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USAA benefit with Avis

Hello there,
Just curious if anyone has had any recent experience trying to rent with Budget/Avis under 21. I'm 20 and I've been renting with Hertz through USAA, but Hertz's fleet options are pretty limited to base model , whereas Avis has a lot more choices with options.

Unless you're in NY or MI or government/military, you're unfortunately out of luck til you're 21.

You might have more luck with better cars at a Hertz Ultimate Choice location.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m907 (Post 29359936)

Unless you're in NY or MI or government/military, you're unfortunately out of luck til you're 21.

You might have more luck with better cars at a Hertz Ultimate Choice location.

That seems to contradict this:

https://www.avis.com/car-rental/html...saa/index.html

Quote:

No underage driver fee for renters 18-24 years old.

and this:

https://www.avis.com/car-rental/html...l?MID=usaa_faq

Quote:

What is the minimum rental age?

Rentals are available to USAA members 18 and older at participating locations in the contiguous United States, District of Columbia and Hawaii. Renting with the USAA program means that members 18 – 24 years of age are exempt from any underage surcharges that normally apply.

Of course, there's the whole "participating locations" escape clause, but it seems odd to me that both USAA and Avis would feature that in their marketing materials if that literally only applied to rentals in two out of the 50 states. Heck, they even mention that some of the participating locations may be in Hawaii. The verbiage implicitly excludes Alaska (no surprise, since the franchise that Halcro owns up there refuses to participate in just about anything of value that Avis offers) but practically explicitly includes Hawaii. Why mention Hawaii (or DC, for that matter) at all if the only two states it works in are five time zones away?

I hadn't seen those pages. OP, have you tried booking with Avis?

Quote:

Originally Posted by m907 (Post 29366156)

I hadn't seen those pages. OP, have you tried booking with Avis?

Yes, I've tried and it books it, but when i call the location to confirm they tell me that they don't rent to under 21, which is very contradicting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by m907 (Post 29359936)

Unless you're in NY or MI or government/military, you're unfortunately out of luck til you're 21.

You might have more luck with better cars at a Hertz Ultimate Choice location.

I live in a Seattle so, i usually use Ultimate choice at Seatac airport. Even being a president circle member the choices are usually just Camrys and altimas with just a dash of 2015 Malibus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rental_Guy (Post 29366773)

I live in a Seattle so, i usually use Ultimate choice at Seatac airport. Even being a president circle member the choices are usually just Camrys and altimas with just a dash of 2015 Malibus.

honestly you probably wouldn't do any better with Avis. They are often sold out and upgrades are hard to come by. And you have to deal with a counter agent every time who may not be willing to give an upgrade to an under-25 driver. I wish UC had been around when I was under 25.

FYI, Avis has the following <25 policy, so you might not be able to get a great car:

Renters between the ages of 21-24 may not rent vehicles in the following car classes:

Full-Size SUVs
Luxury
Minivans
Passenger Vans
Premium SUVs
Signature Series

Quote:

Originally Posted by IAHtraveler (Post 29371006)

FYI, Avis has the following <25 policy, so you might not be able to get a great car:

Renters between the ages of 21-24 may not rent vehicles in the following car classes:

Full-Size SUVs
Luxury
Minivans
Passenger Vans
Premium SUVs
Signature Series

In my experience that's YMMV. When I was under 25 I would sometimes be told I couldn't get a large SUV but other times I was able to get one with no problem, as long as I had USAA.