Is it possible to rent a car in the USA with a full licence less than a year?

Nephew

Does anyone have experience renting a car in the States with a full licence for less than a year? All the rental companies seem to require holding a full licence for at least 12 months, I have my full licence for nearly 8 months and I am 23yo.

Thanks

biko

Whenever I hired out cars I just showed my full license. Never was I asked how long I had it for.
If you have a full license I see no reason for them to reject you. Do you have links to the T&C that says 12 months?


At participating locations, Avis recently lowered the rental minimum age to 21 years old in all states except:

*
Locations in the states of Connecticut, Washington DC, Iowa and Idaho, and select locations in New Jersey.

Rather than requiring customers to be 25 to rent, Avis now rents to customers between the ages of 21-24 with a valid credit card and driver's license. At time of rental, we will automatically apply an additional $25-per-day underage surcharge for these drivers.

New York State will continue to have a minimum age of 18 with a $110 surcharge per day for renters age 18-24.

*
In the United States we do not have a maximum age requirement.



Government Minimum Age Policy - Military and Civilian Personnel

Military (Fema, US Postal Dept., Navy and Army) and Civilian Personnel

* Minimum age - 18 years (No underage surcharge will apply) with Government Travel or Purchase order
* Minimum age - 21 years (No underage surcharge will apply) no travel or purchase order

Additionally, the following restrictions also will apply for renters between the ages of 21-24: Renters of luxury, Mini-Vans, 12-Passenger Vans, Specialty, and Full-Size SUVs, Premium SUVs will not be permitted.

For International rentals, maximum and minimum age policies may apply and vary by country. Click here to search for locations outside the US.

Nephew

Thanks for the reply. I can't recall the name of the two sites I googled earlier but they both mentioned holding a full licence for a minimum of twelve months.

http://www.avis.com/AvisWeb/JSP/global/en/programs/consumer/PrefMbrGlobalTermsMiddle.jsp
I don't know if this is specific to Australia but section 5 B states

You and any Authorised Driver are currently licensed to drive the Vehicle and have been so licensed to drive for a period of 12 months or longer (excluding any time under a learner's permit or provisional licence).

promethius

I've rented cars in the US loads of times. they will prob not look at your licence in ant great detail they never have with mine, you should be fine but know that it's possible you could get unlucky, i hope you don't and habe a great time!

woop

Ive heard of people renting on provisional in the us

Del2005

It may not be an issue when renting, but if you are in a crash they could use it as a reason to invalidate your insurance. I'd make sure there is no issue before renting as I wouldn't like to have a claim against me and especially not one from the USA.

craichoe

Whenever you rent with Budget, Hertz, Avis or Europcar they check the date the license was issued, they have a large book with formats on all licenses and will know if you've had it less than 12 or 24 months, depending on their requirements.

Believe me, i showed up at Cork airport and ended up having to get a bus !

Europcar are about the only ones that will give it to you under 12 months, if you have fully comprehensive insurance on your own car and transfer it to theirs temporarily !

Don't take what they say here to be true.. i did and ended up having to borrow a car for the weekend when i visited home

The .. "Arra shure they never check it" is total horsesh*t .. what would be the point in having the requirement on their website then

unkel

Del2005 wrote: »

It may not be an issue when renting, but if you are in a crash they could use it as a reason to invalidate your insurance. I'd make sure there is no issue before renting as I wouldn't like to have a claim against me and especially not one from the USA.

QFT.

Noelie

I rented in Vegas from Enterprise a year ago, and I'd only had my full licence about 6 weeks. Nothing was said about it.

faceman

Its in their T&C's for insurance purposes but i doubt they will check when you go in.

Our man in Havana

What if someone held a licence in another EU state and changed it over to an Irish one? They could have held their say french licence for years, would they be treated as a brand new driver?

craichoe

Bond-007 wrote: »

What if someone held a licence in another EU state and changed it over to an Irish one? They could have held their say french licence for years, would they be treated as a brand new driver?

Theres a box on the new license identifying it as exchanged

r3nu4l

craichoe wrote: »

Whenever you rent with Budget, Hertz, Avis or Europcar they check the date the license was issued, they have a large book with formats on all licenses and will know if you've had it less than 12 or 24 months, depending on their requirements.

Believe me, i showed up at Cork airport and ended up having to get a bus !

Europcar are about the only ones that will give it to you under 12 months, if you have fully comprehensive insurance on your own car and transfer it to theirs temporarily !

Don't take what they say here to be true.. i did and ended up having to borrow a car for the weekend when i visited home

The .. "Arra shure they never check it" is total horsesh*t .. what would be the point in having the requirement on their website then

I can't endorse the 'horsesh*t' you're selling here I'm afraid!! In August 2003, I had my full driving license exactly one week when I rented from Avis in Clearwater, Florida. I sat the test in Naas, a week before I travelled ,and a friend of mine who worked in the Corporation licensing department made sure I had my nice new license within 2 days of passing the test. There was absolutely no problem at all at Avis and no questions asked about validity. The lady checked the license and gave me the keys, wishing me the obligatory "Have a nice day" as I made my way out the door. Bear in mind I had a license for one week, had never driven an automatic car and was driving on the opposite side of the road than I had learned. :rolleyes: I also had never drivn anything bigger than a 1 L and had hired a 2.2L 'economy' car

I didn't have an accident and unlike many Americans I was able to navigate the roundabout at Clearwater Beach, near Pier 60 Not many roundabouts in the US!

