In a world of sweeping policies, experience will only get you so far. British tabloid The Sun reports that three-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen was recently denied renting a Mercedes-AMG GT in Faro, Portugal because he’s not old enough. I guess all those years of winning Grands Prix count for naught in the eyes of Portuguese car-rental outfit Sixt.
Unsurprisingly, the car rental business is still a bit of a hellscape for young people. Between young driver surcharges and limited options for what they can get insured on, hiring something amazing can be difficult as the suits in rental companies’ insurance offices are rather risk-averse.
For instance, if I were to fly into a major U.S. destination and tried to book a Porsche 718 Boxster through Hertz, I’d be told to wait a few months because I’m not yet past the age gate – renters must be at least 25 years old. It’s the same deal with Turo, or with other rental car companies, which is a bit funny because I have a Boxster in the garage. Indeed, running into the risk-based age gate is reportedly what happened here. As per The Sun:
Staff at car rental firm Sixt said that allowing Verstappen — who won his first grand prix aged 18 — to take the AMG GT motor would have breached its insurance policy as he is under 30.
It’s a bit hilarious that a man whose job is to absolutely dominate the field in one of the world’s premier motor racing series wasn’t allowed to rent a car that was probably once driven by a teenage detailer, but that’s corporate generalization for you. [Ed Note: Just because someone can race doesn’t mean they’re necessarily more responsible/safer driving a rental car, so I get it. If you’re a rental car agency, though, it’s a PR blunder denying an F1 driver, though. -DT]. Instead, Verstappen reportedly had to make do with a BMW 5 Series, and the awesome AMG GT booking went to his manager.
While the standard BMW 5 Series is a perfectly functional car, it’s no Mercedes-AMG GT. Mind you, it does get a bit confusing as Sixt rents both the new AMG GT four-door coupe (above) and the outgoing AMG GT coupe (below) in Europe, depending on location. One’s a phallic psychopath of a sports car that’s spiritually a German Dodge Viper, and the other’s basically a fastback E-Class piggybacking off the coupe’s name for the sake of profit.
Regardless, both are properly quick, and both AMG GT models are quite the way to make a splash during the holiday season. Then again, they probably pale in comparison to winning a third F1 title, so what do I know? Either way, it’s a bit ridiculous that Verstappen, one of the fastest men in the world with loads of experience in high-performance vehicles, couldn’t rent a fast Mercedes. A Sixt spokesperson seems to agree, telling The Sun:
We apologise to Mr Verstappen. He can rent the car he wants from us at any time.
There is of course no doubt at all about his driving skills and his experience with powerful cars.
Quite. For the rest of us, it’s likely just a matter of hurrying up and waiting. After all, wouldn’t you rather stay in a reasonably priced hotel and drive a cool car on holiday rather than splash out on an iconic place to hang your hat yet drive some nondescript subcompact crossover?
(Photo credits: Formula 1/YouTube, Mercedes-Benz)
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Sixt rental manager
Other than it being bad PR if someone happens to know who this guy is, I fail to see why it was in any way a poor decision.
He’s still a dumb kid with an overpowered car on public roads, and thus has a much higher chance of damaging the car in some way. It’s an insurance decision.
Besides, I’m sure the person at the rental counter had never heard of him, and even if they had, they’re hardly going to risk their job by making an exception to a company rule.
It would be pretty funny if, after all this, he got into a fender bender with the rental car.
Last I checked, Formula 1 tracks don’t have intersections, stop signs, cross traffic, pedestrians, cyclists, drunk drivers, cops, or 18-wheelers.
Did you read the article? They trust under-30-year-olds to pilot a BMW 5 series through all the intersections, stop signs, cross traffic, pedestrians, cyclists, drunk drivers, cops, and 18 wheelers. They don’t trust under-30-year-olds to pilot a high horsepower AMG GT. But they definitely should trust the professional driver of a 1000hp race car. Which was the point of the article.
Why should they give special treatment to anyone? They simply did their job and that was that. Liability is a bitch, and should anything go wrong, they’d be looking at some serious issues with insurance. And probably some legal headaches too – this was covered in portuguese media a few days ago and various outlets mention that it would’ve been outright illegal for the rent-a-car to open an exception.
