Car Rental Under 25: Who Rents to Young Drivers and the Fee

Renting a car under 25 is possible almost everywhere; you just pay a young-driver surcharge on top of the rate. Here’s who rents to drivers aged 21 to 24, what the fee runs, and how to keep it down.

Can you rent a car under 25?

Yes. The old idea that you must be 25 to rent is a myth. Nearly every major company rents to drivers 21 to 24, and the booking sites do too. The real line is the fee, not the door: young drivers get a daily surcharge added automatically. Under 21 is the harder case, covered below.

Age band	Availability	What to expect
25+	Standard rates	No young-driver fee
21-24	Widely available	Flat daily young-driver surcharge
18-20	Limited	Select programs, some states, or peer-to-peer only

Data current as of August 2026 — verify at booking.

The young-driver surcharge

This is the cost that catches people out. Expect roughly $15 to $35 per day on top of the base rate, depending on company, location, and car class. It’s a flat daily add-on, so it hurts most on short rentals and matters less spread over a week or a month. Some suppliers also block young drivers from premium, luxury, and large SUV classes, so your car choices can be narrower.

Minimum age by company

The floor is usually 21, with the surcharge applying through age 24:

Company	Typical minimum age	Notes
Enterprise	21 (18 in NY/MI)	Under-21 limits on car class
Hertz	20-21	Under-25 fee varies by state
Avis / Budget	21	Young-driver fee per day
Booking-site suppliers	21	Fee and rules vary by supplier

Ages and fees vary by state and location. Michigan and New York cap or bar the under-25 surcharge, and both allow rental from 18. Verify at booking.

How to lower or skip the fee

The surcharge is hard to erase, but you can shrink it:

• Use a membership. USAA, some employers, travel clubs, and corporate or government rate codes waive or cut the young-driver fee. Enter every code you qualify for at booking.
• Rent longer. A weekly or monthly rate dilutes a flat daily fee.
• Compare suppliers. The same trip can carry a very different young-driver fee across booking sites, so check a few before you pay.

Under-21 rules

Under 21 is a different game. Most companies won’t rent to you at all, with two legal exceptions: New York and Michigan require rental from age 18, at a higher surcharge. A handful of programs and off-airport locations serve 18-to-20 drivers elsewhere. If you’re under 21, search early and expect fewer options.

Turo and peer-to-peer as a fallback

Peer-to-peer platforms like Turo are sometimes open to younger drivers, and to cars a counter won’t hand a 22-year-old, but availability and the young-driver fee vary by host and market rather than by a published company policy. Treat it as a fallback when the counters say no, not as the cheaper default: weigh the three routes on what they actually cost you.

Traditional rental (21-24): widely available and predictable, but the young-driver surcharge applies and can’t usually be removed.

Turo / peer-to-peer: sometimes open to younger drivers and to unique cars, but availability and young-driver fees vary by host and market.

Comparing suppliers: costs nothing and directly targets the fee that differs most between companies.

The verdict

Renting under 25 is normal, not a dead end. Expect the surcharge, compare suppliers for your exact dates since the fee isn’t fixed, and check whether your state, a membership, or a corporate code lowers it. That’s how you keep an under-25 rental affordable.

For a step-by-step on booking and rate codes, see our comparison guides in the comparison hub, and pick a booking site with which rental company is friendliest to under-25 drivers. Renting one-way or by the month as a young driver? Read one-way car rental and long-term & monthly car rental.