CarTrawler collaboration with CMA puts customers first

Jul 4, 2016

Dublin, Ireland, 4th July, 2016: CarTrawler, the leading online travel technology platform, is pleased to announce its collaboration with the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) in identifying and proposing key areas for improvement and compliance in the short-term car rental industry.

A member of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) since June 2014, CarTrawler has worked closely with the CMA and other industry stakeholders to develop new and improved industry standards for the car rental customer.

One of our aims is to be a market leader in customer experience, and it was a privilege to be involved in the shaping of industry guidelines. We have made a significant investment in understanding customers’ needs so that we can deliver the solution that is best for them. Demonstrating best practice and compliance underpins our company’s commitment to unparalleled customer satisfaction – which includes anticipating unmet customer needs as identified by the new guidelines.

Margaret Kearney, General Counsel at CarTrawler

The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries, as well as enforcing competition and consumer law.

The new regulations require all relevant information in seven key areas be clearly and prominently presented to customers. The CMA is allowing a period of several months until 1 January, 2017 to give industry partners time to make any necessary changes to bring their business into compliance. The new compliance requirements cover:

  • Young driver surcharges
  • One way fees
  • Fuel charges
  • Excesses
  • Pre-authorisation or deposits
  • Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) exclusions and warnings about the need for snow chains (which are a legal requirement in some countries in winter), and no guarantees for optional extras so consumers know in advance that they may not available.

About CarTrawler: CarTrawler connects business and leisure customers and online travel retailers with more road and rail transport solutions than they will find anywhere else. 95 international airlines and 2,000 travel retailers around the world trust CarTrawler to provide their customers with real-time access to over 1,600 leading and independent car rental agents, coach transfers, rail networks and chauffeur drive services at 43,000 locations in 195 countries. Its in-house booking engine gives it the opportunity to easily and quickly scale to accommodate customer demand. CarTrawler also owns and operates the Cabforce, Holiday Autos and arguscarhire.com brands. The company headquarters and Customer Centre of Excellence are located in Dublin, Ireland, with additional offices in Boston, London and Helsinki. CarTrawler is private equity backed by BC Partners and Insight Venture Partners. For further information, please visit www.cartrawler.com

About Competition & Markets Authority: The CMA is the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. For more information see the CMA’s homepage on GOV.UK. For CMA updates, follow us on Twitter @CMAgovuk, and LinkedIn.