William Lipovsky
Short Answer
In California, there’s no state-mandated minimum or maximum age required for primary or additional rental car drivers. However, young drivers may be subject to a limited car selection and an underage driver surcharge. Below, we explain what you need to know before renting a car in California.
Required Age to Rent a Car in California
California hasn’t set a minimum or maximum age for renting a car in the California Civil Code. In California — as well as most states in the U.S. — the required age is up to the car rental companies.
Most companies will rent to individuals age 21 and over, but they will likely charge a young driver fee for renters under 25. Some companies will rent to drivers as young as 18.
No rental car companies in the U.S. impose a maximum age restriction.
Required Age for Additional Drivers
As with primary drivers, there’s no required car rental age for additional drivers.
In California, car rental agencies aren’t allowed to charge fees for adding an extra driver to your rental agreement, and your spouse is legally allowed to drive your rental car without being added to the contract. This is written into California’s Civil Code.
Car Rental Companies in California
ACE Rent a Car
- Minimum age to rent: Varies by location
- Limitations: ACE is a franchise company, so some franchise owners will rent to drivers 18 to 20 years old, while others set the minimum rental age at 21. For details on the minimum rental age, contact your nearest ACE location.
- Underage driver fees: Varies by location
- Book a rental
Alamo Rent A Car
- Minimum age to rent: 21
- Limitations: A young driver fee may be applied to renters 21 to 24 years old. Certain specialty and larger vehicles may not be rented to drivers under 25.
- Underage driver fees: Varies by location. Contact your nearest Alamo to learn the exact fees for young drivers.
- Book a rental
Budget Car Rental
- Minimum age to rent: 21 in most locations
- Limitations: Renters age 21 to 24 must show a valid credit card and driver’s license. In most locations, renters age 21-24 can only rent from a limited selection of vehicles.
- Underage driver fees: Most locations charge a per-day surcharge of anywhere from $10 to $27 (the $27 surcharge is the most common).
- Book a rental
Dollar Rent A Car
- Minimum age to rent: 21
- Limitations: Renters 21 to 24 years old will be charged additional fees.
- Underage driver fees: Varies by location. For details on exact fees, contact your nearest Dollar.
- Book a rental
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
- Minimum age to rent: 21 in most locations
- Limitations: Renters age 21 to 24 are only permitted to rent from a limited selection of vehicles.
- Underage driver fees: Around $20 per day for renters age 21 to 24, but exact fees vary by location.
- Book a rental
Firefly Car Rental
- Minimum age to rent: 20
- Limitations: Drivers under 25 may not rent from Prestige, Adrenaline, or select specialty vehicle classes
- Underage driver fees: Around $20 to $30 per day, depending on what kind of car you are renting
- Book a rental
Fox Rent A Car
- Minimum age to rent: 19
- Limitations: Drivers under 25 may be restricted to certain vehicle classes
- Underage driver fees: Renters under 25 can expect surcharges of around $20 to $30 per day
- Book a rental
Getaround
- Minimum age to rent: 19
- Limitations: You must be at least 25 to rent a “Specialty” vehicle. Drivers under 21 must have a clean driving record for the last three years.
- Underage driver fees: None
- Book a rental
Hertz
- Minimum age to rent: 18
- Limitations: Drivers under 25 cannot rent from the Prestige or Adrenaline Collections.
- Underage driver fees: Around $35 per day for drivers under 25, though this can vary by location. Hertz will waive the underage driver fee for AAA members age 20-24.
- Book a rental
National Car Rental
- Minimum age to rent: 21
- Limitations: Additional fees may apply for renters age 21 to 24
- Underage driver fees: Varies by location. For details on exact young driver fees, contact your nearest National Car Rental.
- Book a rental
Payless Car Rental
- Minimum age to rent: 21
- Limitations: Renters age 21 to 24 may only choose from Economy, Compact, Intermediate, Standard, Full-sized cars, and Minivans. Additional rental fees apply to young drivers.
- Underage driver fees: $25 per day
- Book a rental
Sixt
- Minimum age to rent: 21
- Limitations: Renters age 21 to 24 must have held a driver’s license for at least one year. Rental car choices for young drivers are restricted to certain vehicle categories.
- Underage driver fees: $14.99 to $35 per day; maximum $279.98 per rental
- Book a rental
Thrifty Car Rental
- Minimum age to rent: 21, 20 in some areas
- Limitations: Renters under 25 will be charged an additional daily surcharge. Thrifty will rent to government renters age 18 and up who are on official business.
- Underage driver fees: Varies by location. For exact fee details, contact your nearest Thrifty.
- Book a rental
Turo
- Minimum age to rent: 21
- Limitations: Drivers under 25 can’t rent certain high-end or specialty vehicles
- Underage driver fees: Either 30% of the trip price or up to $15 per day, whichever is greater, for renters under 25
- Book a rental
Zipcar
- Minimum age to rent: 18 for college students; 21 for non-students.
- Limitations: To rent, you’ll need to first apply for membership and wait for your Zipcard in the mail
- Underage driver fees: Membership plans cost around $7 per month; there is a discount for students and teachers.
- Book a rental
California Car Rental Fees
The following are applicable car rental fees (besides underage surcharges) that you can expect to pay in California:
Airport Concession Fee + Facility Charge
If you’re renting your vehicle at or near an airport, you may be subject to an airport concession fee. This is almost always $10, as required by California civil code.
Facility charges can be added to the airport concession fee, and are a standalone charge for non-airport facilities.
California Sales Tax
The statewide California sales tax rate is 7.25%. Depending on where you’re renting your car, you may be subject to additional local sales tax as well.
In certain areas, the rate can reach as high as 10.25%.
California Tourism Tax
California adds a tourism tax to the cost of car rentals (in addition to sales tax) for rentals at or near airports and hotels. The amount depends on the city in which you are renting.
The rate in Los Angeles is 2.6%.
Vehicle License Recovery Fee
This fee is usually only a few dollars. The vehicle license recovery fee is essentially passing on the usual fees associated with owning a car — registration, title fees, etc. — to the customer, temporarily.
Lindsey Desmet
My father in law was driving a rental car in Pennsylvania, he is 88. He hit a parked police car going 70 mpg. Could I get an idea of what the penalty could be?
Hi Sandy,
Unfortunately, we can’t speak to individual cases because they all have a number of factors that are considered. I hope your father-in-law is doing well following such a scary incident.
Sorry for my enlish, I’m brazilian.
Me (age 29) and my girlfriend (age 23) are going to rent a car for a trip for California.
She already has car insurance. So, if I rent the car with me being the driver, without put her as additional driver, to avoid the surcharges of the companies because his age is under 25 years old, could her drive the car? Will we doing something wrong or ilegal?
Hi Caio,
Anyone who is going to drive the car will need to be added to the rental policy as an additional driver. The only exception is usually for spouses, who are automatically considered an additional driver for their spouse’s rentals. Unfortunately, your girlfriend won’t be able to drive the car unless she’s added to the policy, and you pay for the additional driver fee as well as the young driver fee. I hope this helps and have a great trip!