Rental cars companies come under scrutiny for not renting to 30% of US military (unde
12-05-09, 10:25 AM
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Rental cars companies come under scrutiny for not renting to 30% of US military (unde
http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News...e.php?ID=72645
No rental exception for soldiers
By Jeff Keeling
Press Business Editor
jkeeling@johnsoncitypress.com
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American soldiers can drive jeeps, trucks and even armored vehicles before they’re 21, but when those of tender age are on leave and wanting the quickest way home from the airport — a rental car — they’re out of luck.
Rental car companies’ widespread policy of not renting to drivers under 21 (and often 25) struck a nerve with Johnson City resident Marcy Walker when she was renting a car at the Atlanta airport recently and a soldier approached the desk. Walker, whose son has recently joined the military, wanted to do something to change that after seeing the young man walk away from the desk realizing the last leg of his journey to Augusta, Ga., would be delayed by the policy.
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American soldiers can drive jeeps, trucks and even armored vehicles before they’re 21, but when those of tender age are on leave and wanting the quickest way home from the airport — a rental car — they’re out of luck.
Rental car companies’ widespread policy of not renting to drivers under 21 (and often 25) struck a nerve with Johnson City resident Marcy Walker when she was renting a car at the Atlanta airport recently and a soldier approached the desk. Walker, whose son has recently joined the military, wanted to do something to change that after seeing the young man walk away from the desk realizing the last leg of his journey to Augusta, Ga., would be delayed by the policy.
“My purpose is for people to make enough noise about this that, especially for the holidays, the car companies do something about it,” Walker said. “We’ve got thousands of people coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan, and it’s just wrong.”
A Web site geared for consumers, “Car Rental Express,” doesn’t make value judgments on the policy, but notes that “you will encounter an age limit at every car rental company.” The site, which bills itself as promoting rental agencies equally for consumers’ benefit, also notes companies sometimes will let younger drivers rent for an extra fee.
When Walker, who was going to write letters to politicians, mentioned the issue to her friend D.J. Jessee, a marketing and communications professor at East Tennessee State University, Jessee helped Walker “adjust her shot group,” as they say in the Army.
“I said, ‘you don’t have to do it that way in today’s world, let’s just brainstorm a bit,’ ” Jessee said.
Jessee thought of her students, who she called “very passionate, compassionate people,” and figured they might be interested in using the situation to try and make an issue “go viral” and perhaps make a much bigger splash through the Internet than a traditional letter-writing campaign might.
To view the video visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjR-kxSfdEQ
A self-described “Army brat” who remembered her father telling stories of his struggles to get home on leave, Jessee said she couldn’t imagine something much more relevant than this issue.
“No young person who’s a soldier ought to be stranded at the airport trying to get home, especially when their leave is not as long as it might be,” Jessee said. “These young men and women have really tested their mettle, and they are above and beyond being responsible.
“I think as a country if you ask people to be responsible for their life, they can be responsible for others’ lives, too.”
Jessee and Walker called around to the major companies to confirm that the restrictions were commonplace before Jessee approached her students. As she anticipated, they were responsive to “a great opportunity for them to do something that, for one, will make a difference, and that will be a great learning experience for them.”
Jessee pitched the idea to students in several classes last week. In a deserted Warf-Pickel Hall at about 6 the night before Thanksgiving, they shot “Military Can’t Rent Cars,” which posted to YouTube Tuesday.
Jessee said several parents got involved, and that Marty Fitzgerald of ETSU’s digital media program donated his time to help produce the one minute, 43-second piece. Wednesday, students in a public relations class took on the task of trying to make the video “go viral.”
“It’s one of those things people bought into all along the line,” Jessee said.
The video can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjR-kxSfdEQ or by going to YouTube.com and typing “military can’t rent cars” in the search bar.
Sergeant back from Afghanistan has seen the problem firsthand
Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Hopkins of Gray has commanded young soldiers since a deployment in Bosnia more than a decade ago, and just returned from 10 months in Afghanistan. He said he and fellow NCOs have encountered the agencies’ policy on several occasions.
“I have had soldiers trying to get home, or having to go on emergency leave, who couldn’t rent one because they were under 21,” Hopkins said. “Myself and other NCOs have actually rented cars for them and put them on our credit cards to get them home.”
Hopkins said the lack of an exception to the age rule for soldiers seems ironic to him on a couple levels, including the fact that some 18-year-old soldiers are operating “vehicles larger than a trash truck” on narrow foreign roads. Additionally, he said, the military will garnish the wages of soldiers who haven’t met financial obligations, so he believes car companies may have a recourse available even if a soldier did have an accident.
Finally, Hopkins said, military service tends to have an impact on responsibility levels.
