Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

Remember how credit cards had a bunch of consumer legislation passed a few years ago to protect consumers in the US?

And how airfare comparison sites are required by law to show full prices, not before airport fees etc. the way they did way back when?

It's time for the same kind of legislation to be applied to car rental companies, and enforced on reservation sites so their policies apply worldwide (e.g. when an American books a car to rent from Hertz in Spain, they can't resort to saying it's a foreign subsidiary the law doesn't cover). I'd say they're now the #1 source of sneaky fees and hidden upsells, even worse than banks, cell service providers, and internet providers at this point.

Surprise fees at time of booking should be illegal (e.g. "driving out of country"), and "extra processing" fees (e.g. for a toll with no choice) legislated to a reasonable level (e.g. $5 instead of $50) -- the same way credit card late fees are currently set by law. And toll transponders included in the base price in any country that has any roads where paying in cash is unavailable.

Where's the movement for this? Why aren't we all writing our representatives about this?

Why limit it to credit cards, airfare, and car rental? Why shouldn't this apply to every product and service sold, period?

Just a question of cost/benefit I think.

In long-established and stable industries like these, regulation can benefit the consumer and we can trust it will still mostly make sense five years from now.

But when industries are evolving quickly, nobody knows which regulations will actually create benefit or harm to consumers (law of unintended consequences) and by the time they're written they might already be out of date.

I agree with your principle, but I don't think transparent pricing is an item that should fall under that umbrella. It's just basic honesty.

The price you advertise is the price it sells for, otherwise you have committed fraud. Seems clear to me.

> Where's the movement for this? Why aren't we all writing our representatives about this?

There's no movement for this because the indignity of being ripped off a few dozen dollars once a year is not a strong enough incentive for people to organize.

Ripping millions of people off by a few dozen dollars, once per year, however, is a strong incentive for car rental places to lobby politicians to protect their business model.

I agree overall but "driving out of the country" shouldn't be a surprise fee (and it is often accounted for when you book your rental)

I have good experiences with rentalcars.com, both in US and various countries in Europe. Have not had any surprises in added fees.

They will ask you for extra insurance. Even when not taking that, they all have been reasonable when returning the car. (Although I do always take pictures before I get in).

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