I am not a lawyer, but I disagree. The wording of the statute entitles (requires?) "[t]he spouse of the person renting the vehicle, if the spouse is a licensed driver and meets any minimum age requirements contained in the rental agreement" to be considered an "Authorized driver." State law supersedes Hertz's terms and conditions. There is no need for a spouse to be explicitly added on to a rental agreement, since said spouse is already automatically authorized to drive by state law. Hertz appears to be in violation of Oregon statute.

That said, someone knowledgeable about state statute should never even need to ask the Hertz counter sales staff if the spouse must be added on to the contract. Even though the OP's spouse is entitled to drive, the act of explicitly adding someone on may entitle Hertz to charge for that service, even though it is unnecessary and duplicative. That mirrors an experience I had years ago at a Hertz counter where I asked about adding a coworker on; the Hertz agent told me that if the person was a coworker, they were automatically authorized to drive, but if I were to explicitly list them on the contract, the system would trigger an additional driver fee that he could not waive, and so there was no reason to add the coworker on as they were already entitled to drive per the terms of the contract without adding them on by name.

It doesn'tseem to be clearly stated that what Oregon will class as an AO as far as it pertains to it means that Hertz also has to go with the same rule

If a police officer was to stop the driver, it could be that no Oregon law is broken, but that the T&Cs of the rental are not being abided by

I do not see anything stating "requires" at https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/646A.140

If you take the matter to court, it may be that the court would rule that the definition under ORS supercedes that by Hertz

It could be read that the ORS rules cap what a car rental company can automatically class as an AO

Spouse as additional driver
 

I want to make sure I understand correctly. In the US, there is no charge for a spouse as an additional driver. For regular renters, the spouse must sign on as an additional driver, but no action is required for spouse to be an authorized driver if you're Gold Plus or higher.

That is correct.

5* still get free spouse driver in LAS ?
 

Hey guys,

Were off to LAS next month, just checking if you guys know whether 5* still gets free spouse as additional driver ? (I ask, as I cant see it written in the Terms)

We will be hitting LAS (mccarran) at around 8:30pm, on Friday 25th May, yes, Memorial weekend!!
Even though we will book a Group D car, am guessing it's safe to say, the chances of finding something better than group D in the 5*/gold aisle will be quite slim ?! :D :D

In Nevada a Spouse is allways and with every rental company a automatic authorized driver .
State law says so and you better don 't mess with the law !

Look at Flyertalk Forum Member Autoslash website from which i quote :

" In addition to California, where all drivers are free, state law in Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, and Wisconsin allow the spouse to be an automatic authorized driver without a fee."

I thought a free additional spouse was a gold benefit everywhere. Has that changed?

is the issue resolved? it is important to check the receipt. similar issue happened in hertz kona airport location, but good thing before closing the contract, i went back in to ask them a question and also get the receipt. before leaving, i checked it and saw the fee. I asked them about it and they took it off the contract right then and there.

I ran into a similar issue at DEN. I needed my dad added to the rental agreement so he would be covered under both my Chase card and my own car's insurance. Also, since both of us were AAA members, additional driver is free. After phone calls back and forth between the checkout booth and the customer service agent, it turns out that they have a carbon copy manual slip for adding additional drivers so no charges are generated.https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1860444550.jpg

So for Gold, is a spouse an Authorized Operator, or must a spouse be registered as an Additional Authorized Driver for no charge? For some years I have been assuming the former. But at the moment I can't verify that. Anyone have definitive information. Oh, I mean outside of California and Iowa of course. If I am not mistaken, to use the AAA benefit you have to register as AAO?

Here is Hertz's rules: https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/reser...RS&EOAG=EWKC31

There is little on the Hertz web site specifically addressing advantages of being Gold; these days what is there is all about Gold Rewards and how you can get free days, etc. There's several old FT threads in which people say they have been told by Hertz that if they are Gold they don't need to register their spouse as additional. But I don't see that at this point so it may have changed. Of course if I need to stop at the booth every time I rent in order to sign up my wife, even if free, this does take some of the fun out. My next couple of rentals are solo so doesn't matter but both are small offices so maybe I'll have a chance to ask.

For me the language on the insurance policy stated any drivers on the rental so it was important for me to have a physical piece of paper with my dads info on it.

This is the key. It is not whether the other person is charged with theft, it is whether you are covered if the other person incurs liability. For that, forget about the Hertz (or other) contract and look at the insurance policy.

Those rules are only valid if you happen to be picking up at the Downtown Newton HLE in Kansas (location EWKC31).

For other locations replace the code at the end of the URL with the airport code (or the HLE code if you can find it). For example, put in SFO and it'll tell you "There is no fee for Additional Authorized Operator" which is true as per CA law. Put in PDX and you'll get a different story.

For several years these conditions have not stated that spouse of a Gold member is either an Authorized Operator or free to add for locations in the US. The Gold Plus Rewards signup page says it's free for Five Star and PC, but makes no mention otherwise. However the Gold Plus signup page does state that it's included (https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/member/enrollment under Value - "Pay no additional driver fees for a spouse or domestic partner in the U.S."

This mismatch of messaging has been like this for at least about 2 years now...