“From what I’ve witnessed, soldiers that have served overseas at 18, 19, are typically a lot more mature because of what they’ve had to do than someone who’s lived at home ... and gone to college.”
The college students who produced the video didn’t disagree with Hopkins’ assessment. They said they simply hope to get the video in front of as many people as possible and see whether it leads to any policy changes (the video provides major rental companies’ phone numbers and a method for contacting congressional representatives).
The Car Rental Express Web site did note some independent rental agencies are more flexible about age restrictions, but large companies’ rules are “set by a committee” and “enforced by counter agents who have no real input in the operational policies.”
Jessee said she’s not interested in casting blame, but rather in finding a solution before thousands of young soldiers — the video mentions that 35 percent of them are under 21 — return for the holidays and some of them, inevitably, lose precious hours because they can’t rent a car.
“You may have to add a $2 surcharge, but there’s not an American out there that wouldn’t do that,” Jessee said. “I think we could scrape up an extra dollar or two when we’re renting a car so a soldier could get home for the holidays.
“It says something about companies and us as a people if we can recognize that there are exceptions to all rules, and this is one of those exceptions.”
Hopkins, too, said he’d like to see a reconsideration of policies so young soldiers can make the most of what typically are 15-day leaves.
“You’ve been out of the country away from your family anywhere from four months to a year and every minute counts when you’re going home. You haven’t seen your family, your friends or anybody for that length of time and you only have so much time before you have to be back.”
No rental exception for soldiers
By Jeff Keeling
Press Business Editor
jkeeling@johnsoncitypress.com
Printer-friendly version
Email Article
American soldiers can drive jeeps, trucks and even armored vehicles before they’re 21, but when those of tender age are on leave and wanting the quickest way home from the airport — a rental car — they’re out of luck.
Rental car companies’ widespread policy of not renting to drivers under 21 (and often 25) struck a nerve with Johnson City resident Marcy Walker when she was renting a car at the Atlanta airport recently and a soldier approached the desk. Walker, whose son has recently joined the military, wanted to do something to change that after seeing the young man walk away from the desk realizing the last leg of his journey to Augusta, Ga., would be delayed by the policy.
Email Article
American soldiers can drive jeeps, trucks and even armored vehicles before they’re 21, but when those of tender age are on leave and wanting the quickest way home from the airport — a rental car — they’re out of luck.
Rental car companies’ widespread policy of not renting to drivers under 21 (and often 25) struck a nerve with Johnson City resident Marcy Walker when she was renting a car at the Atlanta airport recently and a soldier approached the desk. Walker, whose son has recently joined the military, wanted to do something to change that after seeing the young man walk away from the desk realizing the last leg of his journey to Augusta, Ga., would be delayed by the policy.
“My purpose is for people to make enough noise about this that, especially for the holidays, the car companies do something about it,” Walker said. “We’ve got thousands of people coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan, and it’s just wrong.”
A Web site geared for consumers, “Car Rental Express,” doesn’t make value judgments on the policy, but notes that “you will encounter an age limit at every car rental company.” The site, which bills itself as promoting rental agencies equally for consumers’ benefit, also notes companies sometimes will let younger drivers rent for an extra fee.
When Walker, who was going to write letters to politicians, mentioned the issue to her friend D.J. Jessee, a marketing and communications professor at East Tennessee State University, Jessee helped Walker “adjust her shot group,” as they say in the Army.
“I said, ‘you don’t have to do it that way in today’s world, let’s just brainstorm a bit,’ ” Jessee said.
Jessee thought of her students, who she called “very passionate, compassionate people,” and figured they might be interested in using the situation to try and make an issue “go viral” and perhaps make a much bigger splash through the Internet than a traditional letter-writing campaign might.
To view the video visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjR-kxSfdEQ
A self-described “Army brat” who remembered her father telling stories of his struggles to get home on leave, Jessee said she couldn’t imagine something much more relevant than this issue.
“No young person who’s a soldier ought to be stranded at the airport trying to get home, especially when their leave is not as long as it might be,” Jessee said. “These young men and women have really tested their mettle, and they are above and beyond being responsible.
“I think as a country if you ask people to be responsible for their life, they can be responsible for others’ lives, too.”
Jessee and Walker called around to the major companies to confirm that the restrictions were commonplace before Jessee approached her students. As she anticipated, they were responsive to “a great opportunity for them to do something that, for one, will make a difference, and that will be a great learning experience for them.”
Jessee pitched the idea to students in several classes last week. In a deserted Warf-Pickel Hall at about 6 the night before Thanksgiving, they shot “Military Can’t Rent Cars,” which posted to YouTube Tuesday.
