Court rules against car rental company using GPS

The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that an "excessive wear and tear" penalty charged by a car rental company is illegal. A number of people who had rented cars from Acme Auto were charged US$150 for the excessive wear and tear that their rental cars suffered while the renters drove them over the speed limit. Acme's setup was clever. They equipped their vehicles with GPS systems and then set them up to notify the company each time one of the vehicles was driven at least 80mph for more than two minutes at a time. Each time, the company charged the customer's credit card. Buried deep in the fine print of most of the rental contracts was a clause stating that "vehicles driven in excess of the posted speed limit will be charged $150 per occurrence" because of the supposed damage it caused the car. However, there was no mention of GPS or other means by which vehicle speed would be monitored. Read More | ARS Technica