Help me rent a car in London

August 2, 2012 11:21 AM

Can I rent a car in London without having held a licence for more than 1 year?

Every hire company I've found requires me to have had a licence for a year or more. I only passed a month ago - I am over 25, it appears that counts for everything with insurance but nothing with hire cars!

I'd like to avoid buying a car just yet. Does anyone know of a company that will rent me one?

posted by greenish to Travel & Transportation around London, England (4 answers total)

Sorry, no. Your best bet is to go through a car rental broker who deals with lots of companies and be prepared to pay a whopping excess.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:06 PM on August 2, 2012

Actually, it looks like car clubs might be an option. Certainly Zipcar seems to explicitly talk about the 2 years' licence for the under 25s. Also, this FAQ on car clubs suggests just 12 months of licence might be ok.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:14 PM on August 2, 2012

Enterprise doesn't say anything about a one year requirement. You might want to give them a call to verify this.
posted by zinon at 2:12 PM on August 2, 2012

Or not, I just scrolled down to the bottom of that page. Sorry.
posted by zinon at 2:14 PM on August 2, 2012