend, or at least ask the ppl at the original rental office write an email and to issue a order to cancel the stolen car report by assuming that Enterprise (or Hertz or Avis, etc.) automatically reports them as stolen.
@@SirStanleytheStumbler 2 years is outrageous too the limitations should be 3 months at most. No company would need longer than that for a legitimate case. Otherwise they are obviously up to something.
Does that mean the police took her 15 yr old and her one year old into custody (DCFS ???) when they arrested her and she spent 6 days in jail??!!! Did the police leave her 15 yr old with her one year old on the side of the road????!!!! She needs to sue Enterprise into bankruptcy!!! Thank you Lehto for giving Enterprise and Hertz bad publicity!!! And giving us tips on how to try to protect ourselves from Rental Cars!!!! Your show is truly a public service!!
The car was dropped off by her but she left the keys under the floor mat and the car was stolen from the lot and she is on the hook for the car because she did not return the car to them
Pathetic part of this is that it took the police 6 days to figure it out. Incompetence. Cops should always reserve a little skepticism when receiving a stolen car report from a car rental company.
In phoenix arizona we had a truck and trailer stolen from a business. I was with the police at the recovery at which time they took it off the "stolen list" and let me take off with it. Two weeks later in mesa az i was stopped talking to a pig and everything was fine, we were having a normal morning conversation with absolutely zero threat. Then all of the sudden 20 pigs come running from behind the truck with guns pointed at me. The reasoning was because the truck wasn't removed from the "stolen list". Bottom line is once a vehicle has been marked as stolen its always at risk for causing problems. The police system is broken
The PD did NOTHING wrong. The charges are out of Nevada and she was arrested in another state. The PD is required to hold her until an extradition hearing. Nevada prosecutors could decide we will or won’t extradite. Nevada prosecutors‘ probably’ requested updated facts from Enterprise. This too would take some time. The whole mess sits solely on Enterprise.
@@veramae4098 While I'm sure you're telling the truth, that price tag is fishy. I wonder what % of it is really used to upkeep a person in a prison facility. Given scale of multiple prisoners, I don't think it takes 360k/year to keep a person clothed, fed, and constrained to a building. Yes, you need to pay people to watch them and make food etc...but the cost per prisoner for those things should decline as the number of inmates increases. It's probably a similar issue of cost disease as costs for college or health care. I wonder how they handle it in the books. Usually institutions are pretty creative with how they represent costs that don't pass the eyeball test.
@@TheMelnTeam You fail to realize we are talking about government. I keep myself clothed fed and sheltered for well under $1,000 per month, but goverment could easily spend 30 to 50 times more for the same work. Do you remember the $1,200 hammers back when the #1 Burger King meal cost $1.25?
@@TheMelnTeam The price tag is just the total cost of the system divided by number of inmates. In reality, being plus or minus an inmate is really closer to $50-100 a day, between food/electricity/etc.
@@MuzixMaker - People who itemize their deductions will keep receipts for 7, 8 years. But yeah - for ordinary things, who is going to keep all those receipts?
I traveled for work for almost 2 decades and rented 100's of cars over the years. Multiple times I got calls or letters at the office that a car either wasn't turned in or was damaged. There was always confusion about about dropping a car off before the location was open as well. We had on-staff attorneys who had to deal with rental car companies for several of us Outside Sales people. Hertz mostly but Enterprise and Dollar as well. We took pictures with actual film cameras after the first time just to prove non damage to vehicles. If you can avoid it, never drop a car off without a location being open and do NOT forget to walk around the car when you pick it up or you'll be paying for someone else's damage.
Your honor, this was a scheme the defendant carried out over the course of two decades. While Mr. Mmiscast operated under the elaborate guise of business travel he would routinely embezzle rental vehicles. This is clearly evident from the diligently kept records of his victims. Over the course of this trial we will show that without doubt Mmiscast meticulously planned his crimes and took great care to obscure and obfuscate his activities. Therefore, the state calls its first witness, Mr. Smith an accountant from Schmerz Enterprises.
Agreed. When I rented my first apartment when I was going to college, my brother noticed that a closet door and the wall around it had holes made by someone who had hung a dartboard there. He insisted that it be added to the lease. Then he bought me a dartboard and we added a lot more holes to the door, the wall and the floor. (We weren't very skilled)
People attacking cops in the commission of their duties getting out same day. A woman gets arrested for a disputed six year-old rental car agreement, and she spends six days in jail. Makes perfect sense.
@@JackJackJackJackJackJack Why don't you enlighten us with your inside knowledge? You don't even know what case I was talking about. For the record, stupidity is hereditary but ignorance is voluntary. You just raised your hand and volunteered. But thanks for playing.
Enterprise is starting to look like a criminal organization with all that has come out against them . Time to put someone in charge in prison for predatory business habits .
A friend rented a car from one of the majors, I don't remember which. Several months later, out of the blue, he received a bill for a replacement of the windshield due to claimed damage. His wife is an attorney. She wrote the company on the letterhead of her firm requesting the complete rental history of the car following his usage. The company declined to pursue it.
She probably should not be doing that, btw. Representing family member is an ethics issue for attorneys, especially if your law firm is dragged in. They usually ask a colleague for a favor to do it.
It's time for the lawmakers to jump in. Considering there are so many people being arrested for false reports, the state needs to demand stricter controls here by these companies. They need to force these companies to implement new systems to prevent these things from happening and severely punish companies who file false reports like this!
How does state regulation of corporations usually work out? It’s hard to get someone to understand a problem when their paycheck depends on them not understanding it.
I don't think I'd be as concerned about the fact that Enterprise made a mistake as I would be that I sat in jail for six days before it got straightened out. That's as much on the police and investigators as it is on Enterprise. I hope the law enforcement authorities involved are named in her suit.
I can just imagine the glee from those cops when they found out she had an outstanding warrant, they just live for that. They get a gold star in their binder when they make an arrest.
Bizarre you’d spend any time in jail for a reported stolen car. Arrest, confirm where they can find you and release under police bail. Done. See you in Court.
extend the rental, but their system is faulty so it reports it stolen at the original return date, returns it at new date so agent doesn't see an issue, permanently logged as stolen AND still keeps getting rented out. Sounds likely.
Yeah, the two cases where this happens regularly seems to be extended rentals or rentals being dropped of at a different location then it was picked up from...
This is brain dead easy to fix. If a vehicle is reported as stolen, make it unrentable until an employee says, on the record, that the report was rescinded.
Criminal convictions of corporations should result in either imprisonment of the board of directors, or the company being put into receivership, for the duration of the sentence. After all, if corporations are persons, they should have the same risk.
I had someone from enterprise hit me and they sent me that letter about paying for the damages or give them my credit card.. THEIR USER HIT ME! I called them to ask if the person they rented to had insurance because they claimed they had none(was a lie). It's a sad shameful boilerplate letter. Come to think it of this was 7 years ago as well.
A judgement needs to be made against these companies that hurts so bad it is a financial imperative to correct because they cannot afford to repeat the mistake. AND there should be criminal charges against the manager that reports the car as stolen. That might make these clowns a little more diligent. I dated an enterprise employee and met her coworkers….. they dont hire the best of the best.
I'm at a point where I don't believe our society is capable of diligence, responsibility, or even competence. Corporate culture has lowered the bar and marred our society.
I had a similar issue with Hertz (funnily enough). Some upstanding citizen slashed three tyres on my rental, the morning I was due to return the car. Called Hertz, they wanted me to wait three hours for a tow truck but my flight left in two. "OK, just leave the keys under the mat on the driver's side, get a cab, have a good flight." A week later, back home, I thought, "That was too easy..." Phoned Hertz to confirm they had the car, and panic ensued. They had NO IDEA where that car was. Brand new Mustang convertible. Had to phone them every day for a week before they finally found it, still sitting in their local contractor's lot. I made them send me email confirmation that they had the car and we were cool, and I made damned sure to have a printout of that email in my passport the next time I went back to the US. Seems like I might need to print it again...
