Argus Car Hire Raising Price if your Irish

thomasm

Looking to book car hire for France in May, Argus one of the few sites that do the size car we need at the airport we are flying into (Perpingnan). Got a price from comparasion site travelsupermarket.com which took me to the argus site and went to book it. When I entered I was from Ireland and not the UK the price was requoted and went up by £30 sterling. Queried this with Argus and was told it’s to do with insurance. I asked them did they deem Irish drivers a greater risk and they said no but still cited this as the reason for increase.

My question is can they charge me a greater price because I'm from Ireland.

cgarvey

t's not just that they're charging Irish VAT, is it? I.e. when you say you're from Ireland to you then get served by Argus Ireland (with 23% VAT)?

dudara

Probably better suited to the Motors forum

dudara

dr.fuzzenstein

Not sure if they can do this.
When I insured a car here, many years ago, I was told my premium would be loaded by 20% for having a "fordeign" licence.
I inquired with the insurance ombudsman and was told that this was in fact illegal.
Went back to the insurance company, who immediately backed down, apologised and gave me the insurance for the correct price.
I think no insurance company in Europe can load your premium if you have a licence from another EU state, don't know how that relates to the rental market, but this sounds like a try-on to me.
Their thinking might be that the UK is a huge market, they have to offer the best possible price, but Ireland is such a small country, just tell them it's more expensive and if they don't go for it, no big loss.
I'd query that.

dahamsta

Ask for a supervisor and threaten to report them to the European Competition Commissioner. Worth a shot.

Wheelnut

Charging people according to which part of the EU they come from is probably contrary to every* EU statute you can find!

(*slight exaggeration but you know what I mean)

thomasm

Spoke to a supervisor on the first call I made and she said she would look into it. Told her I wanted to book the car at the same price as a UK customer and for her to come back to me with a solution for doing this. She left a voicemail saying she couldn't do this and started to explain the difference in prices but just stopped mid sentence. I called back to speak to her and she refused to take my call and the guy on the phone told me if I did not agree to finish the call he would cut me off. He told me to take my grievance to an email address he provided.

Re some of the comments above the price change can't be explained by differing VAT rates and what little knowledge of European consumer law I have has me thinking the comment re differing prices must be some way true.

I send them a mail but don't expect much. Avoid this shower would be my advice

dahamsta

If you want to follow up on it and get an actual response, send a registered letter to the Company Secretary, and CC it to the Irish and EU competition commissioners. They'll reply quick-smart to that.

dr.fuzzenstein

Re the VAT rate, you're doing business with them in France, so the French VAT rate should apply, no matter where you call from.
If I buy something online in the UK, Germany or here in Ireland, the domestic VAT rate applies, not the one in the country you're calling from as long as you're in the EU anyway, AFAIK.

Del2005

Sounds like you need to contact the European Consumer Centre this sounds just like remit.

Problem Areas


Charges for damages on return
A consumer's credit card is charged, without prior notification, for alleged damages.
Additional charges
The price quoted does not include all charges, which are not optional, and the consumer has to pay more than expected when collecting / returning the car (location surcharge, insurance, fuel).
Car rental distribution websites
Inaccurate information is provided by the car rental distribution websites about the terms &conditions of the partner car rental companies (age restrictions not explained, wrong opening hours, wrong type of vehicle or different cost of extras and insurance).

thomasm

Found this which seems applicable to my laymans interpretation. Will work this into an email

Chapter 2, Article 5, Part 2B of the prohibition of unfair commercial practices from DIRECTIVE 2005/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL states that a commercial practice shall be unfair if 

"it materially distorts or is likely to materially distort the economic behaviour with regard to the product of the average consumer whom it reaches or to whom it is addressed, or of the average member of the group when a commercial practice is directed to a particular group of consumers. " 

ValerieR

While I can't comment on the surcharge for having a 'foreign' licence (strange one - not fair if it is the case), Argus.fr is not a car rental company. It's a website that compares the various car rental companies and through which you can book a car.
Maybe you can try and book directly with the rental company ?
V

Bigcheeze

I thought insurance companies were exempt from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, etc so I don't see what the problem is with loading Irish residents with a risk premium.

As a group, the insurers know that the Irish will have more accidents. I've seen rental companies put a higher minimum age requirement on Italian residents.

thomasm

Bigcheeze wrote: »

I thought insurance companies were exempt from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, etc so I don't see what the problem is with loading Irish residents with a risk premium.

As a group, the insurers know that the Irish will have more accidents. I've seen rental companies put a higher minimum age requirement on Italian residents.

Is that based on a fact or statistic you are aware off. Not trying to be smart or anything like that, genuinely curious. I'm referring to the bit about Irish drivers having more accidents

Bigcheeze

thomasm wrote: »

Is that based on a fact or statistic you are aware off. Not trying to be smart or anything like that, genuinely curious. I'm referring to the bit about Irish drivers having more accidents

I don't have a source to link to but if insurers are loading premiums for Irish drivers then it would be based on statistics.

Anecdotally you only have to compare the driving standards in Ireland with other countries (motorways, roundabouts etc) to see why Irish drivers are more risky.

colm_mcm

Aren't we the 5th safest in europe now?

cadaliac

Bigcheeze wrote: »

I thought insurance companies were exempt from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, etc so I don't see what the problem is with loading Irish residents with a risk premium.

As a group, the insurers know that the Irish will have more accidents. I've seen rental companies put a higher minimum age requirement on Italian residents.

+1
I'd say the same actually. I would imagine that Irish drivers have a higher premium due to calculated risks taken by the insurance company. Those "calculated" risks will probably not be discussed with the client, but a more broad statement like given to the OP.
It's got nothing to do with eu law IMO but if you puse the issue you might have a case .........maybe.......