I was denied an Avis rental in Germany by the same guy I’ve been renting cars from for the better part of a decade when he suddenly decided I needed an international driving permit.
Denied Avis Car Rental In Germany Without An International Driving Permit Or Translation Of License
For years, I’ve rented cars from a local Avis branch in Lörrach, Germany. Just over the border from Basel, Switzerland, the car rentals are generally much more convenient and reasonably-priced.
For our road trip through Southern Germany, we figured this trip would be no different. I reserved the car and showed up on time to pick it up. Only this time the clerk (the same clerk I’ve been dealing with for years and who has never previously brought it up) demanded my international driving permit.
Ummm, my what?
He claimed it was German law. Absurdly, he also claimed he had warned me last time I rented a car there. This was certainly not the case and there was nothing lost in translation.
Heidi, my wife, was standing next to me and also incredulous at what the man was saying. But he was adamant about it, warning us that he could lose his business license if he did not verify I had an International driving permit.
At this point, I was already on my phone looking into how to get one quickly but my wife just could not believe it and went back and forth with him. In fact, my wife was so upset that this seemingly-arbitrary decision would delay our plans that our next stop was the police station.
She conferred with the officer on duty about the matter and he said as a matter of practice an international driving permit would never be requested from a foreign driver. So Heidi asked him to call the Avis office and tell the clerk that.
And the police officer agreed!
But the Avis clerk did not care.
And you know something? He had a point. I looked up the regulation and it does appear that either an international driving permit or a translation of my U.S. license from English to German is required. Not that I had ever been asked for either one in my dozens of rentals in Germany over the years.
Our next stop was the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC) in town, the German equivalent of the AAA in the USA. I asked the agent if she could officially translate my drivers’ license to German.
She nodded and said it would be 50€. Fine, fine.
I handed over my license and she said the translation would be ready…in two weeks. I quickly got my ID back.
So without an IDP or translation, the clock struck noon and the Avis office closed for the remainder of the weekend.
How We Resolved The Issue
My mother-in-law ended up driving us to Stuttgart where I had reserved a car at Stuttgart Airport. To ensure there would be no issues, I obtained a digital international driving permit from e-ita.org and had it ready for presentation.
Of course we were not asked for it…
And in two subsequent rentals since then, including one from the same Avis branch in Lörrach for Christmas last year, we have not been asked for an IDP.
CONCLUSION
I’m not angry at the Avis agent for enforcing rules which do appear to be on the book. But I am disappointed that Avis makes no mention of the need for a translation or IDP on its website or reservation confirmation. I’m also a bit perturbed that in my many years of renting cars from the same Avis office, this marked the first time this request has ever been made.
So a warning: you might need an international driving permit. in Germany. Maybe…
This is part of my summer in Germany trip report.
Interesting. I rented from Sixt at FRA a few years ago, and no request for an IDP there (though the clerk did amusingly tell me the 420i I reserved wasn’t “sporty”). If I had to speculate, this makes me think a foreign driver who rented from this location had an incident of some kind, and corporate slapped his hand that he needed to ask for an IDP.
I had the opposite-ish happen at WAW, also with Sixt. I’d been to Europe many, many times previously and each time I rented a car I’d brought my AAA-issued IDP, getting a new one every two years as required, and never had anyone look at it in over a decade of travels. Fast forward to 2018 and I’m finally asked for it on the first trip I’ve rented car and didn’t have one. I sheepishly explained the above to the clerk whose English was way better than my non-existent Polish. He chuckled, shrugged and told me, “I don’t actually care but if you have to talk to police tell them you left it at your hotel or something. You might have to pay some money, too.” So clearly something had happened in the recent past. Not sure if it was Sixt-wide or just that branch. Fortunately we had no incidents.
Wow, geez. I, too, have rented dozens of times out of MUC/TXL/KLN and never have had this happen. Thanks for the link to e-ita.
*CGN
To be fair, the Avis in Kodiak would have taken his license, but he would have had a bit of a trek to get there from Larsen Bay.
International driver’s permit is a huge scam in my opinion. I am happy to to go to the AAA office every year and get one but I was never asked to show it when renting a car. Actually, once while renting a car in Greece I handed the guy the IDP and he looked at me and said:”What is this??” He then said he needed my US driver’s license and not that piece of paper handwritten by someone. Seriously, it is a handwritten piece of paper with a picture glued on it that nobody takes it seriously. But I am sure the day I don’t get one I will be asked for it.
