“Blank checks” drag car rental agency managers to court

The Public Prosecution at the Ain Sebaa Criminal Court is looking into the files of those accused of accepting “blank checks” as guarantees, after managers of car rental companies in the economic capital were involved in imposing guarantee checks on their customers in exchange for enabling them to enter into car rental contracts for short terms.

Informed sources reported that the follow-up was launched against the agency managers after one of the customers was surprised by filling out the details of a blank check signed by him for an important amount of money, the value of which exceeded 70 thousand dirhams (7 million centimes), after the car he had purchased earlier this year was involved in a minor accident. The driver estimated the value of the damages and included the aforementioned amount in the check in order to obtain compensation for the damage to his car.

The same sources added that the customer was unable, during his negotiations with the car rental company, to convince him to return the check signed in blank, in exchange for repairing the car or paying the real value to compensate for the damages it sustained, stressing that the customer stuck to his position and did not inform the customer to fill out the details of the check, while threatening to deposit it in his account. The banker, in order to collect cash, then the customer takes legal action against him because he accepted a check as a guarantee.

Fouad Meliani, head of the National Syndicate of Car Rental Agencies in Morocco, confirmed his union’s refusal to impose driverless car rentals on customers with signed blank checks as guarantees, explaining that it is preferable, in light of the lack of a permanent solution to the problem of risks and guarantees in the sector, to request a financial guarantee within limits. “Franchise” insurance, i.e. between 5,000 dirhams and 7,000 dirhams, paid by bank card, bank transfer, or even by check, on the basis of its return after receiving the car at the end of the rental period.

Meliani stressed, in a statement to Hespress, that a practice such as imposing blank checks originates from employees who have no connection to the sector, stressing that this type of behavior constituted a motive during the negotiations to prepare the new discount book, which entered into force a few days ago, noting that the new restrictions were imposed. The manager of the car rental agency must have two years of experience, accompanied by a declaration from the Social Security Fund, in order to avoid any management imbalances in the future.

From a legal standpoint, it is expected that the manager of the car rental agency and the customer will also be punished, as Chapter 544 of the Penal Code stipulates that whoever “issues or accepts a check on the condition that it is not cashed immediately, and that he keeps it as a guarantee, shall be punished with imprisonment from one to five years, and a fine of five hundred.” To five thousand dirhams, provided that the fine is not less than the value of the check.”

In the same context, Article 316 of the Commerce Code stipulates that “the holder of the check who neglected or did not pay the check shall be punished with imprisonment from one to five years, and a fine ranging from 2,000 dirhams to 10,000, with a value not less than 25 percent of the amount of the check or of the amount.” Every person who knowingly accepts or endorses a check shall provide supplies for the purpose of paying it when it is presented, provided that it is not drawn immediately and that he keeps it as a guarantee.