fqtv_kraven

While shopping for rental cars for their new promo I realized that the prices differ heavily depending on the country of residence.
Lets assume you would like to rent a car in Germany, as a German citizen. So you will get a price quote of around 80EUR for class C. Now, let's change it to a Spanish reaident. The same car with the same insurance etc included is now coming up at just 50EUR.

Since both are members of the EU and are bound to the EU Directive 2006/123/EC which state in article 20 chapter 20 that all prices have to be the same regardless of any EU nationality, this is illegal in my opinion.

On the Avis website directly there is no distinguishment between the cpintries, it is depending on the country in which you are looking for the price. But nobody will stop you booking a car on the Spanish website while you are living further north.

So, is it worth complaining or taking this up directly to the EU?

denkigroove

I've simply booked on avis.es for 57 Euro and will not complain about it.

craigthemif

First of all, you are making an error in logic between "residency" and "citizenship". You don't have to be a Spanish citizen, or resident for that matter, to use avis.es. There is no restriction against a German using avis.es therefore there is no discrimination against Germans.

Second. By your logic the price of a hotel (for example) on expedia.de must be identical to the price on a Spanish travel agency, say elcorteingles.es. Not only is this clearly untrue in many cases, but it would be price fixing and subject to heavy fines...

mickeyjaw

I'm not convinced that's an accurate take at all.

If you use avis.es or https://www.rentacar-iberia.com/ for example, the prices change based on 'country of residence' only, with everything else the same. That isn't the same as comparing two different businesses such as expedia and elcorteingles.

My past experience is that UK resident / Spanish resident have given the same 'number' for the price with the EUR/GBP signs exchanged - in other words the price was ~10-25% cheaper as a Spanish resident depending on the prevailing exchange rate.

If you look up article 20, section 20 of the above legislation, the wording is:

"Member States shall ensure that the recipient is not made subject to discriminatory requirements based on his nationality or place of residence."

So your point about the distinction between citizenship and residency is also moot...

craigthemif

You're not really getting it. Since a German can book on avis.es, as can a Brit, Canadian, Australian, Chinese, etc. there is simply no discrimination at all. For there to be actual discrimination, Avis would have to refuse to accept bookings on avis.es from Germans. Which they don't... I've booked cars stating whatever residency happened to come out cheapest, with no issues whatsoever and irrespective of my actual nationality, residence or driving license jurisdiction...

It is perfectly legitmate to charge one price through one channel and another price through a different channel, and as long as nobody is prohibited from booking though either channel, there's nothing for any authority to look in to.

Often1

The sole question is whether Avis Germany makes vehicles available to all EU residents, regardless of Member State, for the same price. Avis does. Thus, it has not vilolated any EU requirement.

It would be a violation if the Avis Germany site, when asking for the renter's address, declined any rental to an individual supplying an EU address outside of Germany.

mickeyjaw

Yes, anyone from any residency can book on Avis.es, but it does ask for your country of residence during the booking process and they discriminate on price based on this. Now if you say they are allowed to discriminate on price within the same channel so long as they don't refuse service then that would be a different argument that I might be prepared to entertain...

Yes. that is what I've done up until now but I imagine there's always the chance it will cause a problem at some point, especially if things don't go smoothly and I end up in a dispute over damage or similar.

As I said previously, it isn't two separate channels. It is the _same_ channel, and they are asking for your country of residency during the booking process in order to discriminate on price.

mickeyjaw

I don't know about Avis Germany, because I've never tried with them. But Avis Iberia _do not_ charge the same price to residents of different EU countries. Performing a couple of quick dummy bookings on avisiberia.es with the 'country of residence' set to different countries will quickly show this to be the case...

Enigma368

Have to side with the OP here, it sounds like you are not getting it. The site asks for your country of residence when booking and discriminates on price depending on the country chosen, even if the different countries are all EU member states. The OP is contending that Avis is discriminating on price based on what EU member state you reside in and that this is illegal.

Your answer seems to be: "well anyone can use that site and lie about their country of residence so it's fine". Having to lie to avoid illegal price discrimination does not excuse what Avis are doing, it is just a workaround. Many/most people will not realise they can get a better rate by doing this.

tobsw

The same happens with Avis-Flying Blue... it´s not unique to Avis Iberia.

craigthemif

You do realise that Big Macs cost a different price in Italy versus Germany versus France, etc. People seem to be saying that "residence" matters to the EU. No it doesn't. Citizenship matters. A German can't be discriminated against for being German. EVERYBODY living in Germany can be discriminated against for living in Germany.

Yes I see the basic point that changing residence on a car rental website can change the price and this might seem an irrelevant distinction. (although often there are subtle differences in insurance coverage) But I would be truly surprised if car rental companies hadn't determined the legal basis for doing so. For those who still disagree, they should take it up with the European Commission.

LupineChemist

Just to add, as far as I know, discriminating by residence is perfectly legal. You can't discriminate by citizenship. It's perfectly legal for some company to say the offer is only valid for Spanish residents. It's not valid for them to say only valid for Spanish citizens. There are many EU citizens that live in Spain exercising their freedom of movement rights and they would fall squarely under Spanish residents despite not being Spanish.

Even myself as a non-EU citizen falls into the Spanish resident only as the spouse of an EU citizen.

tobsw

Well I guess these guys have never booked a flight between the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, or Mainland Spain to the Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, because the price changes dramatically whether or not you a resident from these regions. In this case whoever, it is digitally checked whether you hold residency in these regions or not.

And it goes further, sometimes Expedia shows different prices whether it is .es .de .nl .ie ,......

Enigma368

Well Big Macs can cost widely different prices even within a single country. I think the argument the OP is making is that when it is something for sale online, that the price can not be different for residents of different EU countries. I don't know if he is right on the law or not, but it seemed like you were saying that you agreed that was the law, but you could lie about your residence so Avis was not doing anything wrong.

I only had a quick look but I did find this:

Regulation (EU) 2018/302 addresses unjustified on line sales discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence or place of establishment within the internal market... It also seeks to cover unjustified differences of treatment .. based on customers' nationality or place of residence, regardless of whether the customer concerned is present, permanently or on a temporary basis, in another Member State, or place of establishment.

It sounds like this regulation is not yet fully in force so that may be the issue. Or I may well be misinterpreting this regulation, I am most definitely not a legal expert.

source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018R0302&from=EN

sch7458

Normally, discriminating against place of residence is OK - but not on citizenship. But what you quote is really new to me. Maybe that's the reason you can now access Netflix EU-wide. I remember that this wasn't the case couple years back.