How Old Is Too Old To Rent A Car?

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In the United States, you oftentimes have to be at least 25 years old to rent a car. Some car rental companies will rent to people under 25, but chances are those 18-to-24-year-olds will have to pay a surcharge.

But what about those on the other side of the spectrum? Is there a set age that people are deemed to be “too old” to rent a car? And if so, what’s the cutoff?

Well, it depends.

There’s no limit, either by state/country mandate or car rental company rules that anyone would ever be “too old” to rent a car in the U.S. There are also no written rules about upper age requirements to rent a car in Canada. However, in other countries, they may have maximum ages to be able to rent a car. Some of these rules are decided upon by government law, although more often it’s decided upon by individual car rental companies. Here are some examples of maximum car rental ages that I found from a wide variety of sources:

• Aruba – 75
• Australia – 75***
• Barbados – 80
• Bulgaria – 70
• Croatia – 70*
• Curacao – 70
• Czech Republic **
• Denmark – 80**
• Dominican Republic – 70
• Finland – 97
• Ghana – 60*
• Grand Cayman – 70
• Greece – 75**
• Hungary – 85**
• Ireland – 75***
• Israel – 75
• Italy – 80
• Japan – 60 or 70**
• Jamaica – 80 (or 65? Found 2 different quotes, one from 2017 and one from 2018)
• Malta – 70**
• Malaysia – 65**
• Mexico – 75
• Morocco – 60
• Northern Ireland – 75***
• Peru – 71*
• Poland – 70**
• Portugal – 80**
• Puerto Rico – 75**
• Romania – 70
• Slovakia – 70**
• Slovenia – 70 or 73*,**
• Spain – 75*
• Turkey – 70
• St. Lucia – 65
• United Kingdom – 69 or 70*,**

* = Drivers older than the max may be able to drive if they pay a surcharge
** = Maximum drivers’ age appears to vary from car rental company to car rental company
*** = Drivers over 75 are required to provide proof that they are in good health and have not been involved in any accidents in the past five years

It’s said that in general, if you want to rent a car outside the U.S. & Canada and are over age 70(ish), you should go with the “big three” (Avis/Budget, Enterprise/National/Alamo, and Hertz). You have a better chance of getting a rental with them. Alternately, it’s said you’ll have the least chance with Sixt and with smaller, local car rental companies.

But even if you have a reservation, you should still check with the individual rental location directly, to make sure it will be honored, since the rules may vary from location to location, regardless of what corporate says. The last thing you want is to get to whatever country you’re traveling to and find out that the car rental company won’t rent to you because you’ve surpassed their maximum age requirements.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary