BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey, I could do the research but this is so much easier. Any Canucks know how old you have to be to rent a car in Canada? Can an American do it pretty easily? Thanks

Well, I'm not Canadian but I rented a car in Whitehorse the other day. I'm well over the point of having to worry about the age requirements BUT I can tell you that a young lady at the same hostel that we were at looked into renting a car. She would have had to pay a small fortune (around $100 or so a day) not even including the insurance on the car since she's under 25. That was more than double what it cost me.

Hope that helps some.

Yup, for most companies you have to be 25 to rent. A few companies offer to rent to persons under 25 (Hertz and Enterprise, not sure about the others) but they do charge a supplement. This will probably vary according to where, when and how long you rent for.

The websites themselves will give more info. Cheers!!

I'm Canadian (from Toronto, Ontario), and I can tell you this much:

• Renting a car is expensive compared to taking the buses, subways, or commuter trains
  
• You have to be 25 years old
  
• The advertised fees don't include car insurance which is REQUIRED by law and adds about $20 CAD/day to your rental price
  

I rented a car when I was in Canada, and found it to be exactly the same as if I were renting a car here in the U.S. (same companies too). Same rules, and no, it wasn't *required* that you get the additional insurance. I didn't get it, and it wasn't forced upon me. I spent about 150 canadian for five days of using the car. I was over 25 at the time so the age thing wasn't an issue, but maybe they have the same rules there as here, which allow someone under age 25 to rent, as long as you pay the extra daily underage renter fee.

As long as you're over 21 here, you're fine. I think Rent a Wreck is even younger (they generally have better deals).

You have to pay an underage fee though, which is about $10-15 in my experience. The insurance is optional so long as you are covered by your normal car insurance plan. Some people have credit cards that cover them, so you may want to check into that as well.

If you can rent a car in the U.S., you can rent a car in Canada. Most require you have a major credit card, not a debit card and yes, very few rent to someone under 25yrs. See if your car insurance company will cover rental cars in Canada. If it doesn't, then get the insurance there.

quote:

Originally posted by Eowyn218:
I rented a car when I was in Canada, and found it to be exactly the same as if I were renting a car here in the U.S. (same companies too). Same rules, and no, it wasn't *required* that you get the additional insurance.

The car rental company won't force you to get insurance, that's true. However, you must, by law, have some sort of car insurance to drive any car legally in Canada. If you have car insurance already, for your own vehicle for example, then you might be covered under your own policy already.

...That being said, you're only going to face the consequences if you get pulled over by a cop (who will ask for your insurance info) for breaking some other traffic rule.

While in Canada, I noticed that smaller renting agencies (having only one office) are less strict about age requirements than those big national companies.

quote:

Originally posted by my favourite yorp:
While in Canada, I noticed that smaller renting agencies (having only one office) are less strict about age requirements than those big national companies.

QUOTE]Originally posted by my favourite yorp:
While in Canada, I noticed that smaller renting agencies (having only one office) are less strict about age requirements than those big national companies.[/QUOTE



I find that smaller towns are more flexible as well. But watch the add ons....Which you would with any rental agency


And why did it add that quote? I never put it there