Hertz Canada and Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Canada have agreed to pay $1.25 million after the Canadian government’s Competition Bureau investigated their advertising.
Canadian law requires fair advertising
The bureau’s mandate includes promoting truth in advertising and discouraging deceptive business practices. It applies the Competition Act, a law governing these issues with provisions for civil and criminal penalties if it is contravened.
‘Mandatory fees’ found to be misleading
The Competition Bureau found that the two car rental companies were advertising “enticing low prices to attract consumers.” But when customers came in they would systematically add “mandatory fees” they claimed were taxes or surcharges imposed by various governments. But, in fact, the fees were imposed to “recover part of their own cost of doing business.”
Agreement to improve advertising
These extra fees were found to have boosted the price of the car rentals by as much as 10 to 57 per cent.
The bureau’s news release says the companies also agreed “to ensure their advertising complies with the law and to implement new procedures aimed at preventing advertising issues in the future.”
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