Who ever paid U-Haul $ 19.95?

Everyone has seen the price that is written wholesale on U-Haul trucks: $ 19.95. But everyone knows it never costs that.

It is true that below, it is specified “plus km / expenses”. So, we are not really surprised to find ourselves with a bill of $ 75 after having transported his sofa to the brother-in-law who lives 20 minutes away.

Regardless, a class action request discreetly filed last year has just been accepted by the Superior Court.

The fact that consumers know they will have to pay more than $ 19.95 before signing the contract “is irrelevant,” writes Judge Pierre-C. Gagnon in his decision. “The prohibited practice,” he adds, “previously occurs when the consumer sees the ad. In other words, the problem is in the way the tariff is written on the trucks, however it is understood.

This is exactly what claims Mathieu Charest-Beaudry, of the Trudel Johnston & Lespérance firm, which is leading the case. In his view, the U-Haul truck lessor “used a scheme that violates section 224 (c)” of the Consumer Protection Act (LPC). This stipulates two things: a business cannot charge a higher price than the advertised price and the advertised price must include the total amount that the consumer will have to pay.

Since June 2010, in Quebec, a merchant can no longer announce a fragmentary price and then add fees that were previously unknown. The legislator’s goal is to make it easy for consumers to compare the prices of the goods they buy.

Does that remind you of another issue in the news?

Eh yes ! Section 224 (c) of the LPC is also the one that is mentioned in these two recent requests for collective action which target a total of 157 car dealers. These would charge fees of all kinds that are not included in the price displayed, especially on their website, as I recently wrote.

Read “54 most targeted auto dealers”

Obviously, the decision in the U-Haul case “is encouraging” for lawyer Jimmy Ernst Jr. Lambert of the Lambert law firm, who is hoping to clear the class action claims against the dealers. “It’s the same principle. In all cases, it is impossible to obtain the good at the displayed price and in all cases, the customer is attracted to, subsequently, add costs. ”

It must be said that it is not every day, or even every year, that collective actions go ahead when it comes to price display. In fact, it is “very rare”, specifies M^e Lambert, because almost all cases are settled out of court. This was the case for Airbnb and Ticketmaster, among others.

The last famous case is that of Air Canada, which the court agreed to hear… in 2014! However, it remains topical since the trial is due to begin in spring 2022.

At the time, remember, the advertised price was then inflated by fees of all kinds, whereas today it is the other way around. The Air Canada site shows us the total price, and to know the precise composition, we are invited to click on a link.

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In its defense, U-Haul agreed that a Quebec consumer would never manage to lease a motor vehicle for $ 19.95.

But the company argued that “$ 19.95” is not an “advertised price”, but rather the “initial base rate”. She concedes that, if there is an advertised price, it is “$ 19.95 in town (plus km / expenses)”, which announces an accumulation necessarily greater than $ 19.95, summarizes the Court’s decision. superior.

According to Justice Gagnon, “it is a false antithesis to oppose“ advertised price ”and“ initial base rate ”and U-Haul invokes a legal concept that the LPC does not recognize “.

For the moment, we do not know how many Quebecers are affected by this collective action. The Trudel Johnston & Lespérance firm hopes that the landlord U-Haul will be ordered to reimburse the difference between the advertised price and the amount actually demanded, in addition to paying punitive damages.

If the most famous truck rental company loses, it will also have to consider a colossal chore of painting its vehicles to make all the “$ 19.95” disappear. And find a new selling point.