Affordable Car Hire has formally issued its response to US court action by Avis Budget by lodging a counter-claim for $15m.
Affordable’s lawyers allege pricing errors and breach of contract in response to legal action filed in the US against the company by Avis Budget earlier this year.
Initial court papers filed by Avis claim Affordable owes $2.2 million.
In its counter-claim, Affordable alleges Avis Budget tried to ‘decimate’ its business, increased rates without Affordable’s knowledge and incorrectly issued invoices for 15,000 bookings over a 17-month period.
Affordable CEO Angela Day said: "This is the first stage. Our lawyers will then put forward all the supporting evidence. It’s likely to go on for 12-18 months."
Day said she has been heartened by continued support among the trade since news broke of the Avis Budget action earlier this year.
"The support from the travel trade has been amazing," she said.
"A lot of agents have come back on board with us over the last few weeks. The consortia have been fantastic and so supportive. We’ve had some really nice well wishes.
"Now we’ve been able to put forward our side of the story, we would like to underline to our trade partners that it really is business as usual."
