In the ECC network report from November 2005 on car rental contracts it is mentioned that most of the car rental complaints received in ECCs concern amounts that consumers feel car rental companies have unjustly charged to the consumers’ credit cards. A typical situation mentioned is that the car rental company claims that the consumer has damaged the car during the rental period. The car rental company then just uses the credit card information it has received earlier to charge these extra costs.

We have recently been in contact with the Danish representative for some of the major credit card companies (VISA, Mastercard and Eurocard) and they explained to us that the credit card companies have special rules for dealing with car rental companies, especially when it comes to credit card charges after the car has been returned. The rules depend on what the car rental company wants to charge the consumer for:


Fuel, parking fees extension of rental period and other small amounts

Credit card companies accept that car rental companies can charge the consumer’s credit card with certain smaller amounts after the ending of the rental period. Typical examples are the costs for fuel if the consumer forgot to refill, parking fees that show up afterward, extra rent if the car was returned too late and things like that. However, the car rental company is only allowed to do this if the consumer has accepted this when signing the rental agreement.


Damages to the car, theft etc.

Car rental companies are not allowed to make withdrawals on the consumer’s credit card relating to damages to the car, theft of/from the car or other major costs, unless the consumer has explicitly accepted this after the damages/the theft has occurred. The fact that the consumer may have accepted this in the initial rental agreement is not sufficient. In fact, if a car rental company has terms and conditions stating that when signing the rental agreement the consumer accepts costs like this the terms are in violation of the rules of the credit card companies and the credit card company in question should be made aware of this so that it can take action against the car rental company.


RULES IN THE EU

Since these rules are not local Danish rules but international rules set up by the credit card companies a consumer anywhere in Europe, who has not accepted to pay for e.g. damages to the car but has been charged with the costs anyway, can ask the credit card issuer/his bank to return the money to his account. The consumer does not have to accept that the money is charged on the credit card and neither does the consumer have to prove to the bank/credit card issuer that the consumer has not caused the damage. Of course this does not solve the underlying problem, if the car rental company has a justified claim against the consumer, but it puts the consumer in a better position since he/she does not have to just accept the decision of the rental company. Instead it is up to the car rental company to prove its case the way this is normally done.

If a consumer, after damaging the car during the rental period, accepts that his/her credit card can be charged with the costs for the repair of the car, the car rental company has to send the consumer quite substantial documentation to prove that the charge to the consumer’s account is legitimate. Among other things the company has to send the consumer

• A copy of the rental agreement
• A document showing a price estimate of the repair costs prepared by an authorized repair facility
• Documentation that the consumer has accepted to pay for the damages with his credit card

Maybe some of you already know this but we hope the information can be helpful to some of you. This may be a much easier way to get the consumer his/her money back than arguing with the car rental company. In the future we will advise Danish consumers to have the bank return the money to the consumer and when we come across car rental agreements with illegal clauses as mentioned above we will inform the credit card company in question and our CPC-representative about it.