ellie clemens wrote in message news:...
    > I'm going to be doing something similar when I move to France this fall.
    > But I've found that there are some states in the US that have a
    > reciprocal agreement with France, and if you have a license from one of
    > those states you can just switch that for a French license. (This means
    > we will be moving to New Hampshire for a short while, and getting
    > drivers licenses there, before we move to France!)
    >
    > Check around and see if this is the case with Spain as well.
    >
    > Ellie

According to the French authorities:

"If you have a valid driver's license prior to your first entry into
France as a resident and issued from the following states:
Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina
and Kentucky, you may exchange it for a French permit if you apply at
least three months before the expiration of the one-year recognition
period. These States offer a reciprocal privilege of exchange for
persons holding French permits."

http://www.info-france-usa.org/visit...ce/driving.asp

Which is interesting in that theoretically you could exchange a French
permit for a UK one...so what you could do is a three step - start in
one of the approved US states, move to France and reciprocate, then
move to England and reciprocate. You never have to take a driving
test...at least not until you return to the US - unless of course you
reverese the process?

As far as the UK is concerend, I have never seen a country that takes
its driving licensing role more seriously. The driving test fail rate
is 50% or more, and almost 80% for first time test takers - or so I
have heard.

OHV wrote:
    >
    > Hi,
    >
    > I'm a US citizen with a state driver's license. Do I need an IDL to rent
    > and drive a car in the UK?

The IDL is nothing more than an official translation of your state
driver's license into various other languages. If you license is in
English, there's no point in translating it for the UK.

Barbara