Budget to impose ‘no show’ fee to car hire customers
The Avis Budget car rental group has taken the decision to take car hire customer’s credit or debit card details so they can impose a fee for people who book a rental car but don’t show up to collect the vehicle. A letter which was sent out to Budget’s customers in August explains that the company, one of the largest car hire vendors in the world, wants to provide customers with a similar service to airlines and hotels and this includes charging customers in the event of a ‘no show’. The new rules will give Budget the option to take a reservation charge from a customer’s bank account.
The new charges will apply to all of Budget and Avis’ customers who don’t cancel their rent a car within a 24 hour period. A spokesman for the car hire company said that the terms were being implemented so the company could catch up with others in the travel industry.
Budget has said it doesn’t expect much opposition to the new charges as travellers are used to paying charges if they don’t turn up to use a hotel room or fly on an airline.
The charge is around €40 for customers who fail to cancel their car hire within the 24 hours before the rental was to begin.