Spanish consumer association joins Which? to denounce hire-car companies' petrol policies

[Janet]

The Spanish consumer association OCU (Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios) has joined forces with its British counterpart, Which?, to draw attention to car hire companies' illegal practice of requiring drivers to buy a tank of petrol, without the price being stated either in the initial offer or in the contract, and, indeed, in some cases, of charging well over the market price for the fuel forced onto consumers.

Which? reported in 2012 that the phenomenon was widespread in Europe, but with Spain producing a greater number of complaints than anywhere else. Now, the two consumer organizations are acting together to demand information from the Spanish consumer authorities so that measures can be put in place to protect drivers from such sharp practice. OCU spokeswoman Ileana Izverniceanu said that they hoped the Spanish authorities would investigate and punish any business using illegal practices.

OCU invites any consumers who have been the victims of any abusive hire-car practices to tell them about the incident HERE before 31 August. JA

[Nova]

They should all let customers just return the cars with the same amount of petrol it had in when they took it.  In my opinion any other arrangement is, if not abusive itself, inviting abuse from unscrupulous companies.

[Michael]

There was a consumer type programme on TV about this a few months ago.

It would seriously have put anyone off hiring a car in Spain.