The minimum age to rent a car is 21, except in Michigan and New York where the minimum age required

Rental car companies charge more for drivers who are under the age of 25 than those over the age of 25.  And drivers under 21 years find it very hard to rent cars by themselves.  Blame it on the statistics!
Statistics show that drivers under the age of 25 have more accidents .  So car rental companies charge more for drivers 25 years or younger.  You also have to be at least 21 years to rent a car from most companies, except in Michigan free rental car coupons and New York where state law bans this practice.
Drivers between the ages of 21 to 24, can rent from  Advantage , Avis , Budget , Dollar , Enterprise , Hertz , National , and Thrifty  by paying a $14 to $73 extra fee per day.  US government or military personnel traveling on official business are  exempt  from young driver surcharges.
Some car rental companies have restrictions on the types of cars which folks under 25 years can rent.  Here s a table outlining all the fees and restrictions if you didn t read Million Mile Secrets and know how to get around them!
Vehicle Rental Restrictions free rental car coupons None No full-size premium SUVs, Minivans, Passenger vans, Signature Series No luxury cars, minivan, passenger vans, speciality vehicle, full-size premium SUVs Varies depending on location None No Prestige Collection or no Adrenaline Collection free rental car coupons cars Varies free rental car coupons depending on location No premium, luxury, SUV, speciality, minivan, van, wagon, convertible, or pickup
I don t like how vague Dollar and Thrifty are about their underage driver fees.  I would avoid renting from them because I d want to know approximately how much I would pay before getting to the rental counter.
CarRentalSavers and Ultimate Rewards   don t let you specify your age when you make a booking, so an underage free rental car coupons driver might be surprised when the bill at the counter is more than the rate shown online.
While younger drivers must call 877-849-2730, select from Avis, Budget, Dollar, or Enterprise, confirm their Costco membership, and get a quote.  The phone call can take a long time.  It took almost 30 minutes free rental car coupons for Budget to give me my quote.
USAA is a Fortune 500 company which provides banking, free rental car coupons financial services and other discounts to the military and their families.   Anyone can join USAA and you don t need to be associated with the military to join and receive certain discounts.
If you work for a corporation, you may be able to use your corporate discount for personal rentals free rental car coupons and have the underage fees waived.  But this varies based on your employer, so check with your corporate travel department.
The minimum age to rent a car is 21, except in Michigan and New York where the minimum age required by law is 18.  US government and military personnel do not have to pay underage fees when renting cars on official government business.
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This entry was posted in Alamo , Avis , Budget , Capital One Travel Portal free rental car coupons , Car Rental Savers , Chase Ultimate Rewards Car Rental , Costco Travel , Enterprise , National , Rental Cars . Bookmark the permalink .
Thank you, for the entire series on car rentals. I am over 25 (thats good and bad), so this article did not apply. But I am glad I have learned about getting car rental through Ultimate rewards portal from previous post, which will save us a lot. There is always something useful, I am getting from this website.
Great information. I m under 25 so I ve largely been ignoring the car rental series. free rental car coupons It s great to know there is a way to avoid the surcharges! The prices may not be as good as if the Citi Thank You portal or other options that require you to be over 25, but this option is a close second (and much better than I thought!)
Sweet. A new low. Exploiting a company dedicated to serving those who have served our country in order to get a bunch of accident-prone drivers onto the road for cheap. Thanks for helping to erode the benefits for all of us!
@Lance free rental car coupons I don t set policy at USAA. The website very clearly mentions that everyone can join USAA and apply for insurance/banking products and other discounts (perhaps you missed the screenshot and link in the post). If you don t like that, take it up with USAA.
Another question I have is that does this strategy only work if the underage driver is the primary driver of the rental car, or is there a way to add an underage free rental car coupons person as an additional driver for no fee?
@Steve It is certainly worth checking out, but I usually just check on Costco Travel, Ultimate Rewards, free rental car coupons and Car Rental Savers. I d add the Capital One portal and USAA if I have more time to search or the rates are high.
THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! The USAA membership worked great. I just saved $125 for my whole trip. I am feeling so fortunate. All the searching has finally ended. Thank you so much for sharing this insider info.
