Ray

Foreign Citizens Visiting Florida

If you will be visiting Florida and driving on a foreign driver license, as of January 1, 2013 you must have in your possession an International Driving Permit (IDP) issued by your country of residence and a valid license from that country. This applies to any vehicle, including rental vehicles. The IDP must be in the customer's name and from their country of residence. Again, this permit is only to be shown in conjunction with a valid driver license issued from your country, not as a substitute. You will need to contact the authorities in your country who issued your driver's license, or the motoring association there, to find out how to obtain an IDP. A listing of associations in foreign countries authorized to issue an IDP is provided for your reference, courtesy of the American Automobile Assn (AAA).

http://www.flhsmv.gov/ddl/idp.html

Bink

I'd be really interested to see if this is actually upheld and whether the hire car companies insist on it at the point of booking.

They look like they've been made by a 5 year old as part of a class project. They're quite bulky and really fragile. Complete waste of time in my opinion and seldom used.

Giantaxe

I also wonder whether this is a legal move by Florida. I thought that IDPs were governed by some international treaty, which would be the remit of the federal government.

slummymummy

We got those, no one ever wanted to see them.

markwm

http://www.theaa.com/getaway/idp/index.html

Bink

Anyone else think this just sounds like a way for Florida to make more money?!

slummymummy

Don't think so. You get the international driving license before you leave... I can't remember if it's free or not but we certainly didn't pay any money to Florida for them.

markwm

I think Bink might mean that Florida hopes you don't get one so you can be fined.

Bink

Exactly.

slummymummy

Oh... very clever.

Bink

It's the kind of thing that's unlikely to be regulated (I would think) by the hire car companies, is a bit of a pain to do to be honest and wouldn't surprise me if it was just another reason to pull over people and fine them.

jeffreyhy

How does the state of Florida make money on this? Florida doesn't issue the IDP. It's some entity in the tourist's home country that would make money.

Regards, JEff

Bink

See above quote.

slummymummy

Just remembered. I was stopped by police for speeding in a school zone. (It was in Miami, I don't live there so I was slightly confused, did not do it on purpose...) Anyway, I showed my foreign license and said I was really sorry. He let me off. No request for international driving license and no fine.

But of course you might be right and some officers would fine you.

jeffreyhy

I didn't see anything about penalties in the information provided in the link posted by the OP, or in any of the other posts.

Have you got some information about penalties? Or are you just making assumptions?

Regards, JEff