Too Young to Rent a Car? - 25-years-old the minimum age for car renting

Try a truck--and other strategies when you're under 25.

Fresh off a flight from San Francisco, Internet consultant Auren Hoffman needed to rent a car to get to a business meeting in downtown Los Angeles. He tried several car-rental companies near the airport with no luck.

Then he struck gold. Actually, it was yellow--a Ryder truck complete with blankets for moving furniture. "It was huge, the biggest truck I've ever driven," says Hoffman, who worried that his professional image would suffer if he showed up driving a moving van. It took him about 20 tries to parallel park the truck in a space several blocks away from the office.

But Hoffman got to his meeting--no small feat for someone who was then 20 years old, an age generally considered not old enough to rent a car. "I'm turning 25 soon," says Hoffman, "and for me it's going to be a great burden off my shoulders."

With few exceptions, Alamo, Avis, Hertz and National require all drivers to be 25 or older. Budget, Dollar, Enterprise and Thrifty rent to drivers over 21, but penalize underage drivers with a daily surcharge. Some even restrict the type of vehicle, making a luxury model or sport utility vehicle off-limits.

If you're under 21, your chances of renting from the big companies are just about nil unless you're a military or government employee or happen to be renting a car in New York, the only state that currently requires car-rental companies to rent to drivers 18 and older. A similar law has been proposed in Connecticut, where state legislator Michael Cardin has gone to bat for young people. "You get people who are essentially adults but who can't rent a car," says Cardin. "How are they going to get around or be perceived as equals in business?"