<p>The good news is that car rental companies rent to those ‘tweens’ between 21 and 25 but the bad news is that they charge a huge daily ‘surcharge’ for the privilege. I’m finding that most of them charge an extra $27/day for the age factor although I’ve found some for less.</p>
<ul>
<li>Have any of you been successful in negotiating this age surcharge out of the contract - especially for a monthly rental?</li>
</ul>
<p>I really don’t get the point of the surcharge since one has to have insurance coverage for the car anyway so if the car’s damaged then the renter needs to pay for it regardless and I don’t see how that magically changes on someone’s 25 birthday. I also don’t think a typical 24 y/o female is any more likely to thrash the car than a typical 25 y/o male.</p>
<p>Use Enterprise. They don’t charge the surcharge.</p>
<p>Regardless of your particular opinion, insurance companies have found that 24 year olds are a greater risk than 25 year olds. They also find that single drivers are a greater risk than married drivers.</p>
That’s not my point - my point is that the driver has to carry insurance for the car regardless so if they get in an accident, perhaps due to being a reckless 21-24 y/o, they still have to pay to get the car fixed via their insurance the same as if they were a careful 25 y/o. There’s no difference in cost to the rental company. The rental cost they quote and add the surcharge for doesn’t include the insurance.</p>
<p>I already checked Enterprise and they charge a surcharge for the tween age although it’s possible it varies by location.</p>
<p>Enterprise has relationships with SOME colleges…and at those places they do not charge the surcharge.</p>
<p>I tried to negotiate that rental car fee for MYSELF the first time I went to Florida at age 24. It was not negotiable, and I had a full time job, owned my own car, had insurance, etc. I had the choice of paying the added charge for the week or walking. I paid.</p>
<p>National sometimes has offers for waiving that fee-special codes-but I don’t know if they work when the primary driver is 25 or under. I do know they work if it is a secondary driver that age though. </p>
<p>The deal with the insurance is that you bring in an insurance card to “prove” you have insurance, your insurance could have been cancelled the day before and the rental car company doesn’t know that. Even if they have active insurance, that is still a car out of their fleet that they can’t use.</p>
<p>My husband was in an accident this past December that resulted in his car spending just shy of a month in the body shop. Both our kids were flying home for Christmas break and would need use of our cars. Enterprise agreed to put our 22 year old son on the rental for no extra charge. They said it was allowed because he is insured by our auto policy. I don’t know if the fact that is was an insurance claim situation made any difference.</p>
<p>That’s a good idea about checking with the college to see if they have a special arrangement. I was also going to have a check done with the company where the internship is that necessitates the use of a rental car.</p>
<p>Grits - That makes it sound like there was at least some flexibility which is good.</p>
Haha - no - I used the term for this new ‘tween age’ as defined by rental car companies.</p>
<p>The weird thing is that I rented cars all over the country hundreds of times when I was in that age bracket due to a job where I traveled extensively and was never charged a premium and never had any issues. I guess it was either before the rental companies started doing the surcharge or maybe some arrangement my company had. I think that before the surcharge they just didn’t allow rentals to under 25 but even that must have started after I was in that age group and renting all the time.</p>
<p>Glad, my bet is I’m older than you are and I had this issue when <em>I</em> was under 25. Did your company rent the car FOR you? That could have been the difference. They may have had a negotiated rate with the rental car companies for their employees. Many companies do that.</p>
<p>The other thing you gotta have is a “major credit card”. I got caught in THAT SNAFU once as well…got to the place with CASH and they would not take it. It had to be on a credit card. I was in my 40s. I didn’t have my CC with me…had to call my husband who gave HIS over the phone. Otherwise, I would have been hitchhiking. Actually, it was after midnight…I would have been sleeping in the airport until the next day.</p>
<p>I purchased a used 1998 Toyota Corolla (117,000 miles) for $3,000 for my daughter to use during her internship last summer. When she graduates in May, she will be driving the car once again, since she doesn’t need a car while in school. In between, it makes a great car to run errands in and park at the airport when we go on trips.</p>
I’d use the corporate rate and sometimes the travel dept made the res but many times I’d just walk up to the counter and even use a rental company that wasn’t the usual corporate one since I’d sometimes end up in places unplanned without reservations and take what I could get. I always had a major credit card so that was never an issue for me.</p>
<p>The rental companies can do what they want of course, but I was just wondering what the point is of the surcharge since the cost to the rental company for damage is the same (i.e. covered by insurance) regardless of the age. I understand the ‘thrashing’ possibility but I don’t know how big of an exposure that is and realistically I can’t see that many people purposely thrashing the car - especially females.</p>
<p>Also when I was in school we rented from enterprise wave from a small local company. You could check the yellow pages if a small place exists or not. Also even if your insurance covers fixing the car they are still short a car while it’s in the shop… And studies do show drivers under a certain age have more accidents. My insurance company l lowersyour rates at 24 but most are 25.</p>
<p>You would be better off buying a used car for her if you need one for that long. Plus, the hassle of returning and picking up a car every week would be enough to not want to do that. Check Craigslist or local ads for a $2000 car, have her drive that for the 2 months, you should be able to sell it again for close to $2000 and not really be out any money in the end.</p>
<p>Somemom posted what I was about to-- that USAA doesn’t charge. I think also, possibly, if you are a Hertz gold member they may not charge for your kid. Its worth checking out.</p>
<p>There’s a huge difference for the rental car company. They have insurance to protect themselves, and their insurance likely charges more for under 25 drivers than it does for drivers above 25. They have insurance to protect themselves in case the renters don’t actually have insurance (presented fraud documents for example) or insurance goes belly up or the liability becomes excess in what the renter pays. It doesn’t cover the renter but covers the rental company. Their premiums will be set based on how risky of clientele they rent to.</p>