The right car for a new driver is not the biggest one available, and it is not the smallest. It is the one you can see out of, place without thinking about it, and that has autonomous emergency braking fitted. But before you pick anything, one rule is worth knowing, because it catches most people out: Israeli law does not restrict which car a new driver may drive. It restricts how many people may be in it.
What does the law restrict for a new driver?
A category B licence, the standard one issued after the driving test, covers any motor vehicle up to a permitted total weight of 3,500 kg. There is no engine-size limit, no power limit, and no list of models a new driver may not touch. As far as the law is concerned, someone who passed their test yesterday may drive the same car as someone with twenty years behind the wheel.
The restrictions attach to the driving, not to the vehicle.
How many passengers may a new driver carry?
A new driver under 21 who has completed the accompanied-driving period may carry no more than two passengers. If a qualified accompanying driver is sitting beside them the limit does not apply, and the car may be filled to its rated capacity. The rule is set out in section 12A2 of the Traffic Ordinance and runs until the driver’s 21st birthday. New drivers aged 21 and over are not subject to it at all.
This is where a good deal of standard advice falls apart. A seven-seat MPV does nothing for a 19-year-old new driver collecting friends, because four of those seats are off-limits to them. The capacity printed on the vehicle registration is not the capacity that is legal for that driver.
When is an accompanying driver required?
A new driver under 24 must complete six months of accompanied driving from the date the licence is issued, and the requirement is tiered: an accompanying driver at all hours for the first three months, then only between 21:00 and 06:00 for the three months after that. Drivers aged 24 and over have no accompaniment requirement at all.
Two things are easy to conflate here, and they do not end together. Accompaniment finishes after six months; “new driver” status, and the sign that goes with it, runs a full two years from the date the licence was issued. The conditions that apply when renting from us are set out on our car rental for new drivers page.
Why does the law count passengers rather than horsepower?
Because that is where the measured risk sits. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety studied drivers aged 16 and 17 and found that their fatality risk per mile driven rises by 44% with one passenger under 21 in the car, doubles with two such passengers, and quadruples with three or more. The same research found the inverse effect: a single passenger aged 35 or over cut that driver’s risk of dying by 62%.
Safer A new driver with one adult passenger beside them. An adult passenger lowers the risk.
Riskier Three young passengers who distract the driver. Under 21 that is also over the legal limit, unless an accompanying driver is beside them.
Those two findings are, almost exactly, the two Israeli rules above: a cap on young passengers, and a required adult during the months when experience is still being built.
The underlying problem is not theoretical. Drivers up to the age of 24 hold roughly 12% of Israeli driving licences, but were involved in 19% of fatal road crashes in 2022, 58% above their share.
So what does matter about the car itself?
Autonomous emergency braking, the one system with a number attached
AEB brakes the car when it detects an imminent collision the driver has not reacted to. The American safety institute IIHS compared otherwise-identical vehicles on the road, with the system and without it, and found rear-end crashes down by 50%, and rear-end crashes causing injury down by 56%. A system that only warns, without braking, managed 27% and 20% respectively.
The gap between those two is reaction time, and reaction time is exactly what a new driver has least of.
Is a small car less safe?
Not necessarily, and the question of size hides the one that actually decides it: what is fitted. When Euro NCAP tested the Kia Picanto in 2017 it scored three stars in its standard configuration, with only 25% in the safety-assist category, because autonomous emergency braking was not included. The identical car with the optional safety pack scored 47% in that same category and rated four stars.
Same structure, same crash, two ratings, decided by what was installed. Which is why “which model” is a less useful question than “what is in this one”.
One further thing worth knowing about the stars: Euro NCAP ratings do not compare across years. The protocol tightens over time, and five stars today demands more than five stars demanded a decade ago. A five-star car from 2013 and a five-star car from 2023 did not pass the same test.
What about something bigger?
A larger car protects better in an impact, but it is also harder to place, the view behind it is more restricted, and parking it takes experience the driver has not built yet. For a new driver doing mostly urban miles, the typical incident is not a high-speed frontal collision: it is a scrape in a car park, a bollard, a stop that came a beat too late. Size helps with none of those, and occasionally makes them worse.
The practical rule: take the smallest car that holds what you genuinely need to carry, within the passenger limit that applies to you.
How does that turn into a booking?
Like every rental company, we rent by category rather than by model. The specific car is assigned from what is available at the branch on the day of collection. So the useful question is not which model to book, but which category, followed by one question for the branch.
Mini and small
The Kia Picanto, Hyundai i10, Mitsubishi Attrage and similar. Easy to park, easy to judge the corners of, and cheap to fuel. This is the category most new drivers get through their first year in without an incident, and it is almost always the right choice for city driving.
Family and hybrid
The Hyundai Ioniq and Toyota Corolla are among the more common models in our fleet. More room, quieter, and in the hybrid versions the acceleration is smooth and predictable, which matters more than it sounds when the right foot is still learning. Euro NCAP tested the Hyundai Ioniq in 2016 and rated it five stars, with autonomous emergency braking and pedestrian detection fitted as standard across the range.
Seven seats
The right answer for anyone who genuinely needs to move a family, and subject to the passenger limit if you are under 21. If that is your situation, the full details are on our 7-seater car rental page. The whole fleet, category by category, is on our vehicles page.
Three questions worth asking before you book
- Does this car have autonomous emergency braking? Our fleet spans a range of model years and the systems are not identical across it. This is a question for the branch, and it is worth asking before you book rather than at the counter.
- How many passengers am I allowed to carry? The answer depends on your age and on whether you have finished the accompanied period, not on how many seats the car has.
- Who else will be driving? Every additional driver has to be named on the rental agreement, and the same age and licence conditions apply to them. A driver who is not named is not covered.
Once the category is settled, you can check availability and pricing for your dates. If you would rather arrange it by phone, branch details and opening hours are on our branches page.
