The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been looking into the short-term car lease market since last year, and the investigations have now come to a head.
Last month, the review into the practises of five major car rental companies came to a conclusion. The review had been conducted by the EU Consumer Protection Co-operation Network, which is coordinated by the CMA. Big-name firms have previously agreed to undertakings, and further changes to online booking processes are now set be made.
The review has been a follow-on from the big 2015 action involving Avis-Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz and Six. Regulators considered that more could still be done to ensure that some EU-facing websites were complaint with important consumer laws.
New undertakings made in the short-term car lease market
The CMA has outlined the new undertakings that have been agreed to as part of the reviews into the short-term car lease market.
For Centauro Rent-a-Car, the undertakings include:
- Clarity over prices and total costs for the full rental periods, where surcharges and additional fees for groups like young drivers are included in headline prices;
- Providing more information about optional extras and guarantees, as well as legal requirements in destination countries for things like car seats and snow chains;
- Providing more information about fuel costs.
Another company, Record Go, also provided additional undertakings as follows:
- Displaying the correct currency for the display prices;
- Providing more information about surcharges and additional fees for groups like young drivers are included in headline prices;
- Providing warnings about legal requirements like car seats in their terms and conditions.
Source: CMA.
It’s all about price clarity
The reviews and undertakings in the short-term car lease market are all about price clarity. The consumer needs to be able compare real prices and real costs in order to be able to make an informed decision.
It’s easy for companies to display prices that are then subject to additional fees. The reviews and subsequent undertakings are about ensuring the full information is more easily available, and are all welcome moves.