It is the largest financial penalty contemplated by law for a company that commits a very serious violation in consumer matters. The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 has imposed a fine of one million euros on the car rental company Avis for abusive practices. The company charged a fee of between 33.88 and 45 euros to those customers who had been fined a traffic fine while driving one of its rental cars for managing the payment of the fine and communicating the identity of the offender to the Administration.
In the department headed by Pablo Bustinduy, they remember that the company is obliged by law to carry out this management, which is why it considers this practice to be abusive. Specifically, it explains that it violates articles 82, 87.5 and 87.6 of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users (TRLGDCU).
From Consumption they understand that the rate sets a disproportionate economic burden that breaks the contractual balance to the detriment of the client. 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, they must comply with this obligation by providing the Administration with the identity of the lessee or, where applicable, the rental contract, so they cannot pass on to their clients an additional cost for carrying out a procedure that the law imposes on the owner of the vehicle.
These practices have been considered a very serious infraction when the aggravating circumstance provided for in article 48.3.c) of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users is appreciated, by persisting in a practice previously declared illicit.
There has already been a ruling in this regard from a court in Vitoria
Specifically, a resolution from the Court of First Instance No. 1 of Vitoria-Gasteiz already declared this clause abusive in a ruling dated September 22, 2020. It declared the nullity of various general conditions used by Avis, including this fee for managing fines, and ordered the company to eliminate them, stop applying them in current contracts and refrain from incorporating them in the future.
At that time, the judge considered illegal several points that the company included in its general contract conditions and that established the charging of a series of additional commissions for the management of fines, the processing of damages and for contacting the client if, when renting the car, they suffered an accident or were imposed a traffic fine.
The file was born after a complaint filed by the Association of Basque Consumers and Users EKA/ACUV Euskal Kontsumitzaileen Alkartea (EKA/ACUV) and with this resolution the administrative route has been exhausted, although the company still has the possibility of appealing it in court.
Avis Rent a Car, to which the Spanish subsidiary belongs, is one of the largest global mobility companies, operated by the corporate parent company Avis Budget Group. With a global fleet of more than 684,000 vehicles, it operates in 5,800 locations in more than 170 countries and employs more than 25,000 people worldwide. The group obtained an annual profit of more than 11.7 billion dollars, around 10.1 billion euros at the current exchange rate.
