Student trip to Orlando? Without a car? HELP :P

pennylane99

Minimum driving age
The minimum age for driving is 16 in most states but some states will not allow unrestricted driving until 18. Some car rental agencies refuse to rent a car to any person under 25 years of age. Other agencies will rent to young drivers but require an added surcharge. Some rental agencies in the US will not rent to drivers over 71 years of age

the alcohol drinking age limit is 21.....;)

I was even asked for ID one time when buying a few cans of lager from the hotel shop.....and at that time I was 35yr old.....lol

Edinburghlass_2

Edinburghlass wrote:

Best to read the Florida and Orlando thread...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=23331&page=36

Driving and insurance for "youngsters" has been discussed on the above thread today.

I have stayed onsite at Disney and offsite at Lake Beuna Vista and in both trips used the Disney buses to the maximum along with the free shuttle buses from our hotel offsite as well as the buses going from the hotel next door. We went offsite from Disney to the malls and Seaworld using Lynx buses from the TTC at $1.50 a trip.

Lake Beuna Vista is a good area to stay, quieter than I Drive, easy access to Down Town Disney and loads of restaurants and shops.

prozak

I've given that thread and I can't seem to make heads nor tails. Is there a difinitive cheapest car hire for an 18yr old driver? Because there's company names being thrown here there and everywhere and we only want a car at intermediate level, Any help?:P

LittleTinker

prozak wrote:

Thankyou very much for your help guys, this is looking dooable Well the driver in our party is 18 years old, and I thought you needed to be 21 to drive abroad but does anybody know if its possible at 18?
Even if it turns out that we could drive about, it may still be easier and cheaper for us to stay on I drive because I'm sure they'll sting us on insurance for driving. Thanks again guys

Last time I knew you had to be 25 to rent a car in the States, but that was a while ago.....it may have changed now.

Amys

I thought you had to be 21 to hire a car, but I could be wrong.

pennylane99

What is the minimum age to hire a car in Florida?

With Dollar, Alamo and Hertz, The minimum age is 21 although under age 25 drivers will be subject to a surcharge payable on collection (see below). The minimum age with U-Save is 19 with the exception of the 6 seater pick-up which has a minimum age of 25.

Is there a surcharge for younger drivers?

With Dollar, Alamo and Hertz, Drivers under the age of 25 will be required to pay a surcharge of $20 - $25 per day, payable on collection of the vehicle. U-Save charge $20 per day for age 19 and 20 year, and no surcharge for age 21 and over. U-Save 6 seater pick-up has a minimum age limit of 25.

http://www.uscarhire.co.uk/faq-restrictions.aspx#10

prozak

Thankyou very much pennylane extremely useful info there. Lucky for us my friend turns 19 in februray, so we're driving by the skin of out teeth :P With the ability of being able to drive it means it also saves money because we can look for places in Kissimee and drive into Orlando so cheaper accom in kissimee Thanks everybody, looks like it'll have to be U-Save, unless anybody knows of any more 19+ companies?

pennylane99

theres another UK company, I think they book through U-Save

Are you 19-20 years old?

U.S. Rent A Car can now offer car hire in Florida to UK and European driving licence holders aged 19-20 with just a small local charge to upgrade the insurance, approximately $20.00 per day per driver. To take advantage please call our reservations department on 0845 226 8523.

http://www.usrentacar.co.uk/under25.htm

pennylane99

personally, I think taking the car/driving option is going to work out a lot more expensive for your trip if you are trying to do it on a budget....

even if you go for cheaper accom, Kissimee isnt that much cheaper anyway...

add the cost of car rental/insurance/petrol/extra daily charge for under 21 driver......and deposit you have to pay first, it will add to your budget enormously.

OrlandoMan

I have been to orlano on many ocassions and have always had a car. This year though we are not taking a car.

I have found previously that I drive to the themepark in the morning and drive back to the hotel at park closing. So most of the time I've been paying for the car to sit in a big car park

The car is going to cost £200 - £300, that money will pay for quite a few taxi rides. So this coupled with International Drive Buses and Hotel Shuttles I think you will be absolutely fine without a car.

Have a read of this... Orlando without a car