The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and 2030 Agenda, led by Pablo Bustinduy, has imposed a fine of one million euros on the car rental company Avis for engaging in abusive practices.
Globally, Avis Budget Group is one of the giants in the vehicle rental sector with a worldwide fleet of more than 600,000 cars, approximately ~620,000 to 700,000 vehicles in circulation. In Lanzarote, Avis concentrates its key operations at César Manrique Airport, in addition to having drop-off and service points in the main tourist areas.
The company charged a fee of between 33.88 and 45 euros as administrative sanction management costs to customers who had been fined for a traffic violation while they had one of their vehicles rented.
Avis made this surcharge for managing the payment of the fine and communicating the identity of the offender to the administration, a task to which it is obliged by law, which is why Consumption considers it an abusive practice.
The Consumption resolution concludes that this clause is abusive because it violates articles 82, 87.5, and 87.6 of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users (TRLGDCU).
Specifically, it considers that it imposes the payment of a service on customers that corresponds to the fulfillment of a legal obligation of the company and establishes a disproportionate economic burden that breaks the contractual balance to the detriment of the consumer.
The resolution recalls that the identification of the driver responsible for an infraction constitutes a legal obligation of the vehicle owner, in accordance with article 11 of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety.
In the case of rental companies, this obligation is fulfilled by providing the Administration with the identity of the lessee or, where appropriate, the rental contract, so an additional cost cannot be passed on to customers for carrying out a procedure that the law imposes on the vehicle owner.
These practices have been considered a very serious infraction, appreciating the aggravating circumstance provided for in article 48.3.c) of the TRLGDCU, for persisting in a practice previously declared illicit.
In this regard, the resolution highlights that the Court of First Instance No. 1 of Vitoria-Gasteiz already declared this clause abusive by judgment of September 22, 2020, in which the nullity of various general conditions used by Avis was declared —among them the fine management commission— and the company was ordered to eliminate them, stop applying them in current contracts, and refrain from incorporating them in the future.
The file originates from a complaint filed by the Basque Consumer and User Association EKA/ACUV Euskal Kontsumitzaileen Alkartea (EKA/ACUV) and with this resolution it exhausts the administrative route, but it can be appealed in the courts.
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