What does "Resident" mean in the context of car rental in US?

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Accepted answer

Resident means that you have US address where you normally reside. Since you have a driver's license, there is an address on it which will be accepted as proof of residency. That is usually the only document they ask for, plus a credit card to secure a deposit.

Upvote:1

They ask for your residency to determine which country you likely have a driver's license from, the risk involved with drivers from that country in both accidents and fraud, the usefulness of personal auto insurance from that country and then this is used to determine which rates are available to you.

This can be beneficial in cases where citizens from high accident prone countries, now live in other countries with lower risk and have a DL from their new home, get to avoid paying the higher rates.

Upvote:3

I do not consider that the matter is the driving license. The AVIS rate for US resident is 1179 USD, the rate for not US resident (for example the european resident) is 468 USD. Obviously with the same settings: car, rental options, protections/coverages, 8 days, etc.
The only difference is the "resident".
By looking at price details, the main difference is in Additional Liability Insurance (ALI) 115 USD for US resident versus zero (included) for european resident and Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) 232 USD for US resident versus zero (included) for european resident.
I guess that the difference is the personal insurance that the not US resident should have when visiting US for business or as a tourist. That personal insurance normally covers ALI and LDW.

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