Malta International Airport has begun legal proceedings to evict a car hire company that has left a trail of angry customers in its wake. The airport’s subsidiary company, Airport Parking Limited, claims its reputation is being damaged by its association with Smart Car Rentals.
It follows myriad complaints about “abusive and potentially fraudulent” behaviour from the company.
The company and its predecessors have had a contract with the airport’s parking arm that dates back to 2020. In January, Times of Malta reported how Smart Car Rentals Malta was offering rental cars for prices far below typical market rates while hundreds of former clients flooded review sites with negative experiences.
Some clients alleged that, despite paying a pre-established price online, they were hit with unexpected additional charges when they went to pick up their hired car.
Others claimed that the company withheld hefty deposits over damage – such as scratches – they were not responsible for while others said there were attempts to intimidate them into paying for wear-and-tear issues such as clutch damage after driving the car for a short while.
'Various shortcomings, complaints from guests'
A spokesperson for MIA confirmed with Times of Malta that, after issuing two warnings to the company, following “various shortcomings and multiple complaints from guests”, the airport sought to terminate its lease with Smart Car Rentals in 2022.
However, Smart Car Rentals has resisted this eviction and sought a warrant of prohibitory injunction, which it successfully obtained from the courts. In the meantime, it continues to operate from Park East while proceedings are ongoing.
In legal filings seen by Times of Malta, MIA said that Smart Car Rentals had, on multiple occasions, breached rules by parking vehicles outside of designated parking bays, including in pedestrian passageways and, subsequently, removing the cars in an unauthorised manner.
On one such occasion, the airport said that Smart Car Rentals had removed the tyre from a vehicle that had been clamped and drove the car out of the parking lot without paying the penalty to release the vehicle.
Clients complained that alleged “abusive and potentially fraudulent” behaviour threatened to damage the airport’s reputation due to its association with Smart Car Rentals, they said.
“These complaints are, in fact, one of the reasons on the basis of which the appellants reserve the right to terminate the lease, as stated in the contract,” they said.
The lease in question was originally drawn up between Airport Parking Limited, a subsidiary of MIA, and Surprice Car Rentals Malta on September 1, 2020.
This was later amended to reflect the fact that the company had changed its name to GRM Car Rentals, which, in turn, assigned its lease to Smart Car Rentals on January 31, 2022.
On November 4 of that year, the airport sent a notice informing Smart Car Rentals that it was terminating their lease, citing a breach of specific clauses in their contract.
In their application, Smart Car Rentals argued that the reasons the airport had cited to terminate the lease were unfounded and were further invalidated by the airport continuing to make requests for the payment of rent.
Two 'final warnings' sent
The airport had sent two “final warnings” to the company, one on September 5, 2022 and another on September 13, 2022, but the applicants persisted in their behaviour and continued to breach the rules, they said.
“Faced by this situation and despite having made every reasonable attempt to make opportune warnings to the applicants, the appellants had no other choice but to terminate this contract.”
The clause cited in the contract, seen by Times of Malta, states that the lessor (in this case the airport) is entitled to terminate the lease agreement if the lessee (Smart Car Rentals) fails to abide by any provision in the contract and if such failure to comply continues for a period of 10 days after the lessor is served a notice in writing.
The clause further expands that this includes “more than one complaint in any lease year by any customer(s) of the Lessee which relate to unfair, unethical and/or allegedly fraudulent conduct or practices by the Lessee, irrespective of whether these are received directly by the Lessor or made publicly or brought to the Lessor’s attention”.