For a couple of weeks, our team has been taking life experience in Enterprise car rental policies and systems as a whole.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Enterprise smoking policies and the possible fees associated with them.
Overview of Enterprise smoking policy
You’re not allowed to smoke in an Enterprise rental car, regardless of the reasons that prompt you. This is said, following the company’s policy which prohibits smoking in their cars.
Not just Enterprise, but smoking in a rental car isn’t allowed by most car rental companies. The primary reason for this is the fact that rental cars are being rented to the public, including smokers and non-smokers.
Not everyone would be comfortable with the stench from smoke. For the majority of people, that would probably be their last time with such a car rental company.
Remember that the smell of smoke could stay up to 48 hours before going out naturally. Even when a vehicle is thoroughly cleaned, it still takes time to go out entirely.
As a matter of fact, a rental car that is smoked on would most likely not be used till the stench is removed, unless when the company runs out of cars and a renter decides to use them regardless.
Now, no companies want that, and that’s why they go straight to totally ban smoking.
At Enterprise, however, if smoke is detected on their vehicle after a rental period, you’ll be charged a cleaning fee for it. You’re also likely to be charged an Admin fee.
How much is Enterprise Smoking fee?
Enterprise doesn’t have an actual smoking fee for defaulters, as the company has a no-smoking policy.
However, if you violate its rules of no smoking, you’ll be charged a non-refundable cleaning fee of $250 – $400. This depends on the rental location and country, the car model, and the intensity of work needed for the cleanup.
For instance, in most rental locations in the US, you’re normally going to pay $400 for a cleaning fee when detected.
However, in french countries like Switzerland, you’re mandated to pay CHF500 for smoking (which is typically a cleaning fee).
At the time, by converting this to US dollar, it’s over $500.
Read also: Overview of All car rental charges on Enterprise rental car
It’s worth mentioning that you might find some other web pages stating otherwise and quoting the company’s words, where they say “we don’t charge cleaning fees.”
However, while Enterprise doesn’t charge cleaning fees for small dirt and displacements, it would when the labor for cleaning a rental car becomes excessive.
Some examples of this include; specks of dirt from pets, littered food chunks, muddy tires, and most importantly smoking in a car.
Generally, if the dirt is excessive (e.g a muddy car) or requires time to clean (e.g the case of smoking) expect to get charged a cleaning fee, which is usually around $250 – $400.
How does Enterprise know if you smoke?
In a previous article, we talked about this.
However, after a rental period, most car rental companies including Enterprise, take a thorough check on their vehicles to find faults, hidden damages, and to prepare the car for the next renter, most importantly.
They do this by comparing the current situation of the car after being returned, with the data they had before which is usually gotten from the pictures of the car taken before the car is rented out.
During this process, Alongside a list of other checks, Enterprise usually runs a check to detect smoke. They do this in a couple of ways including:
- By checking for the smell of smoke:
No matter how hidden, the stink from smoke usually stays for hours and could easily be detected even with the human nose. Without even performing a check, if you come close, a car rental agent could sense that you smoked in their car, courtesy of the stink.However, most rental locations use special devices to detect smoke. One of them is the smoke wipe detector which detects smoke when it’s used to clean a rental car.
- By performing a physical check:
Without proper evidence, most renters would deny that they actually smoke. For this reason, rental agents are trained to look for physical evidence of smoke such as; smoke ashes on the car, yellow burns on some parts of the car, and cigarette butts left on the vehicle.
Even when cleaned before being returned, a car that is smoked on would always have the stench of a smoked car for a long while.
As a smoker, you might not be able to detect this smell, since you’re most likely accustomed to the smoke’s smell. However, that’s not the case for everyone else.
What to do if you already smoked in an Enterprise rental car
Generally, this would depend on whether you’ve already been caught or not.
If an Enterprise agent has already discovered and reported that you smoked in their rental car, there’s nothing you can do about it, since the company already has its smoking policy and “no-smoking sticker” publicly available.
You’ll have to pay the fee unless you actually didn’t do it.
In a case like this, you’ll have to dispute the fee, with proper evidence. You could also dispute the charges from your bank’s end.
However, be careful while doing this, as you could be put on a do not rent list for this.
If you actually smoked in the car and have not returned the car yet, there are a few things that you can do to either help reduce or totally remove the stench of the smoke. Below they are:
- Hire professionals to clean the car. This should cost you anywhere from $40 – $100. Make sure to tell the cleaners to clean the interior of the car properly.
- Avoid throwing smoke remnants on the car’s floor. This is most likely to leave a burnt on the car, which is plain proof to the car rental that you actually smoked on their vehicle.
However, this is not an advice. You shouldn’t violate Enterprise’s no-smoking policy
Final Thoughts
Generally, never smoke in an Enterprise rental car, as the company doesn’t permit that. However, if you choose to, be prepared to spend a couple of dollars which could go from $250 – $400, depending on the rental location and country of residence.
