Rentalcars.com corrects consumer car rental information on its websites, following action by the CCPC and EU consumer protection authorities

A sweep of car rental platforms by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and its EU counterparts has resulted in the removal of misleading information by Booking.com Transport Limited, trading as Rentalcars.com. Rentalcars.com is a third‑party car rental website used by Ryanair Car Hire and Booking.com.

Consumer authorities in 10 EU Member States and Norway, coordinated by the European Commission, checked 78 third‑party car rental websites in April and May 2022 to verify that they were complying with EU consumer protection laws. Following this, the CCPC and its Belgian counterpart, the Economic Inspection of the FPS Economy, informed 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 needed to be improved so that 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 has also been added to the footer of Ryanair Car Hire to make it clearer that consumers are not contracting with Ryanair. Further clarifications have also been 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 that mislead consumers should be aware that the CCPC and our European counterparts will take action to stop them doing so.

The CCPC and the Belgian Economic Inspection of the FPS Economy are members of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, which is made up of the national authorities responsible for enforcing European Union (EU) consumer protection laws in EU and EEA countries. Under the Consumer Protection Cooperation framework, national authorities work together to effectively tackle widespread infringements of EU consumer law and review commercial practices of traders.