/As for it invalidating the insurance, well, if it came to it you could file a counter-suit claiming that they should never have let you out in the first place. :pac:

Del2005

r3nu4l wrote: »

I didn't have an accident and unlike many Americans I was able to navigate the roundabout at Clearwater Beach, near Pier 60 Not many roundabouts in the US!

/As for it invalidating the insurance, well, if it came to it you could file a counter-suit claiming that they should never have let you out in the first place. :pac:

It's the drivers responsibility to make sure they are legal in the vehicle they are driving. The hire companies don't give a damn about what licence you have they just want your money and CC details. When the sh!t hits the fan they'll look into the status of your licence and their insurance company could invalidate your insurance if you don't meet their T&Cs.

I know people who've hired cars in the US on Irish provisional licenses, what sort of insurance do you think they had?

It's up to the OP what they do, but make sure and ask before hiring a car if they'll accept your licence

craichoe

r3nu4l wrote: »

I can't endorse the 'horsesh*t' you're selling here I'm afraid!! In August 2003, I had my full driving license exactly one week when I rented from Avis in Clearwater, Florida. I sat the test in Naas, a week before I travelled ,and a friend of mine who worked in the Corporation licensing department made sure I had my nice new license within 2 days of passing the test. There was absolutely no problem at all at Avis and no questions asked about validity. The lady checked the license and gave me the keys, wishing me the obligatory "Have a nice day" as I made my way out the door. Bear in mind I had a license for one week, had never driven an automatic car and was driving on the opposite side of the road than I had learned. :rolleyes: I also had never drivn anything bigger than a 1 L and had hired a 2.2L 'economy' car

I didn't have an accident and unlike many Americans I was able to navigate the roundabout at Clearwater Beach, near Pier 60 Not many roundabouts in the US!

/As for it invalidating the insurance, well, if it came to it you could file a counter-suit claiming that they should never have let you out in the first place. :pac:

Ring ANY of the big rental companies in ireland, Hertz, Avis, Argus, Europcar.

Its between 1 and 5 years, Europcar being the only one you can drive with your own insurance.

its HORSESH*T. If i could rent a car i would !

r3nu4l

craichoe wrote: »

Ring ANY of the big rental companies in ireland, Hertz, Avis, Argus, Europcar.

Its between 1 and 5 years, Europcar being the only one you can drive with your own insurance.

its HORSESH*T. If i could rent a car i would !

Look pal, you obviously had a different experience to me that's fair enough, however, my experience with Avis was in the USA and as such is directly relevant to the OP. Your HORSESH*T (I love this ) about experience in Ireland or Darfur, Kabul, Taiwan is not relevant to this discussion. :pac::pac:

I'm not disputing what the regulations say or whether his insurance is valid or not, I AM disputing that he won't be able to hire a car in the US because the ink on his license is barely dry. Unless things have changed dramatically since 2003, or he has some jobsworth examining his license, he shouldn't have too much of a problem. That's based on my experience as I lived it.

ohlordy

On a different note, is it possible/common to rent a manual car in the states? I was checkin prices last week for a LA to San Fran trip i'll be doin later in the year (just a brief check) and it seemed that all cars offered were automatics. I've never driven an auto and see no reason to start now, I like changing gear myself!

Our man in Havana

Manuals and especially small manuals are rarer than hens teeth in the USA.

yescarhire.com rents with less than 12 months on full licence.Im in the same boat and have been trawling the net looking for a company !!

mcgiggy

Thanks Rarnes for that yescarhire.com link!

Orange69

Bond-007 wrote: »

Manuals and especially small manuals are rarer than hens teeth in the USA.

Manuals are pretty common in the US (NY area anyway) but none of the rental companies seem to carry them. If its your first time driving in the US having an auto is a good thing.. The change to the other side of the road can get stressful and you don't want to be trying to change gears with your right hand with everything else that will be going on. You will need a gps too...

Also the drive from LA up to SF is nice but the drive from LA out to Vegas through death valley is better.. If you are in SF try make it out to Yosemite, its a beautiful drive/park..

In terms of the license, i don't recall my license being checked too throughly when i was getting rentals... but im over 25 and have it more than a year..

mada999

yes i rented one in San Francisco with Avis about 2 weeks ago..it was a ford explorer and cost €480 for 9 days..i got my full license only a few months ago..

goto www.avis.com and book one (you don't even need your credit card to book it, so you can cancel free of charge if you like)

MisterAnarchy

I had no hassle renting cars when I was living there.
I even know guys who were driving on provisionals ,not exactly sure if that was legal.
The driving laws are pretty slack over there.
Took me a while to get used to manual cars again after coming back.:D