International Driving Permits (IDPs) now required for renting a car abroad

vacheron

RSTime said:

Just picked up a car in New Zealand and the company wanted to see the IDP. I asked what would happen if we did not have one and they they send customers to a web site to fill a form (not sure what the nature of this form is or where it is located, NZ I suspect), they also mentioned that not all companies ask for it.

If it is anything like my experience it will be an online IDP provider who can send you one in minutes, but costs a lot more than a UK one. 

Tenerife (Spain) Feb 2023: Arrived at the hire car desk and was asked for my IDP. They wouldn't give me the car without one and insisted it was required for UK licence holders due to Brexit.
I protested for some time, talking to supervisors and showing them UK GOV site that clearly stated it wasn't needed and that it wasn't on their "things I need to bring" booking e-mail.
In the end I had to sit outside on a bench for 20 minutes and apply for one using a link they gave me. Fortunately I had good roaming mobile data and access to my Dropbox account which holds scans of my driving licence and passport photographs and paid the 50euro "premium express" processing fee. It arrived in my inbox in 10 minutes which I then e-mailed to the hire car company desk. 

Tenerife (Spain) Feb 2024: Arrived at the exact same hire car company with the exact same licence and my UK issued IDP based on the previous year's debacle. Asked if they wanted to see it, and told, no, UK licence holders don't need one! 

I'm going to Gran Canaria (also Spain) this year, and can't decide wether to get one here or not!   

zagfles

vacheron said:

RSTime said:

Just picked up a car in New Zealand and the company wanted to see the IDP. I asked what would happen if we did not have one and they they send customers to a web site to fill a form (not sure what the nature of this form is or where it is located, NZ I suspect), they also mentioned that not all companies ask for it.

If it is anything like my experience it will be an online IDP provider who can send you one in minutes, but costs a lot more than a UK one. 

Tenerife (Spain) Feb 2023: Arrived at the hire car desk and was asked for my IDP. They wouldn't give me the car without one and insisted it was required for UK licence holders due to Brexit.
I protested for some time, talking to supervisors and showing them UK GOV site that clearly stated it wasn't needed and that it wasn't on their "things I need to bring" booking e-mail.
In the end I had to sit outside on a bench for 20 minutes and apply for one using a link they gave me. Fortunately I had good roaming mobile data and access to my Dropbox account which holds scans of my driving licence and passport photographs and paid the 50euro "premium express" processing fee. It arrived in my inbox in 10 minutes which I then e-mailed to the hire car company desk. 

Tenerife (Spain) Feb 2024: Arrived at the exact same hire car company with the exact same licence and my UK issued IDP based on the previous year's debacle. Asked if they wanted to see it, and told, no, UK licence holders don't need one! 

I'm going to Gran Canaria (also Spain) this year, and can't decide wether to get one here or not!   

Sounds very suspicious - car hire desks, particularly at airports where you've pre-booked and paid so can't simply move onto the next car hire company, are notorious for upselling, particularly stuff like excess insurance. 

That's the problem with comparison sites or brokers, or booking via airlines/travel agents, they'll get you the cheapest deal, so the car hire companies will try to get their base price as low as possible so they're the cheapest, perhaps even making a loss, and make their money on the extras they try to sell you when you pick it up. Often lying about what is required.  

I wonder if the "link they gave you" either had a referral code or was even their own/sister company. And whether this requirement would suddenly have disappeared if you'd bought their excess waiver 

Personally I avoid booking car hire in advance, any touristy area particularly somewhere like the Canaries will have loads of car hire places in every resort, and most (in fact all IME) will take cash so you can be sure you won't get a nasty surprise on your credit card when you get home. And take a transfer, public transport or a taxi to/from the airport and in most cases you'd normally save enough on the car hire to pay for the airport transfer, as you won't need as big a car as you don't have to transport luggage, and probably not need it for the whole holiday. 

Then if any car hire company comes up with silly requirements like an IDP where it's not required by law, or an embossed card, or ridiculously expensive excess waiver which they insist you must have, just go to the next one. But they won't because they know you've not already committed to them by pre-booking. 

jimi_man

Never been asked for an IDP anywhere, though we tend to use Avis quite a lot and they don’t upsell insurance and seem to be quite relaxed about stuff. Maybe it’s the cheaper companies that are notorious for this sort of thing? 

vacheron

zagfles said:

vacheron said:

RSTime said:

Just picked up a car in New Zealand and the company wanted to see the IDP. I asked what would happen if we did not have one and they they send customers to a web site to fill a form (not sure what the nature of this form is or where it is located, NZ I suspect), they also mentioned that not all companies ask for it.

If it is anything like my experience it will be an online IDP provider who can send you one in minutes, but costs a lot more than a UK one. 

Tenerife (Spain) Feb 2023: Arrived at the hire car desk and was asked for my IDP. They wouldn't give me the car without one and insisted it was required for UK licence holders due to Brexit.
I protested for some time, talking to supervisors and showing them UK GOV site that clearly stated it wasn't needed and that it wasn't on their "things I need to bring" booking e-mail.
In the end I had to sit outside on a bench for 20 minutes and apply for one using a link they gave me. Fortunately I had good roaming mobile data and access to my Dropbox account which holds scans of my driving licence and passport photographs and paid the 50euro "premium express" processing fee. It arrived in my inbox in 10 minutes which I then e-mailed to the hire car company desk. 

Tenerife (Spain) Feb 2024: Arrived at the exact same hire car company with the exact same licence and my UK issued IDP based on the previous year's debacle. Asked if they wanted to see it, and told, no, UK licence holders don't need one! 

I'm going to Gran Canaria (also Spain) this year, and can't decide wether to get one here or not!   

Sounds very suspicious - car hire desks, particularly at airports where you've pre-booked and paid so can't simply move onto the next car hire company, are notorious for upselling, particularly stuff like excess insurance. 

That's the problem with comparison sites or brokers, or booking via airlines/travel agents, they'll get you the cheapest deal, so the car hire companies will try to get their base price as low as possible so they're the cheapest, perhaps even making a loss, and make their money on the extras they try to sell you when you pick it up. Often lying about what is required.  

I wonder if the "link they gave you" either had a referral code or was even their own/sister company. And whether this requirement would suddenly have disappeared if you'd bought their excess waiver 

Personally I avoid booking car hire in advance, any touristy area particularly somewhere like the Canaries will have loads of car hire places in every resort, and most (in fact all IME) will take cash so you can be sure you won't get a nasty surprise on your credit card when you get home. And take a transfer, public transport or a taxi to/from the airport and in most cases you'd normally save enough on the car hire to pay for the airport transfer, as you won't need as big a car as you don't have to transport luggage, and probably not need it for the whole holiday. 

Then if any car hire company comes up with silly requirements like an IDP where it's not required by law, or an embossed card, or ridiculously expensive excess waiver which they insist you must have, just go to the next one. But they won't because they know you've not already committed to them by pre-booking. 

I've hired cars abroad for years, and have always used separate excess insurance. 

I've had all the hard sell / scaremongering from the companies about taking out their insurance instead, an how I would basically end up bankrupt if I didn't (which I always completely ignore). But this IDP issue was a first. 

In this case I think it was definitely more confusion / interpretation between what the UK government was saying and what was on the Spanish equivalent of the DVLA website was saying and how this company interpreted it (I read it for myself and it was safe to say it was "vague"). 

I was never offered any kind of "get out" if I bought their excess waiver (as they are 2 different products), but I couldn't help wondering if they possibly had some affiliation with the "Express IDP" company ("e-ita.org" if anyone here fancies paying 10x the UK price instead!)