Brussels, 28/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The major car hire groups: Europcar, Hertz and Avis have made a commitment to halting discriminatory practices that prevent consumers having access to the best online prices in their countries of residence.
The three companies provided a positive response to a letter the European Commission addressed to them at the beginning of August, detailing its concerns about respect for non-discrimination in the internal market. They will no longer use automatic rerouting following the identification of the consumer's IP address. These companies have also promised that consumers will not be prevented from completing their booking online on any national website of the car rental companies within the EU. Finally, car rental prices should not change according to the consumers' country of residence, unless objective reasons justify a change (such as seasonal factors). These commitments are the result of a constructive dialogue with the Commission and the car hire companies in infringement (the three companies failed to respond to an initial call to order from the Commission, as opposed to Sixt, Enterprise and Goldcar). European Commissioner for the Internal Market Michel Barnier welcomed this development which he described as, “a clear improvement in the situation for European consumers wishing to rent cars in the EU”. (MD)