Using GPS to Spy on Car Renters

By Shellee Smith
NBC NEWS
Aug 28, 2002

WHEN GENELLE and Art Rohe rented a car for a trip from Arizona to Texas last November, they expected to pay about $200. They didn’t notice that the fine print called for much higher fees if they left the state, but when they returned the rental car to Tucson, the bill was more than $2,000.

“I just went, ‘huh,’” says Genelle Rohe. “I didn’t know what else to say. I was just numb.”
So what happened?

“She said, ‘Our tracking records show you had this car in Texas, at a Motel 6,’” says Rohe.

That’s right. Budget Rent-a-Car in Tucson, an independent dealer separate from the well-known national company, had a record of their entire trip.

Using GPS, the global positioning system of satellites, Budget can pinpoint the location of every vehicle equipped with a receiver and charge customers extra when they leave Arizona without permission — a provision that few customers notice in the contract, and at a price that shocked the Rohes.

“Who would reasonably expect to return a vehicle on time, undamaged, and be presented with a bill for [up to] $7,000?” says Lynne Trenery, an attorney representing the Rohes.

Three dozen former customers are suing the Tucson Budget, charging invasion of privacy and fraud. Genelle Rohe says that no one ever told her that there was a GPS system on board.

NBC News decided to see what Budget in Tucson is telling its customers. When we mentioned driving to California, we did receive a warning.

“If you go into Nevada,” said the agent, “You’ll be charged a dollar a mile because it wasn’t on the contract.”

The National Budget Corporation says it only uses GPS to recover missing vehicles, and does not endorse Tucson’s policies. The Tucson franchise declined an interview.

Privacy advocates acknowledge the use of GPS technology in rental cars is legal, but the issue for consumers is disclosure.

“They should tell the customer up front, if you drive from Buffalo to Toronto, we’re going to know it and you’re going to be subject to this penalty,” says Stephen Keating of the Privacy Foundation.

New York tried to ban the practice after a Connecticut rental firm used it to track drivers for speeding, but the legislation failed.

Now, when the Rohes rent a car, they ask if there is GPS on board. They learned the hard way that if Big Brother is watching, it could cost you.

Source: http://www.msnbc.com/news/800536.asp?cp1=1#BODY

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