Jessee said several parents got involved, and that Marty Fitzgerald of ETSU’s digital media program donated his time to help produce the one minute, 43-second piece. Wednesday, students in a public relations class took on the task of trying to make the video “go viral.”
“It’s one of those things people bought into all along the line,” Jessee said.
The video can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjR-kxSfdEQ or by going to YouTube.com and typing “military can’t rent cars” in the search bar.
Sergeant back from Afghanistan has seen the problem firsthand
Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Hopkins of Gray has commanded young soldiers since a deployment in Bosnia more than a decade ago, and just returned from 10 months in Afghanistan. He said he and fellow NCOs have encountered the agencies’ policy on several occasions.
“I have had soldiers trying to get home, or having to go on emergency leave, who couldn’t rent one because they were under 21,” Hopkins said. “Myself and other NCOs have actually rented cars for them and put them on our credit cards to get them home.”
Hopkins said the lack of an exception to the age rule for soldiers seems ironic to him on a couple levels, including the fact that some 18-year-old soldiers are operating “vehicles larger than a trash truck” on narrow foreign roads. Additionally, he said, the military will garnish the wages of soldiers who haven’t met financial obligations, so he believes car companies may have a recourse available even if a soldier did have an accident.
Finally, Hopkins said, military service tends to have an impact on responsibility levels.
“From what I’ve witnessed, soldiers that have served overseas at 18, 19, are typically a lot more mature because of what they’ve had to do than someone who’s lived at home ... and gone to college.”
The college students who produced the video didn’t disagree with Hopkins’ assessment. They said they simply hope to get the video in front of as many people as possible and see whether it leads to any policy changes (the video provides major rental companies’ phone numbers and a method for contacting congressional representatives).
The Car Rental Express Web site did note some independent rental agencies are more flexible about age restrictions, but large companies’ rules are “set by a committee” and “enforced by counter agents who have no real input in the operational policies.”
Jessee said she’s not interested in casting blame, but rather in finding a solution before thousands of young soldiers — the video mentions that 35 percent of them are under 21 — return for the holidays and some of them, inevitably, lose precious hours because they can’t rent a car.
“You may have to add a $2 surcharge, but there’s not an American out there that wouldn’t do that,” Jessee said. “I think we could scrape up an extra dollar or two when we’re renting a car so a soldier could get home for the holidays.
“It says something about companies and us as a people if we can recognize that there are exceptions to all rules, and this is one of those exceptions.”
Hopkins, too, said he’d like to see a reconsideration of policies so young soldiers can make the most of what typically are 15-day leaves.
“You’ve been out of the country away from your family anywhere from four months to a year and every minute counts when you’re going home. You haven’t seen your family, your friends or anybody for that length of time and you only have so much time before you have to be back.”
12-05-09, 11:42 AM
#2
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I will definitely not want under 21 to drive rental car. Been there, experience that but still no. However, I would vote for soldier to have exception. They are home and they need to be relax and be supported. Not facing other frustration.
12-05-09, 11:45 AM
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Great idea, though I can confirm that at least 3 of the major car rental companies to rent to military members under 25, though they charge you for being underage unless you have official TDY or PCS paperwork with you.
12-05-09, 02:06 PM
#4
Lexus Fanatic
The idea that people under 21 are high-risk is often nonsense. I proved that, myself, in my own youth......but, of course, I was a more-careful-than-average teen driver, with no DWI's, speeding tickets, and only one chargeable accident (skidding on ice) during that period. And it was not a severe accident.
I also agree with the statement that military members under 21 are, in general, more responsible than civilian teens, though, on occasion, they sometimes, while on leave, let alcohol get the best of them in bars, and are not afraid to start fights because they are often well-trained in hand-to-hand combat.
I also agree with the statement that military members under 21 are, in general, more responsible than civilian teens, though, on occasion, they sometimes, while on leave, let alcohol get the best of them in bars, and are not afraid to start fights because they are often well-trained in hand-to-hand combat.
12-05-09, 03:19 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Personally I'd like to see some special considerations for the young men/women in armed forces. No doubt the statistics (via multiple sources) are readily available showing the risks/costs/accident rates associated with drivers under 21, civilian or not.
I will not get into the stereotypes of military people on leave, going to bars, using alcohol and getting into fights, no thanks.......
I will not get into the stereotypes of military people on leave, going to bars, using alcohol and getting into fights, no thanks.......
12-05-09, 06:27 PM
#6
Lexus Fanatic
Personally I'd like to see some special considerations for the young men/women in armed forces. No doubt the statistics (via multiple sources) are readily available showing the risks/costs/accident rates associated with drivers under 21, civilian or not.
I will not get into the stereotypes of military people on leave, going to bars, using alcohol and getting into fights, no thanks.......
