Dubai: Instances of non-payment for rental cars appear to be declining year on year, say Dubai Police.
But the caseload is still taxing police resources when the cases should be dealt with in the civil court, authorities said.
In the first six months of 2014, for example, there were 1,876 cases of non-payment by car renters to local car rental companies as reported to Dubai Police.
In 2013, Dubai Police recorded 3,082 cases of non-payment to car rental companies.
There were 2,510 cases in 2012.
Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Chief, said the cases would not have happened if car rental companies followed the same procedures and assurances that international car rental companies follow.
“Not even one of the reported cases is by an internationally operating car service company; all the cases are from small local car rental shops. Why? Because these international companies take precautions.”
He explained that those cases could have been avoided if the rental shop had taken the credit card information of the person renting the car to ensure that they get their money if the renter refuses to pay.
Most of the people involved in those cases are UAE residents and visitors from the GCC.
Another problem, he explained, is that those car rental shops not do not confirm the identity of the person renting the car.
“There were cases where people used lost and stolen driving licences and IDs to rent cars.”
He said in one such incident, police stopped a man at the airport because the car rental shop said he had rented a car and not returned it. Later, it turned out he had lost his driving licence months ago and reported it and it turned out that someone else had rented the car using his licence.
“This happened because the car rental shop did not confirm the identity of the renter. They only saw the driving licence; they should have asked for the Emirates ID to check if it’s the same person and also taken his credit card information to guarantee they will get their money,” Maj Gen Al Mazeina said.
This issue is not just in Dubai, Major General Al Mazeina said, it’s present all over the UAE.
He said to cut down on this phenomenon, economic departments in the country should put a system in place that those shops need to follow so they can get licensed. They must not deal with the case as a criminal case and seek the help of police, as these are civil cases as there is a binding contract between the two parties.
Major General Al Mazeina, who is the head of the Higher Security Committee, said he will propose at the committee’s next meeting that there should be an addition or modification to the law to specifically list these cases as civil cases. This proposal will then be reviewed by the Ministry of Interior for approval.
“Companies should take their cases to court, like any other breach of contract case,” Maj Gen Al Mazeina explained.
“Once a car rental shop takes the case to court and has to pay the legal fees and pay for a lawyer, the next time they will be very careful before renting out their cars and will take the required precautions,” he said.
Car rental companies are careless about the rules, Maj Gen Al Mazeina said, because they know that the police can get them their money back.
“But taking up civil cases is not part of our job, If there is a criminal case, like someone tampering with the contract, then it is our responsibility.”
“These cases waste police resources that can be used for other criminal cases. These cases are very expensive and take a lot of the police’s efforts and time and it’s not even our responsibility to handle them,” Maj Gen Al Mazeina said.
He said the police do not mind working the odd case, but thousands of cases are too much of a workload.
