Too young to rent a car?

Fraggle Rocker

04-12-06, 07:21 PM

The rental company will make the adult sign a statement promising that she will not allow anyone else to drive the car. If she wants her own husband to be able to drive it, the company will check his record and then maybe allow it. If she wants her own underage son or daughter to be able to drive it, it's very unlikely that the company will allow that under any circumstances. Maybe one of the smaller local companies that rents old cars will do it for a lot of extra money, I don't know.

The bottom line is that if she lets you drive the car, she has violated the rental agreement. That's probably a crime in itself since it has to do with driving and the government always presumes jurisdiction when vehicles are involved. But the company can also get a civil judgment against her for any damage to the car or any damages or injuries you cause that a slick deep-pockets lawyer tries to get from them.

When she signs the contract, swearing that she won't allow you to drive the car, she also presents her proof of insurance and that's a condition of the rental.

Now here it gets complicated. (I'm assuming that in this hypothetical scenario you are at fault and you can't argue that it was an act of God.) There's no such thing as a "non-serious accident" with a telephone pole. If you're going more than about 20mph the car will probably be a total loss. If you're going more than about 30mph someone in the car will probably require hospitalization.

As for whiplash, it's real. Not to say that every case of it is genuine and that same lawyer isn't going to nail you falsely, but if you rear-end somebody at a delta of more than about 25mph they really can sustain an injury that's difficult to fix. And it will be much, much worse if they see your car looming in their rear-view mirror and do the stupid thing we all do in cases like that: instinctively twist their head around for a better look just in time for the impact.

Anyway, the authorities will hold you at fault for the accident. The rental company, the person with possibly genuine whiplash, and the city that owns the telephone pole will go after your insurance company first. You really, really don't want to hit city property, you'd be aghast at how much they charge for damage and no court will rule against them.

You do have insurance, right? If so, a big part of this is over. Your insurance company will cancel you, of course, if they have that right in your state. If it's your parents' policy they will probably cancel them or increase their rates to something like $500 a month. The state will probably take away your driver's license until you're old enough to buy heroin and tactical nuclear weapons legally.

If your insurance doesn't cover all the damages and injuries, including those that the sharp whiplash lawyer convinces a jury to award, the victims and property owners will then go after your friend's insurance company. Since the car was rented to her and she gave you permission to drive it, even though she lied on her rental application her insurance company still has secondary liability.

If you don't have insurance at all, then they'll just go nail your friend right away.

If that's still not enough then they go after you both personally. They can garnish your wages practically forever so you spend the rest of your life paying for the injury you caused. And your friend will be right there with you, kicking your butt every day as they take away everything she owns except her car, the tools of her trade, and some equity in her house. (That's a worst-case scenario but they really can do that if this happens in a place like Arkansas and you're from a place like New York and they just don't like you.)

If you're a minor, it's possible that they can even come after your parents' pockets. The law is starting to hold parents responsible for raising stupid, careless children and then not supervising them adequately so they get in this kind of trouble. A lot of us think it's about damn time, so don't even think about bitching at me about it.

This isn't over yet. Insurance companies are starting to get pissed off about having to cover crap that was never supposed to happen, like policyholders lying on rental applications and letting uninsured underage drivers operate the vehicle. If you don't have insurance and your friend's insurance policy covers the cost of the accident, her insurance company will turn right around and come after you for reimbursement. They can do that. The law requires them to make sure that all victims and property owners are reimbursed, but it does not require them to eat the cost if it's the fault of somebody who is not named on the policy. They will garnish your wages.

Whatever else happens, your friend is in a lot of trouble for lying on the rental application. She could be facing criminal charges for that, I don't know. But I guarantee that her insurance will be canceled as soon as the insurance company can legally do it in her state. And she'll probably get about fifty points on her license.

Bottom line: Your friend is taking a big chance by letting you drive because it's illegal and she's a damn fool for even thinking of it. If you actually have a serious accident, you will have screwed over her life for many years.