Hey Steve, I was in a car wreck. I was towed to the "preferred" repair company in the area and they had a small Enterprise office on site. About 45 days later Enterprise demand I give them 41 days of insurance premium for the car even though they were aware an insurance company had assumed the rental bill. This turned into a very nasty argument. So my point is Enterprise misses information and may also try and pull a fast one on someonelike myself who seldom uses rental cars.
that's a common trick of theirs.....they tried the same trick with my wife and I, and actually sent it in for "collection"......it took about a year to get that cleared up
I don't think they're missing anything. It's a gambit that some people will pay either out of fear, ignorance, or because the cost is less that the effort to fight it. They have nothing to lose. All they have to do is drop if if someone fights it so it costs them virtually nothing.
I have rented cars in 38 different countries from every company imaginable and we always try to rent from Enterprise. We have had a number of companies try to claim we damaged the car but, we take pictures and videos of the rentals. What a horrible mistake that someone should lose their job over. I hope the renter doesn't settle for some small amount. I would let a jury decide if it were me.
Several years ago I rented the car from Enterprise at the Newark airport. I rarely take pictures of a rental car, but I noticed there were scratches on the back bumper when I picked it up. I also asked the attendant to note the scratches when I left their parking lot. About a month later I got a bill from Enterprise for repairs totaling over $1000. As it turns out, I didn’t need my photographs for proof. The date of their repair estimate was before my date of rental! When I called them to ask the status of the claim several months later, I was scolded for waiting so long to inquire.
I usually just buy their insurance. A friend of mine got burned major by not doing so. He was in an accident while in a rental (Avis) was not his fault. The other parties insurance covered the damage to the rental so all is good right? No! About 6 months later he got a bill from Avis for loss of revenue for over $5000 while the car was in the shop and the lower value of the car when sold at auction because the car now had a "accident reported" Carfax. The other parties insurance refused to cover either, as did his own insurance.
@@dmitripogosian5084 But that still doesn't make sense considering they used that to double-down AFTER she proved she returned the car several years ago and they continued to rent it out. Enterprise is just blindly swinging at this point
@@brandoxic8354 I don;t think there was much, if any, human thought involved. What probably happened is that because of the police arrest, the case was reactivated, in some database flag was changed from 'abandoned' or something to active. And then somewhere in a warehouse cubicle of a person responsible for late return, the car appeared on his daily todo list, among perhaps hundred others for his today's quota.
@@dmitripogosian5084 My question is how are they going to have a "missing car" database and a "returned/ready for use" database that don't communicate with each other.
That was exactly my 1st thought. I’ve worked for both Hertz and Avis/Budget. The turn over of cars is quick. However franchise agents do keep their cars for a lot longer than company owned locations. But definitely not for 7 years plus.
I had issues with Hertz. Filled the vehicle with fuel and turned it into an agent in their parking lot. She had me leave keys in the car and printed up a receipt. Later, I noticed an additional charge from Hertz on my bank statement, which I didn't authorize. Calling Hertz, they claimed it was for refueling the rental. I told them that we're mistaken and needed to refund my money. They refused. I sent my bank the fuel transaction from a gas station, literally a block away from Hertz, just minutes before turning it in. All my receipts were obviously time and date stamped in chronological order, which lent credence to my claim. The bank reversed the charges. Hertz called them to inquire but were told the charges made no sense, and if they needed a video from the fuel station, it could be obtained if I requested and all cost would be passed onto Hertz if it became a civil issue. I believe the young woman was running a scam with other employees to place extra charges on rentals and pocket the additional money later once all transactions were completed.
@@Foolish188 the point is that there is a written proof that's easily accessible. Putting someone in jail for 6 days without due process should be illegal. Also email software have a search function, if you know a few key information about the email you can find it in no time.
@@tonymouannes exactly, once having access to email, it shouldn't take long to find. And "if it still existed"? Why would it not still exist? My Gmail still has every single email since 2005.
@@chrisradtke I get internet through my cable TV provider, and have an email account with them, for over 20 years. I tried to look up an old email and found that the records only went back two years. It was not a case of my storage being full, I was using only 3% of my email storage.
Yup. Any jury would find that reasonable, especially with a company carelessly providing bs arguments. The punitive damages for a $35 billion dollar company should be well within the millions of dollars range.
I worked for Enterprise for 3 1/2 years. In addition to the VIN, Enterprise (and Alamo and National) uses a company generated (alphanumeric) unique stock number for each vehicle in their fleet. So, there should be no way that they can lose a vehicle in their system. Also, my advice is to NEVER EVER just drop a rental off at a rental office without talking to an employee and getting a printed receipt!
"I'm not sure if this is something that they need to crack down on" - I think any time you can be jailed for an outstanding warrant after 6 years, yes, something needs cracking down on.
I was without a car for a mounth last year as a Buck totaled my car. I felt bad as I was depending on getting rides from my roommate but I didn't feel safe renting a car until I got a new one because of the news I learned here. Especially as the closest rental car service I know of to me has a big Hertz logo in there window (no thanks). How these companies stay in business while jailing there customers like this is beyond me. Thanks Steve Lehto for letting me know to not even consider renting from Hertz as you likely saved me years of trouble later down the line.
I had a similar situation in the Caribbean. The company I rented the car from simply had it sitting in the airport parking lot, unlocked with the keys in it. When I went to "return" it, the instructions were to fill it up with gas, park it in the airport parking lot, leave the keys in the center console, and leave it unlocked. I had similar fears of being blamed, but don't plan on returning to the island, so unless Interpol gets involved, I should be fine.
I served on a jury for case that occurred because a rental return lot had those exact requirements. A lady broke into the lot and stole a car. She drove through a hedge, for those wondering HOW you get past the gate. She went around the gate. They have since replaced the hedge with a concrete wall. Anyway, she stole this car and almost immediately hit another car, injuring the occupants. They in turn had to sue for personal injury damages. We jurors didn't find out until after the trial that this woman wasn't even the defendant. The injured party was suing their own auto insurance for not covering things that happened in the crash. The whole trial, we thought they were suing the woman. Nope. The car insurer had behaved as car insurers do and stabbed their own customer in the back. We didn't find for the plaintiff because we didn't think they had proved all their injuries to the extent claimed. Loss of consort was one. How do you prove a crash caused that? Once we found out what was really going on, the verdict had already been given. The jury was p.i.s.s.e.d. Livid. They lied to us and hid the very truth they wanted us to find. We absolutely would have found for the plaintiff had we known they were suing this dogsh company. Which is why they didn't tell us, of course. Poor plaintiff got nothing. Car thief lady fled and did other crimes, as one does.
If this is possible, any of us could have a false warrant that we won't find out about until years from now. How would we even know until the moment we got arrested???
It certainly seems that one should never extend a rental time! All these cases of stolen rental car reports seem to contain the phrase "called to extend the rental"
Probably because you physically rent the car at location A, where all the paperwork is. When you call to extend the rental, you're talking to a CSR who could be anywhere in the world. And their computer systems aren't properly communicating with each other.
I had to extend one rental two times thru Enterprise. My vehicle was being repaired with no scheduled completion date. The first rental had tranny issues and had to be replaced. Overall, no issues, but I made certain I handed the keys to a person, and got a receipt.
The lady was also returning to a different location than where she rented. That adds another layer for errors to creep in. Another potential problem is that not all Enterprise locations are own or operated by Enterprise, especially smaller rental outfits. I've traveled for business a lot over the last 35 years and rented a lot of cars. I've never had something like this woman's experience. Some times unlucky things happen. Enterprise has actually treated me (us) pretty well. On one trip we rented a car at the airport, as usual, but when we got to the hotel I noticed the right front tire had a really bad wear pattern and steel wires poking out from the tread. We called Enterprise and within a couple of hours a rollback (flatbed tow truck) showed up to drop off a new car and take the bad one.
I hope she gets a multimillion dollar settlement. 6 days in Jail, traumatize her kids, dragged her good name through the mud? And yes, that arrest never goes away. She deserves to never have to work again.
