Too Young to Rent a Car? - 25-years-old the minimum age for car renting - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, July, 1999 by Catherine Siskos

Try a truck--and other strategies when you're under 25.

Fresh off a flight from San Francisco, Internet consultant Auren Hoffman needed to rent a car to get to a business meeting in downtown Los Angeles. He tried several car-rental companies near the airport with no luck.

Then he struck gold. Actually, it was yellow--a Ryder truck complete with blankets for moving furniture. "It was huge, the biggest truck I've ever driven," says Hoffman, who worried that his professional image would suffer if he showed up driving a moving van. It took him about 20 tries to parallel park the truck in a space several blocks away from the office.

But Hoffman got to his meeting--no small feat for someone who was then 20 years old, an age generally considered not old enough to rent a car. "I'm turning 25 soon," says Hoffman, "and for me it's going to be a great burden off my shoulders."

With few exceptions, Alamo, Avis, Hertz and National require all drivers to be 25 or older. Budget, Dollar, Enterprise and Thrifty rent to drivers over 21, but penalize underage drivers with a daily surcharge. Some even restrict the type of vehicle, making a luxury model or sport utility vehicle off-limits.

If you're under 21, your chances of renting from the big companies are just about nil unless you're a military or government employee or happen to be renting a car in New York, the only state that currently requires car-rental companies to rent to drivers 18 and older. A similar law has been proposed in Connecticut, where state legislator Michael Cardin has gone to bat for young people. "You get people who are essentially adults but who can't rent a car," says Cardin. "How are they going to get around or be perceived as equals in business?"

HIGH RISKS. Because of the high accident rate associated with drivers under 25 (and the severity of those incidents), "car-rental companies don't think it's worth the risk to rent to this age group," says William Maloney, chief operating officer for the American Society of Travel Agents. Maloney himself couldn't persuade Hertz to rent a car to his 21-year-old son last December--and Maloney was a Hertz executive at the time.

Others contend that car-rental companies are practicing age discrimination. "Every under-25 driver shouldn't be treated like some out-of-control frat student on his way to a beer bash," says Jules Polonetsky, commissioner for the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs.

By using the right tactics, young drivers between the ages of 21 and 25 can increase their chances of renting a car. But they'll nearly always pay an underage surcharge, which generally ranges from $10 to $20 per day. Hoffman says he has paid more than $30 a day. "That is really outrageous because sometimes that's as much as the rental fee," he says. In New York City, the daily surcharge can run a staggering $75.

Because most of the big car-rental agencies are self-insured, surcharges help pay for the higher cost of repairs and liability claims that the companies say are associated with younger drivers. But some firms deliberately set charges high to deter young adults from renting a car.

You'll get a warmer welcome if you rent a car in a small town, where outlets of national rental firms are often independently owned franchises with more liberal policies than corporate-owned offices in big cities. "The franchise owner in Butte, Mont., for example, won't necessarily follow all the rules of the corporate office," says Steven Dietsch of Rental Industry Services, which insures car-rental companies.

Mom-and-pop car-rental shops that are not affiliated with national chains may also be more accommodating and may rent to drivers as young as 18. Customer-service representatives at a national firm's toll-free number should be able to tell you which franchises have lower age minimums, and a good travel agent can track down small private companies.

Also try rental companies in a college town near your destination. Rent-a-Wreck, for instance, serves many college communities and rents used cars (typically about two years old) to drivers 21 and older. Rates run 10% to 50% less than you'd pay at other rental companies, and underage surcharges range between $5 and $10 per day.

SPECIAL DEALS. But young professionals traveling on business can't count on being sent to friendly small towns. If your company has a corporate account with a car-rental firm, the minimum age requirement, and sometimes the underage surcharge, may be waived. National, for instance, will rent to drivers as young as 21 if the rental contract is in the employer's name.

If you must rent a car at an airport, check out BreezeNet.(www.bnm.com), which lists about 30 airports with car-rental companies either on the premises or nearby that will rent to drivers under 25. Rates and surcharges are also listed.

Some professional associations may offer special rates to members, regardless of their age. But underage surcharges are rarely waived, so factor them in when comparing costs.

Most car-rental companies require drivers to present a credit card along with a driver's license, and the name on the license should match the name on the card. For example, most major companies won't accept a parent's card.