Travel Forum / Destinations / USA and Canada / February 2006

Gadi Ben-Avi:

Ask the rental company for the rules when you make the reservation,
and confirm them when you pick up the car.

Yes, certainly. Doing this is easiest of the second driver is there when
you pick up the rental car. The rental agency will probably want to copy
your sister's driver's license. Some rental agencies also charge an
additional fee for each additional driver. A fee of $10 per day per
extra driver is common, but some agencies do not charge an additional
driver's fee. Shop around and see what the most reasonable deal is.

Yes. You will have to pay a little extra as insurance for the extra
driver. If you don't have an insurance policy at home (or a credit
card) that covers rental car liability, you will find that insurance
costs as much as the car rental. If your sister owns a car, you might
want to have her rent the car and put you on as a second driver,
because it is likely that her car owner's insurance covers the cost of
insurance for rental cars.

My husband and I live in Italy, where credit cards don't cover car
rental liability, and where no other insurance policies we have cover
it either, and we find the the insurance cost when we rent a car in
the US to be outrageous. Once we paid for a week's rental the amount
that I used to pay for annual insurance costs when I lived in the US.
Since most Americans have other ways of covering their liability, this
is not an issue to American consumers and the rental companies know
that foreigners don't have any clout.

This was real easy for me last year. I rented a car and wanted my
daughter to be the second driver. I rented with Budget. All she had to
do was present her drivers license and all it cost me was $25 extra for
the week I had the car. I had full coverage with my Insurance Company.
When they began their speel about buying their insurance I presented
them with my copy stating I had it all covered. They handed it back to
me and never even looked at it just said ok.

Hi Gadi,

Sure, additional drivers are usually no problem. Small fees usually
apply, and make sure the other driver's name is in the contract. Check
out http://www.globalcityrentalcars.com/additional_drivers.html for
additional information and it's always a good idea to call the rental
agency because most companies' policies are slightly different.

Kevin