When you want to rent a car under the age of 25, most companies don’t want to rent to you. They think you’re a hazard on the road, They think you’re going to crash the car, and the companies that do rent to teenagers will charge you up to $39 a day underage fees.
Now, nobody wants to pay that. Because if you’re going to get a car for the weekend, to go to the beach with your friends and rent it out, you’re going to pay up to like $100 after taxes and fees, just underage fees. And if you’re getting it for a week or even more, that could be hundreds of dollars in fees.
How to avoid a car rental underage fee.
The number one way to do this and to avoid underage fees is going to be AAA. AAA will be your best friend when it comes to renting a car as a teenager or under the age of 25. When you sign up for AAA, their cheapest membership, I think, is that like $67 a year, which is what like less than $10 a month, less than $5 a month even. And when you get a membership with AAA, they give you a CDP code to add to a Hertz car rental company website reservation page.
Now the car rental company that AAA is connected to is hertz. So if you rent a car from hertz, and you sign up online for the reservation, you put in the AAA information on the website in it automatically waves the underage fee.
Geat Deal
The reason this is a good deal is that there are no limitations to what kind of car you can get or limitations to how many days you can rent the car. So if you want it for a weekend, a week a month, you pay zero dollars for underage fees if you have AAA. So sign up for AAA get the cheapest membership they have; you’ll get the discount code that you can plug into the website at hertz, and that will automatically waive the underage fee. So you can rent a car at 18 to 24.All the people who are under 25, who gets slapped with that underage, you can waive it just by having AAA.
Now how does this get better? Well, here’s how. Now when you have AAA, not only do they waive the underage fee, but they also give you up to 15% of a discounted price. When you book with hertz because of their connection with the Hertz car company, they give you 15%. So not only are you waiving that underage fee, but you’re also getting 15% off the regular rental price. So that is a great deal on its own.
How to Maximize this deals even more
Now, if you want to maximize these car rental deals, and if you want to go insane. You can also apply for the American Express Platinum card. When you get the American Express Platinum Card, you end up saving up to 25% of your car rental with hertz because they also have a relationship with hertz. And what’s great about them is not only do you save more, but you have advantages when it comes to renting a car.
If you apply for this credit card you get approved, you can save a lot of money at hertz.
So you’ll save up to 25% off the daily rate. And the great thing about American Express Platinum is when you get that credit card, they automatically give you a four hour grace period with every car rental that you get through hertz. So if you rent a car for the weekend, and you have to return it at 2pm on a Sunday, you have technically until 6pm that day to return the vehicle without any late fees without any late return charges, especially if you want to keep the car for a couple of extra hours or if you’re running late, then you don’t have to worry about getting hit with any late fees.
How to Combine These Benefits
So those are the two main things you want to do. And there is actually a way to combine these benefits.
So the trick I like to do since I’m under the age of 25 and I get slapped with the underage what I do is I plug in the CDP code for AAA. I automatically get that discount great, and the underage waived, but because I know the Platinum card, if you sign up with that one, make the reservation with the Platinum CDP. That one gives you the four-hour grace period, and it also gives you a free car class upgrade, so if you rent, you can rent the cheapest car for like dirt cheap. They will provide you with one free upgrade every time you get a rental because of the American Express relationship with hertz. So what I like to do is I like to go in and make the reservation with my AAA CDP; that way, I get the underage fee waived. But then when I go in to pick up the car at the Hertz location, I show them my Platinum card, and I say, Hey, I’m an American Express Platinum member. And I was told that I can get a free car class upgrade.