In Huntsville AL, I returned a car before they opened. The drop box had a note "take keys to the counter". There was no one inside the airport counter, so I filled. Out the form with milage and so on and put the keys over the bar and on their counter. I took a picture of my contract as I needed it for my travel voucher. I get a call 4hrs later while on layover, asking where the keys are. I told them your sign said to take the keys to the counter, that's where I put them.. They said OK. I hope I don't have a warrent for my arrest. Holy smokes. This is getting out of hand hand for rental cars.
When I head up north from Florida I use the Amtrak car train. No rentals when I get there, luggage stays in the car, plenty of room on the train and I really prefer to have my own car.
I would imagine that Enterprise will do a better job with their paperwork after this lawsuit is settled. How much is 6 days in jail, and the humiliation, & mental anguish worth.?
Punitive Damages that lead to change have to be big enough for a the CEO to have to at least be notified. In most companies that's in the millions minimum.
I almost ended up in the same position when I extended my rental for a couple of days and the rental car reported it stolen. Fortunately when I got stopped, the cop took the time to investigate and confirm I was right.
A co-worker who was our SIU specialist, had spearheaded a program to purchase an early license plate scanning system for the county sheriff, as part of an anti-theft program. Before he could make his presentation to the county sheriff, he was driving a Hertz rental. He was arrested near the office by our county sheriff department using said system. Hertz had forgotten to take the car out of the system as being stolen. Miles was not pleased with being thrown on the ground at his age, and the deputies were embarassed, having roughed up their guest of honor shortly before the presentation.
During the presentation, he could tell the attendees that he could, from personal experience, vouch for the effectiveness of the system. And then tell his story.
@@IainThomson-km3hkYou think an "effective" system is one where innocent people are arrested and possibly injured by what amounts to a false accusation?
The scanner worked technically. The database is the problem. Also the reaction to the flagged licence plate. Sounds like they did the crazed 'felony stop' procedure they do where they go guns drawn and all hostile and violent and assume you're a violent criminal thing they claim they are trained to do. How that doesn't lead to even more innocent people shot by police I do not know.
I rented from Enterprise once. Once. We were heading out on a road trip for a week on the day we reserved the car. When I showed up, all and they had left was a Subaru Impreza. The cost of the Impreza had a picture of a Cadillac. They said the Impreza was the same price of a Cadillac because it was all wheel drive. Total BS. You can fit an Impreza in the trunk of a Cadillac. I got totally ripped off but was under the gun to get the car. I've never rented from Enterprise since then and never will again. I hope the extra money they ripped me off for was worth it.
True true the world has been going crazy for some time i started my working life in 76 and watched it slowly go down the toilet just seems it's getting flushed more and more frequently
@@Ptr834 That makes you just a little bit older than me, made in 1962. You can't even use a pronound when talking about gender any more. I can't see what the deal is when a person has a POLE or a HOLE.
@@MartinX192 "Nope?" Do I need to dig out my rental contract showing the car was six model years old? Note despite the age it only had about 25,000 miles on it. Hertz also did the same thing recently - last summer they rented me a 2019 Honda CR-V with about 21,000 miles on it.
When the CEO learned of this he should of dropped everything and immediately addressed the situation personally. Anything less is criminal on his part.
When you see the price it cost to rent a car today compared to say pre-pandemic, remember you are paying for the multitude of million dollar plus lawsuits from this new trend of arresting their lawful renters. It all boils down to incompetent and or lazy employees who fail to enter the car as returned. Amazing, considering there are computer systems that when coupled with software, can not only the monitor cars through scanning devices as they come and go from their lots, but can do so much more to prevent these false arrests.
@@jim4448 OK, this does not address my statement of electronic devices coupled with computers and computer software that would elementary the human factor.
@@gordonwaite2 At one time I work at a place.. Well rented vehicles... To do the intake properly.. It would take about a half hour.. To check the vehicle in... To do a stolen vehicle... It would take you about 15 to 30 seconds.
@@gordonwaite2 I see is assuming. A lot when you say this statement. LOL.. Yes i'm most definitely a foreigner in the Philippines. Who actually lives in the Manila area.. Maybe about twenty kilometers away from.. The capital city of the Philippines..
My only issue with Enterprise was I rented a car which the previous renter smoked in it. They wouldn’t swap it out for another car. I made sure they noted that it wasn’t me that smoked in the car. I drove all the way with the windows down, it stunk. 🤢
I agree with that, but for personal liability for the employee that filed the charges. The company itself deserves to lose 1 million for each day in jail.
For a company as large and old as Enterprise this is a colossal failure in both management and as a business. I used to work for a construction equipment rental company and virtually every piece of equipment we had used some kind of LoJack or equivalent on it. So inventory system aside, the fact that they didn’t even have a way to just look at where the car was and say “oh it’s at another Enterprise lot” is baffling
That’s a pretty shocking breakdown. I’ve rented cars and returned in a different city several times due to flight issues. Connecting flight gets cancelled or plane rerouted for weather or mechanical issue, I’m stuck in an airport and the airline offers to get me out a day or two later on some hellacious tour of the US flight ladder, or I can rent a car and drive where I’m going in 3 or 4 hours. I’ve always done the renting a car option. I was quite upfront I wasn’t returning to that same airport location, they said they were fine with that and charged me a little more than it would have been for a return rental. I’m not enthusiastic I might get reported for stealing. They need to punish this harshly, a big rental company should be able to keep track.
There are a lot of independent Enterprise franchises out there that are run by either crooked or incompetent owners or managers. My first experience with Enterprise was a bad one, BUT when I called Enterprise's toll free support to complain, they took care of it right away. The location where I'd had the bad experience was subsequently closed and reopened as a used car dealership.
It’s a national embarrassment that it hurts a common enterprising man who is thrifty with his dollar and knows how to budget more than an avis. ie. people flock to a Turo Ferrari crash but no one pays attention to rent-a-wreck
The more and more I see these false charges and the impact arrest records can have on an innocent persons life really makes me think we need a federal law that can force a state to seal or expunge these records if it comes to light that the person arrested was not guilty. Some states allow these records to be sealed however many dont if the charge was for a violent crime that can stay on a record forever. A federal statute would fix this. Honestly if you really look at it failure of a state to seal or remove an arrest record applied to a person who was simply misidentified or due to a clerical error can be defamatory especially when those false records are misleading people pulling background checks into thinking the person has a criminal history when they really dont
This would definitely improve things, but keep in mind there are also many companies that just directly skim court and police documents, especially in states like Florida where most police departments even release booking records online for anyone to check within 24 hours. So even if you could get it removed in the state database, whatever company a potential employer uses to run a background check could still easily come back with a record. And nowadays, let's be honest, it's so easy for an employer to just never even offer such a candidate an interview.
@@Kas-tle Booking records shouldn't be public at all except in extreme situations. Many other countries restrict such information. Unfortunately, in the U.S., such information is often seen as part of the punishment much like the infamous perp walk. One is, effectively, assumed guilty upon arrest. This case well illustrates that.
I would honestly be interested to know if someone could win a outright defamation lawsuit against a state for keeping a false arrest record publicly accessible after the subject is cleared.
I've rented from Enterprise many times, even bought a couple of cars. Other than one crooked employee dipping into a friend's credit card, they've been exemplary.
I still say that rental car employees should face CRIMINAL prosecution for filing false police reports. I guarantee you that most employees would make sure the vehicle was actually stolen before filing a report if that was the case.
Can a company report a car as stolen? Or does a real person have to sign the complaint? Can the police take any action against them for filing a false complaint?
Any time one of those "we need to be tougher on crime" people start blabbering on about how everyone in prison deserves it, i reference cases like this. This woman managed to avoid a conviction. Thousands of other people every year aren't that lucky.
Thank you for bringing up the Statute of Limitations. I would think that both the Criminal and Damage claims should have been past the Statute. When did they actually file the complaint?
This shouldn't be a civil case against Enterprise. This should be a criminal case. Isn't filing a false report illegal?
Being wrong isn't actually a crime, thankfully. It's not a "false report" unless they intentionally lied, it's just stupid. That said, it doesn't mean they're not liable for the harm, it's just not criminal.
