New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has issued a warning to car rental companies operating in the city, urging them to ensure transparency about pricing policies to customers.

Zohran Mamdani Touts 56 Summonses

In a post on the social media platform X on Wednesday, Mamdani said that his administration had issued “56 summonses from 62 inspections” across the city between May and July.

“We swept NYC car rental businesses to see if they were clearly disclosing their prices and posting refund policies as our laws require,” he said in the post.

Mamdani quoted a post by New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. “Renting a car shouldn’t trap you in a maze of hidden fees and shady policies,” Mamdani said. He also warned businesses to “tell people the real price” and post about their “policies clearly.”

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The city’s DCWP issued a statement on Wednesday, directing rental businesses to “honor all reservations within one-half hour of the reserved time at the reserved price, unless the consumer is told in advance that the reservation is not guaranteed.”

The department also said that businesses would need to put signs explaining the city’s Consumer Protection Laws and how to file complaints. If the reserved vehicle is unavailable, the business would need to “provide a car that seats as many passengers and meets the consumer’s needs.”

Bill Ackman Exits Hertz

Car rental service Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:HTZ) was recently in the news as Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman announced that the firm had exited its position in the company, offloading its approximately 15.2 million shares. The number made Hertz Pershing Square’s 10th-largest holding.

Hertz also posted its second-quarter earnings report earlier this month, reporting revenue of $2.4 billion, which illustrated a 10% YoY surge during the same period last year and exceeded Wall Street estimates of $2.28 billion. The company’s adjusted loss of 11 cents per share also surpassed the analyst consensus estimate of an EPS loss of 24 cents per share.

Meanwhile, Hertz rival Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR), according to Benzinga Pro data, was among the most heavily bet-against stocks by short-sellers.

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