not having a trade you in a very desirable position. I HATE buying cars and all the bs that goes along with it. You really should try to use Edmunds to find your desired car then use the internet to try to get the car for that price. Once they agree to the price, just go drive it. If you like it they just have to write it up. Alternatively you can find the car at the price you want over the net. Pop into the dealership to drive it...don't tell them you've been in contact on the net. If you like it, go home ask them to write every thing up. You may need to email some info back and forth if you want a loan. Then just go in, sign the papers, pay and drive off---should be pretty quick if all the paperwork is much done. I do not know what you are looking for but 2010 Corolla LEs are selling under $300 invoice and had a $750 rebate last month. I am not sure what the rebate will for for Feb. We are talking out the door for about $16.7K or less. That seams like a great deal and I took advantage of it this week. If not pickly about colors, send for some quotes from local dealers. Then on or around Feb 25 say you want to purchase on 2/28 and tell them to send there drop dead best price. It should be pretty painless. Good luck. PS As far as Enterprise, I'd be weary. A low milegae car reccomended by consumer reports I might take a chance on...a car with a bed rep from Enterprise...forget it.

Check out orbitz.com as well as expedia. They often have great deals on rentals. They work with six or 8 rental companies. Results from a search involve all companies and all car sizes in one big chart that's easy to look at. Another place to check is the site of the airline you're flying. I booked a rental last night after buying a ticket on USAir. It's with Hertz, usually the most expensive rental company, but the rate was $4/day less than the Dollar and Thrifty quotes on Orbitz. The USAir site directed me to Hertz and automatically inserted a discount code.

I was 'scammed' in a similar manner years ago with another car rental company (no longer in business). It was a crappy Ford Escort that smelled like baby powder on the inside (nauseating!). After driving that piece of junk they said the emblem was missing from the hood. I am sure it wasn't on there to begin with and they didn't even have a secure lot. The cars were parked up and down the street (and this was Los Angeles). They refused to close the contract out until they 'reviewed the damage' with their insurance company. Well, I raised holy cain. They wouldn't budge...until I got on the shuttle bus yelling about their 'scam'. That is when a supervisor showed up on the bus and calmed me down and closed out the contract. I am not a yeller, but that just pis**d me off!

Asking for rental agreements, birth certificates and lunch menus is all well and good but I'm highly doubtful they're going to send this to you just because you request it, unless you use a subpoena. I personally would be very annoyed with a company sending out *my* contracts to every Tom, Dick and Harriet who requests it because they don't want to pay a bill, whether the bill is valid or not. AFAIC that's private data between the company and me and giving that out could be a potential violation of data privacy. I'm not sure they can give it out like that. The big question is how much time, effort and money will you spend on this? I'd definitely be looking at the paperwork, who signed it, who checked it in and the like. You could subpoena the the person checking it in to testify or at least get a deposition and/or affidavit about it. Likely they won't remember much, especially if they want to keep their job, if they're still employed there. Trying to track them down if they're gone, well that might not be easy or cheap either. Did you agree to arbitration for dispute resolution? What state's laws control the contract? This can make a difference too if you want to go that far. Fine print usually has a number of quirks in it. If you live in Texas and agreed that Delaware's laws will apply, that can be another monkey wrench tossed in. I do think you're doing the right thing to take the position that they haven't proven anything to you. (They who assert must prove.) Have they sent any estimate from a repair shop or is it just their standard claim amount? $500 isn't much damage. Scratches, small dent or two will hit $500 these days. I'd be going above the person sending this. I'd also go back to the person who initially agreed to drop it. Did you document time, date, etc and did they put it in writing that they'd drop it? I'd look over the contract too and see if there's any time-frame that could help you. How long do they have to make a claim and such. I certainly wouldn't go off saying you're representing yourself or anything like that since that's redundant. Obviously you're representing yourself. I highly doubt they'll take you to conciliation court. It's not worth it to them either. They'll probably just badger you, try screwing with your credit and the like and of course the dunning letters to get you to give in. You actually have some proof in your favor right now. They supplied you with a photo that apparently shows no damage. I'd use that to my benefit too, send it to the hierarchy and say this is proof that the vehicle wasn't damaged by you. Or save it for the credit agencies and collection agents. two.25acres raised good points. Comp claims won't normally count against you and *if* you're satisfied that the damage occurred while in your possession, since in reality a rock could have flown off a truck or something, it wouldn't be too big a deal and insurance companies like to split the difference a lot so they'd likely settle for a couple hundred. This is something you could negotiate too. You could offer them $100 to resolve it, with no admission of liability and to resolve it too, but I'd be sure to make it clear that this is just offered as a resolution and that you're fully satisfied that you're not liable, will be proven as such in court, etc. Let's face it, involving a lawyer is not a financially prudent thing to do. You'll pay far more than $500 to use an attorney and may well still be found liable. You won't get even an inexperienced lawyer for $500 since this will involve far more than an hour or two and that's what they bank on when they do this stuff. If you have a check-in statement with an inspection or release and coupled with the pictures you have, you could be in good shape. If you don't, you might be in trouble. Not right, but the way things go. But again, I'd go back to the one with whom you had the agreement and work that end first. Good luck.