Also, had they opened an exception, they wouldn’t be worldwide news right now. I feel like they did exactly what had to be done in this situation, and come across as professional.
I don’t necessarily think they should have made an exception, but I do think it’s kind of ridiculous that they have a blanket ban on large groups of people who include Formula 1 drivers.
What criteria would you use, other than age? Even if they came up with an unambiguous definition that would make exceptions for professional racing drivers, their insurance wouldn’t go for it.
I don’t think they need any criteria, because I don’t think that any one group of people over 18 is significantly less trustworthy behind the wheel han any other group of people over 18.
I haven’t checked the numbers, but according to the insurances statistics, drivers under 25 are ‘high risk’, ie they actually do cause more accidents than drivers over 25.
I just realized I didn’t understand your post. Are you saying they shouldn’t apply any discrimination, regardless of their and their insurer’s data (that show that drivers under 25 cause significantly more accidents)? Or that they should make exceptions? If so, how would these exceptions look like?
I blame Lewis Hamilton.
It’s a funny situation but i can see their point of view.A highly skilled driver is not the same as highly sensible driver.
Now if Max wanted to drive my cars,that’s a different story.So long as i can be in the passenger seat it’s a done deal
This feels like a great advertising opportunity for Mercedes…
Now where did I leave my tiny violin…
If it is an independently owned location, he could have just bought the place and rented the car to himself, then sold the franchise to someone else.
I mean, it makes sense to me. I don’t think I’d know him on sight, and certainly wouldn’t bend the rules as a low level employee, whoever it was or claimed to be.
That said, I unironically love the boar-ish nose and super long GT-car hood and overall shape. I’d love me an AMG GT, red as Red Pig.
So someone who has made a career of driving fast is safe?
Max already sucked. He doesn’t need to be young to do it. He sucked as an infant, as a child, and will continue to suck as an adult til the day he dies.
There was a time where I’d be outraged by this. I’m old now, so I’ve got no problem with this tax on the youths. I like that can rent that rent a car that Max can’t even though I’ve hardly won any F1 races. It proves that I’m the better driver.
> Verstappen reportedly had to make do with a BMW 5 Series, and the awesome AMG GT booking went to his manager.
“His manager.” Right.
My bad… When I was 25 or 26 in Munich for work I took a few extra days vacation, had a friend fly in, and we wanted to drive the nurburgring. The best rental with a manual transmission we could find happened to be a SLK 230 kompressor at Sixt. Since I knew what I was going to do to it I signed up for every available insurance and we got on our merry way. The car had around 150km on the odometer so I was probably the second person to drive it when I picked it up. After 1800km put on the car in 4 days including 4 laps of the ring, I returned the car in the morning before they opened, dropped off the keys in the drop box, and thankfully never heard from them again. The car shuddered heavily under breaking, would pull to the right under acceleration but to the left under deceleration or coasting, the tires were nearly bald on the outsides, the check engine and abs lights were on, and it developed a lot of squeaks and rattles that weren’t there at the start. We drove it hard, but did nothing our cars couldn’t handle so I was surprised by how fragile the car ended up being.
When I was in my early 20s, I needed to rent a truck to move across the country and had a hell of a time finding a company that would rent one to me. Most required me to be 25, despite the fact that I had been living on my own and taking care of myself since I was 18. I think I ended up renting one from Penske.
Similar here. I was an early 20s college graduate working at an engineering firm, perfect driving record. I took my car to a body shop for parking lot damage. They advertised “free loaner car” which was a perk because I lived 40 miles from town. Well the shop started tearing my car down and meanwhile someone from the office drove me to a rental agency. That was when I discovered you couldn’t rent a car if you’re under 25. I was pissed. Not only at the law, but they didn’t advertise “free rental car”. Well I made them drive me 40 miles home and take the cost of a rental off the final bill. It still sucked having to arrange transportation back.
At least these days in Michigan, you can get a car if you’re under 25, with a surcharge. But at least you’re not left out in the cold. Literally.
