FDD Items 3 & 4 · 2024 filing
Budget Rent A Car litigation history
What Budget Rent A Car disclosed about lawsuits, arbitrations and bankruptcy in the 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 3 lists the material legal actions a franchisor must report; Item 4 covers bankruptcy. This is the franchisor's own disclosure, not a court record, and not legal advice.
Items 3 & 4 at a glance
What the filing discloses
- Cases disclosed
- 2
- Item 3, as counted in the filing
- Largest disclosed settlement
- $34.0M
- As stated in Item 3
- Bankruptcy (Item 4)
- None
- Franchisor, parent, predecessor or officer
- Filing year
- 2024
- Disclosures cover the prior ten years
Extracted from the 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document
Item 3: litigation
Two pending civil cases: (1) Bacon et al. v. Avis Budget Group/Payless Car Rental (D.N.J., 2016) - class action re fraudulent counter sales; (2) Valli v. Avis Budget Group (D.N.J., 2014) - class action re speeding violation fees/consumer fraud. One FTC Consent Order (Docket No. C-4212) effective until January 2, 2028 regarding fuel charge disclosures. Multiple concluded cases involving settlements.
Disclosure signals that moved the score
How this shows up in the verdict
- Multiple pending class actions for consumer fraud and deceptive practices indicate systemic operational or marketing issues
- Labor law litigation and contractor misclassification claims suggest HR/compliance risk for franchisees
The verdict grade is FranchiseVerdict's editorial assessment across SBA loan performance, unit growth, revenue and disclosure signals. It is not investment advice.
Before you weigh a lawsuit
How to read Item 3
A franchisor must disclose pending actions and any material civil action involving the franchise relationship, plus convictions or civil judgments for fraud, unfair or deceptive practices, or franchise-law violations, going back ten years. A case the franchisor brought against a franchisee counts too. Item 3 does not include every dispute: settled claims below the materiality line and matters resolved in private arbitration can be absent.
Questions worth asking current and former franchisees, using the contact list in Item 20:
- Were you, or anyone you know in the system, party to a dispute with the franchisor?
- Was it resolved by settlement, arbitration or a court, and on what terms?
- Has the number of disputes gone up or down since you signed?