Car rental under age 25?

[Robindianne]

Anybody know of a car rental company that doesn't add major fees for a driver under age 25? TIA so much!

 

[investgirlmd]

I had no idea you had to be over 25 to rent a car. Thats crazy... Sorry I cant be any help just I had no idea.

 

[rgf207]

Budget Charges $25/day.
Enterprise charges $10/day most of the time
Thrifty/Dollar wont rent to you
Hertz can vary but usually $25/day
Alamo wont rent i dont think

 

[BobH]

I have assisted my son on two occasions with car rentals. Once when he was 21 and rented in New Mexico and once in Florida. You need to check the rental car companies to see if they permit rentals for under 25 drivers in the particular state you want to go to.You can usually rent a car but it will be much more expensive - my experience was that it cost my son almost double the rental fee that a person over 25 would pay. In addition car rental insurance is much higher as well if you have to buy it through the car rental company. Because of the higher charges you definitely need to price out your car months in advance so you get the lowest rate possible. Having your own car insurance (check your coverage with your agent) can save you a lot as long as you can afford the deductible. One way of covering yourself for the charges that your own insurance won't pay is to have a gold or platinum mastercard that covers your deductible amount. #1 get a guarantee from your own auto insurance company that you can use your policy against the rental car. Investigate whether you qualify for a mastercard that will cover what your insurance does not cover. There will be an annual fee ($50-60)for the Master card but it will probably be much lower than the cost of buying rental insurance through the rental car company. Good luck!

 

[NotUrsula]

If you work for a company that has a contract with a preferred rental car company, your corporate account *may* have a waiver for employees who are renting using the company contract code. (Not all corporate contracts have an under-25 waiver, but many do.)

You can often use this contract number even if you are not travelling on official business. It depends on what your company's policy is, so even if you don't normally travel for business, ask whoever handles your corporate travel billing.

Note that even with the fee waiver, your company's negotiated rate would normally be a daily rate, not a weekend or weekly rate, so using that rate might end up costing as much (or more) than just paying the under-25 fee with a discounted leisure rate. You should do the math carefully.

 

[Robindianne]

Thanks everybody. I'm trying to help my (nearly) 23-year old son for his birthday trip to Hawaii. We used to live there and he fell in love with hiking up Mauna Loa and is taking his FI to show her. Well it's a nightmare since he's under 25, but I'm working on it thanks to all your tips and information and help. He's such a responsible wonderful person and is so discouraged that his age counts against him so much. He's uncomfortable borrowing a car from any of my friends there, and the bus (Hele-On hehehehe) is a bit of a joke as far as reliability on any given day. So, I'm still working on the rental sitch and thank you all.

 

[onyx8]

DH and I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon last year, we were only 24 at the time. We rented from National and had to pay an extra $10/per day due to being underage. We had no issues at the rental counters (we rented on 3 islands during the trip--Oahu, Hawaii and Maui). I highly recommend National in Hawaii.

Edited to add: Now that I think of it, we may have paid an extra $25 a day, not $10. Either way, the fee wasn't so much as to make the rental cost-prohibitive.

 

[ddesousa323]

I have dealt with this for a while now, I just turned 25!

I always tended to use Alamo or Thrifty. There really is no way to get around the fees.

 

[Robindianne]

Thanks everybody for all the tips and help. In with all the excellent advice someone said something about a corporate code. Turns out my son's company (Cingular Wireless, for today, haha) has this code and Avis doesn't care how old the driver is (well, must be 21). Wahoooooo. You all rock! The DIS rocks.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I had no idea you had to be over 25 to rent a car. Thats crazy

Car rental agencies have had this rule for many many years and it is hardly crazy. Younger drivers pose a much greater risk than drivers over age 25.