Article: The Car Rental Industry is Ripe for Reform

[AFF Editor]

The Car Rental Industry is Ripe for Reform is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

The Car Rental Industry is Ripe for Reform

There are so many horror stories about car rental companies trying to overcharge or even outright scam their customers. The problem is that they're incentivised to do so!

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[SYD]

I’ve rented a LOT of cars over the years for both work and leisure and 99% of the time there have been no issues.

I totally agree with doing a proper inspection of the vehicle before driving away (take photos at pickup AND return).

Checking out the Google reviews for a specific franchise office (especially non Airport offices) is very good advice. My worst experience was an AVIS office in Santiago, Chile that didn’t have enough cars, and even as AVIS Preferred, they didn’t give a sh$t. “Come back tomorrow and we might have a car”. WT actual F sort of business is that? We weren’t the only ones but fortunately a local walked us to another rental company that had cars.

I don’t as a habit take out the full insurance option, but once in Costa Rica, the extra was minimal, so I did. Very fortunate, because a motorcycle ran into to us!

The only times I had suspect damage to the car, were both work rentals from the PER AVIS. Both times it was very dark when I picked up the car. So if there was damage it would have been difficult to see. Who knows if the damage occurs in the lot…

One of the more frustrating but legit practices is the unwanted “upgrade” to a tank while driving around Europe with tiny parking lots.

 

[elanshin]

Is taking out the top rental insurance the right play vs having your own separate insurance? I find generally speaking the car rental insurances to be more expensive and covers less. Some even lose their cover if you're at fault (check t&c carefully).

 

[markis10]

Why are “Articles” increasingly seeming like personal rants rather than the balanced informative pieces they should be? I rarely read them for that reason, as someone spending five figure sums annually on car rentals most of the last thirty years, I made the mistake in this instance.

The car rental industry is generally self regulated with a new code of conduct effective at the start of last month, the existence of which seems to be a glaring omission to this rant.

There is also a dispute resolution process, the Australian Car Rental Conciliation Service will review the evidence from a complaint against the Code and provide an impartial decision.

Additionally, general oversight protections are also provided by Australian consumer law (ACL). Where conduct has been found to be systematic and unfair, action has been taken. For instance it’s considered an unfair contract if rental car companies hold a consumer to be responsible for damage in the period between a cars return and its inspection by the car rental company. I wonder how many members are aware you have the right to be present when that inspection is done?

Notable action by the ACCC includes:
Hertz refunding 283 customers about $243,000 between January 2014 and August 2015 in relation to incorrect pre-existing damage charges
$200k civil pecuniary for a europcar franchisee in Tasmania that deliberately overcharged customers for hire vehicle repair costs and failed to refund overcharged customers
Four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicle hire business Smart Corporation Pty Ltd (Smart), ordered to pay an $870,000 penalty for breaching the Australian Consumer Law.

It’s important to note ACL coverage is also applicable to businesses renting vehicles where the expenditure is below $40000.

 

[muppet]

Why are “Articles” increasingly seeming like personal rants rather than the balanced informative pieces they should be? I rarely read them for that reason, as someone spending five figure sums annually on car rentals most of the last thirty years, I made the mistake in this instance.

The car rental industry is generally self regulated with a new code of conduct effective at the start of last month, the existence of which seems to be a glaring omission to this rant.

There is also a dispute resolution process, the Australian Car Rental Conciliation Service will review the evidence from a complaint against the Code and provide an impartial decision.

Additionally, general oversight protections are also provided by Australian consumer law (ACL). Where conduct has been found to be systematic and unfair, action has been taken. For instance it’s considered an unfair contract if rental car companies hold a consumer to be responsible for damage in the period between a cars return and its inspection by the car rental company. I wonder how many members are aware you have the right to be present when that inspection is done?

Notable action by the ACCC includes:
Hertz refunding 283 customers about $243,000 between January 2014 and August 2015 in relation to incorrect pre-existing damage charges
$200k civil pecuniary for a europcar franchisee in Tasmania that deliberately overcharged customers for hire vehicle repair costs and failed to refund overcharged customers
Four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicle hire business Smart Corporation Pty Ltd (Smart), ordered to pay an $870,000 penalty for breaching the Australian Consumer Law.

It’s important to note ACL coverage is also applicable to businesses renting vehicles where the expenditure is below $40000.

Sure but why should anyone have to access a “conciliation” service for what is fundamentally financial fraud?

These companies know you didn’t damage the car or bring it back empty - yet deduct costs from your credit card - simple fraud.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Having rented cars globally, I must say the issues pointed out in the article are by no means unique to Australia. Indeed, one of the first car rentals I ever had was in Dublin, where I was dinged for damage that was already on the car to the tune of a couple hundred Euros. The key lesson learned there is to take video footage of the pickup and drop off of cars at the rental car locations.

This saved my bacon on a subsequent rental in York, England, where Hertz tried to ding me a couple hundred quid for pre-existing damage. Fortunately, I was able to review the footage from when I picked up the vehicle and send them a frame which clearly showed the damage was pre-existing. A day or two later I receive an email from Hertz saying they reviewed the footage and agreed to reverse the charge.

-RooFlyer88