Edit: Before interjecting, keep reading all the other comments which explain why what you're about to say is wrong. Or at least see if somebody already said the exact thing you're about to say.
Unless the rental company *deliberately* lied on a police report, it's not a crime. Being stupid and very wrong *on a police report* is not a crime by itself, nor should it be. This is exactly what civil liability is for.
@@GamesFromSpace This goes FAR beyond "Being wrong".
If a doctor is "Wrong" and he causes someone's death, is he liable? (Yep). Ask Steve this, if a Lawyer is wrong, and he causes someone to lose their freedom or money, is he liable? (Absolutely).
This woman was sent to jail because some fool was wrong. At the very least, that fool should spend six days on jail, just like her. Her record should be expunged. The fool's record shouldn't.
Thankfully, you're a clown who doesn't know what you're talking about.
@@Kahless_the_UnforgettableI *said* they were liable... You just wrote a whole paragraph arguing about the thing I agreed about.
Liable doesn't mean it was a crime.
@GamesFromSpace Being wrong can be a crime, if it rises to the level of "criminal neglegence".
I'd do both if I could afford it.
So if the car was never returned, how did Enterprise know it was damaged?
I think that was their double-down after she proved she did return it.
As Columbo would say " one more thing ". Lol
The psychic friends network, of course.
Oh you, using logic and things! Clearly don't work for enterprise. 😂😂
It was damaged so bad, that they cannot find any pieces of it lol
Isn't it odd that all a major corporation has to do is ACCUSE someone of theft. Then, despite proof showing that someone is, in fact, innocent. The police then arrest and jail that person, again with no proof, for an indefinite period of time.
Wormerican way!
That is because the coruts and police work for monied interests FIRST. Average Joes have to fight and lose most of what they have to even attempt to get out from under their BS.
So the woman goes to jail BUT WHO GOES TO JAIL WHEN IT'S FALSE CHARGES???
Quite a few people. It's not terribly frequent but it does happen.
Enterprise needs a large punitive damage award against them.
The police and prosecutor's office do more. Taking a companies word and holding someone in jail over it without evidence is fascist totalitarian stuff.
@@MustPassTruck Law enforcement are corporate who-res
The only way to protect citizens is to make it economically painful to be incompetent. Also, start requiring officers of the company to sign off on the police report so if it comes up as false the executive can be arrested. It has to be an executive or they will just force some kid making minimum wage sign it with out knowing the risk they're taking.
They need to change their slogan from, "we'll pick you up." to "We'll lock you up."
@@MustPassTruck I agree if the police just did some basic investigation arrest like this could be avoided.
She clearly deserves to have this arrest expunged from her record.
The State and Enterprise needs to also be responsible to contact all the 100+ mugshot sites and force them to remove
and recieve about 10 million from Enterprise for false Imprisonment.
Arrests should get expunged anyway if they don’t result in a conviction. There have been some pretty terrible abuses where I am of the opinion that arrests shouldn’t be kept track of since they often are held against people in getting jobs or apartments, even if the people were never charged, let alone convicted. In Baltimore under Martin O’Malley they tried to “cleanup the streets” by arresting every black male 15-40 they came across on Thursday or Friday, holding them to Sunday or Monday and letting them go if they signed a release saying they wouldn’t sue. If they weren’t on the streets, they couldn’t commit crimes being the theory, even if most of those people weren’t going to commit crimes, anyway. You could have looked at the records of people in Baltimore and asked some law abiding citizen who lived in a bad neighborhood why they’ve been arrested so much. Lots of employers wouldn’t accept “because the mayor is a piece of garbage”, even though that was the actual answer.
Well that's all right, then.
In phoenix arizona we had a truck and trailer stolen from a business. I was with the police at the recovery at which time they took it off the "stolen list" and let me take off with it. Two weeks later in mesa az i was stopped talking to a pig and everything was fine, we were having a normal morning conversation with absolutely zero threat. Then all of the sudden 20 pigs come running from behind the truck with guns pointed at me. The reasoning was because the truck wasn't removed from the "stolen list". Bottom line is once a vehicle has been marked as stolen its always at risk for causing problems. The police system is broken
Rental car companies that do this need to be prosecuted for filing false reports to law enforcement and fraudulent accounting.
Exactly, these false reports aren't filing themselves!! Somewhere, there are individual Enterprise employees who are making these reports...
Are you suggesting the government hold large corporations accountable? That's just not in style these days.
@@Strideo1 Nah, I have no such expectations. "It's a big club, and you ain't in it!" -George Carlin
Not just the company, but also the employee who signed off on it.
It's only a crime if they knew the report was false. Making a mistake is not a crime. She has a good lawsuit against them she'll probably win (assuming they don't just settle). But it's not a criminal matter.
Funny how if a corporation steals from you, the police say "civil matter" and refuse to take action. But a report from a corporation? Arrest!
If you understand what cops are for it makes perfect sense. It ain't to serve and protect us peons...they exist to serve and protect the ruling class.
She definitely wants a jury trial.
This isnt goiign to trial, Enterprise have evidence no crime has been committed, also they cant make a claim 7 years later.
If you want a jury trial you have to commit a felony
So they can give her a dollar?
@@danielboone8435 Would YOU give her a dollar?
@@sonofbr I wouldn't, but jury's regularly do. I would also be weeded out of the jury pool fairly early on unless I perjured myself, so....
It is sad that arrest records do so much damage to a person and most states provide no way to ever rectify that. It makes a wrongful arrest into a truly destructive event that never goes away.
An arrest, charges not filed, kept me from joining the Air Force.
It's insane that an arrest in and of itself has any consequences. Cops can just arrest anyone anywhere for any reason, they can only hold you so long without charging you, but they can mess up your life for fun if they want. More often they'll also charge you with something stupid like obstructing pedestrian traffic for walking down the sidewalk just to make sure you have to go to court and pay court fees.
You’re guilty even if you’re innocent
A friend of my daughter got a traffic ticket. She went to court and she paid a fine and thought that was it.
About a year later she got arrested on an outstanding warrant. Apparently, the court clerk had failed to properly register the result of the hearing. She ended up paying about $150.
But, that’s not at all. About six months after that she got arrested again because the warrant was never retired. This time the judge just shook his head and apologized for the mixup.
😑
NCIC recently (past few years) changed a rule which will allow you to have any criminal history restricted and expunged if it is inaccurate. Minor crimes with no other criminal activity gets restricted so no one can obtain it other than law enforcement under a specific purpose code indicating an active ongoing criminal investigation. It will not surface for any employment or housing based inquiries. And anytime the criminal history is used for those purposes you now have the legal right to challenge the validity and accuracy of the record and you are entitled to being given a reasonable amount of time to do that. Just go see a lawyer and they can help. The money spent will be worth it. If you are indigent you can get free legal aid.
If the Law doesn't allow her to apply to have this Wrongful Arrest expunged from her Record, she should Sue the State Government to have her Record Expunged...
30 million of punitive punishment sounds about right. Hold car rental companies accountable for stupidity, fraud and negligence.
Even if this lady had a receipt, the arrest took place 7 years later. Who the hell keeps receipts that long?
Or emails.
Even my digital receipts for work travel get cleared out annually.
She did have an email confirmation of the cars return!
The government.
@@dashopepperI do. 7 years is the statute of limitations for most things so I keep EVERYTHING until 8-9 years.
What an intro, "and it's not Hertz for once' 😂
Yes! 😂
Yes, I loaded the video thinking of Hertz and he said that and I laughed.
Let’s face it. It was everyone’s first thought…
@@Ryarios exactly, he delivered right on time, that being immediately.
The judge who signed the arrest warrant needs to pay up too.
Solution: Sue for hundreds of millions of dollars. This is 100% preventable.
There's a basic credibility problem with claiming someone damaged a car 7 years ago.
especially after 7 years being so certain the vehicle was stolen rather than damaged
Especially when they've long since sold it for a non-damaged price. Rental companies don't hold on to cars for even a fraction of 7 years.
