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View Full Version : How to rent a car if under 25?



TheMerk
04-24-2005, 06:27 AM
Hi all,

We're going to Anaheim this June for a Disney vacation. We've booked hotel, plane tickets and park tickets. To get from the airport (John Wayne) to the hotel we were just going to get a cab. Now we're thinking about going to Universal for a day as well. How best can we do that? Should we rent a car or is there another option? The problem with renting a car is that we're BOTH 24, just below the required age of 25. Ideas?

Colin
04-24-2005, 06:37 AM
Hi all,

We're going to Anaheim this June for a Disney vacation. We've booked hotel, plane tickets and park tickets. To get from the airport (John Wayne) to the hotel we were just going to get a cab. Now we're thinking about going to Universal for a day as well. How best can we do that? Should we rent a car or is there another option? The problem with renting a car is that we're BOTH 24, just below the required age of 25. Ideas?

This may be a special arrangement for international visitors.... However I have booked a car with AVIS (I will be 23). I Had to pre-pay, however as I have prepaid it means I can rent a car, but have to pay a $10 per day young driver surcharge. Like I said, this may only be available to international visitors, but it could be worth giving them a call to ask?

Hope you sort something out,

C°o°lin

HappyPaws
04-24-2005, 08:35 AM
You might want to give Alamo a call. I know they are one of the few
car rental places that rent to under 25 years old without full payment
in advance. You can usually find better deals online or by calling an airline
and asking for a transfer to their car discount. I know Northwest Airlines has
a partnership with Alamo that you just call up and ask for Alamo
and they can transfer you over and get a discount up to 25%. You don't
have to book a ticket with them, just ask for the discount transfer, which
is only given on a transfer :)

Wendi
04-24-2005, 09:14 AM
I just checked out Priceline for car rentals, there is a button on their site for renters under 25 - check it out!

www.priceline.com

sunfun94
04-24-2005, 09:19 AM
You can still rent a car but as mentioned below, there will be somekind of extra fee depending who you rent from (or you may very well have to pay in full) but I would look around for deals...
My DH and I before we were married rented a car before we were 25 a couple of times and less the extra charge, was no problem... :D

soccerlady16
04-24-2005, 09:33 AM
I've used Enterprise I'm 22

Colin
04-24-2005, 09:44 AM
I've used Enterprise I'm 22

How much young driver surcharge did you have to pay? I worked out that for myself it was cheaper with AVIS as theirs was $10 a day, everywhere else seems to be $20?

C°o°lin

Mermaid
04-24-2005, 10:29 AM
I work for Enterprise and we don't charge a surcharge for under 25. You have to be at least 21. This is at a local branch and the airports do their own thing but if you book online (rates waaaaayyyyy cheaper) there is a spot to do 21-24. I just checked and it looks like they have a 10/day surcharge there. We always get people who book online and forget to choose parts like time of day to p/u and stuff like that. You could "forget" to change it to 21-24 and not get charged. Chances are, they won't add it on when you rent. If they do at the end, play innocent and say "oh online I was quoted ...." Most employess will take it off, worst case, plan on ten more dollars a day. You do not have to put a ccard down when booking online. Ahhh, I am encouraging people to work the system which I hate when people do to me!! Like I said play innocent- if they can tell you are working it, they won't work with you. :D

sunnyca
04-24-2005, 12:15 PM
I work for Enterprise and we don't charge a surcharge for under 25. You have to be at least 21.

And that is why i always loved Enterprise. :)

CrazyTrain
04-24-2005, 12:41 PM
I've used Dollar as well.

Disneyland2004
04-24-2005, 12:43 PM
ha look how many days till disneyland ha!

MsYumiBr
04-24-2005, 03:01 PM
Did anyone mention you more than likely need a credit card too? This may be a non-issue for you but I tried to rent a car when my car was getting worked on and I was 34 and even though I had a check/ATM Visa card they wouldn't take it. I'm a bad girl when it comes to credit cards and in order to rent a car I needed to re-activate one of my accounts and take a bus for a few days while I waited for it to arrive in the mail. They've become stricter about this. However, there are still ones that take cash. You usually can't drive the car out of town with those though. Good luck.

