‘Excessive speeding’ in rental car costs B.C. man $1,000: tribunal decision

A steering wheel and speedometer is seen in this undated stock photo. (Malte Luk/Pexels.com)

A driver has been ordered to pay a $1,000 penalty for “excessive speeding” while in a rental car, according to B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal.

Rod Julazadeh rented a 2022 Chevrolet Camaro from U-Save Car Rental Vancouver in the summer of 2024, a decision posted online Friday said.

The company filed a claim with the tribunal seeking damages for breach of contract, pointing to a document the driver signed when he rented the sports car.

“The contract included an additional page titled ‘Performance Rentals.’ This page says the vehicle has a GPS tracking device that monitors high-risk driving, including speed. It also says that this type of behaviour would be recorded and drivers fined $1,000 plus damages per incident,” tribunal vice-chair Kate Campbell wrote, in her decision.

The company also submitted an image from a dashboard display showing the vehicle had been driven at a maximum speed of 211 km/h.

Julazadeh argued the image did not have enough details for it to be used as evidence he was speeding during the rental period, but the tribunal disagreed—based mainly on the time stamp. Given the speed was recorded before the car was returned to the agency, the tribunal found it more likely than not that Julazadeh drove the car at a speed of 211 km/h.

The driver also argued the terms of the contract were too vague to be enforceable because neither “speed” nor “excessive” were precisely defined.

Again, the tribunal disagreed.

“I find that 211 kilometers per hour is objectively high-speed driving,” Campbell wrote. “I find this because it is significantly higher than any legal speed limit in Canada.”

Julazadeh’s final argument for why he should not have to pay was that a private business does not have the authority to fine a person for speeding.

“He says only governments may impose such penalties,” the decision said.

Campbell found the $1,000 was not a fine for violating laws against speeding, but rather a charge the company had the right to levy.

While the rental company was not entitled to impose a fee to “punish the person who breached the contract” it was entitled to include a so-called “liquidated damages clause” in the rental contract, according to the decision.

“Liquidated damages are meant to compensate for monetary losses that are otherwise hard to calculate,” Campbell wrote.

“I accept that the high-risk driving behaviours set out in the contract, including speeding, hard cornering, and fast acceleration and deceleration, may cause excessive wear and damage to the car that is not immediately visible.”

Julazadeh was therefore ordered to pay the company $1,000 in damages plus $125 as compensation for tribunal fees.