Winter tires should be mandatory for rentals, visitor says
Car-rental companies should have to put winter tires on all vehicles, says a visitor who recently drove along Prince Edward Island’s treacherous winter roads.
"I rented a car because I wanted to get to my cabin and I had to pay extra for snow tires. They don't come standard equipped on vehicles, which seems crazy to me," said Stuart Hickox.
Winter tires are not mandatory on P.E.I., but Hickox thinks they should be for rentals.
"You've got people coming from away who are unfamiliar with the roads. They're unfamiliar with the car because it's a new vehicle for them," he said.
"They're in a car that doesn't have snow tires, in extreme weather conditions. That sounds to me like a perfect storm of risk. Like somebody's going to die."
Hickox, who is from Ottawa, rented his care from Hertz.
Hertz says fee covers cost of winter tires
Hertz told CBC it has snow tires on 30 per cent of its vehicles, which is adequate for customer demand.
Hertz says it charges extra for winter tires because it costs more to buy, install and store them.
Hickox rejected that explanation.
"They're making money on the extra charge. It doesn't really cost them $20 extra a day to put a snow tire on a vehicle. It should just be on the vehicle," he said.
"Companies like this are not acting in the best interest of consumers and therefore it's incumbent on the government to say, 'No, we want the island roads to be safe.'"
Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers Association of Canada, agreed.
"That surprises me that the government is not taking notice of this and making it mandatory to have winter tires on vehicles," he said.
"It's our belief that rental car companies have a duty to provide a safe means of transportation."
The province said it reviews whether to make winter tires mandatory every year, but said it would be difficult to implement legislation just on rental companies.
The province also noted that a law on winter tires would be difficult because cars travel from province to province in the Maritimes.