And most especially since they say she damaged it before she rented it. Enterprise is all over the place on this.
Probably runs into statute of limitations problems anyway.
6 years later saying damaged? How can you prove the damaged was by her when now asking to paid for the damage 6 years later?
More likely a statute of limitations issue as mentioned. I doubt they can claim more then 2-3 years after the fact. It's 2 years here.
Demand to see the vehicle. I seriously doubt that they still have the car seven years later.
I think if she purchased insurance through Enterprise then she could tell them to go pound sand, but I wonder if insurance coverage through their credit card would cover it these many years later (assuming there was actual damage and not just phony ones).
Maybe she can rent but just don't extend, or at least ask the ppl at the original rental office write an email and to issue a order to cancel the stolen car report by assuming that Enterprise (or Hertz or Avis, etc.) automatically reports them as stolen.
@@SirStanleytheStumbler 2 years is outrageous too the limitations should be 3 months at most. No company would need longer than that for a legitimate case. Otherwise they are obviously up to something.
Where is the car? If it was stolen how do they know it's damaged?
Does that mean the police took her 15 yr old and her one year old into custody (DCFS ???) when they arrested her and she spent 6 days in jail??!!! Did the police leave her 15 yr old with her one year old on the side of the road????!!!! She needs to sue Enterprise into bankruptcy!!! Thank you Lehto for giving Enterprise and Hertz bad publicity!!! And giving us tips on how to try to protect ourselves from Rental Cars!!!! Your show is truly a public service!!
If I were on her jury, she'd get $10M/day for the time she was deprived of her liberty due to the renter's incompetence.
The car was dropped off by her but she left the keys under the floor mat and the car was stolen from the lot and she is on the hook for the car because she did not return the car to them
Pathetic part of this is that it took the police 6 days to figure it out. Incompetence. Cops should always reserve a little skepticism when receiving a stolen car report from a car rental company.
That would require paying the police enough to get ones smart enough to see past the ends of their noses.
@@goldenhate6649 They get paid plenty.
In phoenix arizona we had a truck and trailer stolen from a business. I was with the police at the recovery at which time they took it off the "stolen list" and let me take off with it. Two weeks later in mesa az i was stopped talking to a pig and everything was fine, we were having a normal morning conversation with absolutely zero threat. Then all of the sudden 20 pigs come running from behind the truck with guns pointed at me. The reasoning was because the truck wasn't removed from the "stolen list". Bottom line is once a vehicle has been marked as stolen its always at risk for causing problems. The police system is broken
At this point the credibility of a stolen car report from a rental company should be in the toilet.
The PD did NOTHING wrong. The charges are out of Nevada and she was arrested in another state. The PD is required to hold her until an extradition hearing. Nevada prosecutors could decide we will or won’t extradite. Nevada prosecutors‘ probably’ requested updated facts from Enterprise. This too would take some time. The whole mess sits solely on Enterprise.
How much is Enterprise going to give to taxpayers for their bad recordkeeping causing a false arrest requiring us to feed/lodge someone for a week?
Very good. Not "free". I was a prison librarian for awhile and learned it costs $30,000 a month to keep someone in state prison.
Don't forget the heinous settlement the public is absolutely going to have to pay.
@@veramae4098 While I'm sure you're telling the truth, that price tag is fishy. I wonder what % of it is really used to upkeep a person in a prison facility. Given scale of multiple prisoners, I don't think it takes 360k/year to keep a person clothed, fed, and constrained to a building. Yes, you need to pay people to watch them and make food etc...but the cost per prisoner for those things should decline as the number of inmates increases.
It's probably a similar issue of cost disease as costs for college or health care. I wonder how they handle it in the books. Usually institutions are pretty creative with how they represent costs that don't pass the eyeball test.
@@TheMelnTeam You fail to realize we are talking about government. I keep myself clothed fed and sheltered for well under $1,000 per month, but goverment could easily spend 30 to 50 times more for the same work. Do you remember the $1,200 hammers back when the #1 Burger King meal cost $1.25?
@@TheMelnTeam The price tag is just the total cost of the system divided by number of inmates. In reality, being plus or minus an inmate is really closer to $50-100 a day, between food/electricity/etc.
When you can issue an arrest warrant over a civil issue without an investigation taking place then the system is broken and not for purpose.
Since when is grand theft auto a civil issue?
They can subtract the "damages" from the millions of dollars they owe her.
As a business traveler I allways demand a printed receipt. They often get pissed because I make them stop and print it while I am standing there.
Who keeps receipts for six years?
A business owner. It's all part of tax record keeping.
@@MuzixMaker I have receipts from 15-20 years ago.
@@conchobar this obviously wasn’t a business expense. Businesses typical retention is 7 years.
@@MuzixMaker - People who itemize their deductions will keep receipts for 7, 8 years. But yeah - for ordinary things, who is going to keep all those receipts?
I traveled for work for almost 2 decades and rented 100's of cars over the years. Multiple times I got calls or letters at the office that a car either wasn't turned in or was damaged. There was always confusion about about dropping a car off before the location was open as well. We had on-staff attorneys who had to deal with rental car companies for several of us Outside Sales people. Hertz mostly but Enterprise and Dollar as well. We took pictures with actual film cameras after the first time just to prove non damage to vehicles. If you can avoid it, never drop a car off without a location being open and do NOT forget to walk around the car when you pick it up or you'll be paying for someone else's damage.
Your honor, this was a scheme the defendant carried out over the course of two decades. While Mr. Mmiscast operated under the elaborate guise of business travel he would routinely embezzle rental vehicles. This is clearly evident from the diligently kept records of his victims. Over the course of this trial we will show that without doubt Mmiscast meticulously planned his crimes and took great care to obscure and obfuscate his activities. Therefore, the state calls its first witness, Mr. Smith an accountant from Schmerz Enterprises.
Agreed. When I rented my first apartment when I was going to college, my brother noticed that a closet door and the wall around it had holes made by someone who had hung a dartboard there. He insisted that it be added to the lease. Then he bought me a dartboard and we added a lot more holes to the door, the wall and the floor. (We weren't very skilled)
This should be both Criminal and Civil Legal Action against Enterprise and its Employees.
People attacking cops in the commission of their duties getting out same day. A woman gets arrested for a disputed six year-old rental car agreement, and she spends six days in jail. Makes perfect sense.
Nevada is not California; a bit more strict there.
Thats not true, you are ignorant to the story about the cop “assault” case.
@@JackJackJackJackJackJack Why don't you enlighten us with your inside knowledge? You don't even know what case I was talking about. For the record, stupidity is hereditary but ignorance is voluntary. You just raised your hand and volunteered. But thanks for playing.
Enterprise is starting to look like a criminal organization with all that has come out against them . Time to put someone in charge in prison for predatory business habits .
Some one at Enterprise needs some jail time.
*Someone
So does a judge who signed the warrant.
A friend rented a car from one of the majors, I don't remember which. Several months later, out of the blue, he received a bill for a replacement of the windshield due to claimed damage. His wife is an attorney. She wrote the company on the letterhead of her firm requesting the complete rental history of the car following his usage. The company declined to pursue it.
She probably should not be doing that, btw. Representing family member is an ethics issue for attorneys, especially if your law firm is dragged in. They usually ask a colleague for a favor to do it.
It's time for the lawmakers to jump in. Considering there are so many people being arrested for false reports, the state needs to demand stricter controls here by these companies. They need to force these companies to implement new systems to prevent these things from happening and severely punish companies who file false reports like this!
How does state regulation of corporations usually work out? It’s hard to get someone to understand a problem when their paycheck depends on them not understanding it.
LMAO. That's comedy gold.
I don't think I'd be as concerned about the fact that Enterprise made a mistake as I would be that I sat in jail for six days before it got straightened out. That's as much on the police and investigators as it is on Enterprise. I hope the law enforcement authorities involved are named in her suit.
Officers will be granted qualified immunity. Safer just to sue Enterprise and employees.
I can just imagine the glee from those cops when they found out she had an outstanding warrant, they just live for that. They get a gold star in their binder when they make an arrest.
@@staceyhouseman8610 Just like Trump, can do what ever you want with no accountability!
Bizarre you’d spend any time in jail for a reported stolen car.
Arrest, confirm where they can find you and release under police bail. Done. See you in Court.
@@brettonsmith8534 a stolen car is a felony traffic stop. No way it’s a site and release. You are going to jail
I've noticed that these stories often include the person extending the rental.
extend the rental, but their system is faulty so it reports it stolen at the original return date, returns it at new date so agent doesn't see an issue, permanently logged as stolen AND still keeps getting rented out. Sounds likely.
Yeah, the two cases where this happens regularly seems to be extended rentals or rentals being dropped of at a different location then it was picked up from...
This is brain dead easy to fix. If a vehicle is reported as stolen, make it unrentable until an employee says, on the record, that the report was rescinded.
Extended rental one day , was charged for one day , exactly what I was charged for the previous week
@@anthonyegreene you are approaching this issue from the point of view of sensibility and reasonableness. That's not how anything works...
Criminal convictions of corporations should result in either imprisonment of the board of directors, or the company being put into receivership, for the duration of the sentence.
After all, if corporations are persons, they should have the same risk.
I had someone from enterprise hit me and they sent me that letter about paying for the damages or give them my credit card.. THEIR USER HIT ME!
I called them to ask if the person they rented to had insurance because they claimed they had none(was a lie).
It's a sad shameful boilerplate letter. Come to think it of this was 7 years ago as well.
A judgement needs to be made against these companies that hurts so bad it is a financial imperative to correct because they cannot afford to repeat the mistake. AND there should be criminal charges against the manager that reports the car as stolen. That might make these clowns a little more diligent. I dated an enterprise employee and met her coworkers….. they dont hire the best of the best.
I'm at a point where I don't believe our society is capable of diligence, responsibility, or even competence.
Corporate culture has lowered the bar and marred our society.
Enterprise tried to stick me with responsibility for a windshield crack on a car that never left their lot.
What? No highly educated upwardly mobile corporate climbers willing to work for minimum wage? Oh the humanity! Why can't we underpay better people!?
@@martinfilion794 Enterprise actually pays people really good money though. Ten years ago they started managers in training 50k at the start.
For that to work we'd have to in something other than a corporotocracy where there is distinction between corporations and government.
Class action law suit to force auto rental stolen car warrants to be reviewed.
Or at the very least to start charging people with filing a false police report when they could have reasonably determined the car was not stolen.
The scary part is that this happens often enough for there to be a decent sized 'class'.
I had a similar issue with Hertz (funnily enough). Some upstanding citizen slashed three tyres on my rental, the morning I was due to return the car. Called Hertz, they wanted me to wait three hours for a tow truck but my flight left in two. "OK, just leave the keys under the mat on the driver's side, get a cab, have a good flight."
A week later, back home, I thought, "That was too easy..." Phoned Hertz to confirm they had the car, and panic ensued. They had NO IDEA where that car was. Brand new Mustang convertible. Had to phone them every day for a week before they finally found it, still sitting in their local contractor's lot.
I made them send me email confirmation that they had the car and we were cool, and I made damned sure to have a printout of that email in my passport the next time I went back to the US. Seems like I might need to print it again...
This sounds like a good plan.
This just shows, that Cops aren't interested in fighting crime, but ONLY in making arrests, regardless of guilt.
Hey Steve, I was in a car wreck. I was towed to the "preferred" repair company in the area and they had a small Enterprise office on site. About 45 days later Enterprise demand I give them 41 days of insurance premium for the car even though they were aware an insurance company had assumed the rental bill. This turned into a very nasty argument. So my point is Enterprise misses information and may also try and pull a fast one on someonelike myself who seldom uses rental cars.
that's a common trick of theirs.....they tried the same trick with my wife and I, and actually sent it in for "collection"......it took about a year to get that cleared up
I don't think they're missing anything. It's a gambit that some people will pay either out of fear, ignorance, or because the cost is less that the effort to fight it. They have nothing to lose. All they have to do is drop if if someone fights it so it costs them virtually nothing.
Little did Steve know, he has outstanding warrants for stolen cars in multiple countries.
Interpol will be after Steve Lehto soon for all those foreign warrants! 👮
It's terrifying to think that a simple clerical error on my vacation paperwork could get me arrested 7 years from now.
I have rented cars in 38 different countries from every company imaginable and we always try to rent from Enterprise. We have had a number of companies try to claim we damaged the car but, we take pictures and videos of the rentals. What a horrible mistake that someone should lose their job over. I hope the renter doesn't settle for some small amount. I would let a jury decide if it were me.
Several years ago I rented the car from Enterprise at the Newark airport. I rarely take pictures of a rental car, but I noticed there were scratches on the back bumper when I picked it up. I also asked the attendant to note the scratches when I left their parking lot. About a month later I got a bill from Enterprise for repairs totaling over $1000. As it turns out, I didn’t need my photographs for proof. The date of their repair estimate was before my date of rental! When I called them to ask the status of the claim several months later, I was scolded for waiting so long to inquire.
So a company could just never repair a vehicle and continuously surprise bill customers?
In Italy they do this scam near every time. Enterprise is one company to not rent from.
Makes no sense, rental companies keep their cars for a year maximum two years.
I usually just buy their insurance. A friend of mine got burned major by not doing so. He was in an accident while in a rental (Avis) was not his fault. The other parties insurance covered the damage to the rental so all is good right? No! About 6 months later he got a bill from Avis for loss of revenue for over $5000 while the car was in the shop and the lower value of the car when sold at auction because the car now had a "accident reported" Carfax. The other parties insurance refused to cover either, as did his own insurance.
I never dropped off a rental car to a closed office. Ever. Read the contact,...you're responsible until they check it in
Can you imagine: Enterprise (or any car rental company) still having the car 6 years later? NO rental car will last that long.
But they thought she had the car all this time and taking care of it )
@@dmitripogosian5084 But that still doesn't make sense considering they used that to double-down AFTER she proved she returned the car several years ago and they continued to rent it out. Enterprise is just blindly swinging at this point
@@brandoxic8354 I don;t think there was much, if any, human thought involved. What probably happened is that because of the police arrest, the case was reactivated, in some database flag was changed from 'abandoned' or something to active. And then somewhere in a warehouse cubicle of a person responsible for late return, the car appeared on his daily todo list, among perhaps hundred others for his today's quota.
@@dmitripogosian5084 My question is how are they going to have a "missing car" database and a "returned/ready for use" database that don't communicate with each other.
That was exactly my 1st thought. I’ve worked for both Hertz and Avis/Budget.
The turn over of cars is quick. However franchise agents do keep their cars for a lot longer than company owned locations.
But definitely not for 7 years plus.
I had issues with Hertz. Filled the vehicle with fuel and turned it into an agent in their parking lot. She had me leave keys in the car and printed up a receipt. Later, I noticed an additional charge from Hertz on my bank statement, which I didn't authorize. Calling Hertz, they claimed it was for refueling the rental. I told them that we're mistaken and needed to refund my money. They refused. I sent my bank the fuel transaction from a gas station, literally a block away from Hertz, just minutes before turning it in. All my receipts were obviously time and date stamped in chronological order, which lent credence to my claim. The bank reversed the charges. Hertz called them to inquire but were told the charges made no sense, and if they needed a video from the fuel station, it could be obtained if I requested and all cost would be passed onto Hertz if it became a civil issue. I believe the young woman was running a scam with other employees to place extra charges on rentals and pocket the additional money later once all transactions were completed.
Of course it was a scam.
Who ever pressed charges AND arrested her should spend 6 days in jail.
The most outrageous part is her having to spend 6 days in jail, even though she has an email proof of them receiving the car.
did it take 6 days for her to convince them to let her access her email maybe?
6 year old email? Might take me a month to find it, if it still existed.
@@Foolish188 the point is that there is a written proof that's easily accessible. Putting someone in jail for 6 days without due process should be illegal. Also email software have a search function, if you know a few key information about the email you can find it in no time.
