Fair Go: Ageist policies of car rental companies exposed

Fair Go was disturbed to learn some car rental companies have ageist polices, with drivers over 75, 70 and even 65 getting asked to pay more to rent a car.

Some car rental companies in New Zealand refused to rent cars to people over a certain age even if they had a valid drivers' license.

Ruth Brassington, who's 77 years old, was caught out when she arrived in Dunedin having booked a car from Yesaway Rentals for a few days of sightseeing. She was shocked when the representative took her driver's license and said "oh, you're over 75. We don't hire cars to people over 75". It was late and Ruth had no alternative transport, so she said she "threw an almighty wobbly". It did the trick.

The representative allowed Ruth to take the car despite this being against company policy.

Being the sort of person who loves to travel and meet with friends, Brassington had already booked another car for a planned visit to Christchurch. This time it was with a rental company called EZU Rentals. She rang to check their policy and again she was taken aback to hear she was too old to rent from them. She pleaded her case and on talking to the manager, it was agreed she could top up her insurance by $10 a day to take a car.

At this point, Brassington contacted Fair Go to complain, and she was quite right to. The Human Rights Act in New Zealand states it's unlawful to refuse any goods or services based on age. Insurance can be an exception, but only if backed by statistics that show there is a valid reason for the policy. Fair Go's research found no such data to justify denying car rentals to older people who have a valid driving license. In fact, the clearest research on the issue comes from a US study that looks at the crash rate per million miles driven for different age groups. Teenage drivers fare the worst, drivers in their twenties and thirties are better, but drivers over seventy are safer still, with the safest drivers overall being those aged between 40 and 70 years of age.

Armed with that information, Fair Go contacted the manager of EZU rentals and questioned the validity of their policy. The manager genuinely thought the crash rate was worse for older drivers, partly based on anecdotal experience. But when asked, he couldn't find any research to back this up. Subsequently, after seeing the research that we sent him, EZU committed to changing their policy to welcome all drivers over 21 with a valid driving license.

The manager of Yesaway also reviewed the information and did their own research on the policies of the bigger rental companies. The cut off age for this company was just 65 years old. But the manager has since confirmed to Fair Go "it was never our intention to have such an issue so since you pointed it out and after further research, we decided to remove it". Fair Go can confirm that both companies have taken these steps and older drivers can feel confident they can book cars with these companies and drive them away at no extra charge.

So how did it reach this point? Well, Brassington booked both cars through an internet-based broker called Economy Bookings. On the front page there is a pre-ticked box identifying that the driver is between 21 and 70 years of age. Having failed to spot this and untick it, the website took her to these age-restricted sites. Economy Bookings told Fair Go it simply acts as a go-between and the policies are all set by the individual companies. So drivers should check the terms and conditions of the actual rental car company, but it may also be that individual franchises set their own limits as directed by the insurance company they work with.

The safest option is to give the rental company a call before confirming any booking and not to hand over any money until clarifying who the company will rent to. Most companies vetted by Fair Go had no obvious ageist policy but despite being against NZ human rights law, they might exist, so it pays to check.

Brassington has learnt from her experience and is happy that companies are beginning to see sense. “It's not just for me cause I can fight my own battles it's for everyone else, we have to be able to go on living our lives to the full."

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