鈥淭he UK trade body for companies engaged in vehicle rental, leasing and fleet management,鈥?as it states on its website, the BVRLA represents the vehicle rental industry, not its customers. As it also states on its website, it operates a 鈥済overnment-approved Alternative Dispute Resolution service.鈥?Since it represents the vehicle rental industry, not its customers, you won鈥檛 be surprised to learn that, according to statistics from its website, in 2019, 64 percent of its Alternative Dispute Resolution cases were resolved in favour of its members, not its customers. This is all the less surprising, because, in my own bitter experience, the BVRLA 鈥?unlike UK law courts – allows its members to cancel bookings and withhold deposits without stating a reason for doing so, libel its customers behind their backs to the BVRLA in the process and ignore customer complaints about such conduct, before finding in favour of its member while (in my case) stating, 鈥淲e understand that when you arrived at the branch discussions took place which then resulted in you not receiving the vehicle you had pre-booked, we hope you can appreciate we are unable to comment on these conversations.鈥?Oh, and 鈥?again in my experience 鈥?if your vehicle rental company thus defrauds you out of your deposit, the last people you can expect any sympathy from is the police; the BVRLA鈥檚 Alternative Dispute Resolution service is 鈥済overnment-approved鈥?after all.
If that weren鈥檛 enough, the BVRLA maintains a database of information which it happily shares with its members and the police about persons whom its members deem to be a 鈥渞isk鈥?to other BVRLA members. As Laura (surname not supplied), from the BVRLA, informed me:
鈥淎ny member who uses the BVRLA RISC database must state, on their terms and conditions, that data can be shared with the BVRLA, Police etc. The customer will be aware, having read the terms and conditions prior to signing/purchasing a rental that should they breach the terms of their rental agreement, their information may be shared with other companies (via the RISC database) or the Police in order to lower risks to other BVRLA members when renting.鈥?br />
She added:
鈥淏est practice is for the rental company to let their customer know that they have added their details to the RISC database, and a letter template is provided for them to be able to send to their customer.鈥?
For 鈥淎lternative鈥?in 鈥淎lternative Dispute Resolution,鈥?read 鈥渓aw-avoiding.鈥?The British vehicle rental industry: use at your own very considerable risk.