I agree. You go to a AAA office where you can engage an employee who has no specific training in driving and has never been to Europe, who makes a cursory glance at your state issued license and you a pay a fee. They then produce an item that is, at best, no more than one notch up in legitimacy from having your kid make you an intergalactic spaceship pilot’s license on the home computer.
There is no driving test, no test or review of european road rules or signage. It is literally nothing beyond the simple exchange of money for a document. I had one for years and no one ever asked to see it, for any reason. I wonder why the car rental agencies don’t issue them to you at the point of rental– I don’t mind paying them to do it, it’ll save me a trip and at least the person issuing it will have some familiarity with the local driving laws.
Because it’s not really a “license” per se, it’s just a document that says somebody with the authority in your home country checked your home country issued license and that at that time it was or is a valid to operate a certain class of motor vehicle. Kind of like a notarized stamp on other docs. It is not a test of your driving skills, eyesight, rules of the road knowledge etc., just an piece of paper, with multiple language translations, saying your home country license is valid and that the foreign country has agreed to accept it, many times the foreign country police or other party will ask to see both, and if you read the fine print on the IDP, it clearly states that it is not valid as a stand alone document, it’s only legit when presented together with the original home country license. Now you know.
“…or a translation of my U.S. license from German to English is required. ” Did you mean ‘from English to German’?
“I handed over my licensee and she said the translation would be ready…in two weeks.” What happened next? Did you ask for the money back and did she return the money?
She just handed me back my license.
I suffered the same consequence at Cabo airport, Mexico some years ago where they (Budget) wouldn’t accept my worldwide permanent car rental insurance from UK nor the cover from US issued credit card that provided cover. Ended up buying inflated insurance by the rental facility in.
I had another issue; Avis clerk requested that ID or driving licence had to have valid address, where the car should be parked around, the one in the Avis account is not enough. none of my polish documents have it now.. moreover you don’t have to change it now officially when you change your place of living.
@Matthew: what is your experience with the digital IDP? Do you think it is accepted the same way as the paper one you get at AAA?
I have not had an opportunity to check since it has not been asked of me in all my car rentals since the Avis incident!
I’m sure that you made that German’s day as you and your wife got upset at the enforcement of this arbitrary rule. They delight in that sort of thing. Ordnung muss sein. In Europe, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain require an international driving permit. I’ve rented cars in three of these countries — and always had the permit. I’ve not once been asked for it. I do consider it almost like insurance against officious nonsense.
@Brian: In the last 15 years I have rented probably 25 cars in Spain, Italy and Greece (from the list of countries you named on your post). I was never asked for an IDP. And I rented from big international car rental companies as well from small local ones. It might be in the law somewhere but I can tell you that nobody follows that non sense.
Nobody cares except for some officious clerk in a random Avis office in Loerrach. And I completely agree that the International Drivers License looks like a joke that I could create on my home printer in 5 minutes.
So why did you not?
Probably the same reason I wouldn’t attempt that. Why take a chance on possibly getting in trouble for a fraudulent document? Might only be a remote chance of that happening, but it could have far worse consequences.
There is no law that stipulates Matthew needs to have an IDP or German license to rent a car in Germany. This would only apply if he were to take up residency in some form, not for temporary visits, or if his license were written in non-latin (i.e. kyrillic, chinese etc). It may be an AVIS regulation, as I often encouter this on the rental contracts that if my license does not correspond to XYZ, I’d need to present an IDP, although I do not rent in Germany as I use my own car.
Most likely, the clerk was just confused (to put it politely)…
See here for details on the regulations: https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/EN/Articles/StV/Roadtraffic/validity-foreign-driving-licences-in-germany.html
I was asked for one in Romania in late 2021… was told it’s because the US wasn’t a signatory to some treaty? Luckily, my wife’s EU license was still valid, so we rebooked it in her name on the spot. Would’ve either missed our flight or had to pay a ridiculous price for a 3h Uber ride otherwise (rail travel is very slow there).
I’ve rented cars probably 20 times in 10 European countries (both before and since then), always with my US license, and that was the only time I was asked for an IDP. It was also the only time I rented in Romania, so I don’t know if the policy is universal, or if I was just unlucky.
I think it’s fairly common knowledge that non-EU-licensed drivers “officially” need to carry both an international driver license and their home-country license when driving in the EU, although “unofficially,” it’s usually not enforced.
Maybe the rental office has told their employees to start verifying, which could explain why the employee did so.
