Car Hire - Anyone ever experienced 'Calendar Day' versus '24 consecutive hours'? (Enterprise)

Paddy McGinty · 03-08-2025 01:34PM #1

Been pulling my hair out with Enterprise Rent-A-Car over this. Formal complaint gone in, just wondering if anyone on here has ever experienced this, with ANY car hire company?

Fairly typical car hire scenario is one books online, selecting the pick-up/drop-off destinations along with dates/times.

e.g. If I want to book a car for just ONE day from say 1000 on Monday 4th then I have until 1000 on Tuesday 5th to return it.

In terms of what Enterprise refer to as their "Billing cycle", the above would assume '24 consecutive hours' is being used. Having hired many cars over the years in many countries, that is the only format I have ever experienced. Likewise, if I want to hire for say one full week, then if I start the rental at say 1600 on Friday 8th, then I'd need to return it by 1600 on Friday 15th, and so on.

My wife had a car from Enterprise as a 7 day replacement following an accident write-off. Collected at 1658 on a Friday so would be returning it the following Friday afternoon as per a standard 7 day rental.

Had a call off Enterprise on the following Wednesday (fifth day of hire) telling us to return car by end of the following day (Thursday). I tell them that would only be SIX days, but they swear blind that no it's SEVEN!

After a bit of digging it seems they use a 'two-tier' billing cycle and our rental agreement was using their 'Calendar day' cycle, as follows;

1658-2359 Friday was day 1
0000-2359 Sat was day 2
0000-2359 Sun was day 3
0000-2359 Mon was day 4
0000-2359 Tues was day 5
0000-2359 Wed was day 6
0000-2359 Thur was day 7
0000-1658 Friday was day 8

Nice extra earner if they can get away with it! Why/how?… because someone else is paying the bill (Insurance company).

Problem is they charged my wife's debit card for their "extra" day of rental. No T&Cs with the rental agreement and no mention of any T&Cs at pick up (everything was arranged by insurer). I've checked their online T&Cs and it cleary states the '24 consecutive hours' format applies.

Complaint gone in to both Enterprise and Insurer, thought I'd post here to raise awareness but would be amazed to find out if this was common practice!

BlakeS94 · 03-08-2025 02:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058421009/car-hire-anyone-ever-experienced-calendar-day-versus-24-consecutive-hours-enterprise

I had a similar issue with them in the past, had them as a rental for insurance write off also. When I dropped the car back I parked it and told them where it was located (shannon airport parking) .

They couldn't find it, rang me multiple times, I answered in the middle of your man saying pick up the **** pho- oh sorry sorry just calling there to ask where you left the car.

Told them again anyway. But they charged my card for the time parking they couldn't find it.

The absolute rigmarole to get my money back was insane

05-08-2025 08:29PM

I have rented from enterprise a few times in the past. Always plugged in the times ie 9am Monday to 9am tuesday' get quote for it and pay. Never overcharged.

Once had a car from them from insurance company after an accident.

The moment the claim was sorted I got a phone call to return the car..

Once hired a car from hertz. They sent me a damage report before I collected the car. . There was a lot of dings and scratches on the car. A few weren't marked on the pics but we're clearly visible.

They tried to bill me for the damage til I pointed out the scratches were in their pics but not circled

JVince · 05-08-2025 08:48PM

Always have used enterprise and for varying number of days. Cars and vans. Always 24 hour time breaks.

If it's the insurance paying they probably have the calendar day agreed and the rate reflects that?

Paddy McGinty · 21-08-2025 07:06PM

'Calendar Day' billing isn't logical for anyone as the start and end of every day is midnight and the fact that no Enterprise locations are open at midnight means it would be impossible for any hirer to rent for 24 hours unless they paid for 2 days.

Just because thar's the way it is doesn't mean it's correct!

If a company has published terms and conditions then it's reasonable to expect them to work to those terms, which in this case they didn't.

Pratts2000 · 03-11-2025 02:18PM

I ran into the same issue once with a rental place in Dublin — got charged for an extra full day because I brought the car back a bit later, even though it was just an hour. Since then, I've switched to places that clearly go by 24-hour periods. When I was in Florida, https://www.miamilimocar.com was really clear about their timing and didn’t pull any of that calendar day stuff.

Car Hire - Anyone ever experienced 'Calendar Day' versus '24 consecutive hours'? (Enterprise)

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