Rental speed fines 'illegal'

22 February 2002: A US car rental company that has levied more than $13,000 in speeding fines on its customers has been ordered to repay the money to the offenders.

Acme Rent-A-Car in New Haven, Ct, used the GPS systems in their rentals to monitor speeds used by their customers, and 'fined' them $150 per breach of limits.

But the Connecticut state consumer protection commissioner has decreed that it is not a car rental company's job to enforce speed limits and says the fines were illegal.

Some 26 customers were levied with the fines before one decided they should be challenged. James Turner complained that the company withdrew $450 from his bank account while he was on a trip to Virginia in a rented minivan. The company said Turner was speeding on three occasions.

February 2002