I will not get into the stereotypes of military people on leave, going to bars, using alcohol and getting into fights, no thanks.......
Again, while I don't have hard accident-stat numbers to back it up, military-trained young people strike me as being trustworthy with a car, simply because of the discipline in their lives and the fact that, by their training, they learn to be accountable for their behavior.
So, in general, I would support them be allowed to rent cars. If rental companies don't it voluntarily, then the military (or Congress) should make it a requirement or write it into law.
12-05-09, 06:58 PM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
In my practice I frequently extend prescriptions for them for an additional year. anything to help them out. I feel bad for those young guys over there. I think we should all do what little we can to at least aid them when they return. I am not saying free for all, but damn we can help a guy to rent a car to get home to his family
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12-06-09, 02:13 AM
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If your willing to die for your country you should at least be able to rent a car and drive home to see your family, these rules are getting old and tiresome, you either pay some astronomical rate to have the car completely covered by their insurance or you risk it and drive under your own insurance coverage.
12-07-09, 07:22 AM
#10
Out of Warranty
It seems as though the fault is not with the rental car companies, but with the insurance companies that underwrite them. They can set some pretty ridiculous rules based on accident frequency and severity by age of the driver and set some pretty high rates (as they do for the rest of us) for drivers under 25.
With young people coming into the workforce in jobs that may require travel (including the military) it seems that a couple of reasonable steps could be taken:
With young people coming into the workforce in jobs that may require travel (including the military) it seems that a couple of reasonable steps could be taken:
- Limit rentals to basic cars, not luxury models or high performance cars for those under 25. This would not only limit the cost of a claim, but would help discourage that small percentage that want to "rent a rocket" just to see what it will do.
- Have the employer (including the military) underwrite the additional risk of younger drivers in the event of a claim. This would not only shield the rental car agency from the assumed risk, it would provide a rather large disincentive particularly to military users for driving carelessly. You wouldn't want to get a ticket for an accident AND face your CO for rolling that new Mustang up in a ball.
12-07-09, 02:02 PM
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Good luck to them...
I know, I can't wait till next year when I turn 25 because I'm tired of paying the $25 fee per day for renting a car...
Damn scam because I'm certain that $25 doesn't go towards an insurance policy...
I know, I can't wait till next year when I turn 25 because I'm tired of paying the $25 fee per day for renting a car...
Damn scam because I'm certain that $25 doesn't go towards an insurance policy...
12-08-09, 06:04 AM
#13
Lexus Champion
If your willing to die for your country you should at least be able to rent a car and drive home to see your family, these rules are getting old and tiresome, you either pay some astronomical rate to have the car completely covered by their insurance or you risk it and drive under your own insurance coverage.
12-09-09, 04:11 PM
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It seems as though the fault is not with the rental car companies, but with the insurance companies that underwrite them. They can set some pretty ridiculous rules based on accident frequency and severity by age of the driver and set some pretty high rates (as they do for the rest of us) for drivers under 25.
With young people coming into the workforce in jobs that may require travel (including the military) it seems that a couple of reasonable steps could be taken:
With young people coming into the workforce in jobs that may require travel (including the military) it seems that a couple of reasonable steps could be taken:
- Limit rentals to basic cars, not luxury models or high performance cars for those under 25. This would not only limit the cost of a claim, but would help discourage that small percentage that want to "rent a rocket" just to see what it will do.
- Have the employer (including the military) underwrite the additional risk of younger drivers in the event of a claim. This would not only shield the rental car agency from the assumed risk, it would provide a rather large disincentive particularly to military users for driving carelessly. You wouldn't want to get a ticket for an accident AND face your CO for rolling that new Mustang up in a ball.
I used to manage a decent sized Enterprise location for 6 years and it was unbelievable how much discrimination there was with Enterprise, and how picky they were about renting a car to someone- if you didn't meet THEIR qualifications 100%, they bounced you and said no. I bent the rules a few times for some renters (nothing horrible) and definately heard about it. Enterprise is so concerned about protecting thier cars and their image. Some of the Enterprise cars i've seen since I've left the company are sure POS's. I rented an '10 Camry that had 14,000 miles on it. Had I not looked at the odometer, I would have thought that it had 150,000 miles on it- stains everywhere, numerous burns in the seats/headliner and so many scratches/scrapes/dents, that the car should have been gotten rid of- it definately did not convey a good image for the brand.
I don't really see what the huge issue is with renting to military- as long as you are 18 years old and have insurance that will cover the rental, incase something happens, whats the big deal? Hell, right before I left Enterprise in June, 2 of the managers in the city I worked in got DUI's (1 in a company owned vehicle), which used to mean immediate termination from your job. Well, not anymore- both of those individuals are still working for the company and still driving company owned vehicles around.
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