The Guarantor sends Avis, Hertz, Centauro, Green Motion, Noleggiare and Drivalia crashing
According to the Competition and Market Authority, six car rental companies (Avis, Hertz, Centauro, Green Motion, Noleggiare and Drivalia) imposed unjustified fees on customers for managing fines and omitted parking or toll payments. All the details
The Antitrust administratively cracks down on car rental companies.
Here are all the details.
WHAT THE ANTITRUST DECIDED
The Competition and Market Authority takes action against the car rental companies Avis Budget Italia SpA, Hertz Italiana Srl, Centauro Rent a Car Italy Srl, Green Motion Italia Srl, Noleggiare Srl and Drivalia Leasys Rent SpA for unfair clauses. In total, fines amounted to over 18 million euros.
FROM AVIS TO HERTZ, AGCM'S COMPLAINTS
The Authority contests the clause, contained in the contractual documentation adopted by each company and published on the respective company websites, which provides for the user's obligation to pay a lump sum (so-called "fee") to manage the administrative procedure related to each fine imposed for traffic infringement or failure to pay parking fees/tolls during the rental period.
For the Agcm, the additional amount envisaged by the clause – regardless of the qualification adopted by each company (such as "penalty" or "fee for service") – is not justified in light of the obligations due in the event of a fine attributable to the contractor. In fact, car rental companies only have to transfer customer identification data to the body investigating the infringement.
The unjustified nature of this tax, the Authority states, also emerged regardless of the specific amount applied by the company and due to the automatic nature of the charge on the consumer's credit card, based on the pre-authorization provided to the act of signing the rental contract.
THE FINES IMPOSED
For example, we read in the provision against Avis against which a fine of 9 million was imposed: "Avis Budget Italia SpA by the competent body in relation to the vehicle covered by the driverless car rental contract – constitutes a case of unfair clause pursuant to article 33 , paragraph 1, of the Consumer Code, for the reasons and within the limits set out in the motivation, and prohibits its re-proposal".
In the case against Hertz (1,650,000 euro fine) it is decided that "that the clause as a whole indicated in the provisions – contained in the contractual documents called "Rental Conditions", "Rental Requirements" and "Fines and Traffic Violations" – referred to in Part II of this provision – which provides for the application of a charge to be paid by the consumer in the event of violation by the latter of the Highway Code or failure to pay ascertained and notified parking fees/motorway tolls to the company Hertz Italiana Srl by the competent body in relation to the vehicle covered by the driverless car rental contract – integrates a type of unfair clause pursuant to article 33, paragraph 1, of the Consumer Code, for the reasons and within the limits set out in motivation, and prohibits its re-presentation".
Imposed on Centauro Rent a Car Italy Srl – for the violation referred to in the letter. a) – a pecuniary administrative sanction of 1,160,000 euros. Fifty thousand euros to Green Emotion which become two million two hundred thousand euros to the company Noleggiare Srl for "the overall clause indicated in the provisions – contained in the contractual documents called "Terms and conditions" and "Price list" – referred to in par. II, of this provision – which provides for the application of a charge to be paid by the consumer in the event of violation by the latter of the CDS or non-payment of toll/parking ascertained and notified to the company Noleggiare Srl by the competent body in relation to the vehicle covered by the driverless car rental contract". The company Drivalia Leasys Rent SpA was hit with a fine of four million three hundred thousand euros.
THE FURTHER SANCTION BEYOND THE FINES
Each company also has the obligation to publish an extract of the provision on its corporate website. Furthermore, as a result of the entry into force, from 1 February 2022, of the new sanctioning powers attributed to the Authority based on law no. 238/2021 and Legislative Decree no. 26/2023, each company was sentenced, in addition to paying an administrative fine, to eliminate the clause from its contractual documentation.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/il-garante-manda-a-sbattere-avis-hertz-centauro-green-motion-noleggiare-e-drivalia/ on Thu, 09 May 2024 11:58:52 +0000.