Brussels, 13/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 13 July, the European Commission announced that the five major car rental companies (Avis-Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt) have agreed to significantly review their rental conditions in an effort to respect EU consumer protection legislation.
This is the result of joint action taken by the national authorities in charge of applying EU law on consumer protection.
These companies have made a commitment to guarantee improved transparency when booking online: Clearer information about all mandatory charges and optional extras; clearer information about key rental terms and requirements, including deposits; better information at the booking stage about optional waiver and insurance products, including their prices, exclusions and applicable excesses; improved and more transparent fuel policies; clearer and fairer vehicle inspection processes; consumers are given a reasonable opportunity to challenge any damage before any payment is taken.
The measures required to respect these commitments have to be taken by the end of 2015. Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for justice and consumer affairs, was delighted and emphasised: “Booking a car online, renting it in one country and returning it in another is very simple today. Unfortunately, car rental terms and conditions are sometimes too vague or lack clarity. Consumers are too often left with unplanned extra costs”.
In addition to the intended benefits for consumers from the application of the European directives involved (directive relative on consumer rights (2011/83/EC), directive on unfair trade practices (2005/29/EC) and the directive on abusive clauses contained in contracts concluded with consumers (93/13/EEC), the economic implications are significant. According to a study carried out by the Commission, improving consumer information and confidence in these directives could help contribute to annual growth of between 3% and 4% in the car rental sector over the next few years in Europe.
Following a steady increase of consumer complaints on car rental services booked in another country - from about 1,050 cases in 2012 to more than 1,750 in 2014 - as reported by European Consumer Centres, a decision was made to establish dialogue between the national Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) authorities, led by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and the top five car rental companies operating in the EU. The national authorities will continue to ensure follow-up in certain areas such as: consumers' liability for damages caused to cars by third parties; practices by couriers and intermediaries; the language in which the conditions should be presented in the event of rentals contracted abroad and insurance provided in car rental packages. The European regulation involving consumer protection cooperation (Regulation 2006/2004 known as the CPC regulation) calls on the appropriate national authorities to set up a European network for applying legislation in this connection. (Aminata Niang)