The Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) imposed sanctions of 1 million euros and 700,000 euros respectively on Locauto Rent S.p.A. and Maggiore Rent S.p.A., for unfair business practices.
The "aggressive" conduct for which the two companies were sanctioned regards the manner in which these operators, leveraging the need to pay a high security deposit of which a consumer is informed at the desk when booking a car or picking up one of it booked online, induces the consumer to purchase ancillary insurance services that, by limiting the rented car’s damage and/or theft liability, reduces or eliminates the need for the aforesaid deposit.
In the cases investigated it was found that a particularly high security deposit was requested, so high as to reach (and even exceed in some cases) the limit on the consumer’s credit card, with the consequence of unduly affecting consumer choice in the purchase of accessory products, because obviously, the consumer tended to reduce credit card blocking. The preliminary investigation also revealed that consumers provide a guarantee for deductible rental car damages and theft already at rental time, by signing the specific delayed charge clause, which authorises the companies to withdraw charges from the customers' credit cards.
Furthermore, Locauto Rent S.p.A. was also sanctioned for an additional “aggressive” commercial practice consisting in having charged some customers for car damages not caused by them during their rental contracts. They were pre-existing damages caused by previous customers that had never been noticed before, and were consequently and automatically charged on the credit card given as a guarantee by later customers.
During the investigation, it came to light that Maggiore Rent S.p.A. voluntarily reduced the security deposit amount, limiting it to the cost of the rental (if not prepaid) and the fuel available in the car at delivery. For this reason, Maggiore Rent S.p.A. benefited from a reduction of the sanction.

Rome, 4 August 2017