While the GT is a great car I am not sure why it would be in a rental fleet – even if you are on the Autobahn with unlimited speed limits you are someplace in the hinterlands with long straight roads that call out for executive barges – like a (higher end) 5-series. And the issue with driving on public roads are other drivers and it does take years of experience to get good at that – maybe the rental companies can create a surcharge for younger drivers to counter any higher damage rate. SIXT does have the best rental cars in the U.S., and I am frustrated that I had to rent from Avis recently because the airport I arrived in didn’t have a SIXT offering yet so I got a rogue for the same price as my last 5-series from SIXT. SIXT back end systems are usually not as good as the major U.S. brands, but a few extra minutes of time gets you a much better car.
My wife traveled on business in her twenties. She is short and looked like a teenager. When renting a car she would produce a driver’s license, proof of insurance, and a business card, yet she often still had to speak to the manager.
A Sixt spokesperson seems to agree, telling The Sun: “We apologise to Mr Verstappen. He can rent the car he wants from us at any time. There is of course no doubt at all about his driving skills and his experience with powerful cars.”
Ass-kissing complete! Bet they can’t actually make that rental work if he tries a second time. Did they add a special Max Verstappen override to their rental software?
God, I hope so. Then some other dude with the same name suddenly has this option.
May be too soon to note, but being a great race car driver does not equate to safe on public roads with a high performance street car, as with Roger Rodas and Paul Walker.
I was once at Ithaca Airport and got the last rental car they had. All of a sudden another guy rushes in needing a rental car. It was Derek Bell on his way to race at Watkins Glen. He was desperately trying to explain who he was, to no avail. To this day I wish I wasn’t late to my conference and could have given him my rental car in exchange for a ride. It would forever have been a great story about how Derek Bell was once my limo driver ????
For Derek Bell I would have lied to my employer and said I had the flu and couldn’t make the conference.
I mean, the rules are the rules. Just because Max is unfathomably wealthy and is one of the best race car drivers in the world doesn’t mean he should get to play by a different set of rules than any other renter would. Hell I’d rather have a regular 20 something renting my AMG GT than Max. Seriously.
Max is a silver spoon fed entitled jackass of a man who’s the son of an abusive POS. I doubt he’s faced a single consequence his entire life and you know damn well he doesn’t think the rules apply to him. There’s probably a 99% chance that he’d drive an AMG GT like an antisocial lunatic on public roads. No thank you.
Jeez, did he kick your dog or something?
I mean, I’m not sure what the silver spoon has to do with his ability to return to you a GT in good condition vs the average 20 something. I’ll take Max all day in that scenario. I would impose a condition in the rental agreement that he has to give me a ride in it so I can at least get experience what the car is capable of one time knowing that I can’t get there with it at my skill level.
“I would impose a condition in the rental agreement that he has to give me a ride in it so I can at least get experience what the car is capable of one time knowing that I can’t get there with it at my skill level.”
You can do whatever you want with your own supercar as long as you’ve got the liability insurance to cover whatever happens. Nobody at the rental counter has time for that shit though.
I don’t know that being abused a child should be on the list with calling him a jackass
Apart from also wondering whether he kicked your dog, it’s an interesting one.
Whilst his upbringing was undoubtedly privileged in ways unfathomable to most of us, given the pressure and expectations from his father, I don’t know that is was as stellar as it might seem.
I also think it’s difficult to judge based on his outbursts in the car, because most drivers have a regular tanty over the radio, and at that level of racing, they all tend to be driven by ego.
Given his highly unusual life, I think he is showing glimpses that he may end up being a decent person, but that will probably depend on who he surrounds himself with.
It also raises the question that you see in many areas of life as to whether you can and when you step out of the shadow of your upbringing, and for Max I think there are some long shadows.
Here’s hoping he can step outside of those shadows.
Racing is different from driving in public, you can be a star on the track and a menace on the road.
I’ve been told I am equally competent in both settings.
Careful wording of that reply duly noted 🙂
I dunno, I think they made the right decision. He may be a champion, but I don’t think I’d let him drive my car: Max Verstappen Crash Compilation,
Part 2
😀
“Verstappen, one of the fastest men in the world with loads of experience in high-performance vehicles, couldn’t rent a fast Mercedes.”
I don’t blame them. Nothing wrong with being risk averse and I guarantee you that car would get punished. Have his manager buy him one to use while he’s there. Hell, he can afford it.
Then resell it for a tidy profit because now it’s formerly owned by Max Verstappen!
Course not, he only drives fast Red Bulls