Discount Car & Truck Rentals to pay $700,000 over misleading advertising

OTTAWA – Discount Car & Truck Rentals Ltd. is paying a $700,000 penalty after reaching an agreement with the Competition Bureau over misleading advertising about its prices.

Following an investigation, the federal agency found that Discount advertised rental prices that were unattainable due to mandatory fees that were added during the purchasing process.

It also determined that advertised rebates suggesting consumers would get a discount on their total bill were not applied to mandatory fees.

In addition, various fees described as mandatory government taxes or surcharges were in fact imposed by the company to recover costs.

Discount is the fourth vehicle rental company to conclude agreements to address so-call drip pricing, which has resulted in a total of almost $6 million in penalties.

The others are Avis/Budget, Hertz/Dollar Thrifty and Enterprise.