Age Matters for Car Renters

The New York Times > Travel > Practical Traveler: "'I tried everyone,' Ms. Lambe said. 'Hertz, Avis, Budget and every company I could find on an Internet search. They all said, 'No, you can't rent.' Even though I was told that the official age was 75, the people I contacted told me that their companies had set their own limits of 70.'

"It's the insurance companies that mandate what the maximum ages are," said Nancy Sullivan, vice president for sales and marketing at Auto Europe, (888) 223-5555 and www.autoeurope.com, a car-rental wholesaler based in Portland, Me. The cutoff is usually 70 to 75, she said.

In some areas, older drivers are permitted to rent cars only if they can provide their own insurance. "To rent a car from us if you are over 70, you must get your own insurance," said Sharon Mackinnon, an agent at Mackinnon Self Drive, a company based in Stornoway on Lewis With Harris, an island in the Outer Hebrides archipelago of Scotland. "This regulation is not one we impose personally. It's the policy of our insurance company." But when asked specifically how an elderly person would go about acquiring insurance valid in the Hebrides, Ms. Mackinnon said she did not know.

For her part, Ms. Lambe said, "Being able to drive while on vacation in Ireland is important to me. I need to be able to get around to see relatives. I want to have the freedom to drive out into the countryside to take photographs."

Left with no alternative, Ms. Lambe simply decided to cancel her vacation. "