grotster

I am going to be heading back to the UK next week and am checking the car rental web sites. I have held a California drivers license for 13+ years. Upon checking the car rental web sites all of the "good" deals state that you should have a international driving license/permit. I can get one of these really easily for 2 x US passport size photographs and $15 but I wonder if that is really necessary... Does anyone have any recent experience?

livinginUSA

I have had no problems with a Virginia, California, and most recently a Nevada license with Europcar, Enterprise, Avis and Thrifty in the UK.

I've honestly never thought twice about it. After a quick Google search, I found this:

"Non-EU license holders are required to have an international driving permit if the license is not in English."
- Car Rental in the UK | Europe | USA Car Hire - Alamo Rent A Car

grotster

I appreciate your reply, it however demonstrates my point... You linked to the Alamo web site which offers cars for 4 weeks for about £1200. The sites that I have seen from europcar and the like offer cars from £500 with a international drivers permit (you can get a Mercedes for this kind of money).

md95065

I have never had a problem renting cars in the UK and Europe with a California driver's license.

Guindalf

An IDL is purely an English translation of a foreign DL, therefore should NOT be necessary in the UK.

rjm_cmyk

I offered both my old UK and current US DL last time I picked up a car at Enterprise at Heathrow and they took my US-CA licence - presumably because it has a photo on it. The car was booked on the UK site in advance.