Dec 30, 2007 10:28 am US/Central
Calif. Students Allege Rental Car Price Fixing
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
University of San Diego law students have sued seven large rental car companies, charging them with colluding to fix car rental charges across the state, it was reported Saturday.
The USD Center for Public Interest Law is asking for triple damages because the seven companies all raised their rates at the same time by the same amount, at a time that state regulations changed one year ago.
The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday that the suit was filed against the Avis, Enterprise and Hertz car rental firms, as well as four others.
Law students at the San Diego school surveyed car rental fees and found that all seven firms charged uniformly-higher rates before and after state laws changed - laws that should have resulted in lower fees.
The suit claims that the seven car firms used their membership in a tourism-promotion advertising cooperative run by the state to decide how to pass fees on to customers.
A spokeswoman for one of the firms said the suit appears to be without merit.
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