False advertising lands Enterprise Rent-A-Car with $1M fine

February 26th, 2018  |  Canadian Business

National car rental service Enterprise Rent-A-Car Canada has been fined $1m after it was accused of false advertising.

The Competition Bureau discovered that services advertised to Canadian consumers across various media and online were not available at the price stated, resulting in customers being forced to pay higher prices.

Enterprise’s additional mandatory fees were discovered to result in advertised prices almost doubling- elevating anywhere between 6% and 46%.

The investigation into Enterprise follows similar action taken over the last three years against other big names in the car rental industry. So far, the Bureau's work has led to a total of $5.25 million in administrative monetary penalties against the three largest car rental companies in Canada.

In June 2016, Avid and Budget paid a penalty of $3m and in April 2017, Hertz and Dollar Thrifty paid a penalty of $1.25m. The Bureau concluded in both situations that the way some of the fees were described implied they were mandatory government taxes or surcharges, hiding the fact they were actually optional fees decided upon by the company itself.

Each of the penalties are registered with the Competition Tribunal and become a part of the government’s general revenues.

"I commend Enterprise for collaborating with the Bureau to reach a resolution that ensures truth in advertising,” said John Pecman, Commissioner of Competition. “Consumers will now be able to trust that the prices they see advertised are the ones they will pay, and won't be surprised by extra fees."