Kristen Cockerill won't have to pay for stolen $47K rental car
A Nova Scotia woman is relieved her fight with an international car rental company is over and she will not have to pay $47,000 for a Mustang convertible that was stolen from a rental lot.
Kristen Cockerill, who had been facing a $47,000 bill to replace the stolen car, said she got a call on Tuesday from Enterprise Rent-A-Car's general manager for Nova Scotia.
"They offered an apology for the experience I've gone through over the last week or so," Cockerill told CBC News.
"It's been extremely stressful, actually, just not knowing where things are going to go, the financial piece hanging over my family. It's been quite stressful. But I'm happy to see it come to an end."
Cockerill rented the car for two days in October. At the end of the two-day rental, she said she returned the car to the Enterprise rental lot on Portland Street in Dartmouth.
Cockerill dropped the car off on a Sunday — most Enterprise locations in the Halifax region are closed on Sundays and people who need to return vehicles that day are instructed to leave the key in a secure drop box.
The next day, Enterprise called Cockerill. The company had the keys, but no Mustang.
Police determined the vehicle was stolen and last week, Cockerill got a bill from Enterprise for $47,000 — the replacement value of the Mustang.
Cockerill's insurance company initially took the position that she wasn't responsible for the Mustang after she returned it to Enterprise, so it wasn't going to cover the cost of the theft.
She said she later heard from her insurance company that it's now negotiating with Enterprise.
"It is in the small print of the contract that I am responsible for the vehicle until they receive it," Cockerill said. "So the insurance is going to cover the cost of the vehicle."
In a statement to CBC News, Enterprise wrote: "We are now thoroughly examining our processes and looking for ways to better communicate with our customers. We want to acknowledge and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention so that we could properly address it."
