Hi

I am travelling out for 90 days in August and plan to try out driving while out there. Someone at work asked me if I had an international drivers permit which i'd never heard of. I thought i just needed my full licence and photo ID.

Any advice is welcome, costing the trip up has already broken me. Especially travel insurance with a declared condition!

I will be going to Ohio, not sure if this sort of thing is State dependant.
Thanks

Assuming you have a British license, the IDP is pointless as it's just a translation of your license. Pretty sure they speak some form of English in Ohio.

Perfect answer. I didnt want to rock up without it and be refused a rental!

When I had one about 40 years ago, I was just a document with exactly the same information as my US license but above each piece of information, the information was written in several languages. If someone asked for your license, they would usually accept your English language license but could also ask for the translation license (never occurred to me).

Now after googling the internet for images of "International Driver's Permits", it looks like it has turned into a racket for businesses to make money (many different types) often with a picture of the person on a plastic card and sometimes only in English and different prices depending on the validity length.

It appears most are not actually issued by the government but by businesses in whatever format they desire.

The short answer: You don't need one in the US. You may need one for other English-speaking countries, but not here.

Technically speaking, the IDP is more than just a translation of your license. It's a document that authenticates your license to foreign governments that are party to an international treaty that allows you to drive abroad without a local license if you have the IDP.

But in the US, the licenses are issued by the individual states, not by the federal government that signs treaties. None of the states currently require the IDP.

(Florida did require IDPs for a few months last year, but the resulting drama led to the law being repealed not long after it went into effect: Florida abandons international driving permit demand - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent)

For certain places they are useful but not the US. I was in the Cayman Islands last week and if I'd have had a IDP, then I wouldn't have needed to buy a temp visiting permit which was $20USD valid for 6 months.

A very remote form of English.