@@tonymouannes exactly, once having access to email, it shouldn't take long to find. And "if it still existed"? Why would it not still exist? My Gmail still has every single email since 2005.
@@chrisradtke I get internet through my cable TV provider, and have an email account with them, for over 20 years. I tried to look up an old email and found that the records only went back two years. It was not a case of my storage being full, I was using only 3% of my email storage.
This is an inexcusable event!
Very simple. Cut her a check for $6M, a million dollars per day.
Yup. Any jury would find that reasonable, especially with a company carelessly providing bs arguments. The punitive damages for a $35 billion dollar company should be well within the millions of dollars range.
I worked for Enterprise for 3 1/2 years. In addition to the VIN, Enterprise (and Alamo and National) uses a company generated (alphanumeric) unique stock number for each vehicle in their fleet. So, there should be no way that they can lose a vehicle in their system.
Also, my advice is to NEVER EVER just drop a rental off at a rental office without talking to an employee and getting a printed receipt!
"I'm not sure if this is something that they need to crack down on" - I think any time you can be jailed for an outstanding warrant after 6 years, yes, something needs cracking down on.
I will use a pogo stick to travel around before I rent anymore cars
They'll arrest you for unusual traversal. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@ltfreebornboing boing...😅🤣😄😂
I've been pulled over before for "Driving an unusual route." This was back before smartphones. I was just lost.
@@ltfreeborn How? He would hop away
@@boldCactuslad The police would be hopping mad but he would be jumping for joy.
I was without a car for a mounth last year as a Buck totaled my car. I felt bad as I was depending on getting rides from my roommate but I didn't feel safe renting a car until I got a new one because of the news I learned here. Especially as the closest rental car service I know of to me has a big Hertz logo in there window (no thanks). How these companies stay in business while jailing there customers like this is beyond me. Thanks Steve Lehto for letting me know to not even consider renting from Hertz as you likely saved me years of trouble later down the line.
Sickening! No innocent person should have to suffer an injustice. 😡😡
You read my mind today Steve. My first thought was "I bet it was Hertz"
Me too
I had a similar situation in the Caribbean. The company I rented the car from simply had it sitting in the airport parking lot, unlocked with the keys in it. When I went to "return" it, the instructions were to fill it up with gas, park it in the airport parking lot, leave the keys in the center console, and leave it unlocked. I had similar fears of being blamed, but don't plan on returning to the island, so unless Interpol gets involved, I should be fine.
I served on a jury for case that occurred because a rental return lot had those exact requirements. A lady broke into the lot and stole a car. She drove through a hedge, for those wondering HOW you get past the gate. She went around the gate. They have since replaced the hedge with a concrete wall. Anyway, she stole this car and almost immediately hit another car, injuring the occupants. They in turn had to sue for personal injury damages. We jurors didn't find out until after the trial that this woman wasn't even the defendant. The injured party was suing their own auto insurance for not covering things that happened in the crash. The whole trial, we thought they were suing the woman. Nope. The car insurer had behaved as car insurers do and stabbed their own customer in the back. We didn't find for the plaintiff because we didn't think they had proved all their injuries to the extent claimed. Loss of consort was one. How do you prove a crash caused that? Once we found out what was really going on, the verdict had already been given. The jury was p.i.s.s.e.d. Livid. They lied to us and hid the very truth they wanted us to find. We absolutely would have found for the plaintiff had we known they were suing this dogsh company. Which is why they didn't tell us, of course. Poor plaintiff got nothing. Car thief lady fled and did other crimes, as one does.
Oh, and of note. The airport parking lot on this island had no gates and was free to enter, park, and leave as you wished.
@@LatitudeSkyOnly way that happens is if the judge is in on the fix. Nothing an insurance company hates more than paying a claim.
If this is possible, any of us could have a false warrant that we won't find out about until years from now. How would we even know until the moment we got arrested???
they need to go after the company and the PEOPLE involved.
I hope she hired the best attorney(s) available and sued them for millions.
It certainly seems that one should never extend a rental time! All these cases of stolen rental car reports seem to contain the phrase "called to extend the rental"
Probably because you physically rent the car at location A, where all the paperwork is. When you call to extend the rental, you're talking to a CSR who could be anywhere in the world. And their computer systems aren't properly communicating with each other.
I had to extend one rental two times thru Enterprise. My vehicle was being repaired with no scheduled completion date. The first rental had tranny issues and had to be replaced. Overall, no issues, but I made certain I handed the keys to a person, and got a receipt.
The lady was also returning to a different location than where she rented. That adds another layer for errors to creep in. Another potential problem is that not all Enterprise locations are own or operated by Enterprise, especially smaller rental outfits.
I've traveled for business a lot over the last 35 years and rented a lot of cars. I've never had something like this woman's experience. Some times unlucky things happen.
Enterprise has actually treated me (us) pretty well. On one trip we rented a car at the airport, as usual, but when we got to the hotel I noticed the right front tire had a really bad wear pattern and steel wires poking out from the tread. We called Enterprise and within a couple of hours a rollback (flatbed tow truck) showed up to drop off a new car and take the bad one.
I hope she gets a multimillion dollar settlement. 6 days in Jail, traumatize her kids, dragged her good name through the mud? And yes, that arrest never goes away. She deserves to never have to work again.
In Huntsville AL, I returned a car before they opened. The drop box had a note "take keys to the counter". There was no one inside the airport counter, so I filled. Out the form with milage and so on and put the keys over the bar and on their counter. I took a picture of my contract as I needed it for my travel voucher. I get a call 4hrs later while on layover, asking where the keys are. I told them your sign said to take the keys to the counter, that's where I put them.. They said OK. I hope I don't have a warrent for my arrest. Holy smokes. This is getting out of hand hand for rental cars.
When I head up north from Florida I use the Amtrak car train. No rentals when I get there, luggage stays in the car, plenty of room on the train and I really prefer to have my own car.
It's a good thing the Amtrak car train goes from Florida to every possible destination on the globe then!
Once rented a vehicle in Germany, when we returned it the rental company was out of business. We handed the keys to the Avis people and left
Loool, that's a new one :D
HEY! I sent you this one too, a few days ago. Ah well, at least you got it.
Thanks as always.
To Boldly Go Where No One Will Go Again....
I would imagine that Enterprise will do a better job with their paperwork after this lawsuit is settled. How much is 6 days in jail, and the humiliation, & mental anguish worth.?
How much punitive damages will make them feel it and change? Whatever they make gross on six days of rentals times 3 I would say.
During their peak rental dates.
The actuaries have already accounted for this. They'll pay out and not change a thing.
Punitive Damages that lead to change have to be big enough for a the CEO to have to at least be notified. In most companies that's in the millions minimum.
@@noahhastings6145 Ins. Actuaries adjust rates to such companies based on the claims raised against them. Nobody likes to see big ins. rate increases.
I almost ended up in the same position when I extended my rental for a couple of days and the rental car reported it stolen. Fortunately when I got stopped, the cop took the time to investigate and confirm I was right.
A co-worker who was our SIU specialist, had spearheaded a program to purchase an early license plate scanning system for the county sheriff, as part of an anti-theft program. Before he could make his presentation to the county sheriff, he was driving a Hertz rental. He was arrested near the office by our county sheriff department using said system. Hertz had forgotten to take the car out of the system as being stolen. Miles was not pleased with being thrown on the ground at his age, and the deputies were embarassed, having roughed up their guest of honor shortly before the presentation.
During the presentation, he could tell the attendees that he could, from personal experience, vouch for the effectiveness of the system.
And then tell his story.
@@IainThomson-km3hkYou think an "effective" system is one where innocent people are arrested and possibly injured by what amounts to a false accusation?
@@hermesten1000 I suspect there was an element of tongue in cheek there.
The scanner worked technically. The database is the problem. Also the reaction to the flagged licence plate. Sounds like they did the crazed 'felony stop' procedure they do where they go guns drawn and all hostile and violent and assume you're a violent criminal thing they claim they are trained to do. How that doesn't lead to even more innocent people shot by police I do not know.
