Cheap looking rent-a-car companies that feed off Portugal’s airports are to be regulated by ANA which is fed up with customer complaints and a lack of income from unlicensed operators.
The cowboys that operate from premises outside the airport area are going to have to pay fees to the airport operator in return for properly designated space in which to conduct their business as well as signage in the arrivals area.
The new set of rules devised by the French owners of airport management company ANA will be discussed "with all stakeholders" in the coming days but will come into force on April 1st anyway, according to ANA’s Luís Vaz.
The regulations will establish fairer competition between the off-site operators and the traditional rent-a-car companies which pay a fee to ANA for their mini-offices at the airport, either a fixed rate or a variable rate depending on turnover. These legitimate on-site companies suffer high costs while observing, with increasing annoyance, unregulated and unlicensed car rental merchants escaping fees and able to undercut on price.
The ‘low cost’ rental operators are now faced with paying ANA Airports between €10 and €17 per car rented. ANA says that in return these operators will receive a specific car parking area flagged for rental vehicles and customer reception facilities and signage placed in the arrivals area.
All cars rented by ‘low-cost’ operators both on the airport premises and outside the perimeter will have to be pre-booked on pain of stiff financial penalties. This does not apply to the legitimate companies operating in the terminal or those in designated zones in the carpark.
"They can not come to the airport hunting for clients," said Vaz.
The new ANA charter also will ensure that all ‘low-cost’ companies operating at the airport have the correct license to operate a rental business and that their fleets are below a certain minimum age.
Luís Vaz claims that the ‘low-cost’ car rental companies will benefit from this raft of regulations as customers will now receive a better services from a properly marked area from which to rent their cars.
The ANA administrator claimed that the new fee structure for unlicensed car rental companies is not intended to benefit the existing licensed operators at airports, he claims "there is room for everyone."
Next step is to improve the commercial behaviour of the frequently disingenuous, callous and margin-obsessed on-site rental companies that do pay for the priviledge of ripping-off and deliberately confusing tourists with unforeseen added charges, complex fuel policies and insurance scams.
Check out Goldcar's unique customer service standards at
