VROOM Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3695 To protect consumers from overbooking by rental car companies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 25, 2023 Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. TRONE, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. BUDZINSKI, and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To protect consumers from overbooking by rental car companies, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vehicle Rental Order 4 Obligation Mandate Act’’ or the ‘‘VROOM Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROTECTION FROM OVERBOOKING BY RENTAL CAR 6 COMPANIES. 7 (a) PROTECTION FROM OVERBOOKING.—A rental car 8 company that fails to honor a reservation of a consumer 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3695 IH shall offer the consumer, and allow the consumer to choose 1 from between, each of the following: 2 (1) If such a vehicle is available, fulfillment of 3 the reservation, at no additional cost to the con- 4 sumer, through a covered rental vehicle of a class 5 that is more expensive to rent than the vehicle ini- 6 tially reserved. 7 (2) If such a vehicle is available, both— 8 (A) fulfillment of the reservation through a 9 covered rental vehicle of a class that is less ex- 10 pensive to rent than the vehicle initially re- 11 served; and 12 (B) an amount equal to the difference in 13 price between— 14 (i) the reservation as initially re- 15 served; and 16 (ii) the reservation as fulfilled pursu- 17 ant to subparagraph (A), as determined by 18 using the lesser of— 19 (I) the lowest available price of 20 such reservation as fulfilled had such 21 reservation as fulfilled been made on 22 the date on which the initial reserva- 23 tion described in clause (i) was made; 24 or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3695 IH (II) the lowest available price of 1 such reservation as fulfilled had such 2 reservation as fulfilled been made on 3 the date of fulfillment. 4 (3) An amount equal to 200 percent of the total 5 rental price of the reservation of the consumer, ex- 6 cept that in no case may the amount exceed $500 7 per day of the reservation. 8 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Commission may promul- 9 gate, under section 553 of title 5, United States Code, 10 regulations to implement this section. 11 (c) ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION.— 12 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 13 TICES.—A violation of this section or a regulation 14 promulgated under this section shall be treated as a 15 violation of a regulation under section 18(a)(1)(B) 16 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 17 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or 18 practices. 19 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.—The Commis- 20 sion shall enforce this section and the regulations 21 promulgated under this section in the same manner, 22 by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 23 powers, and duties as though all applicable terms 24 and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3695 IH (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and 1 made a part of this Act. Any person who violates 2 this section or a regulation promulgated under this 3 section shall be subject to the penalties and entitled 4 to the privileges and immunities provided in the 5 Federal Trade Commission Act. 6 (3) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in this 7 Act may be construed to limit the authority of the 8 Commission under any other provision of law. 9 (d) ACTIONS BY STATES.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which the at- 11 torney general of a State, or an official or agency of 12 a State, has reason to believe that an interest of the 13 residents of such State has been or is threatened or 14 adversely affected by an act or practice in violation 15 of this section or a regulation promulgated under 16 this section, the State, as parens patriae, may bring 17 a civil action on behalf of the residents of the State 18 in an appropriate district court of the United States 19 to— 20 (A) enjoin such act or practice; 21 (B) enforce compliance with such section 22 or regulation; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3695 IH (C) obtain damages, restitution, or other 1 compensation on behalf of residents of the 2 State; or 3 (D) obtain such other legal and equitable 4 relief as the court may consider to be appro- 5 priate. 6 (2) NOTICE.—Before filing an action under this 7 subsection, the attorney general, official, or agency 8 of the State involved shall provide to the Commis- 9 sion a written notice of such action and a copy of 10 the complaint for such action. If the attorney gen- 11 eral, official, or agency determines that it is not fea- 12 sible to provide the notice described in this para- 13 graph before the filing of the action, the attorney 14 general, official, or agency shall provide written no- 15 tice of the action and a copy of the complaint to the 16 Commission immediately upon the filing of the ac- 17 tion. 18 (3) AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—On receiving notice 20 under paragraph (2) of an action under this 21 subsection, the Commission shall have the 22 right— 23 (i) to intervene in the action; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3695 IH (ii) upon so intervening, to be heard 1 on all matters arising therein; and 2 (iii) to file petitions for appeal. 3 (B) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE 4 FEDERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commis- 5 sion or the Attorney General of the United 6 States has instituted a civil action for violation 7 of this section or a regulation promulgated 8 under this section (referred to in this subpara- 9 graph as the ‘‘Federal action’’), no State attor- 10 ney general, official, or agency may bring an ac- 11 tion under this subsection during the pendency 12 of the Federal action against any defendant 13 named in the complaint in the Federal action 14 for any violation of such section or regulation 15 alleged in such complaint. 16 (4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of 17 bringing a civil action under this subsection, nothing 18 in this Act shall be construed to prevent an attorney 19 general, official, or agency of a State from exercising 20 the powers conferred on the attorney general, offi- 21 cial, or agency by the laws of such State to conduct 22 investigations, administer oaths and affirmations, or 23 compel the attendance of witnesses or the production 24 of documentary and other evidence. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3695 IH (e) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person injured 1 by an act or practice in violation of this section or a regu- 2 lation promulgated under this section may bring in an ap- 3 propriate district court of the United States— 4 (1) an action to enjoin the violation; 5 (2) an action to recover damages for actual 6 monetary loss from the violation, or to receive up to 7 $1500 in damages for each such violation, whichever 8 is greater; or 9 (3) both such actions. 10 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 12 means the Federal Trade Commission. 13 (2) COVERED RENTAL VEHICLE.—The term 14 ‘‘covered rental vehicle’’ means a motor vehicle 15 that— 16 (A) has a gross vehicle weight rating of 17 10,000 pounds or less; 18 (B) is rented to a consumer for a term of 19 less than 4 months; 20 (C) is rented without a driver provided as 21 part of the rental; and 22 (D) is part of a motor vehicle fleet of 35 23 or more motor vehicles that are used for rental 24 purposes by a rental company. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3695 IH (3) FAILS TO HONOR A RESERVATION.—The 1 term ‘‘fails to honor a reservation’’ means, with re- 2 spect to a rental car company, that the company 3 does not provide a consumer, who has a confirmed 4 reservation for a covered rental vehicle (without re- 5 gard to whether the reservation was paid for in ad- 6 vance), a vehicle of the class reserved by the con- 7 sumer at the time for fulfillment associated with the 8 reservation. 9 (4) MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term ‘‘motor vehi- 10 cle’’ means a vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical 11 power and manufactured primarily for use on public 12 streets, roads, and highways, but does not include a 13 vehicle operated only on a rail line. 14 (5) RENTAL CAR COMPANY.—The term ‘‘rental 15 car company’’ means a person who— 16 (A) is engaged in the business of renting 17 covered rental vehicles; and 18 (B) uses for rental purposes a motor vehi- 19 cle fleet of 35 or more covered rental vehicles, 20 on average, during the calendar year. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Jun 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3695.IH H3695 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB