Dollar - Extra fee, even for spouse? - the renter must be the driver?

I was noticing for my car rental in Orlando, there is an extra driver's fee, even for the spouse? Is this seen with all Dollar rentals, or only some rentals, either in Florida or elsewhere?

As a corollary, if I rent the car in my name, I can not make her the sole driver. I thought that most car rental companies would allow that?

You are correct. Both Dollar and Thrifty now charge for any additional drivers, whether or not they are spouses.

My personal (but completely unofficial) guess is that it is simply too hard to determine who or what a "spouse" is these days. Are live-in boyfriends and girlfriends spouses? Domestic partners? Same-sex couples? Two people standing in front of the counter that are married but have different last names but no copy of a marriage license to prove it?

On a related subject, I do have to question exactly what the purpose of the additional driver fee (at any company, not just Dollar) is. I'm not exactly sure what additional hassle having multiple drivers is, and actually, an article in Auto Rental News magazine points out that it would be in a rental company's best interests to add on as many multiple drivers to a rental as possible, because in the event of damage or an accident, if one driver's insurance policy proves uncooperative, every other authorized driver's insurance policy becomes a potential source of payment. Additional driver fees seem to run counter to that.

But, apparently DTAG management didn't read that article before implementing the all-drivers-have-to-pay policy.

I'm not sure exactly what your second question is. If you rent the car in your name, you are the primary driver. I'm not sure how you could put the rental in your name without being the primary driver. You can't have your name on the contract and not be a driver. You could put the entire thing in her name, but most likely she will need to at least hold the charges on a credit card in her name. (You should later be able to switch it to a credit card in your name at return, or you can have a credit card on your account issued in her name.)

BTW, how much is that charge and is a daily fee or just a one-time thing?

I'm thinking of renting for an extended period of time so something like $10 or $20 flat is fine, but $5/day would horrendous.

BTW, how much is that charge and is a daily fee or just a one-time thing?

I'm thinking of renting for an extended period of time so something like $10 or $20 flat is fine, but $5/day would horrendous.
Additional driver fees are usually $5 per day. Sorry for the bad news...

I'm not sure exactly what your second question is. If you rent the car in your name, you are the primary driver. I'm not sure how you could put the rental in your name without being the primary driver. You can't have your name on the contract and not be a driver. You could put the entire thing in her name, but most likely she will need to at least hold the charges on a credit card in her name. (You should later be able to switch it to a credit card in your name at return, or you can have a credit card on your account issued in her name.)
I don't know whether this is still the case, but 2 or 3 years ago Dollar managers did have discretion to allow things like this.

I know this because there were several occasions where a particular manager allowed SWMBO to rent a car, with her US DL but payment coming from my UK credit card (me not being a driver), although we did call and agree it all in advance.

I'm sure that part of the reason was that we stumbled across a particularly decent manager, and Dollar have got a whole bunch of business from us as a result :)

If you rent in Las Vegas. I was told they must allow spouse free by law.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but additional drivers fees typically are on a per day basis. If it is only $5.00 per day that is not too bad; Hertz charges $10.00 per day per driver even for a spouse.

I don't know whether this is still the case, but 2 or 3 years ago Dollar managers did have discretion to allow things like this.

I know this because there were several occasions where a particular manager allowed SWMBO to rent a car, with her US DL but payment coming from my UK credit card (me not being a driver), although we did call and agree it all in advance.

I'm sure that part of the reason was that we stumbled across a particularly decent manager, and Dollar have got a whole bunch of business from us as a result :)
Glad to hear you're happy, but the problem with this is that the signature on the contract is hers, not yours, which won't match what's on file with the credit card company. If you were to dispute the charge on your card, the credit card company would request a copy of the signed agreement from the merchant, and when they noticed it didn't match, they could very well reverse the charge, leaving the merchant hanging (and the manager who approved your request in hot water).

The only time it might work is at rental companies that still use separate credit card POS terminals and have the person sign a separate credit card receipt (in which case, you could sign the credit card receipt and your companion could sign the rental contract).

In any case, most companies have upgraded their computer systems to handle credit card authorizations directly in the rental software itself, thereby integrating the credit card receipt into the rental contract itself (i.e. one signature for both the contract and the charge)--there'd be no way to have a separate signature only for the charge without you being listed on the contract as a renter.

There may also be ways to set up a form in which the verbiage states that you, the cardholder, are authorizing the use of your card for another person's rental, but these honestly carry little weight when it comes time for the rental company to defend themselves against a chargeback. There is still some risk in this, though, as the credit card company could say that the cardholder wasn't the recipient of the services and deny the charge anyway. Rental agencies are already risking plenty every time they rent a car (especially people who rent on debit cards)--they want to minimize all risks as much as possible.

Go over to Alamo - rates are the same and they don't charge for a spouse.