US car hire for US citizen living in the UK

mikeh2000

We're off to the US soon, and looking to hire a car while there.
My wife is an American citizen with residence over here, and holds a full American driving licence, but no UK one at all

The problem is we've looked at several car hire sites(carhire3000, ebookers, to name a few), and pretty much all of them state that the driver cannot drive if they hold an American licence, which as she is going to drive is a bit of a headache. If we pretend we're in the US however, then there's no problem hiring a car from that end, but I'm worried that when she hands over her creidt card for the deposit they're going to notice it's a UK bank, and either refuse rental, or hit us in the pocket!
I have found one place, though, which doesn't seem to have any problem, and that's British Airways, which I didn't even think of initially, as its not an obvious place. They will provide not only a vehicle for a decent-ish price, but they also state all the insurances are included and that there's no excess on the policy at all.
I'm very tempted to go with them, unless I hear different, but has anyone else had this sort of problem, and did they overcome it, and if so, how?

ferf1223

Hi...I'm an American citizen and when I moved here originally I had only a US licence. I rented through US car hire agencies with a US licence and a UK address without any problems at all. My credit card was a US card but had a UK billing address, but I can't see why having a UK credit card would cause an issue. I wouldn't pretend you're in the US though...but thinking about it, if memory serves, Dollar was the only US rental agency which didn't automatically assume I had a UK licence when I tried to rent from them...everyone else tacked on all the extra fees for insurance waivers, etc. that they do for non US licence holders.

I have always assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that the restriction on American licence holders renting through UK third parties is down to the fact that it's cheaper to rent that way, given the coverage that you get.

And forgive me for this, but I think I always feel compelled to say this when I hear of people in this situation...it is none of my business...:)

I'm not sure how long your wife has been here, but if it's not been too long, based on my personal experience I would see if she would be willing to take lessons and get her UK licence ASAP. American licences are only valid over here for a year from the date residency began. If her American licence is still valid for driving in the UK, in my opinion, it's waaaaay better to get started now than do what I did and wait a couple of years and then start taking lessons...because then I could ONLY drive during my lessons (hubby doesn't drive and wouldn't ask friends to let me drive their car as a learner). Had I thought ahead, I could have taken a few lessons to get used to it, then rented a car for a weekend or two and pottered around on my own...few more lessons...etc. As it was it was a really stressful experience - I failed twice (totally humiliating)...and completely regretted not starting the process immediately after moving here.

mikeh2000

Thanks for the reply Ferf, my wife's been over here nearly ten years now, and gave up driving as soon as her right to drive on her US one ran out, as coming from the US, the roads of the UK are a little bit smaller and windier, with roundabouts thrown in as well!

We've still got a while until we fly over, but from looking at all the different options, the BA one still looks quite appealing, simply because everything is included in the price, which makes it quite competitive, if not the cheapest.

ferf1223

I was so confused as I thought all states licences expired within 4-5 years of issue...I see that Arizona is a lot different.

I can understand her reluctance to drive over here...it's terrifying compared to everywhere I have lived in the US...but I am glad I've sorted out the licence thing now...had to or I couldn't rent a car for holiday in the US as my Ohio licence long ago expired.

Good luck on your quest.