If you are under 25 years of age and have decided on a car rental for your vacation, you will probably need to pay a young driver fee when collecting the car.
You decide to rent a car on your holiday, you check all the possible suppliers and what cars they offer, you find the perfect car for an affordable price, and you even go through the whole checklist for a smooth car rental. You are excited to start your vacation. Then you come to the rental station, and suddenly you need to pay an additional daily fee on top of the regular price. What is happening?
The answer is that you are probably at the age where rental agencies consider you a young driver (usually up to 25 years of age) and therefore represent a higher-risk customer than average (from a statistical perspective, nothing personal). Thus they added a young driver fee to your reservation.
Why do I need to pay a young driver's fee?
The young driver fee or sometimes called Underage Driver's Fee is an additional amount charged by the car rental agencies on top of your regular car rental, as younger and more inexperienced drivers are statistically more likely to damage the rental car during their reservation or don't have enough experience driving yet to drive optimally. Hence, the strain on the vehicle is bigger than with more experienced drivers (they don't shift gears at the right time, break to fast etc.). For those reasons, the rental agency wants to protect itself a bit by charging the driver an additional fee to cover all the expenses that it occurs by giving you the car.
Will I pay a young driver's fee?
If you are under 25, you will most likely need to pay a young driver's fee. Different car rental agencies in other countries have different age limits for this fee, ranging from 19 to 25 years.
|
Company |
Age limit |
Fee |
|
Sixt |
24 |
38€ per day |
|
Green Motion |
25 |
25€ per day |
|
Alamo |
21 |
35€ per day |
|
Budget |
21 |
28€ per day |
|
Thrifty |
20 |
15€ per day |
Disclaimer: The prices were checked in February 2023 – please check the T&C of each company for up-to-date rates.
In the table above, you can see the age limits that determine if you will have to pay a young driver fee as well as the approximate cost of it per day. Remember that the age limit and fee can vary between different countries even if you are renting with the same company every time, so be sure to check before you decide on your car hire.
How to find out if the young driver fee applies?
When you are choosing the rental car, be sure to input your driver's age in the search engine correctly. That way the Young driver's fee will already be calculated in the price for the car hire, so you know exactly how much it will cost before you finish the booking process.
Be sure to input your age when looking through possible car rental offers. When you choose the location and dates, also add your age, and all the offers you will see will have the young driver fee included if it is relevant.
When you decide on the offer, you can see that the young driver fee has been added to the total amount to be paid for the car rental in the sidebar. This way, you can avoid any surprise fees when coming to collect your rental car. If you decide on a one-way rental, you will also see the one-way fee displayed here.
How much is a young driver's fee?
For most agencies, the fee is a one-time payment, regardless of the car rental duration, but it can also be calculated per day. The type of car that you are renting usually doesn't have an impact on the fee that you will pay, so regardless if you will be renting a Renault Clio or a Mercedes, the amount you will pay will be the same. It depends on the country where you are renting and the rental company you choose. You can always check how much the Young driver's fee will be if you look through the T&C of the car rental agency that you selected.
When will I pay the young driver's fee?
You pay the fee directly to the rental agency when you come to collect the car and sign all the papers and pay for the car rental itself. Be sure also to have the type of credit or debit card that the rental company will accept. If you are not sure if yours is okay, you can find out all the acceptable ones under the T&C of the agency, where you found the young driver fee.
How will I pay the young driver's fee?
The fee will need to be paid by the main driver of the reservation with their card. Remember that most rental agencies will only accept a credit card, but some do get a debit card under the condition that you take their insurance. You will be charged the fee in the local currency of the country where you rent the car.
What if I’m not the main driver?
Even if you are not the main driver but are signed on the rental agreement as an additional driver, you will need to pay the extra fee if it applies to your age group.
How can I avoid paying a young driver fee?
The first step would be checking all the possible car rental agencies at the location where you wish to rent a car, as you might find an agency where the age limit is under your current age. Even if you can't find a company where you will not pay it, be mindful that not all agencies will charge you the same amount to find the cheapest offer.
Book your rental car with Orbit Car Hire.
Now that you have a clear idea of the young driver fee for car rental. You can compare car hire for your next trip today. If you want more travel inspiration, you can also read about more extra charges for car rental. For more car hire tips and tricks, look at our other blogs.
