Federal Police bust hire cars companies at airports!

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Sequel

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Just dropped my hire car off at MEL.

The chap checking the fuel level and handing out receipts told me he had just had a run in with the Feds. Victoria (as does QLD, and I assume other states) have a law which states it is an offence to leave an unattended vehicle unlocked. Some smart cookie has just realised that the hundreds of hire cars parked at MEL are unlocked, and many even have the keys left in them. As the airport comes under federal jurisdiction, it has become a matter for the feds.

In QLD, I believe the magic distance is 3m i.e. if you are any further than 3m from your vehicle then it needs to be locked, windows up etc.

Does this mean that the end to express pick up (where your name is on the board and you just walk to your car and show your licence as you drive out) is soon be no longer?



As an aside, when I picked the car up late on Monday night, my name was on the board, telling me which bay the car was in, checked for dents, fired her up and drove to the exit, where the boom gate just opened, nobody checking who was driving off in the car??? I was expecting a phone call as soon as they realised a car had gone without the paperwork handed in, but nothing!!
 
Probably a reaction to the car jacking that occurred at SYD recently.

Sanity will prevail .. I think.
 
Yet another loophole in supposed "Security" at airports.

I use this feature a lot when using hire cars, it certainly saves a lot of time, but the quick way around it would be to have a special "priority pickup" line at the hire car desk, which they mostly already do , they'll just have to get better at *gasp* customer service.

Now if the AFP can attack the whole "strangers being able to pick up bags off carousels" problem..
 
It's in the Australian road rules, so should apply to all states. 3m is the magic number, also for stopping on driveways that are part of a nature strip.

Currently having some correspondence with a council about parking matters and I've checked out the road rules a fair bit.


Sent from the Throne
 
Yes penalising people for the way they choose to secure/not secure their own property is about the level of personal liberty I would expect in Australia these days.
 
Yes penalising people for the way they choose to secure/not secure their own property is about the level of personal liberty I would expect in Australia these days.

Then again I'm sure chasing lost cars creates a big cost for police budgets. Tragic outcomes from high speed chases also has a big social cost. If there where no consequences for the rest of society then it might just be a personal liberty situation.


Sent from the Throne
 
Then again I'm sure chasing lost cars creates a big cost for police budgets. Tragic outcomes from high speed chases also has a big social cost. If there where no consequences for the rest of society then it might just be a personal liberty situation.


Sent from the Throne

I'm quite happy for the police not to carry out a high speed chase for my old bomb if that helps. Although I think my car is near impossible to hotwire due to shielding. In any case given that you only need a brick to get through the window I'm not convinced the locks make much difference.
 
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Dealing with the pressing issues...................

This will just cause us to have to go inside to get the keys.

Pathetic
 
Dealing with the pressing issues...................

This will just cause us to have to go inside to get the keys.

Pathetic

Speaking of pressing issues...does anyone have stats for the incidence of theft of hire cars? How many resources is going to this problem? What will be the societal benefit? Is this a solution looking for a problem? It's not like everything else has been fixed.
 
I'm quite happy for the police not to carry out a high speed chase for my old bomb if that helps. Although I think my car is near impossible to hotwire due to shielding. In any case given that you only need a brick to get through the window I'm not convinced the locks make much difference.

But locks do prevent opportunistic theft. ie Oh look that car is unlocked lets steal it versus car is locked, can't see a brick, let's keep walking.


Sent from the Throne
 
Speaking of pressing issues...does anyone have stats for the incidence of theft of hire cars? How many resources is going to this problem? What will be the societal benefit? Is this a solution looking for a problem? It's not like everything else has been fixed.


Note stats are for all cars (cannot find hire car stats yet) including older privately owned and easier to steal than modern hire cars.

Chance of your car being stolen
ACT – 0.002%
NT – 0.0015%
SA – 0.0015%
TAS – 0.0013%
VIC – 0.0011%
WA – 0.0011%
QLD – 0.0009%

I would guess those stats are 0% theft of rental cars, therefore not a lot of resources going into fixing a problem that does not exist, its either an over-enthusiastic response to a once-off event or more likely - simple revenue raising.
 
My Alarm system (dog) objects to being left in a car with the windows up. I'm sure tying her up to the bumper would upset the animal rights activists, and the most store owners don't allow dogs in. So along with warning other motorists to police doing radar with a flash of my high beams, i am going to run the risk of a fine by leaving my car unsecured.
 
My guess is that if it was a big enough issue for the hire car companies then they wouldn't leave 100's of cars unsecured in the same spot day in day out!
 
We always need more Nannying... This sounds yet another example

Oh and justifying their existence
 
It's in the Australian road rules, so should apply to all states.

Even with the implementation of the ARR's, there are still subtle differences between the states. I have a reasonable knowledge of crim/traffic laws in SA and i've not heard of this one.

IMO - The AFP are having a knee-jerk reaction to recent events in SYD.
 
Even with the implementation of the ARR's, there are still subtle differences between the states. I have a reasonable knowledge of crim/traffic laws in SA and i've not heard of this one.

IMO - The AFP are having a knee-jerk reaction to recent events in SYD.

Well I can give you a contact in Burnside Council who has quoted the ARR to me in relation to parking including the 3m rule.


Sent from the Throne
 
Something about this doesn't make any sense...

If it is a part of the road rules then I can't see how it would apply to private property like an airport parking lot.
Plus you have to go through security to leave the parking lot anyway.
 
I think you'll find that it isn't actually private property.
The example I know of is the Entertainment Quarter/Fox Studios area in Sydney where it is technically a 99yr lease from the government, so the Centennial Park rangers will book you if you disobey any of the private property rules or park wrongly in the carpark. They book you for something similar to "disobeying a sign on crown land".
I assume it is a similar arrangement at some of our airports.
 
Speaking of pressing issues...does anyone have stats for the incidence of theft of hire cars? How many resources is going to this problem? What will be the societal benefit? Is this a solution looking for a problem? It's not like everything else has been fixed.

Having been in a position of relative authority for many years (manager/supervisor for one of the major car rental companies at SYD) I can advise that in a 3 year period only 4 cars were taken with question marks as to how/what/when/why with a couple of them.

It was established with at least 2 of these cars, staff error was totally to blame (keys left in ignition for vehicles not parked in the secure area).

As has been mentioned previously, the secure area is classed as private property (SACL owned at the time) so there are a lot of grey areas in regards to rules and regulations under federal law.
 
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