AFIA and its Rental members – Avis Budget Group, Hertz, Europcar, Thrifty, East Coast Car Rentals, Sixt, Bayswater Car Rental and Redspot / Enterprise – released a national Car Rental Code of Practice on 1 March 2018.
The AFIA Car Rental Code of Practice can be found here.
AFIA Rental Group members make up a significant proportion of the Australian car rental industry and have committed to delivering enhanced protections for their customers. As the Australian body for car rental companies, AFIA developed the Code to provide greater transparency and enhanced consumer confidence around car rental practices, on a national scale.
The Code ensures an industry standard is set and met on a wide range of issues, including transparency of pricing and credit card charging practices, rental contract terms and damage assessment and billing. This is supported by a clear process to allow customers to raise complaints with our members where they should be resolved in a timely and fair manner. On those occasions where customers may want further consideration following a member’s decision, a further conciliation process is provided.
For more information about the conciliation service, please view the Car Rental Conciliation Service form below.
See Media Release for more detail.
Car Rental Code
Code compliant members
Car Rental Conciliation Service
If you have exhausted a participating car rental provider’s dispute resolution procedure and remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the review, you can lodge a complaint via our online conciliation service. The Australian Car Rental Conciliation Service will review the evidence from your complaint against the Code and provide an impartial decision. To lodge a complaint, please complete the online form below.
AFIA, together with its Rental Group members, see the Code as key to reinforcing consumer confidence by ensuring the industry undertakes open, fair and honest dealings with customers, providing assurance that they can expect the highest level of professionalism and integrity when using an AFIA member.
Reflecting the scope of the Code, the conciliation service can only consider complaints relating to rental cars from code-compliant members. No other types of rental vehicles are covered by this Code.
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Rental car companies that are Members of AFIA have committed to comply with the AFIA Car Rental Code of Practice.
The Code provides for a conciliation service to be available for a customer that has had a matter relating to the Code decided by the Member’s internal dispute resolution process but may want further consideration if not satisfied.
As the Code is membership-based, the Conciliation Service can only look at matters that relate to disputes arising from the activities of AFIA Members covered by the Code.
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The Conciliation Service only has jurisdiction to determine whether charges related to a rental that occurred in Australia from one of its Members were correctly applied.
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Customers that have rented a vehicle from an AFIA Member, and have had their complaint considered by the Member’s internal dispute resolution process but are not satisfied with the outcome, can lodge a complaint by completing the form available below.
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AFIA may consider complaints related to any vehicle rented to customers by its members.
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AFIA will give written notice to both parties to the dispute of its decision. If your complaint is not upheld, then you will be advised of the reasons why.
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There is no further review or 'appeal' process through the Conciliation Service once a final outcome has been provded to the complainant.
Using this service does not affect your statutory rights and you are free to seek a legal remedy through the courts.
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No, customers can use the Conciliation Service free of charge.
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complaints that occurred prior to the commencement of the AFIA Car Rental Code of Practice, and Conciliation Service on 1 March 2018;
complaints deemed to be frivolous or vexatious;
complaints where court proceedings have commenced or are subject to review by another dispute resolution service;
complaints against car rental companies that are not members of AFIA, or signatories to the Code, given they have no obligation to adhere to the Code’s standards;
complaints relating to rentals which took place outside of the Australia;
complaints relating to the quantum of the amount charged;
complaints related to personal injury matters;
complaints related to the method or cost of repairs to a vehicle.
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AFIA aims to provide both parties with its findings and recommendations with 30 days of receiving a completed complaint form.
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We review all comments and documented evidence from both parties, and make our decision based on the material provided.
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Please contact rentalcar@afia.asn.au for all complaint enquiries.
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Where the outcome is favourable to the customer, we will look to ensure that any unjustified charges incorrectly raised by the Member are refunded in full.
AFIA has no jurisdiction to award compensation payments against its members.
FAQs
Financial difficulty
If you are experiencing difficulty in meeting your financial obligations to your car rental provider, you should contact them as soon as possible.
If you tell your provider that you are experiencing difficulty in meeting your financial obligations to them, they will work with you in good faith and in accordance with our policies to assist you to meet your ongoing financial obligations to us.
Our car rental members will treat you fairly, respectfully and consider your specific circumstances. They may also initiate contact to discuss your financial situation.