Communauto targeted by class action lawsuit over pass expiry date

Communauto is the subject of a class action lawsuit. A car from its Flex service is pictured in this undated courtesy photo. (Communauto)

Communauto is the target of a class-action lawsuit. At the heart of the dispute, a customer and the car-sharing service have different interpretations of the company’s obligations regarding its passes.

The plaintiff alleges that the car-sharing service violated the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) by setting an expiration date on its passes, according to a claim filed in December with the Superior Court.

Communauto considers the offer in question to be a discount rather than a gift certificate, the company replied in an email.

The claim specifically concerns Flex 20 passes, which allow 20 trips of 30 minutes each. It targets people who purchased Flex 20 passes and were unable to use all their trips between Nov. 16, 2022, and March 3, 2025.

The plaintiff, represented by the law firm Faguy & Cie, complains that her unused passes were no longer valid one month after purchase. She believes that their expiration is in “flagrant violation” of the CPA.

She accuses Communauto of having “knowingly adopted this illegal practice or, at the very least, demonstrated ignorance, carelessness, and serious negligence with regard to consumer rights,” according to the petition.

“Communauto could not have been unaware that the CPA prohibits imposing conditions that result in the loss of prepaid amounts, particularly in relation to Flex 20 passes,” the lawsuit alleges.

The client’s lawyer, Shawn Faguy, declined a request for an interview because the case is before the courts.

For its part, Communauto sees things differently. It insists that compliance with consumer laws and rights is “an essential value” for the company. The Flex 20 offer should not be considered a gift certificate, according to the company.

“It is not a matter of paying in advance for a specific service (in this case, a trip), but rather of postponing the start of the billable period for a certain number of trips by 30 minutes,” wrote Marco Viviani, vice-president of strategic development, in an email.

“The trips remain billable,” he said. “However, they are billed differently.”

He pointed out that the Flex 20 offer became profitable for the user after 3.7 uses of 30 minutes. “That leaves a lot of leeway if you can’t use the discount 20 times in a month,” he said.

Initially, Flex passes had unlimited use and expired after one month. Communauto decided there was a demand for another package that was more limited but less expensive. It therefore added an offer with a limit of 20 uses.

“Since some users don’t need unlimited use, we designed a less expensive option with a maximum of 20 discounts that users can apply as they choose, while retaining the same features as the unlimited offer,” Viviani said.

Another change to the offer

Communauto modified the terms of use for its passes as of March 3, according to an email sent in February and viewed by The Canadian Press.

“You will now be able to use your passes for more than one month,” the company wrote to its customers. At the same time, the number of trips offered was reduced from 20 to 15.

However, the plaintiff accuses Communauto of leaving “its subscribers and other consumers with contradictory and ambiguous information” after this announcement.

On its website, Communauto was still stating on Tuesday morning that trips not used before the expiry date could not be carried over to the following month.

“The pass is valid for a specific number of trips,” the website stated. “Trips not used before the expiry date of a pass cannot be carried over to the following month.”

The information had been corrected when The Canadian Press consulted the site in the evening.

The plaintiff’s arguments have not yet been tested in court. The court will first have to decide whether to authorize a class action before ruling on the merits.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 6, 2026.