Car Rental Underage Driver Question
I want to rent a car, but I'm only 18 so no car rental companies will rent a car to me. Could get somebody else to put the car under their name? If the police pull me over, will I get in trouble if the person who rented it, isn't in the car?
Whomever rents the car is required to provide all additional drivers to the car rental company. The additional drivers are required to be 25 or over, with a valid drivers license and a major credit card in their own name.
If you got pulled over, the police would ask to see the rental contract. Once they saw that your name was not listed, they would call the car rental company to verify that an unauthorized person is driving the vehicle. (at this point, the car is usually impounded and it would be up to the renter to get it out of impound, pay all the charges associated with that, and they would have to deal with the car rental company for violating the terms of the rental agreement.)
Technically, YOU would not get in "trouble",(unless you are driving without insurance -- you wouldn't be covered under the normal liability coverage from the car rental company because you would be an unauthorized driver) but you would be out of the rental car and whoever rented it would be in trouble with the car rental company for breaking the terms of their agreement.
Hope this answers your question.
More on this topic:
Additional Drivers
Age Requirements for Car Rental
Category Article Car Rental Policies