@@JosephKano Maybe, but that wasn't my interpretation and upon second thought, it's still not.
The one good thing about this is that lady should be getting a FAT check from Enterprise.
I rented from Enterprise once. Once. We were heading out on a road trip for a week on the day we reserved the car. When I showed up, all and they had left was a Subaru Impreza. The cost of the Impreza had a picture of a Cadillac. They said the Impreza was the same price of a Cadillac because it was all wheel drive. Total BS. You can fit an Impreza in the trunk of a Cadillac. I got totally ripped off but was under the gun to get the car. I've never rented from Enterprise since then and never will again. I hope the extra money they ripped me off for was worth it.
World is going crazy
united states is going crazy. Our rights can be violated by authorities without any consequences for them.
going crazy????
that time is long gone, the world went crazy years ago.
True true the world has been going crazy for some time i started my working life in 76 and watched it slowly go down the toilet just seems it's getting flushed more and more frequently
@@Ptr834 That makes you just a little bit older than me, made in 1962.
You can't even use a pronound when talking about gender any more. I can't see what the deal is when a person has a POLE or a HOLE.
Exactly. Most Rent-A-Car places are closed when you bring your car back.
Filing a false police report has criminal consequences. With the corporate shield, no one faces jail time. It's a paper tiger.
Enterprise doesn’t even have the car anymore. They sell their cars after anywhere from six months to a year and a half.
Then why was the last car I rented from Enterprise six years old?
Nope. Typically anywhere from 40 to 60k miles. With exceptions
@@MartinX192 "Nope?" Do I need to dig out my rental contract showing the car was six model years old?
Note despite the age it only had about 25,000 miles on it.
Hertz also did the same thing recently - last summer they rented me a 2019 Honda CR-V with about 21,000 miles on it.
It’s difficult to watch these. Makes me ill
When the CEO learned of this he should of dropped everything and immediately addressed the situation personally. Anything less is criminal on his part.
Comedy gold
Steve Lehto. Michigan lemon law lawyer, author, RUclips creator and INTERNATIONAL FUGITIVE!
When you see the price it cost to rent a car today compared to say pre-pandemic, remember you are paying for the multitude of million dollar plus lawsuits from this new trend of arresting their lawful renters. It all boils down to incompetent and or lazy employees who fail to enter the car as returned. Amazing, considering there are computer systems that when coupled with software, can not only the monitor cars through scanning devices as they come and go from their lots, but can do so much more to prevent these false arrests.
It's easier to report a car stolen than to check it in.. Especially if the Rental agent is understaffed.
@@jim4448 OK, this does not address my statement of electronic devices coupled with computers and computer software that would elementary the human factor.
@@gordonwaite2 At one time I work at a place.. Well rented vehicles... To do the intake properly.. It would take about a half hour.. To check the vehicle in... To do a stolen vehicle... It would take you about 15 to 30 seconds.
@@jim4448 So you, a foreigner, taking the job from an American, who was willing to do the job well, were the problem!
@@gordonwaite2 I see is assuming. A lot when you say this statement.
LOL.. Yes i'm most definitely a foreigner in the Philippines. Who actually lives in the Manila area.. Maybe about twenty kilometers away from.. The capital city of the Philippines..
My only issue with Enterprise was I rented a car which the previous renter smoked in it. They wouldn’t swap it out for another car. I made sure they noted that it wasn’t me that smoked in the car. I drove all the way with the windows down, it stunk. 🤢
Whoever runs that enterprise should have to pay 50k for each day in jail
I agree with that, but for personal liability for the employee that filed the charges. The company itself deserves to lose 1 million for each day in jail.
For a company as large and old as Enterprise this is a colossal failure in both management and as a business.
I used to work for a construction equipment rental company and virtually every piece of equipment we had used some kind of LoJack or equivalent on it.
So inventory system aside, the fact that they didn’t even have a way to just look at where the car was and say “oh it’s at another Enterprise lot” is baffling
That’s a pretty shocking breakdown. I’ve rented cars and returned in a different city several times due to flight issues. Connecting flight gets cancelled or plane rerouted for weather or mechanical issue, I’m stuck in an airport and the airline offers to get me out a day or two later on some hellacious tour of the US flight ladder, or I can rent a car and drive where I’m going in 3 or 4 hours. I’ve always done the renting a car option. I was quite upfront I wasn’t returning to that same airport location, they said they were fine with that and charged me a little more than it would have been for a return rental. I’m not enthusiastic I might get reported for stealing. They need to punish this harshly, a big rental company should be able to keep track.
There are a lot of independent Enterprise franchises out there that are run by either crooked or incompetent owners or managers. My first experience with Enterprise was a bad one, BUT when I called Enterprise's toll free support to complain, they took care of it right away. The location where I'd had the bad experience was subsequently closed and reopened as a used car dealership.
I use to work for Enterprise. There are 0 independently owned locations.
"I'm from a Corporation and I'm here to help you."
I wonder how many of these supposable crimes of theft are reported on their taxes as losses?
It’s a national embarrassment that it hurts a common enterprising man who is thrifty with his dollar and knows how to budget more than an avis. ie. people flock to a Turo Ferrari crash but no one pays attention to rent-a-wreck
The more and more I see these false charges and the impact arrest records can have on an innocent persons life really makes me think we need a federal law that can force a state to seal or expunge these records if it comes to light that the person arrested was not guilty. Some states allow these records to be sealed however many dont if the charge was for a violent crime that can stay on a record forever. A federal statute would fix this. Honestly if you really look at it failure of a state to seal or remove an arrest record applied to a person who was simply misidentified or due to a clerical error can be defamatory especially when those false records are misleading people pulling background checks into thinking the person has a criminal history when they really dont
This would definitely improve things, but keep in mind there are also many companies that just directly skim court and police documents, especially in states like Florida where most police departments even release booking records online for anyone to check within 24 hours. So even if you could get it removed in the state database, whatever company a potential employer uses to run a background check could still easily come back with a record. And nowadays, let's be honest, it's so easy for an employer to just never even offer such a candidate an interview.
@@Kas-tle Booking records shouldn't be public at all except in extreme situations. Many other countries restrict such information. Unfortunately, in the U.S., such information is often seen as part of the punishment much like the infamous perp walk. One is, effectively, assumed guilty upon arrest. This case well illustrates that.
I would honestly be interested to know if someone could win a outright defamation lawsuit against a state for keeping a false arrest record publicly accessible after the subject is cleared.
Could be a thousand laws and it won't fix anything because they have to be enforced.
And the police throw someone in jail for six days based on what Enterprise says? Excellent investigation/police work!
Gross negligence is still a false police report, a crime.
Exactly. The reason why it's false doesn't make it any more or less false. The accuser should bear the burden of a false charge, not the accused.
I've rented from Enterprise many times, even bought a couple of cars. Other than one crooked employee dipping into a friend's credit card, they've been exemplary.
After all your exemplary Enterprise encounters, how would you feel if you were the one in this story?
Who cares? I wasn't.
Did an acorn assault the officer?
Dude, I saw that. Unbelievable incompetence.
Yah,it fell on his donut 🍩
I still say that rental car employees should face CRIMINAL prosecution for filing false police reports. I guarantee you that most employees would make sure the vehicle was actually stolen before filing a report if that was the case.
Police shouldn’t take the word of a dealer with out evidence
Can a company report a car as stolen? Or does a real person have to sign the complaint?
Can the police take any action against them for filing a false complaint?
Did that do the customary guns locked car theft routine while arresting her. And or left her kids sitting in the car along a desolate high way
Any time one of those "we need to be tougher on crime" people start blabbering on about how everyone in prison deserves it, i reference cases like this.
This woman managed to avoid a conviction. Thousands of other people every year aren't that lucky.
That luck tends to be in direct proportion to their wealth and status in the ruling class.
Thank you for bringing up the Statute of Limitations. I would think that both the Criminal and Damage claims should have been past the Statute. When did they actually file the complaint?
SUE, SUE, SUE FOR $500,000