CMA clamp down on car hire websites over “hidden” costs
First published by Author on April 20, 2018 in the following categories: Industry Pricing and tagged with car hire websites | cma | comparison sites
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have clamped down on car hire websites over “hidden” costs, resulting in changes as to how quotes are to be presented, and ensuring more information is provided as to what additional costs could be incurred.
The investigation has seen online travel agent P&P Associates Ltd, as well as price comparison website companies Affordable Car Hire Ltd and Flexiblecarhire.com Ltd, commit to ensuring all compulsory charges are contained within quotes.
Now, things like fuel surcharges, additional fees for young drivers and out-of-hours pick up charges must be included in the initial quotes.
Following an investigation launched by the CMA to find out whether certain websites were complying with consumer protection laws, they deemed that improvements needed to be made.
An industry-wide review of comparison sites reportedly found that some sites advertising low rental hire costs were not actually including all the costs in the quotes. As a result, consumers were left paying more given the full information was not readily available right at the start.
Thanks to the CMA, a year on from the investigation, 30 leading websites now have transparent prices for thousands of car companies and destinations. As a result, consumer confidence can be high now that people are genuinely getting a good deal and are not being misled.
As well as the additional information in the quotes for compulsory charges, the information provided by the companies must also include information about deposits, insurance excesses, fuel charges and what the insurance actually covers.
Why this is important
Transparent pricing is hugely important in today’s digital shopping age.
Many people like me will flick through several sites and comparison companies to find the best and cheapest deal, so if the first prices we see are not the accurate prices, people can easily be misled.
By the time you hit the checkout section, who would bother to start the whole process again and try and find a better deal? I expect many people would assume that the additional charges that end up getting tagged on at the end may be applicable for other sites, and that is the primary issue with non-transparent pricing.