Car rental: Driving licence and driver's age

Many drivers have found themselves in the unfortunate position of being turned down for a car rental due to age or failure to produce reliable diploma document. The lessee should know exactly how a car rental company works and read or know the terms and conditions.

At the outset, it should be made clear that no company wants to deprive any driver of the possibility of renting a car, let alone sell its services and make a financial profit.

However, a car rental business is faced with high-risk situations and does not risk its interests.

Regarding the age limit for hiring a car, the legislator sets the minimum age at 21 and the maximum at 70, without this meaning that the conditions of each company are different. A company may, for example, not trust the driving ability of drivers who have not reached the age of 23 and it is perfectly legitimate, regardless of what the hirer may believe about driving ability.

The company may also consider a driver to be unfit regardless of age, for example if he or she is drunk or under the influence of drugs.

In addition, there are conditions set by the insurance company regarding the age limit for drivers of rental vehicles that must be strictly followed by rental car companies.

The policies and conditions set by vehicle rental companies protect their interests and in many cases indirectly protect the lessee from undesirable situations.

Finally, drivers are often observed to present diplomas that are worn out, altered by time, photocopies or photographs. Obviously such documents are not acceptable.

Car rental requires original, genuine, clean, legible and recent license documents to avoid unpleasant situations.

There are many occasions when the police authorities have removed the licence or the licence has not been renewed after expiry and the lessee presents a copy or an earlier licence in order to deceive.

In any case, we must respect the terms set by each car rental company, to comply with the legislation and make the cooperation between lessee and lessor easier.