Be careful renting cars from Enterprise overseas


I use Enterprise quite a bit here in New York mostly because they have cars right in the Albany Amtrak station parking lot. We can hop on a train at Grand Central, skip all of the NYC traffic, get off at Albany, and then quickly drive onward to Vermont or other upstate getaways.

When I booked our recent trip to the Middle East, we needed to make two separate car renal bookings – one in Israel and one in Jordan. Booking the cars on Enterprise's website was straightforward and I received email confirmations like I usually do when I book in the USA. Once I arrived, however, I realized that there are no Enterprise offices in the Middle East. There are signs in the Tel Aviv airport for all kinds of rental car companies but no Enterprise. Luckily I got on the Wi-Fi and found out that Eldan is a subcontractor for Enterprise and I needed to go to their counter. Nowhere on their website or the confirmation email does it tell you this.

Part two of this problem happened after we walked through the official border crossing into Jordan. The Enterprise confirmation email gives you a PO Box, not a street address. Searching Google results in lots of rental car companies that aren't Enterprise, so we had no idea where to go. We took a taxi to our hotel and our concierge helped sort things out. Apparently in Jordan, Europcar is their subcontractor, and I needed to go there. Again, nothing on the Web or the email indicated this.

It's a PO Box, not a street address

I've called Enterprise to report this, but there's been no progress in several weeks. Honestly my cynical corporate brain suspects that someone in their corporate marketing department has expressly forbid them from using the names of other brands in any official communications, so I highly doubt this will ever get fixed. Ergo, double-check your confirmation emails and call Enterprise in advance to make sure you know where you're going. Given that data roaming in Jordan is $15/MB (and they don't participate in AT&T or T-mobile's international roaming plans), it can be very expensive to go looking for this info at the last minute.
Same for the confirmation email: it's a PO Box, not a street address

Summary

Where is the Enterprise rental car counter in the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport?
Use the Eldan counter at the airport

Where is the Enterprise rental car office in Aqaba, Jordan? 
Use the Europcar office near the Hilton Doubletree in downtown Aqaba


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