Dear Lawyer Mark:

My son is going to graduate at the end of the school year, and he is already talking with his friends about a senior trip.

He is very responsible, and his father and I are more than happy to let him go. The problem we are having is that they want to go to the beach, and will need to rent a car to get there (we only have one car and need it for work). He started checking into it, and it seems like nobody will rent a 17 year old a car.

I don’t understand why, because he has a perfect driving record. Anyway, my husband, who is a “Sr.” says that he can just rent the car in his name, without the notation, and that “Jr.” could then drive it, as they have the same name.

Could we get into trouble, or is this OK?

— Proud Mother

Dear Proud:

The answers to your questions are yes and no. Yes, you could get into trouble, and no, it’s not OK.

Car rental companies will not rent to minors because most states allow minors to get out of a contract very easily. In essence, the law looks at minors as not having the ability to enter into a contract knowingly and intelligently.

As such, minors are usually permitted to void a contract, and not be bound by the requirements.

While you are thinking that it is not a major issue, the rental company looks at it like this: “The law says a minor can void a contract at any time while he is a minor. If we rent to a minor, and he wrecks the car, he could simply void the contract, and not pay for the damage.” In the majority of states, that analysis is correct, so car rental companies will not rent to minors.

As to your next thought of your husband renting it for the child, there will be no confusion as to whom is renting the vehicle, because your husband will be required to give the rental company a copy of his driver’s license.

Additionally, the rental agreements typically provide that only certain persons listed on the contract can operate the rented vehicle.

The end result would be that your son still would not be allowed to drive the car. If he did, and was in a wreck (whether his fault, or someone else – especially if they were uninsured), most likely neither the rental company’s insurance nor your own insurance company would pick up the bill for the damage.

As such, you could get stuck paying for the damage out of your own pocket, and since your son was then driving without insurance, he could have his license suspended and be forced to have high premium bonds in addition to insurance.

In short, the costs of that graduation trip would probably be much less if he just flew down.

Thought for the Week: All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things. — Robert Southey

It’s The Law is written by attorney Mark K. McCown in response to legal questions received by him. If you have a question, please forward it to Mark K. McCown, 311 Park Avenue, Ironton, Ohio 45638, or e-mail it to him at LawyerMark@yahoo.com. The right to condense and/or edit all questions is reserved.