Rental Car Regulations CFR
- The policies at each rental car location vary, but the codes of federal regulations have general rules, such as age restrictions that must be followed by rental car companies. Before a rental car can be rented out to an individual, she must sign the rental car agreement, which legally binds her to all the terms outlined in the agreement. If the renter violates any of those terms, the rental car company can prosecute the renter for any damages, loss or other violations that occur.
- Federal regulations prohibit a rental car location from discriminating against its renters. As long as renters meet the requirements, such as legal renting age, approved credit card payment, valid driver's license and insurance, the renter is permitted to rent a car from the rental car business. A rental car location cannot refuse to rent a car to an individual based on gender, race, nationality, religion or any other personal characteristic. The rental location must not refuse a rental because of a dislike for a person. This is illegal.
Rental car locations have the right to run a credit check on renters who use a debit card as a form of payment. However, the credit check must either be done randomly, or be done all the time. It is considered discrimination to run a credit check on a certain individual, race group or gender. - Since a rental car agreement is a legally binding contract, no individual under the age of 18 can legally enter into a contract or rental car agreement. Rental car locations must ensure that renters meet the minimum legal renting age in order to rent a vehicle. Some rental car locations do not rent to individuals under the age of 21 or 25, and this is legal. It is up to the discretion of the rental car location to choose their age minimum age requirements, as long as the age is above 18.
If the renter is military personnel, some rental car locations make exceptions to their minimum age requirement. For instance, if the age to rent a car is 25, and the military personnel is 21, the rental car location may make an exception and rent the car to the service member as long as the car is being used for business purposes. - All renters must have some type of car insurance to rent a vehicle. The renter has different options, such as using his own car insurance to cover him while he is driving the rented vehicle. If the renter does not have valid car insurance that covers a rental car, the renter can purchase car insurance from the rental car company, if this option is available.
Some major credit card companies offer car insurance to their account holders. However, the insurance purchased with the rental car agent is only valid for the drivers listed in the rental car agreement. Likewise, if a renter uses a major credit card or his own personal car insurance, only those account holders and drivers on the insurance policy are covered to drive the rented vehicle.
