Romanians believe EU car rental companies discriminate

Romanians are reportedly finding it increasingly difficult to rent cars when they travel to other European Union countries, as some car hire firms appear to be hesitant to do business with them, out of fear that they will not return their vehicle at the end of the rental period. The Kronika, a newspaper published in the Transylvanian city of Cluj, reported that “several dozen” Romanian citizens were turned down by rental firms in Western Europe and the European Parliament has also been notified of this apparent discrimination. Marius Popitiu, who lives in the Transylvanian town of Temesvar, was the first to raise attention to this apparently prevalent form of discrimination. Popitiu pointed specifically to Hertz and claimed that the international car rental giant discriminated against Romanians.

Popitiu planned a short trip to Belgium and reserved a rental car online, before departing from Romania; he also made a down-payment on the vehicle at the time of booking. Yet upon arrival, Popitiu was notified by Hertz that he would not receive his requested vehicle, due to “internal regulations.” Popitiu, however, believed that the only reason for this rejection was his nationality; apparently, Hertz has found that in the past several of its Romanian clients “forgot” to return their vehicle at the end of the rental period.

Upon hearing of this situation, Magor Csibi, a Romanian member of the European Parliament, sent a written complaint to the European Commission, after Hertz refused to loan a car to the parliamentarian’s personal secretary, who was also a Romanian citizen. It is, however, doubtful that the European Commission will be able to do anything about these concerns, other than to point out that current EU laws prohibit ethnic and racial discrimination.

www.hertz.com