Goldcar is fined again

Goldcar complaints

Despite the fact that Goldcar – after receiving their first fine in 2017 – promised to do better, the Italian authority kept receiving complaints about their aggressive commercial practices. Most complaints were regarding:

Forcing liability insurance on people
Goldcar uses multiple misleading sales arguments in order to force consumers to take out supplementary insurance. And when the consumer declines the offer? They’ll be confronted with a massive security deposit. A deposit that is often even higher than the consumer’s allowed credit card limit.

Cost allocation for damage
Consumers that do not to take out this insurance despite the pressure put on them, are confronted with unjustified damage costs. This “damage” is established randomly.

Charging for micro damage
The car rental company unjustly charges for damages that are not included in the inspection report of the vehicle. Goldcar employees call it – when picking up the rental car – micro damages. That is why it does not have to be recorded, according to employees. However, when returning the rental car they change their mind and charge the consumers after all.

Inquiry into aggressive sales techniques

In 2017 Goldcar already received a fine of € 2,000,000 for the same aggressive and misleading sales techniques. Authorities decided to look into Goldcar again because of the many complaints from consumers. During this inquiry it came to light that the car rental company changed nothing about their sales methods the past year.