Car rental advertising rules in the UAE, and the pages AI repeats

Rule two: what happens to the deposit

Circular No. 1 of 2024 from the Dubai Corporation for Consumer Protection and Fair Trade, part of the Department of Economy and Tourism, says deposits and credit card holds are returned within 30 days of the vehicle's return (Khaleej Times, 20 April 2025). Deductions cover traffic violations, vehicle damage and applicable administrative fees.

A deposit paid in cash or by card has to be refunded in cash or by bank transfer, with the company covering the transaction fees, and the circular stops companies charging extra for paying by credit card or payment app. Each of those points can be stated on a deposit page in one sentence, and each one answers a question renters put to assistants.

Rule three: prices, descriptions and discounts

Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection says an advertised price must not be misleading (Article 8), bans describing a service with incorrect data (Article 17), and forbids advertising a general price discount without a prior licence from the competent authority (Article 18). Its definition of an advertiser covers anyone who advertises through others, which includes the agency writing your pages.

In practice: a from price must match at least one car you really rent at that rate, a model page must describe the car you will actually hand over, and a percentage-off banner needs its permit before it goes live. Check the current permit route with the authority in your emirate before you run a promotion.

Who can rent: write the licence rules from the source

The Ministry of Economy's renting a car page sets the minimum age to rent at 21 and notes that some supercar companies require renters to be over 25. Visitors from GCC countries and from a listed group of countries can drive on their home licence, and for all other nationalities an international driving permit is mandatory.

Sources do not always agree: the Ministry page names 25 countries plus the GCC states, while a Gulf News explainer in December 2025 spoke of over 30 countries. Car rental in Dubai for a tourist with an international licence is one of the ten questions we test, so your licence page should quote the official list, link to it and show the date you last checked it.

What this means for each page

Written to these rules, a rental site has more numbers and fewer adjectives than most of its competitors. That is the point.

• Model pages

  Rates, kilometres, deposit, minimum age and every fee the contract can add, on the page, before the booking button.

• Deposit page

  How the deposit is held, what can be deducted, the 30 day return window and how the refund is paid.

• Licence page

  Who can rent with a home licence, who needs an international permit, the minimum ages, and a link to the official source.

• Promotions

  No percentage-off banner without the permit, and no no-deposit headline unless it holds for every car the banner covers.

• Review replies

  Answer complaints about fines and deductions with the policy and the contract, never with a renter's personal details.

Why compliant content and cited content are the same content

An assistant builds its answer from statements it can check against other sources: the car, the rate, the deposit, where the company delivers. The rules push a rental company to publish exactly those statements. The vague promises they discourage are the ones a model has no way to confirm, so it leaves them out anyway.

So a rental company that writes to the rules gives up nothing in the answer. It ends up with the only kind of page an assistant is willing to quote.

This is what we write to, not legal advice. Rules change and they change quickly, so check the current rules with your regulator.