Hi everybody. I live in South America, and I´d like to share my deception about USAA do get wave of underage fee for car rental. Well, I had just enrolled in the USAA membership and then booked a car rental free rental car coupons with Budget for yestarday in MCO Airport . When a got to Budget I were asked to show the USAA affiliation card to get wave of the underage fee , but I didn´t got one any id card when I enrolled to USAA.. I tried to show an email of membership confirmation from USAA but it didnt worked. I also noticed that all car rentals free rental car coupons companies also ask for the same USAA id. I emailed USAA asking how to get a identification card, and they answered that I would need to have a property or car insurance in US to get one. In others words, a regular affiliation to USAA will allow you to access the car rental page and also make reservation thru , but when you get to the car rental bancony, free rental car coupons be prepared to show something that you didnt got. As I need to make additionals rentals, I would apreciate any help . Thanks
seriously, this is the biggest money waster of all time. you can get a much cheaper one day policy (or however long) from outside agency s like 4autoinsurancequote. this will cut your car rental costs in half (cause rental car companies make their most on insurance and charge free rental car coupons an arm and a leg for it)
Will you be asked to show a USAA membership card at the counter when you pay for your car rental, as mentioned above by @Claudio? free rental car coupons I would like to join USAA and get the underage fee waived, but I have no military affiliation and don t want to get stuck paying much more than I expected when I pick up my car!
Thanks so much! I used USAA trick to rent a car and avoid the underage fee. Saved about $100 bucks! You should add a paypal link or something. I d definitely chip in to keep this blog going; you ll probably have saved me a grand by the time I m 25. Will tell my friends about this website.
hi, i had done a few car rentals with hertz using usaa , but don t try to use it in all locations, works the best when you are a hertz member, and @ the airport locations if you are a member you can avoid the counter by checking your car spot on the member sign outside the office and drive out (the gate man will check you out and he will let you go).
Im going to San diego international airport. Has anyone had any luck here? If they ask to show proof of membership, what do i provide?? Please help. Im 20 years old so I can not join hertz (you have to be 21)
Folks who are bashing the author for taking advantage of USAA are themselves worthy of being bashed for not reading. free rental car coupons It explicitly free rental car coupons states on USAA s website (as shown above) that some banking and investment products as well as USAA s retail and travel discounts are available to anyone who signs up regardless of military affiliation.
That being said, I am 23 y.o. and have rented numerous times with the USAA s discounts (mostly with Hertz, once with Enterprise). Only once was I questioned, and it was with Enterprise. They claimed that the code was for people with USAA insurance who have been in an accident and their car is in the shop. I argued, but they resisted. I ended up paying the underage fee, but a quick call to customer service after I returned the car reversed the charge. I also highly recommend signing up for Avis Preferred, Hertz Gold Service, and Budget FastBreak. Those programs (which are free) allow you to proceed free rental car coupons directly to your car in the lot at most major airports free rental car coupons and drive off without visiting the desk (you have to stop at the exit gate, obviously). This further eliminates the concern for being questioned to show proof of membership. But even if you do have to show proof of membership, you can just log in to your account and pull up your USAA number
Hey, I would really like to join the USAA to use their discounts but have not been able to. This is most likely because I am from Germany so no U.S. Citizen. I would really appreciate some advice on how to become a member! Maybe there is someone who has some similar experiences to share
My 21 year old son reserved a car with Budget in Orlando with his USAA membership number. He has no USAA products. When he went to pick up the car they denied the rate and waiver of the underage surcharge because he didn t have a USAA card. He did have a printed confirmation from USAA with his membership number on it. He followed all rental guidelines. He was using a major credit card and had a copy of his confirmed reservation. He also has a clean driving record and had a copy of his insurance DEC page. After talking to Budget and USAA they informed me that it should have been honored. There was no reason not to honor the reservation as confirmed. It was suggested that all that needed to be done was the agent at the Budget rental counter should have called USAA to verify his membership. He had to go to another rental agency in the airport and it cost him $200 plus more than his confirmed reservation with Budget.
This did NOT work for me! To rent a car from Hertz they ask for a USAA membersh