How do rental car companies check if I've had my license for the required amount of time?

Question

Rental car companies almost all have in their terms that the driver must have had a license for some amount of time, usually 1 to 5 years.

However, on my driver's license it only shows the date that particular card was issued, not the date I first got my license. I imagine this is the case for a lot of people. Because licenses expire every few years, this "issued" date will often not meet the time requirement.

What documentation do I use to prove to a rental car company how long I've had my license? I doubt they just take you at your word.

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It has been suggested that this question is a duplicate of this one. However, nothing there answers my question.

The most relevant answer there says:

First things first: rental companies will check your driving licence for validity before they confirm your rental car.

Secondly your age will be checked since there are usually extra fees to be paid by young (< 25 years old) drivers.

But then makes this claim from those statements:

Having performed these two checks they will know if you qualify as a young driver, and from there computing the validity years of your licence will be a trivial operation.

I fail to see how computing the validity years of a license is a "trivial operation" once you know the drivers age and have their license. If the license does not have the first issue date on it, merely knowing how old someone is does not in any way tell you how long they have had their license.

Answer 1

I don't think that they can. I don't think there is any easy way to accomplish this.

In many jurisdictions, the only way to establish the original date of licensing would be to get a copy of your driving abstract. In most jurisdictions this involves hassle and expense, and is normally only done to secure employment or when moving to a new jurisdiction.

It's possible that if there were a significant event, the rental car company could then ask for proof. In other words, it would be a soft requirement and verification would only be required in the event that it should matter. However, I speculate to say this.