Car Rental Options if Under 25
It was said in passing that some people might be paying the under-25 surcharge for car rental...which can get expensive (one company is charging $25/day in addition to regular rates). This is a work around...
Use a contract ID/code with whatever group you have an association. Most universities and large groups (AMSA and the American Poolplayers Association) have some negotiated rebate contracts with one or two rental car companies. Normally, these are not much better than using one of the websites.
However, the ones associated with universities, AMSA and I am pretty sure the Big 10, waive the under-25 requirements. The rates come to about $30/day.
I called one rental car company which is associated with AMSA to test it out and they waived the $25/day under-25 rate and it came to $60 for a two day economy rental Thursday 11/4 to Saturday 11/6 in California. For comparison, renting this past weekend, for over-25, from a travel website came to about $55.
The Big 10 contract reduces the fee to $5/day.
The travel does not have to be business related but it depends on the contract. You may need a student or organizational ID when renting. It's easier to do over the phone, but can be done from the company's main website.
The deals are not always that great, which is why people do not use these all the time but waiving the under-25 requirement is pretty stellar.
The AMSA link is: http://www.amsa.org/amsa/homepage/membercenter/memberbenefits.aspx
For an example of a big 10 contract:
http://www.wisconsin.edu/fadmin/fppp/Big10National.htm
...and because I am avoiding studying for Step 2...more time spent looking up codes.
The AMA member code is 11635 when you call or use the Hertz website. On the website enter the number under the CDP heading. They also waive the 21-24 surcharge.
The link is http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/priv/membership/why-join-ama/member-benefit-programs/hertz-discounts-benefits.shtml
It came to 64.22 for similar dates and car types from the Hertz website.