A young Black woman was falsely accused of stealing a rental car by Enterprise, and she opened up about her terrifying experience on TikTok.
A simple paperwork error or misunderstanding can easily lead to arrests and jail time, so the stakes were incredibly high when the Tampa, Florida, woman, who goes by @bratlahxo on social media, was accused of theft. She wisely decided to document every moment of her car rental saga.
The woman brought her vehicle to a mechanic for repairs and received a rental car to cover her transportation while it was in the shop. In her Jan. 23 TikTok video, she explained that her vehicle required more extensive work, and the auto body shop agreed to extend her rental through the weekend. She cleverly recorded an employee confirming this and included the clip in the video.
Enterprise, however, apparently didn’t get the message, and an employee called her later that evening to accuse her of felony auto theft.
“Imagine having your car in the body shop for weeks after an accident, finally picking it up, and realizing it wasn’t even fixed properly,” she wrote in the caption. “You’re told it’s okay to leave the car and that your rental will be extended…only to receive a call two hours before your 7 pm night shift with a story that later turns out to be a lie, claiming you drove off with the vehicle without permission. Is this how you treat your customers?”
Her concerns were justified. In 2022, industry leader Hertz made national headlines when the company was ordered to pay $168 million to 364 customers it had falsely accused of stealing its cars. Customers reported that they had unknowingly had warrants out for their arrest, had served time behind bars, had lost jobs due to pending felony charges, and had suffered emotional trauma. In 2022, Atlanta Black Star identified at least 400 erroneous theft reports made by Enterprise, many involving Black drivers.
@bratlahxo Imagine having your car in the body shop for weeks after an accident, finally picking it up, and realizing it wasn’t even fixed properly. You’re told it’s okay to leave the car and that your rental will be extended through the weekend, only to receive a call two hours before your 7 PM night shift with a story that later turns out to be a lie, claiming you drove off with the vehicle without permission. Is this how you treat your customers, @Enterprise ? #viral #4upageシ ♬ original sound – bratlahxo
In this case, the quick-thinking woman pulled out her phone — creating “photo and video receipts,” as she put it — and thankfully, the misunderstanding did not escalate to criminal charges.
In a Jan. 27 follow-up video, @bratlahxo explained that she formally filed complaints with Enterprise and the unnamed auto body shop, but was dismayed to receive “the corporate runaround” rather than the apology she was hoping for. However, in the video, she said she “believes an honest mistake was made” by the auto body shop and that both companies are conducting internal reviews.
