(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Owners of car rental offices are urging authorities to devise a system to prevent thefts of luxury cars and to penalise customers for breach of trust
Days after the Dubai Police arrested three suspects and recovered 10 luxury cars allegedly stolen by them — two of them valued at over Dh1 million — the Dubai Police have asked car rental offices to cross-check credit cards offered by customers to ensure that people who are renting such expensive cars have enough money in their accounts. Managements of car rental offices however opined that this is not a practical solution.
Ali who works at a rental car office in Dubai said the police proposal for using credit cards to prevent car thefts may be reasonable but it will not prevent smuggling of cars to neighbouring GCC countries.
“The best solution is to retain official documents” he suggested. He said the Economic Department however recently warned rental agencies against holding passports or identity cards of customers to avoid fines or being referred to the Public Prosecution. “A need for keeping documents is being felt because owners of car rental companies face issues such as car thefts non-payment of rents and non-payment of traffic violations.”
He said the police proposal cannot be implemented due to some factors that have been experienced by car rental offices. “We should be allowed to keep passports — just like in hotels — to ensure that customers pay up” he said.
Nabeel from Hay Al Mansour Rent a Car said checking credit cards is not a solution. “Visitors from many countries coming to the UAE do not use credit cards ... During certain seasons majority of people who rent cars are visitors” he said.
“We have to rent out our cars even without credit cards because we are running a business and have to pay monthly installments to banks.”
He said often visitors and tourists do not have ID cards. “I think car rental offices should be allowed to take the passports of tourists at least to ensure that their luxury cars are not stolen.”
Some tourists steal rental cars by using forged documents. Recently two veiled Arab women deposited a stolen passport and made off with two cars according to Nabeel.
In many instances the cars are never recovered because thieves dismantle them to sell them.
Preventive measures
Nabeel said the police have designed a specific programme for car rental offices to monitor their cars trace and find wanted people but this is yet to be implemented. “We had proposed that the police should not allow people renting luxury car to leave the country.”
Most car rental offices have started to use GPS systems to monitor their cars.
“We have started installing tracing devices and using GPS to trace our luxury cars” said Nabeel. “Whenever we see that the car has gone closer to the border industrial areas and other certain places we alert the police if we feel something is not right.”
Al Fatih Siddiq from Dorman Rent a Car said they rent out luxury cars only to known customers. “We avoid renting cars to people who look suspicious or do not provide enough guarantee.”
Majid A Yousef from Zabarah Rent a Car in Sharjah said “We have been instructed to rent out luxury cars against Dh500 advance payment which is not enough to prevent thefts. So we have started using GPS to trace our cars ... If the thieves take the car to certain places for repair or to dismantle the tracking devices we receive a message instantly.”
Hassan from Al Faner Rent a Car said the police do not allow them to register cases against customers for failure to pay traffic violations. “We have accumulated traffic violation fines of Dh30000” he said. “We have proposed to the police to register violations on the licence of the person to ensure that the person who rented the car will pay.”
Ahmed from a rent-a-car office in Dubai said sometimes customers don’t pick up the phone if there is a delay in returning the rented cars. “When we go to the police to lodge a complaint the police ask us to prove that the car has been stolen.
“We urge police and other security officials to exert efforts to monitor borders and routes that are used by smugglers.”
Dubai Police proposal
Major-General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina Commander-in Chief of the Dubai Police said rent-a-car offices are not taking preventive measures and should cross-check the identity of customers.
He said car rental offices have also been asked to cross-check credit cards and ensure that those renting such expensive cars have enough money in their accounts especially when prices of some of the cars are around Dh500000. They should not rent luxury cars without a guarantee he suggested.
Maj-General Al Mazeina revealed that the Higher Committee for Security Affairs is planning to submit a proposal to the Strategies and Police Committee presided by Lt-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior regarding an amendment to the legal requirement that in case of a refusal of payment by rent-a-car customers the case be limited to a civil case rather than a criminal one.
He said this is useful as the relationship between the parties concerned is governed by a civil contract. He said the proposal was drafted following an increase in complaints from car rental offices which lease cars for small sums without taking adequate precautions.
He also said local car rental offices are not following international standards. “The credit card is the best guarantee and the offices should ensure that the card is owned by the person and is not fake.”
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