Lawsuit filed against Executive Car Rental for breach of settlement

Following Executive Car Rental’s (ECR) breach of its settlement agreement with the Michigan Department of Attorney General, Attorney General Dana Nessel last Friday filed a lawsuit against the company, seeking injunctive relief and damages.

“Despite ECR’s agreement to change its practices, the company continues to use the same deceptive and illegal tactics that got it into trouble initially,” Nessel said. “Today, we are seeking to put an end to these practices and ensure no consumer is taken advantage of by this company again.”

Nessel’s department began taking a closer look into the company xzin November 2018 after receiving a steady volume of complaints from Michigan and out-of-state consumers, most of which related to damage deposits of at least $250 not returned on a timely basis or withheld altogether.

The department issued a notice of intended action in January after interviewing several of the complainants and obtaining supplemental documentation.

In March, ECR entered into a settlement agreement for nearly $40,000, and reimbursed most of the affected consumers. ECR agreed it would no longer charge deposits on vehicle rentals and that it would implement a process for the inspection of a car before the rental process was completed. Nessel’s monitoring of agreement compliance revealed ECR has failed to uphold its end of the bargain by continuing to charge and withhold deposits from consumers. ECR is also alleged to have not complied with the agreement’s requirement that it implement a pre-rental inspection procedure — leading to on-going disputes about whether vehicle damages were caused by a customer or were pre-existing.

“Businesses have an obligation to follow our consumer protection laws if they want to do business here,” Nessel said. “When they don’t, I’m making it abundantly clear that the Michigan Department of Attorney General will seek to hold them accountable.”