Well according to their website ZIPCAR car sharing service are only interested to see that your over 25. Could try them?

The renewal on my MX-5 came this morning, £194 from £256 last year. Full NCD both years.

I'm 72 you know!

Not looked into it myself as I've still a wee while to go.

But, on the one hand, I believe car insurance for drivers above 70 does start to increase in price anyway, so maybe not a surprise that car hire firms add a surcharge?

On the other hand, going by the info I found recently looking at car accidents and age of driver (2023 only) for another thread, it would seem that male drivers age 71-75 are amongst the least likely to be involved in an accident. So going by those stats, car hire companies (and your normal car insurers) imposing a surcharge on drivers over 70 (but under 80) does seem rather unfair?

I suspect part of that stat may come from older drivers not doing as much driving generally, and also most of their accidents being on urban roads, car parks, etc at slow speeds.

In that circumstance, it may be financially beneficial for the person at fault to offer to pay the victim directly to repair the damage, to avoid their premiums rising when they approach 75, when they start to rise again (as they did for my parents, even with many years of no claims).

My guess is that most accidents that do result in claims where an elderly driver is at fault tend to be serious enough that sadly that person dies or is seriously injured and never drives again, not necessarily just because of the injury but because they lose their confidence, particularly as they tend to get more risk averse in old age, which can be rather frustrating for other road users.