Car rentals, Antitrust fine to Avis and Hertz for unfair terms

The Antitrust Authority has fined the car rental companies Avis Budget Italia, Hertz Italiana, Centauro Rent a Car Italy, Green Motion Italia, Noleggiare and Drivalia Leasys Rent for more than EUR 18 million in total for vexatious clauses. According to the Authority, the six companies were imposing 'an unjustified fee on customers for handling fines and omitted parking or toll payments'. The Authority also ordered the removal of these clauses from the contractual forms 'because they can cause a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of consumers'.

The Authority contests the clause, contained in the contractual documentation adopted by each company and published on their respective company websites, which provides for the obligation of the car lessee to pay a lump sum to handle the administrative case related to each fine imposed for a traffic infraction or failure to pay parking/parking fees during the rental period. The additional amount provided for in the clause - regardless of the qualification adopted by each company (such as "penalty" or "service charge") - "is not justified in the light of the fulfilment of the obligations incumbent on the contracting party in the event of a fine. The car rental companies, in fact, only have to transfer the customers' identification data to the body that assessed the infringement," the Antitrust Authority explained in a note.

"The unjustified nature of this fee also emerged irrespective of the specific amount applied by the company and due to the automatic nature of the charge on the consumer's credit card, on the basis of pre-authorisation provided at the time of signing the rental contract," the Garante further specified. At the end of the assessment of vexatiousness, each company is obliged to publish an extract of the measure on its corporate website. Moreover, as a result of the entry into force, from 1 February 2022, of the new sanctioning powers attributed to the Authority on the subject of vexatious clauses - according to Law No. 238/2021 and Legislative Decree No. 26/2023 - each company has been condemned not only to pay a pecuniary administrative sanction, but also to remove the clause from its contractual documentation.