Keep Flogging Those Rental Cars

The Supreme Court of Connecticut yesterday held that a rental car company's policy of charging their customers' bank accounts and/or credit cards if the GPS system in the rental car showed the driver was speeding did not constitute legitimate damages for violating the rental agreement. Every time a car rented to a customer exceeded 79 mph, the rental company took $150, As the court (via Justice Borden) wrote: "a customer would have to travel more than 1,070 miles at high speeds, without decelerating below 80 miles per hour, to cause $150 of excess wear on the vehicle." The state AG concurred:

'You cannot secretly track drivers' speeds and gouge them under the guise of
safety or vehicle expense,' Blumenthal said. 'No logic or law warrants a private
company ambushing consumers with a $150 fee for exceeding a random speed limit.'

So, road warriors of the world, continue to abuse those vanilla Oldsmobuicks in the pursuit of driving excellence. No mention from the court if it's decision would cover automatically withheld damages if the renter and friend took the car to an SCCA rallycross and returned it afterwards (after removing the embedded clumps of dirt, of course).