On 11 August 2014, the European Commission (the "Commission") made public a letter that it had sent on 23 July 2014 to six international car rental companies operating in all EU Member States. The Commission letter urged the companies to stop using discriminatory practices against consumers booking a rental car online. The letter was sent after the Commission had received several complaints from consumers claiming that the car rental companies use methods to prevent consumers from securing the most attractive price for rental cars online.
The discriminatory practices concerned include (i) automatic rerouting once the consumer's IP address has been identified; (ii) preventing the consumer from completing bookings online on the basis of the consumer's IP address; and (iii) increasing the price once the consumer enters his country of residence on the website of the car rental company. The Commission points out that, for instance, a German consumer who wanted to rent a car in the United Kingdom experienced a price increase of 100% after he had entered his country of residence on the rental company's website.
The Commission emphasises that these practices amount to treating consumers differently depending on their country of residence, which constitutes an unjustified discrimination of consumers on the basis of nationality or residence in violation of Article 20(2) of Directive 2006/123/EC of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market.
In its letter, the Commission had requested the six car rental companies to confirm, within two weeks following the date of the letter, that they would review their practices in a comprehensive and effective way. However, as the Commission was not satisfied with the replies of three of the six car rental companies, it decided, in the interest of the consumers, to make the letter public.
Simultaneously with making the letter public, the Commission requested further follow-up from the car rental companies by 30 August 2014. In addition, the Commission announced that it will keep a close eye on the car rental industry and will take appropriate action if the car rental companies continue to breach the EU internal market principles.
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