Mermaid
04-24-2005, 03:12 PM
Did anyone mention you more than likely need a credit card too? This may be a non-issue for you but I tried to rent a car when my car was getting worked on and I was 34 and even though I had a check/ATM Visa card they wouldn't take it. I'm a bad girl when it comes to credit cards and in order to rent a car I needed to re-activate one of my accounts and take a bus for a few days while I waited for it to arrive in the mail. They've become stricter about this. However, there are still ones that take cash. You usually can't drive the car out of town with those though. Good luck.
Yeah- this is a good point. Enterprise takes debit/Visa check cards and cash but there are extra hoops to go through. At the airports, I think you just need to have a return ticket but if this is teh case- I would call whoever you are renting from and ask. Call that office directly b/c airport and local offices have different criteria. For example- my office you put $250 down and we need a local DL, 2 utility bills and a paystub w/ your local address. We can't rent to out of staters with a debit card. The airport though can rent to out of staters w/ a debit (that's their business mix) but they need a return ticket. I believe they also do the 250 deposit and more if the rental will be more. We have people EVERY DAY who say "It's a Visa- you can run it like it." This is true, but when i do my security hold of $150 it will pull it out like I ran a sale. When you return it, it can take up to 60 days for the hold to get released as opposed to 1-2 days for a refund to process. I have had people fight me so vehemently on this that I have run the hold and put on their contract that they are aware that the "hold" takes forever to release. It is way better for all involved to run the sale and then the refund. Ok- I vented!! Sooooo many people do not see the difference btw a Visa debit and an actual credit card.

MartyLuvsTigger
04-24-2005, 07:06 PM
I work for Enterprise :D
{derail/} Are you in group 27 or 50 {derail} :geek:

I would call the Enterprise and see what they want to do with a debit card. Here at the San Diego Airport they take credit card only, but I have rented in other locals that take debit cards..Also for a low rate click here (http://www.geicoprivileges.com/members/home.php?sid=XdKrlo26&popup=t) gieco privileges
. you don't have to have gieco insurance, just register a name and email address and look at the travel page and the Enterprise deal. ;)

SuefromRI
04-24-2005, 07:12 PM
I know that my daughter was allowed to rent from Thrifty @ 22 in Orlando but had to pay an extra fee. If you check online most sites have a box to check for under 25 which will give you an idea about extra fees. i know that when my DD reserved online she used a discount code from Mousesavers before adding in the extra fee, so she at least got a discounted rate still.

Mermaid
04-24-2005, 07:24 PM
{derail/} Are you in group 27 or 50 {derail} :geek:
50- which must mean you are/were and ERACer?! What group??

MartyLuvsTigger
04-24-2005, 07:47 PM
50- which must mean you are/were and ERACer?! What group??
Am...Group 32..the SD callback center.. ;)

Mermaid
04-24-2005, 07:58 PM
Am...Group 32..the SD callback center.. ;)
Aaahhh... so you get to call and yell at us when we don't call a cust about their LD/Pol Max/ Shop info/Claim number!! :fez:

MartyLuvsTigger
04-24-2005, 09:17 PM
I don't yell, just inform ;) PM me later so we don't derail this thread :D

awinner
04-24-2005, 09:38 PM
Am...Group 32..the SD callback center.. ;)
ummm....fellow group 32'er here....3206 to be exact. ;) I will be calling for an db extension on monday. :D

ArthurBang
04-25-2005, 02:05 AM
I just recently heard about having to be 25 to rent a car.. when did this start?

I'm 30, but when I was 20 or 21 I got in a car accident and had to get a rental car for a couple of weeks. Insurance covered the cost of the car, but it totally shocked me when somebody told me they couldn't rent a car because they weren't 25.

awinner
04-25-2005, 05:44 AM
enterprise will actually rent to you if your 18-20, only if you are making a claim with your insurance company from an accident.

MartyLuvsTigger
04-25-2005, 07:54 AM
enterprise will actually rent to you if your 18-20, only if you are making a claim with your insurance company from an accident.
DItto :)