Efrem

I'm planning to rent a car at Dublin Airport in a couple of weeks. All the companies have requirements for renters over 75: a letter from your doctor saying you're medically fit to drive, a letter from your insurance company saying you are currently insured and have had no accidents for five years, some sort of indication that you still drive regularly, yadda yadda. Specifics vary from one rental company to another, but the essence is pretty much the same.

My question: do they really care? Do they really check these things? I plan to have them, because a track record of ignoring them in the past is no guarantee that the specific agent I get will ignore mine, but I'm curious as to what to expect. (In case it matters, I'll probably rent from Hertz, but it could also be a different large company.)

(FWIW, yes, I still drive regularly, even at night; and no, I haven't had an accident in the past five years, I passed the vision test for license renewal about three weeks ago, and AFAIK I don't suffer from dementia yet. I also have a lot of experience driving on the left, mostly on another island a bit east of Ireland, but some of it on a really big island way further south where you have to watch out for kangaroos.)

3544quebec

They're called Great Britain and Australia if you are having problems remembering their names 😈

MADPhil

I obtained all the papers for a rental from Hertz in Dublin a few years back. I don't recall them checking anything but the most likely one would be a note from your credit card company confirming that they cover Ireland (if you are planning to use it). I think that most do now but it used to be rare. I suspect that an English accent helped with some of the concerns.

Efrem

I know that. My memory is still quite good, thank you. However, technically, that's not true. The island just east of Ireland is Britain, not Great Britain. Great Britain is a country, not an island, and it includes the northeast part of the island of Ireland. If we're going to totally lose our sense of humor and nit-pick, let's at least get it right!

3544quebec

Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, Great Britain and Northern Ireland constitute the United Kingdom.

Your script for Aricept is in the mail.

AlanA

You mean the United Kingdom and the Irish free state

Bonehead

Let's go with Britannica.com rather than Wikipedia:

Great Britain, therefore, is a geographic term referring to the island also known simply as Britain. It’s also a political term for the part of the United Kingdom made up of England, Scotland, and Wales (including the outlying islands that they administer, such as the Isle of Wight). United Kingdom, on the other hand, is purely a political term: it’s the independent country that encompasses all of Great Britain and the region now called Northern Ireland.

https://www.britannica.com/story/wha...united-kingdom

SanDiego1K

I'm really interested in the initial topic. Where is being 75 a cut off for car rental?

MADPhil

I fell foul of this in England where four Europcar locations are franchises that do not have insurance for drivers over 75 and therefore will not rent to them. They are: Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton and York. All other Europcar locations and the other majors do not have this restriction.

Efrem

Follow-up: The Hertz rental agent showed no interest in my age and did not ask for any of the documentation that their web site said I had to have. I didn't mention it for fear of opening a can of worms that, at best, would delay things and, at worst, might turn up an error in one of the pieces of paper that would nix the entire rental. (My travel companion, while under 75, had never driven a RHD car or on the left side of the road, and strongly preferred not to.)

I suspect that they use these requirements as a way to refuse to rent to people who appear unable to drive for whatever reason. If a person walks up the counter under his or her own steam, without mechanical aids, and answers the questions with what seems like reasonable speed and intelligence, they don't bother with them. If someone shuffles up the counter, nods off in mid-discussions, and replies to "Do you want insurance cover?" with "Wednesday" or "Winston Churchill," they'll ask for them. That's pure speculation, though. As I wrote above, I didn't discuss them with the agent.

(FWIW, I put 179 km on a five-speed SEAT Arona hatchback in two days, without a scratch on the paint.)

rkt10

I saw the rule when considering whether to rent a car from Hertz this past June in Ireland. I was reading the language carefully for a different reason (to be sure I could use the damage waiver coverage on my CSP card). Anyway, somewhere buried in their T&C's was a requirement that if you're over aged 75 you need to show evidence that you haven't had an accident in x years (maybe 5?, maybe 7?). You also needed a note from your medical doctor stating that you were healthy and able to drive.

We ended up not renting for different reasons. My brother-in-law flew in through Dublin and rented a car during this time. He had no issues at all. He's 79.

3544quebec

Good luck providing evidence that something hasn't happened - five years of continuous video of your life perhaps?

Redheadpeter

Nope, Great Britain doesn't include Northern Ireland. The place that includes Northern Ireland is the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) - clue is in the name. We aren't technically allowed to use GB stickers on our cars when driving in Europe, has to be UK. Oh good old Brexit - not!

rkt10

There's a report the agent can run called a "Policy Loss Run Report". It's a graph that shows the policy period (by year) along with any losses (claims).

We do business with an actual insurance agent as opposed to dealing directly with an insurance company. I don't know if that makes a difference in getting such a report.