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Have you rented a U-Haul truck or van in recent years? If so, you may have noticed that your final rental cost was significantly more than the initial advertised price. This illegal marketing practice, used by other companies, including Airbnb, has been alleged in a new proposed class action lawsuit Canada.
If you entered into a lease contract with U-Haul in Quebec since Nov. 18, 2017, and paid more than the amount initially advertised, excluding the GST and QST or other taxes, you may be a potential Class Member in this new class action lawsuit.
U-Haul Accused of Breaking Consumer Protection Laws
Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA) prohibits merchants from charging more than the advertised price and imposes an obligation on merchants to ensure that consumers are sufficiently informed of any facts that are important, the complaint notes. The CPA also prohibits merchants, such as U-Haul, from misleading consumers by offering them the prospect of prices lower than the prices they will ultimately pay.
However, the U-Haul class action lawsuit argues that the defendants have adopted several schemes to advertise rental vehicles at prices that are lower than the actual price consumers end up paying.
“have adopted several schemes in the context of vehicle rentals in order to give consumers the impression that they have access to rental prices that are not, in reality, the prices they will ultimately have to pay.”
As a result of these alleged “schemes,” consumers cannot know the exact price they will have to pay when they see the price advertised for vehicle rentals. In fact, the complaint underscores, “the actual price is always higher than the price initially advertised” by U-Haul.
The U-Haul class action lawsuit condemns this behaviour and argues that U-Haul systematically violates consumer protection laws “by announcing, on their website, on their mobile application, as well as in various advertisements and announcements, prices lower than the price ultimately charged for the rental of cars, vans and trucks.”
The representative plaintiff, Benjamin Viot, is seeking to put an end to this “harmful practice” and receive a rental price reduction equivalent to the amount exceeding the advertised price as well as punitive damages.
U-Haul: The Five Step Process
Upon first opening U-Haul’s website, a photo of a truck with a price advertisement of $19.95 for a truck rental accompanied by the words “local moves from $19.95 plus mileage/fees” appears. However, this advertised price is typically much lower than what consumers will end up paying.
There are five steps involved in renting a U-Haul truck or van. These steps consist of submitting U-Haul rental criteria, upon which an initial price is provided, choosing usage dates, insurance and other features.
According to the U-Haul class action lawsuit, it isn’t until the fifth step that the total amount of the rental truck is revealed showing details of the charges, which now include an additional amount for “environmental charges.”
Customers then continue with the booking, but no amount is charged at the time of booking, claims the U-Haul class action lawsuit. The rental fee is paid only once the vehicle is returned by the customer, when the number of kilometres is known.
The fee is systematically higher than the initial estimated price as well as the widely advertised $19.95, argues the U-Haul class action lawsuit.
The class action claims that regardless of whether a consumer sees a price advertised for the first time on a truck, on U-Haul’s website or mobile application, U-Haul systematically fails to advertise the full price.
U-Haul’s advertised prices, according to the U-Haul class action authorization request, do not include environmental fees, which are added to any vehicle rented. Additionally, for vehicles advertised at $19.95, and contrary to advertising claims, the base price varies, especially when demand is high. Finally, the advertised prices do not include the charge for each kilometre travelled by the consumer, even though this price per kilometre is an integral part of the price of the U-Haul rental.
Similar Practice, Different Company: Airbnb Settles Over Service Fees
Following a three year class action lawsuit, Airbnb settled a Quebec lawsuit that alleged the company violated the CPA by advertising prices on its platforms but adding additional charges at checkout. The Airbnb class action lawsuit was filed in August 2017 in the Superior Court of Québec. Charging the extra fees at the checkout stage is a similar practice to the one U-Haul allegedly uses, and has been condemned by consumers across the province.
Have you rented a truck or van with U-Haul? Have you been charged more than what was advertised? Share your story with us in the comments below!
Potential Class Members are represented by Hadekel Shams S.E.N.C.R.L., Grenier Verbauwhede Avocats inc. and Trudel Johnston & Lespérance.
The U-Haul Class Action Lawsuit is Benjamin Viot v. U-Haul Co. (Canada) Ltée et Wet Team Associates, inc., Case No. 500-06-001104-203, Before the Superior Court of Québec, District of Montreal, Canada.
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6 thoughts onU-Haul Accused of an Illegal Advertising Scheme in Class Action Lawsuit
I rented 3 uboxes in BC for a relocation to ON in August 2021. Ridiculous system but I had to do it again in April 2022 for the remainder of my household. I thought I would only need one ubox but the way the movers packed it required me to rent an additional box. The manager of the Uhaul office in Surrey BC stated there would be an additional delivery charge and (obviously) and then the charge for the ubox itself. Absolutely, I understand this. What I did not expect was that my original invoice with the $1257 for the first ubox would disappear from my account and then both uboxes were upcharged to more that $1500 each and additional delivery fees beyond what would be reasonable AND they delivered to Quebec but charged me for an additional province distance before it arrived at my home. And, they were late by 10 days but they harrassed me for my credit card number for the “7 days late” charge of $350 so I had to dispute that and every interaction with them has been nuts. No one knows what is going on there. No one has confirmed I was overcharged by almost $1400 plus 10 days late charge for the delivery. From April 22, 2022 until today, August 4, 2022 nothing has been resolved EXCEPT that they say they do not agree with my dispute but want to know which credit card to apply the $500 late fee to! Never, ever would I use or recommend uhaul because of the issues noted and their lack of transparency. I hope they all get diarrhea in traffic.
Same here. Rented a U-Haul in Ontario for a very short drive and then was charged well over $100. And that was after they failed to have a truck available at the location agreed on.
Uhaul had rented me a storage unit in Sacramento for approximately 5 years and they had a relative of ownership living in his storage unit repairing bike right next to me. He was there 24/7. I took pictures of the storage unit before I moved in and when I moved out, the nails were replaced on the same sharing side as the bike guy and half of my property was missing! Uhaul failed to do their own investigation and believed the false stories told by that property management. This happened in 2015 and ever since, myself and anyone affiliated with me can NO LONGER RENT FROM UHAUL under their “E-Alert” (even after a they accept the reservation). I feel totally violated after giving consistent business for over 4 years and having my property stolen from someone they allowed to live out of the storage unit next to mine (so I suspect), but I feel discriminated against for their refuse of business towards me, my friends and my family members after I have give them over 15 years of business based on my total use of their services thus far. Uhaul should be shamed of themselves!
I always had a problem with their $19.95 rate which is extremely misleading. By the time you are done for not even half a day and 12 miles you end up paying over $70.00
Why isn’t this in Ontario I would so join U-Haul as screwed me three or four times in the last few years
This happened to me actually I was charged triple plus the extras and a deposit. They do it because people have no choice but to move from their current residence so most of us have to pay that money cause there isn’t anyone else to help you move. So UHAUL takes advantage of as many people as they can knowing this.