Even though your rental car has been reserved, there’s still this risk of getting it terminated at any time.
This could be something to bother about if you’re probably up for a big journey with family and friends, or a scheduled meeting you don’t want to miss.
In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about what Enterprise does when they don’t have your reserved car.
Does Enterprise Guarantee Reservations?
Enterprise car rental doesn’t Guarantee reservation, and neither does it offer a service for that. However, from research, there are not many complaints of people having their reservations cancelled
The truth is that there’s no rental company that could guarantee a car, normally, unless there’s a special service for that.
Why?
Well, the travel industry, in general, including Hotel and car rentals are fond of overbooking beyond their capacities.
And in some tight situations, they end up taking up only the best reservations (basically, good-paying ones), leaving the other renters stranded.
One other point to make is the fact that Car rental companies also don’t know how long a particular car of theirs would be used by a customer.
There are renters who could rent cars and keep on paying late fees charge till whatever time and some who rent cars and keep on extending their rental period.
So, there is not just enough information from the company’s point-of-view to determine how many of their cars would be available at a time.
However, it’s worth mentioning, that there are almost no reports of reserved rental cars on Enterprise not guaranteed, as the chances are very slim.
From this section, a good follow-up question should be “what’s Enterprise’s policy regarding a situation of unavailability of a reserved car?” Read on to find out.
Be aware of the ACRISS Code Standard which Enterprise is a Member
Most car rental companies including Enterprise, Sixt, Alamo and Budget all follow the ACRISS codes system, an acceptable standard of categorising vehicles based on their characteristics.
With this system in place, cars in rental fleets are grouped by their ACRISS codes and seen as the same cars, from the rental company’s perspective.
In essence, cars that share the same ACRISS codes are regarded as one.
For instance, BMW 520, Mercedes-Benz E220, and Audi A5 all share the same ACRISS code. They’re typically the same type of cars, and would usually be interchanged.
If for instance, you reserved a BMW 520, you could be given an Audi A5 or even a Mercedes-Benz E220 when picking up your reservation.
This happens a lot.
In fact, it’s difficult to book a particular type of car and get it while picking up the car. An exception would be when the car rental company has much of the car, otherwise, you’d rather be given a car in the same ACRISS codes.
While this could seem different to you, the rental company see them as one, as they share the same characteristics and relatively the same price.
What if Enterprise Doesn’t Have The Car I Reserved?
Assuming, you were unfortunate enough not to find your reserved car on Enterprise, what are the measures taken by Enterprise to help you out?
There’s no official policy from Enterprise, guiding what should be done in the event of a reserved car not being available. However, on your end, there are things you could do
In the course of making the article, we had to make external research by contacting one of Enterprise’s agents through their contact us page.
We got a quick response, however, was not definitive, as we expected.
According to the Enterprise agent, the action taken if Enterprise doesn’t have the car reserved would depend on the rental location and the options available at that location.
So, what are these options?
If Enterprise doesn’t have the Car you reserved, here’s what happen:
- You get a Refund (If prepaid)
- The company find other cars in their system
- A car gets outsourced from the company’s competitor
You get get a Refund (If prepaid)
Don’t get me wrong.
You don’t need to pay money to reserve a car. However, there are times when people do it for a number of reasons.
In this case, it is called a “Prepaid reservation.” And Enterprise does offer this service.
Now, in a case where you’ve already prepaid your car rental reservation and Enterprise sold it out, the first option that would be available to you is to get a refund.
Even though they don’t make mention of it, you can always ask, and you’d get a quick refund.
However, this only works when the rental company doesn’t have a car sharing the same ACRISS code as yours. Otherwise, you’d be charged for a cancellation fee.
The company find other cars in their system
In the event of a Rental company lacking a particular car, it’s in their best interest to find a solution to satisfy their customer. At least, this is a policy common among several car rental companies.
One way they do this is by following the ACRISS code standard (we explained this earlier).
By this, you’re most likely to be renting a car in the same ACRISS code as the one you reserved, especially when the reserved car isn’t available.
If there are no cars on the ACRISS code, the company would be left with having to upgrade the model of the car you booked to any other model available at no cost to you.
In good times, this could be an opportunity to rent a better model of a car at no cost.
On the other hand, it could also result in you renting a lower model, if that’s the only option available at the time.
A car gets outsourced
Getting a special rental car dishonoured is a common thing in the industry. However, it gets even worst when the company itself runs out of cars entirely.
In this event, the Enterprise rental location which has no cars, would either get you a car from other Enterprise rental locations close by or send you to the locations to get the car yourself.
If there are no other Enterprise rental locations close by, the company would be forced to get a car from a either sister company, or closeby competitor.
Here’s what to do when Enterprise doesn’t have your Reserved car
Even though all these listed options are valid, there are chances the rental location you reserved the Enterprise car at, might want to disagree with your bid.
Now, this is common, of course, rental locations in the industry act almost independently, hence they could do what they feel is right without the consent of the authorities or following their policies.
As a result…
The first thing to do if Enterprise doesn’t have the car you reserved is to contact the company’s official reservation number at 0800 800227.
Alternatively, you can chat with Enterprise’s official customer care agents on Facebook. They do respond in minutes.
At this point, either of the agent you chat with would require you to provide detailed info about your reservation, which include sending your reservation number along with your name, phone, and email.
Doing this leaves the issue on auto-pilot.
The best part is that you get the best deal.
Tips to prevent Enterprise not having the car you reserved
While having an Enterprise reservation dishonored for no good reason is unavoidable, there are things you can do to reduce the risk. Below they are:
Contact the Rental location before your reservation date
As we said earlier, Most car rental companies do overbook.
And they do this for many reasons, of which one is due to the fact that not all customers who reserved cars get back to it.
As a result, your reserved rental car can only be guaranteed when:
- There are so many rental cars
- You came early
Of course, if there are not many rental cars, the company could assume that you’re no longer coming.
The way to avoid this is by contacting your rental locations a day or some hours before your rental period.
Pick the car on time
Again, you don’t want the Enterprise rental location to assume that you’re no longer coming.
As a matter of fact, you should be a few hours earlier than the actual rental period, to pick up your reserved car.
Final Thoughts
Enterprise doesn’t have any strict policy guiding what happens when your reserved car isn’t guaranteed. However, there are a plethora of things you can do to fill up the gap.
Again, to avoid this unfortunate situation, make sure to contact your rental location, reminding them about your reservation earlier enough. Lastly, pick up your reserved car on time.
