Okay, here’s my situation. Mods, please feel free to move it if you don’t feel it belongs here.
My boyfriend and I need to rent a car for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. My boyfriend is 25 and will be the driver. The problem is that he doesn’t have a credit card. I do, but I’m under 25 and I don’t have a driver’s license (for reasons too long to explain here). Does anybody have any ideas about how I might go about getting us the car we need?
Thanks in advance.
I don’t see the problem. Is the rental agency requiring that the cardholder and licensed driver be the same person? I’ve gotten a car for an ex-brother-in-law (aka slacker) where I wasn’t the driver, but I used my card for the rental.
They may want a copy of your boyfriend’s license as verification that he qualifies as the driver, and you may seriously want to consider that extra insurance coverage, since your card, credit and finances are on the line in the event of an accident. But otherwise, I see no reason why they wouldn’t rent the car to you with your boyfriend as the driver. Let me know if this is not the case.
I’ve rented hundreds of times and I tend to agree with dreamlab.
You shouldn’t have any problems renting with your card and designating your boyfriend as the driver. Both of you will need to be there when you rent. Beware that if you don’t have any car insurance of your own, they may require you to purchase it at the time of the rental.
If you’re renting from an airport location, may I suggest Priceline? Find out the what the going rates are from one of the major five companies and bid half. It always works for me.
If that’s not an option, there’s usually plenty of Ugly Duckling/Jose’s U Rent M types around that don’t require a credit card.
Have a nice trip!
Even if the above is not possible (ie they wont allow the cardholder and driver to be different people), most major rental places will rent to drivers under 25. They just charge you an extra fee. The first time I ever rented a car I was 23… I think it was from National.
“Is the rental agency requiring that the cardholder and licensed driver be the same person?”
For me in california, yes.
However, try the car rental websites they have the most incredible deals of all & they have all rules on it.
Thanks for your response. Yes, I am in California, and everyplace I’ve tried has had the policy that the same name must be on both the license and the credit card, even if I were there in person to authorize the use of the credit card. I’m afraid to do one of the online deals because I don’t want to pay for something I’m unable to use due to their restrictions. The local places I have tried are booked up. I guess I might be out of luck, but I’m going to keep trying. If I had a license or if he had a credit card, we wouldn’t have this problem. sigh
Call your credit card company. You should b able to make boyfriend an “authorized user” of your charge card. They will send him a card on your account in his name. He will be able to use the card just like it was his own.
Warning!! - He will be able to use your credit card just like it was his own. Don’t do this if you don’t trust him 100%.
And as a footnote… You might strongly consider filling up your tank before you return the car. The first time I rented a car they told me that I could either fill it up myself or they would fill it up and charge me for it. I assumed this would be about the cost of a tank of gas. Good gosh… it was almost three times the cost of a tank of gas. Now, I make the time to fill up before I return the car.
Sorry for the slight hijack.
And as a footnote… You might strongly consider filling up your tank before you return the car. The first time I rented a car they told me that I could either fill it up myself or they would fill it up and charge me for it. I assumed this would be about the cost of a tank of gas. Good gosh… it was almost three times the cost of a tank of gas. Now, I make the time to fill up before I return the car.
Sorry for the slight hijack.
Lots of car dealers rent cars these days. I don’t think they have the same restrictions as rental companies, and I have found they can be a LOT cheaper. YMMV.
I always contact my car insurance agent for a better rate. They do it for three days, generates
for them a huge amount of paper work & usually comes to about $1.25 per day for me to
get a 0 deductible.
“And as a footnote… You might strongly consider filling up your tank before you return the car.”
Love your story. I did that once, only I forgot to put gas in, but I didn’t remember until the guy
had completed the return paperwork & then I told him & he said skip it. ($25 worth of gas too)
Sorry, I think you’re hosed…
My friend and I are in our 40’s. I had a car reserved, but my credit card expired the previous month. My friend had a valid card, but her license had expired the previous month.
We tried every rental desk at DC’s National airport, and couldn’t rent a car, til the credit company Fed Exed me a new card the next day.
This happened in May of this year.
My advice is, don’t do this, period. Not for a weekend getaway. Not unless you’re planning to be married, and frankly, I’d think twice about it even then.
PS. My previous post should have said the National Airport event happened in May of 2001.
If your boyfriend has a debit card with a credit card logo on it and a sufficient balance to cover the fee plus a deposit, that should work with most rental companies. I’ve done this; I think the place I went to required that my card have a $500 balance remaining for the deposit.
The last time I rented from Enterprise which was a few years ago, I didn’t want to use my credit card. Instead, they asked for a $150 deposit which was refunded when I returned the car and paid the bill. It was simple. I’ve used my credit card on all subsequent rentals. I don’t know if they still have the same policy, but I know it’s common among smaller rental companies. Check your local phone book and call around. The deposit will vary based on the type of car you request and the company’s particular policys. If they’re reluctant to accept a deposit, press them on it, but be prepared to lay out up to $500.
I used to work for the largest on-airport rental company. We (and afaik the other major companies as well) would not rent a car unless the name on both the driver’s license and the credit card agree.
Additionally, we would not rent at all to drivers under 25 unless prior arangements had been made through our corporate hq. Usually the only folks under 25 getting cars were doing so under a corporate program or were military types with a copy of their orders.
We also stopped allowing renters to use debit cards. They created too much of a headache because of the way credit holds work as well as too many fradulent rentals.
My advice, get the boyfriend his own credit card. Don’t trust him on your card unless you are married or don’t mind paying whatever debt he runs up.