Car rental firms ‘charging for pre-existing damage’
SOME car rental companies may be engaged in the ‘sickening practice’ of charging successive customers for pre-existing damage to vehicles claims, a Fianna Fáil front bencher.
Billy Kelleher, the party’s spokesman on business, said reports alleging car rental companies are charging on the double, or more, for pre-existing damage are a threat to Ireland’s reputation as a holiday destination.
Mr Kelleher – a candidate for Ireland South in the Euro elections next month – challenged Business Minister Heather Humphreys to do something about car rental companies that are ‘charging different customers for the same preexisting damage, while foregoing to actually repair the vehicle’. He supplied details of his allegations to Ms Humphreys in a private correspondence.
It comes after new figures show a steady upward trend in the number of complaints lodged with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission about car rental companies. The number of complaints rose from 117 in 2015, to 152 in 2016.
In 2017, the figure leapt again to 181. Last year, it reached an alltime record of 227 complaints – many of which were about charges for supposed damage to the car.
Mr Kelleher branded the practice ‘absolutely sickening’. He said: ‘Forcing customers to pay out hundreds of euros for damage that they did not cause is disgraceful; not only leaving the customer dissatisfied and out of pocket, but could cause untold reputational damage for the industry and for Ireland.
‘Some of the affected customers were tourists holidaying here and the overcharging scandal has left them annoyed and frustrated – this is not good for tourism.’
In a written response to him, Ms Humphreys said Europe must take action as individual countries cannot control the problem. ‘As much of the car rental by consumers occurs outside their country of residence... action to tackle anticonsumer practices in the car rental sector needs also to be undertaken on an EU-wide basis,’ she wrote.
She added that, in 2015, in response to an increase in complaints from consumers about car rental across all member states, the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities held talks with five major car rental companies ‘with a view to securing better compliance with EU consumer protection legislation’.
Mr Kelleher said he wanted action here to protect our tourist market: ‘I believe an examination of the current laws is needed at domestic and European level, so they can be strengthened where issues emerge and ensure customers are protected from fraudulent activity.’