My husband and I are planning on going to LAX next year. I believe as a BAEC member we can add an extra driver without any extra charge. I do not drive. The question is a week later our daughter and boyfriend will be flying up from SYD and spending 10 days with us. Both of them drive, and I would like to know if he can nominate them as extra drivers when we check in to pick up the car without them. or would we have to go to an Avis rental garage in Palm Springs where we will be spending time, and get them to add the extra drivers. Help would be very much appreciated.

As spouses, you and your husband can both drive the car at no extra charge, and only one of you has to be present to rent the car. Your daughter and boyfriend, however, have to be present to show their licenses and will incur a fee. I believe you can add them during the rental by going to the nearest Avis location once they arrive, but don't quote me on that.

Are the daughter and boyfriend both over 25? If not, I think they'll incur the $27/day underage fee in addition to additional driver fees. That and they could be restricted from driving the vehicle you get if it's in a certain class, even if you got a free upgrade.

Thank you for your response, yes both of them are over 25.

Thank you for your response, so what you are saying is that as spouses, I automatically become the extra driver at no extra cost will take note about maybe trying to add them onto the rental when we book the vehicle, and if that is not possibe, at the time, but are told we have to go to an avis rental in Palm Springs after they arrive, then will do that. Maybe any way i could just for now telephone Avis, and get their rules and regulations from them. Thanks anyway^

Yes, you are automatically an extra driver at no cost. If you read the Terms and Conditions of the rental contract (it'll either be on the inside of a rental jacket or on the reverse of your signed paperwork), it will say something like "AUTHORIZED DRIVERS: the person named on the rental contract and his or her spouse"). Thus, you are legally able to drive the car without signing.

Note this is no longer the case with Dollar or Thrifty (they now require the spouse to be listed on as any other additional driver and now actually charge as any other additional driver), but it is for virtually everyone else, including Avis.

You will NOT be able to add anyone else to the rental contract without them being present, as the rental agency will need to take their driver's license information and have them sign the rental contract. Therefore, you cannot add them as additional drivers when you book (reserve) the vehicle, nor can you when you pick up the vehicle. You also cannot do so over the phone, since the rental agent will need to physically verify the license and will need the driver to sign. If you are renting from a corporate location or an agency location (i.e. not an independent franchise, which is exceedingly rare to encounter with Avis), you should be able to add on an additional driver at any other corporate or agency location, since they all use the same computer system. You should probably check that at the counter when renting, however.

In extreme situations, I have seen some rental agencies (usually smaller, more flexible franchises) accept a faxed driver's license and return-fax signature from the additional driver, but this is not common and is probably against corporate policy with Avis. I would not expect them to do this for you.

Thank you so much for your long and very informative response, much appreciated.^

1 very minor point of clarification: The last time I looked at this, it listed the rental holder and a "lifelong partner." I've never asked for clarification on that, but I presume it's to allow same-sex partners. However, one could argue that how many partnerships (of any kind) really are "life long"?... thus there shouldn't be any free, additional drivers

Same-sex and also opposite-sex couples who choose not to marry.

I believe they base it on residence address for enforcement purposes (if it were to be questioned later during the damage claims stage).