From the gov.uk site about driving licences in the event of a no deal

Moving to or living in the EU

If, after exit day, you become resident in an EU country you would not have the automatic right under EU law to exchange your UK licence for a driving licence from the EU country you’re living in. Depending on the laws of the EU country you move to, you may need to take a new driving test in that country.You can avoid this by exchanging your UK driving licence for one from the EU country you move to or live in before 29 March 2019. UK licence holders who do this, will be able to re-exchange for a UK licence if they return to live in the UK.

Since it will take time to swap licences anyone driving on a UK licence 'until it runs out' (legal today) would be advised to exchange it for a Hungarian licence or risk having to take a driving test.- Its all about the laws of unintended consequences

Interesting Peter …. maybe a better move than relying on an International licence !

I imagine it's just as simple as the other way around! My wife swapped her Hungarian DL for the UK one a few years ago & it was easy as, all done in a couple of days. All taken as read, ie no medical cert required, ie they must in EU law accept that if you qualified elsewhere in EU, you're equally qualified to get the DL of the new EU country where you live.

I will find out !!
Seems I need to go to Kormanyablak … and there is one in Lenti conveniently situated opposite a bar I use regularly !!
​​​​​​⠀‹If I need a stamp as well … the Post Office is next door also !!

The automatic reciprocity is quite handy for Hungarian drivers - I know for a fact that 'guaranteeing' your pass with baksheesh provided you're reasonably competent is a very normal thing (my nephew & niece just a few years ago). I bet that's the same across Visegrad/ Croatia/ Slovenia/ Bulgaria/ Romania.

If for any reason there's a delay in processing your Hungarian licence and your UK one will expire in the meantime, they give you a letter stating that you have applied for a new one and are legally allowed to drive. This is what happened to me this year when I went to renew mine.

I got caught out on this. My UK licence photo card expired and I got a Hungarian licence but I failed to notice that it was only valid for 5 years, not 10 like the UK one. After 5 years it expired when I was in Croatia. I was stopped at a routine roadside check and informed by the Croatian police that my licence had expired! I had a problem as I needed to get to Hungary to renew the licence but could not drive there and there was no suitable public transport. As I had a property in Croatia I decided to get Croatian residency and a Croatian driving licence. I got the Croatian residency but was then told I needed to be resident for at least 6 months before I could get a driving licence!

I ended up getting a Croatian friend to drive my car so I could get the new medical and apply for the new licence. I duly got the temporary document you mention and drove the car myself back to the Croatia border. The border police got us to swap places again and my friend had to drive us back to his house. I later found out the temporary licence is only valid in Hungary. This meant I still had a problem with going back to pick up the proper licence but I got away with it as they didn't ask for my licence that time. If they had I would have explained the situation and pointed out that I was legal to carry on into Hungary but not to turn back.

We Germans seem to be lucky that our driving licences don't have any expiration date ...

However Hungarian police is very strict here! It happened to a late neighbour of mine that he had to leave his car and get a friend to take it home (from the next village ...) because he'd made a mistake with the date - just around a month over the validity.
And he was a retired policeman even!
A bit OT:
For people from outside the EU it's even worse:
A friend of ours who just got Hungarian citizenship but still has her US passport was fined 100 000 HUF because she didn't have her US driving licence with her ...
Of course her ex-huusband hadn't told her to get a Hungarian licence - she was really angry!

So is Germany full of 90 year-old drivers bumping into kids & lampposts?

Of course! And they drive their shiny new Audis and BMWs that they easily paid from their pensions at breakneck speeds like 200 km/h - but only on some stretches of the Autobahn ...
That was the reason why Ryanair had three flights a week from the Hévíz/Balaton airport (less than 10 km away from our village ...) to Stansted so Brits could escape those deadly dangerous dastard drivers.
Don't know why they stopped that route, it was so nice for my family members and friends near London.

A report from The Sun newspaper quoting the DVLA The DVLA figures suggest that of the 506, (people over 100 holding licences) only 236 are active motorists

And the statistics also reveal that Britain’s oldest motorist is a man of 111

Unlike Hungary there are no medicals in the UK for drivers over 70 they just have to self-certify they are fit to drive. - Makes sense doesn't it !!

One of our UK neighbours is 90 & drives! Not that I'm knocking her - she's holidaying our cat right now

But whilst I was making cat arrangements pre-Xmas, she said she had to sit down (after about 5 seconds) as she can't stand up any more. And she was concerned to have an emergency phone number (for the cat) in case she gets her heart condition back and has to go to hospital again. Perfectly OK to drive though!

When people asked him for proof of identity, my dad used to produce a document showing he was registered blind, together with his driving licence!

Hi,

Has anyone recently exchanged their UK driving licence for a Hungarian one? There seems to be conflicting advice about whether it's needed before Brexit or not, and whether you need a doctors note or not?

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...y/index_en.htm says the "fee for renewal" is 4000 HUF, but the Hungarian version of this page says "Egészségügyi alkalmasság".

Also, did you need to take passport photos, or just get your photo taken at the Kormany Ablak?

Thanks in advance

The advice I have heard is to get your licence converted before Brexit because now it is easy - a straight conversion, what happens after Brexit is uncertain. If you are permanently resident here there is no loss in getting it converted now, you don't loose your UK licence in that if you returned to the UK DVLC will issue you a UK licence based on their records rather than your swapped out licence so your UK licence will always be available.
There will be a fee - not much in the scheme of things
You will need a medical - done by your Hungarian GP
Photos are done at the Kormany ablak
Last time I had my (Hungarian) licence renewed it took all of half an hour in the office after about 10mins in the GPs surgery.