Car Rental Options Broaden for Young Drivers

(8/3/05) Owings Mills, MD – For many years, most car rental companies restricted rentals to drivers under the age of twenty-five based on the commonly held and actuarially supported belief that people in their early twenties tend to be more irresponsible and prone to risky behavior than the population at large. However, with increased competition in the car rental market forcing companies to reevaluate many long-held assumptions, some car rental companies are relaxing their rules to allow drivers under twenty-five years to rent vehicles.

Recently during a vacation with three friends, Eugene Minkin, 23, rented a car from the Alamo branch in the Miami, FL airport. When he got to the rental counter, Minkin was informed of a $30 per person, per day underage fee that amounted to $120 extra for the 4 days he was in Miami. In addition to the insurance he was advised to purchase and rental rate, the total for the four-day rental came to over $650. Despite the high cost, Minkin felt fortunate to be able to rent a car at the airport, where in recent memory such transactions would not have been possible.

For some companies, allowing rentals to younger drivers is not a new development. Rent-A-Wreck has welcomed under 25 year old drivers at most of its rental branches for years.

“By the early 90’s most of our locations were renting to drivers under 25 years of age” said Rent-A-Wreck spokesperson Jason Manelli. “We now consider ourselves to be the experts on rentals to younger drivers, with many of our locations even renting to drivers 18 to 21 years old.”

“Young people have a number of reasons for why they need a rental car,” said Rob Payne, the owner of Rent-A-Wreck of Germantown, Maryland. “Whether it’s a student who goes to college out of town, an accident victim or just someone who’s organizing a road trip; when other companies won’t rent to them, they can come to us. We figure that if they’re old enough to vote, drive and serve in the military, they should be able to handle a rental car.”

Typically, an under 25 driver must have automotive insurance coverage, a credit card in their name, and must make the arrangements for their car at several days in advance so that references and coverage can be verified. Some locations even use the internet to run credit reports and pull driving records to determine whether a younger driver is an acceptable risk.

These extra considerations help to weed out those under age drivers that have earned that age group its bad reputation in the rental car industry, and allow responsible younger drivers to take the wheel.

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