When hiring cars in certain far flung places I have been asked for my licence and an international driving permit.
If memory serves, this happened in Kenya, the Philippines, South Korea and Venezuela.
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This is what Avis say, I suppose other rental companies could be different. They say if you have a UK licence you don’t need an IDP in the EU.
Weezer did an awesome remake a few years back, too: https://youtu.be/aZiTM48lUhY?si=DE1r2zvZGvUuQkre (Holy hell, it’s 6 years. SIX YEARS. I thought it was 3…
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My favourite is this one by a bunch of Italians, including the gorgeous Mara Bosisio. 
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Anyone know if you need a IDP to rent a car in the UK?
If you are from a country outside the UK, EU, EEA or Switzerland, yes you do.
There is no such thing as an international driving license Jennifer. It’s a misnomer. What it is, is an official translation of one’s national driving license. In my experience they are issued by the country’s motoring organisation, like the AA or RAC. The reason they are not needed in the EU is because all countries use the same format and categories. So, and I making this up because I’m too lazy to look at my license, Item 1 is always the drivers name, item 5 is always the driver DoB, etc. etc. and the categories of vehicle are the same. So if a C1 is a car on a French license then a C1 will also be a car on an Italian license. So Hertz Italy know a French driver is entitled to drive their car.
Obviously if one ends up somewhere that has a different format licence, different categories and maybe even a different script an IDP helps the rental company to “translate” your license details and categories into the local language, format and categories.
I agree with you John, I was posting a link about IDPs.
So was I 
They are the same thing, or should I say two misnomers for the same thing, an IDL/PT. An International Drivers Permit/License Translation Who ever came up with name all those years ago was wrong.
No, it’s not a actual license (or permit).
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Earlier this year we used a UK company (US Car Hire) to rent a vehicle in the USA in order to be able to obtain a sensible price with liability insurance included. We were told that we would need an IDP as we have French driving licences. It takes at least 4 months to obtain an IDP from Cherbourg so we obtained certified translations of our licences from a very efficient online company here in France. Turned out to be very useful as the not very bright American car rental staff at the pick up point certainly needed all the help they could get.
Anyway, if you have a French licence, and need an IDP for a specific date, it is recommended to apply 6 months in advance in order to stand some chance of receiving it in time. As we travel to the US reasonably frequently I’m just going to keep our IDPs up to date in future.
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This gave me straight up CHILLS> Thank you for sharing!
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Yes, I got carried away it should have been just the word LICENCE.