Underage car rental

[forever-maria]

Hi all! Thank you in advance for any help

I have a group of 8 (7 twenty-year-olds and 1 twenty-one-year old), flying to MCO from DC and we were planning on renting an off site house for a week of Disney and Universal bliss, but if my research is right, we won't fit in a rental minivan that our twenty-one year could rent (albeit with underage fees), so are we stuck needing to stay onsite? that would be way out of our budget.My question is, is there either (a) a van that holds 8 that a twenty-one year old can rent or (b) a place that would rent to a twenty-year old so we could get a second car?

Thanks DISers!!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It is going to be very difficult to find a car rental agency who will rent to a 21 year old; I think it will be almost impossible to find one who will rent to a 20 year old. You could try these sites:

http://www.bnm.com/uage.htm

http://www.autorentalguide.com/car-rentals-under-25.shtml

You may need to rethink your plans.

 

[1tufgt]

Yeah, it's going to be difficult to find anyone that will rent to someone under 21. You could always try to stuff your 8 people into the mini-van because the only other step up is a 15 passenger van but they only rent those to 25 and over.

 

[NotUrsula]

Have you found a house rental yet? In this economy folks are willing to bend more, but IME, most resort rental homes also have minimum age limits and are very wary of renting to groups of young adults.

As to the car, you might try RentAWreck. They are individually-owned franchises so their quality of service AND their terms of service vary, but the company's minimum age is 18, though some franchises may require a higher minimum age. (You need to call the individual office to find out for sure.) The cars are not new, but normally they are not really "wrecks" either, just a few years old. This won't get you in from the airport, but if you really need to care about cost you can go in two shifts or some of you can take a cab.

With that many people I think you will be better off with two vehicles if you can swing it, because it gives you a lot more flexibility.

 

[DCTooTall]

By any chance is anybody in your party in the military? While "normal" rental policies for most major companies are pretty strict regarding the minimum age, They often have exceptions for people in the military. Sometimes, depending upon the company, They have different rules for both "official business" and "pleasure" trips, but even pleasure trips will often have better terms with them than their "normal" rules.

 

[jasko5990]

Can you find a Suburban, Tahoe or Durango with 3rd seat, or any other SUV that can seat 8? Have you also considered driving the approx 12 hrs from DC?

 

[Lewisc]

Alamo offers an 8 passenger mini-van, Toyota Sienna or equivalent. I'm not sure if it's available in MCO or even if they'd rent it to a 21 year old.

Driving down is probably your best option. You may have to go through your local phone book in order to find a place that has an 8 passenger mini-van who'll rent to a 21 year old at a price that makes sense. You'll have to deal with under age surcharges and possible mileage charges for driving out of state.

Putting 4 people in two rooms at a Value Resort is probably the cheapest solution that will work. Try to find a rental home that's within walking distance to a Lynx bus stop. Try to find a rental home within a reasonable (taxi) distance of Disney. Maybe take a taxi to AK or DTD then take Disney transportation.

 

[DCTooTall]

Actually....DC..... You could also look at the Autotrain.

Rather than drive the 12hrs to Orlando, Hop the train just south of DC and arrive, along with your car/cars just north of Orlando the next Morning.


When you factor in airplane tickets + car rental charges you may not see much, if any, real negative differences in the total cost.

Hell... You could even send 1 or 2 people down on the train with the vehicles and let everyone else fly, and just meet them down there.