<p>My son would like to rent a car in Chicago and drive home this spring break with three of his buddies (we invited them to use our home in NJ as a base to explore east coast attractions).</p>
<p>He is 19 years old, and the oldest one among this foursome is 20. </p>
<p>They are all very responsible kids, and I don’t have any problem even co signing the rental agreement.</p>
<p>However, a few places we called said “no rental under the age of 21”.</p>
<p>Do you know of any way out of this?</p>
<p>Some rental places will rent to under 25 year olds (not…not under 21, under 25) but there is usually a huge surcharge. </p>
<p>Why not have them take the bus or train? You wouldn’t have to worry about them driving and the cost is probably going to be the same as renting for 10 days (which would be costly even for an over 25 adult).</p>
<p>My 20 year old nephew just went through this and his solution was to rent a U Haul. I was envisioning a moving truck, but he actually got a pickup truck.</p>
<p>If his campus has zipcar or U Car Share, they will rent to 18 year olds. However,not sure how that would work if they want to go all the way from Chicago to NJ. I agree with thumper1 that bus or train may be a good option.</p>
<p>I was able to rent a car in Phoenix at age 20. I don’t remember what company I ended up using, but I tried several and was basically left with one option. I remember reading also that individual companies may allow this in some states but not others. It was also really expensive – I had a big surcharge because of my age. I think the UHaul would actually probably be cheaper.</p>
<p>My DD and her best friend decided they wanted to spend spring break of freshman year in Los Angeles. They did some online searches and found a car rental agency that would rent to them (both 18 at the time). They flew in to LAX and picked up the car with no problems. My DD had her own credit card so she used that. I just called my best friend (DD’s best friend’s mom) to see if she could remember the name of the agency, but she couldn’t remember either. I know it was a small, unfamiliar-to-us agency, so that might be the way to go.</p>
<p>One issue this OP is facing is interstate driving. They want the car for about 9 days AND they want to drive it interstate and keep it there for days. You can DO this with zipcars but it will cost you a fortune. </p>
<p>Try Enterprise. My son and friends rented an SUV for a ski trip during one spring break. Their university had an arrangement with Enterprise for students who attended that university. It was the ONLY rental agency they could afford. </p>
<p>Perhaps the OP’s kiddo’s university has an arrangement with Enterprise too. Or maybe Enterprise just does this for college students in good standing.</p>
<p>My daughter rented cars from Enterprise a few times before she was 25, but I’m not sure as young as 19. I don’t really see the appeal for a road trip with a rental car.</p>
<p>Re: zipcars</p>
<p>This is most likely an option that won’t work. They are incredibly expensive to rent by the day (and the prices go up on weekends) and you are limited on the number of miles that can be driven on the vehicles during the rental period (you are charged per mile when you go over this amount). Add to this that the insurance for zipcars is only set to the state’s minimum for drivers under 21. This is often a ridiculously low amount.</p>
<p>Best bet would be what others have suggested: call around to the local rental agencies and see if any will allow an under 21 rental. I’d personally say train, fly, or bus would be a better option, though, and possibly as or even less expensive.</p>
<p>Some schools have special agreements with local rental companies (I know Stanford does). He should ask around.</p>
<p>Also remember that not all rental companies let you pick the cars. (I may be wrong on this – more experienced parents, feel free to correct me). I got stuck with a bright yellow PT Cruiser and I HATED it. Zipcar lets you pick (although as someone else said, not such a good option overall) and at least with UHaul you know what you’re getting.</p>
<p>This sounds like a trip through multiple states, which could be a problem because the rules for rental cars are different in different states.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s friends, who was under 21 at the time, had rented cars in New York State several times. New York allows this. But he couldn’t do rent one for a trip to another state because one of the states along the way does not permit people that young to drive rental cars.</p>
<p>Yea, I’d vote for train. Looking quickly at Amtrak, it seems under $200/student (no gas to pay… but ha teen boys might spend a lot on food). </p>
<p>Or inviting a 5th friend who owns a car. Or joining another student heading to NY/NY who drives a large SUV desperate for gas money.</p>
<p>We were also surprised to learn that UHaul will rent without under age 25 fees for one way trips out of state. One issue for this OP’s son is that most of the smaller UHaul vehicles only have seating for 2, so not sures this option would work for them.</p>
<p>After spending lots of time searching for a one -way rental option for under 21 D a few years ago, we ended up abandoning the car rental. Either the fees were too high or there were issues, as another poster mentioned, of taking the car out of state. In the end, it just didn’t work for her. Other fees that we ran into, even if we could find a rental place that didn’t charge under 25 fees, were the ones for having a one-way rental. We were not successfully able to do any bidding on priceline, etc because of the under age issue. Maybe there are ways to do that now.</p>
<p>Check with your car insurance company. They may have arrangements with a rental car company for young drivers who need to rent. We have USAA and they have such a deal.</p>