florens

Hey folks

Quick question: We are renting a car in the US for a roadtrip (my girlfriend drives, I don't). She is 24 and turns 25 during the trip.

Is she going to have to pay the young renter fee for the whole trip or for the amount of days until she turns 25?

Some details:

Avis rental, Texas, from 3rd to 14th July (her birthday is July 9th).

Thank you!

florens

Anyone?

WorldLux

How about 2 rentals (One before the birthday and one afterwards).

I'm seeing in your profile that you are based in Switzerland and you might consider booking via the German ISIC Alamo site. They offer quite attractive rates for sub-25 year olds provided that you have an ISIC student card (~20€ and available for any student).

Alternative (if you are no longer a student or if you want additional insurance), a German colleague recommend booking via TuiCars. They offer US rentals with considerably increased insurance (I believe $10 million instead of the usual $1 million, you get by booking the additional insurance from the major rental companies).

Regarding your issue, it's probably best to contact the rental company you wanna book with. No point in trying to answer a general question when every company may have different policies.

PS: Remember to bring your IDPs.

florens

Thanks WorldLux. We booked already with Avis via British Airways, as stated in my original post.

I'll call ahead then, and worst case trying to negotiate on site to only pay the young renter fee until the 9th of July. 2 rentals would be complicated and involve 2x oneway fees.

We've rented cars in the US and Canada before, and we were always good with the Swiss drivers license which is recognised. To bring an IDP is only recommended, not mandatory.

WorldLux

That's actually incorrect. Rental companies might require you in the fine print to bring an IDP and some states mandate that you carry your home licence along with an IDP.

To be honest, it's much more convenient to have it with you. Doesn't cost a fortune and any officer stopping you will understand the licence. I've seen plenty of people in the US being confused by the new driving permit used by EU countries, that come with little to non description of the numbers that are printed on them.

BTW: You didn't say that you booked already...

Often1

OP - It is often easier to negotiate to the same bottom line than to quibble about specific fees. Especially if the dollar amount is not significant. How much is the total rental and how much is the per day young renter fee? If the amount is relative small, it may be possible for the counter agent or manager on duty to either waive the fee or provide some other discount which arrives at roughly the same total.

florens

It's about 45CHF (45$) and valid 3 years. I've never heard anyone take it with them and on several sources it says it is recommended, for example on the website of the swiss touring club:

https://www.tcs.ch/

Also, the standard Swiss driving license has some information in English on it, and, as I said, we were never asked for an IDP. Is there a list of rental companies and states which require an IDP?


It's 25$ per day plus taxes, so it comes to 275$ plus taxes, which is nearly half of the actual rental (650$).

I didn't expect my initial question to be so complicated. Either the fee is paid until the day of the birthday or for the whole rental (which would be unfair).

jackal

You almost certainly will have to pay the underage fee for the entire rental. The computer systems are just set up that way--they look at the age of the driver on the start date of the contract and the remaining length of rental is irrelevant. The way around it would be, as was already suggested, to break the rental up into two sections, but you mentioned that would not be convenient for you. It's possible you might be able to get a manager to issue a manual credit for the days after she turns 25, though I would not count on that.

The wiki in this thread contains the latest information we on FT collectively know about avoiding underage fees: The Definitive Young Renters Thread: 18-20, 21-24. Of note, it does briefly mention that the Visa cardholders AWD, B204400, waives the fee as an unpublished (and perhaps unintentional) benefit. You mentioned booking through BA; I would see if you can rebook the rental there to include that AWD code. If not, try booking directly on avis.co.uk so you can still get the European-based all-inclusive rates (so you don't need to purchase coverage) but can apply the AWD there. Can't guarantee the fee will be waived, but it's probably worth trying.

As for the IDP, it basically serves as a translation of your license. If your license is readable by someone who only speaks English, it generally won't be required. If your license contains only Chinese characters or Arabic script or something, the rental agent will probably be lost without the IDP. While it is possible that the fine print with some companies does require an IDP, you're likely OK without it. (That said, I do make it standard practice to always have one when traveling overseas, because it would royally suck to get 5,000 miles away and not be able to drive because of it. But AAA only charges $10/year for an IDP here.) Best way to find out the official policy is to call the rental office directly; online T&C often don't mention IDP requirements, IME.

florens

Thank you @jackal for your informative post. I will call BA, see if I can get a full refund of my booking if I cancel it, then rebook using the code and see if it is cheaper, and then cancel the first booking.

florens

A quick update on this: I called Avis today and we will have to pay the underage fee for the whole trip as "they don't know when the driver turns 25".

Surely they know this as the birth date is on the licence. I find it unfair.

florens

A quick update on this. No young renter fee was due for some reason - we didn't ask though so they might have missed it which seems odd though.

Grog

I'm surprised that the same sternness used with FTers in this thread wasn't applied when dealing with the persons finalizing the bill. After all, in not at least charging the fee for the days where the renter was 24, the bill wasn't applied correctly, now was it...

I try to remind myself when posting to FT that I'm not in a conversation with the company with which I have a grievance, but rather with fellow travelers that are, for the most part, trying to help one another.