Subject: Car hire in the EU
When hiring a car within the European Union, pricing can be unclear – for example there are often add-on charges such as GPS, return fees, administration costs and fuel service charges.
What action is the Commission taking to make pricing clearer and more transparent?
Does it plan to take legislative steps to increase transparency in this area?
Joint answer given by Mr Reynders on behalf of the European Commission (24 January 2020)
The Commission facilitated a coordinated action of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (1) (CPC) network on the five major car rental companies. In 2017, those companies committed to pricing transparency and clearer terms and conditions, including clarity on insurance and tank refuelling options, and more fairness when handling alleged instances of damage to vehicles.
In March 2019, the CPC network assessed the commitments made by the companies, and they committed to make all the necessary remaining changes throughout 2019 and at the latest by the first quarter of 2020 (2).
National authorities are responsible for the enforcement of consumer laws and the Commission is in regular dialogue with the Member States to ensure the effective follow-up of the implementation of the remaining changes by the car rental companies closely.
Although the companies involved in this action cover two out of three of all private car rentals in the EU, other traders, such as intermediaries and smaller companies play an important role in this market. As the Commission pointed out in its answer to questions E-006177/2018, E-006037/2018 and E-006196/2018, this makes enforcement more difficult, as all these operators should inform the consumer in a clear way on the main elements of the service as highlighted in the CPC coordinated action mentioned above.
⋅1∙ Based on art. 9 of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws. From
17 January 2020 the revised CPC Regulation ((EU) 2017/2394) will be applicable. ⋅2∙ For more information: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/consumers/enforcement-consumer-protection/coordinated-
actions_en#carrental
| | ) The Commission has recently procured a study to check how the main car rental intermediaries used by European consumers comply with EU consumer protection legislation. The results of this study should be available in the second half of 2020.