Consumer authorities in 10 EU member states and Norway, co-ordinated by the European Commission, checked 78 third party car rental websites in April and May 2022, to verify that they were following EU consumer protection laws.

Following this, the CCPC and its Belgian counterpart, the Economic Inspection of the FPS Economy, informed Booking.com Transport Limited, trading as Rentalcars.com, that it was providing consumers with unclear — and in some instances misleading — information.

The agencies found that the Rentalcars.com platform misled consumers by stating that there was “No Insurance” included with car hire, when a minimum level of basic insurance is automatically included with a rental car.

They also ruled that contact information had to be improved so consumers would know which rental car company they would be hiring from.

Since early 2024, Rentalcars.com has made the following changes:

• The option “No Insurance” next to “Full Protection Insurance” has been replaced with “No additional insurance”, as there is always basic car insurance included with car hire.
• The default ranking is for “Recommended” offers. Rentalcars.com has now added a banner stating that commission paid on bookings and other factors may affect the rankings.
• Contact information for the car rental company head office and the pick up counter are both now easier to find.
• Contact information for Rentalcars.com is now also added to the footer of Ryanair Car Hire to make it more clear that consumers are not contracting with Ryanair. More clarifications were also added to the terms and conditions.
• The consumer information present on Ryanair Car Hire is brought in line with the information on the Rentalcars.com main site.

The CCPC and the Belgian Economic Inspection of the FPS Economy have been monitoring the implementation of these changes and have now concluded their work.

Kevin O’Brien, member of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, said: “The CCPC welcomes the changes made by Rentalcars.com to provide clearer information on its site.

“Consumers who choose third-party car rental websites are entitled to clear and accurate information to help them make informed choices.

“Businesses who mislead consumers should be aware that the CCPC and our European counterparts will take action to stop them doing so.”