What you need to rent a car in USA

What do I need to rent a car in the USA?

To hire a car in America from suppliers like Hertz, Enterprise, Sixt, Dollar or Budget, the drivers need to fulfill some qualifying conditions to be eligible to rent cars. Whether planning to rent a car in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, California or Orlando – or their respective airports – here are the car hire requirements that you need to fulfill to rent a car in the US:

Age Eligibility

The minimum age to rent a car in the US is 25 years, more or less, that is, as this eligibility condition may vary from supplier to supplier (and not just that, even different car-types come with different minimum rental age requirements). However, that doesn’t mean that drivers under-25 could not rent cars at all; many car rental companies allow young driver, even the ones who are younger than 21 years to rent, but the suppliers charge a young driver surcharge.

Driver’s license (DL)

Any driver who meets the supplier’s rental age requirements and have a valid & full driver’s license held for at least one-year can rent a car in the US.

Whether you are residents of UK, Canada, Australia, Germany or China, all you need is a valid DL to hire and drive a car in the US. Make sure you bring the original document, as photocopies, temporary or digital copies of the license are not entertained.

Credit card, debit card or cash?

Majority of car rental companies like Enterprise, Hertz & Budget allow payments only through credit card, though there are a few which permit the use of debit card or even cash but only at selected locations.

Read the T&C of the supplier you are renting from to know more, or call us, we will help you arrange the right car for you with the suitable payment option.

International driver’s permit (IDP)

Though in general, an IDP is not counted among the main documents that drivers are usually asked to provide when renting cars in the USA, you might have to show one, if the supplier says so.

Moreover, in case your DL is not in Roman alphabet, an IDP would act as the translation and will be helpful in cases of accidents when the authorities would need your DL information to fill the accident form. If you don’t have an IDP, at least do carry the official translation of your DL.