Car Rental Transfer Guide

Car rental is the category where the answer is almost always the same: you cannot transfer the reservation. Hertz, Enterprise, Sixt, Europcar, and Avis all require the primary driver to present a driving licence that matches the booking name, plus a credit card in that same name at the counter. There is no workaround — if the name doesn't match, you don't get the keys. The credit-card-must-match rule is the hard constraint: even if a rental company were willing to update the booking name, the payment card on file creates a second identity check at pickup. Age matters too: drivers aged 21–24 typically pay a young-driver surcharge of around £25–35/day on top of the base rate, which changes the economics of resale entirely. Sixt records both driver details and payment information at booking and treats them as locked. The practical path for most buyers is cancel-and-rebook in the new driver's name — pay-at-counter bookings usually cancel without penalty. Additional drivers can be added at the counter for £10–15/day with their own licence. This guide covers 10 major rental companies.