By the way, Matthew, does your wife no longer have a German license?
She lost it. *sigh*
P.S. Last time I checked, you can get an international driver license from your local AAA for about $15.
Yes, handwritten by the AAA clerk plus $10 for the picture you take there and she glues on the paper. It is a total joke!!!!
How is that a joke? You get the needed document in the end. Its main purpose is basically to provide a somewhat official translation to non-English-speaking officials/police in the foreign country.
No. The main (and only) purpose is to shear the sheep once more. Welcome to Europe, taxes over taxes over taxes till you drop, or escape.
It is a joke as many have posted here that my 10 year old son can create that document at home if he wants to. BTW, what translation? The only translation on the paper is the meaning of the class D that I have on my US driver’s license which is the same in all languages. Thus, if anyone sees a “class D” on my driver’s license a D is a D in any country.
In the US, AAA was charging me $20 for an IDP. I think it says the same online. Maybe AAA members get a $5 discount?
I had the same experience once with National in San Francisco (city, not airport). Again flat out insistence that it was National’s policy, despite a UK licence hardly needing a translation into English. Simple solution: don’t rent with National, or, in your case, Avis.
California is notably absent from the list of states that have reciprocity with Germany, though if you’re present for less than 6 months that doesn’t appear to be an issue, at least per the US Embassy guidelines. The Avis rep was in the wrong, but if you ever move to Germany for more than 364 days, you may want to consider acquiring a license in a treaty state so you don’t have to take a written and driving exam.
Well that’s ridiculous..USA is one country. Hate all those sub rules over unimportant stuff. At least in Europe they are actually different countries!
“In fact, my wife was so upset that this seemingly-arbitrary decision would delay our plans that our next stop was the police station.”
This delights me. I also come from that type of German stock.
We had similar case in Auckland, New Zealand a few years ago.
We had rent a car on the south island just fine with Finnish/EU driver’s license but the Avis person in Auckland wanted to have the international license or a translation of the EU license (there’s hardly any text on it, just icons, EU design). “Luckily” they had a translation service available and for $$$ we got a translation in about an hour. Obviously it was horrible translation but we got our car. Such a scam.
Since then I’ve downloaded an official english copy of our licenses as PDF.
I noticed the International Driving permit requirement come up last fall when I read the basic details of a consolidator’s agreement last fall. At that time sinceI hadn’t travelled to Europe in a couple of years, I believed it was due to Brexit. I quickly arranged to get one before I left home. All 3 car rentals that trip, Germany and Spain, never did ask for the permit. I just finished 2 rentals on a recent trip to Germany. Both agreements at point of booking said they needed an international DL but both never asked at point of rental. Looks like random enforcement
The US Federal Trade Commission warns consumers about license translation companies like the one mentioned in this article. This is a scam intended to defraud consumers. https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/avoid-scams-when-you-travel
I don’t know about Germany, but it is indeed a law in Japan, and also mentioned this on Government of Canada’s travel advisory page.
When I was in NZ, I had a change of mind, and decided to rent a car after I got there… with my Québec license (no English). The car rental staff of course looked at it, no problem. It also worked in Brazil, so it made me think that I’d have a good chance in NZ, as well.
I have rented cars in nearly a dozen countries and never been asked for one.
The concept of a drivers license is a scam. Taking a written exam with 20 questions and having an arbitrary road tester observe you driving for 5 minutes is of no value to anyone but the dmv and money stealing police. Hundreds of millions of drivers with licenses are terrible at driving. No one is made safe by someone having a license versus not having a license.
Enormous and arbitrary regulations are why I hate the government and those who enforce its rules (cops).
Even worse, I have been the victim of DMV corruption in South Carolina, which is a semi-dictatorship.
I waited a long time for the driver’s test, the better part of an afternoon. My turn came around 4:30 pm. Still enough time to complete the exam but the examiner wanted everything over in time to relax before closing. Immediately after starting the text while in the parking lot, he said to stop. He said I ran a stop sign. There was no sign. It was an aisle in the parking lot. He said stopping at the end of the aisle was required because there should be a stop sign. He said he was ending the test now.
South Carolina is really corrupt. They committed war crimes without punishment.
You’d have to do a bit more than that in the UK. Even in 1971 when I took mine out was a long text than that, probably about 30 minutes. Here’s a video of the UK practical test more recently. https://youtu.be/s0x59F3iwr4
In 12+ overseas car rentals I’ve never been asked at the rental counter for an IDP, but since about 2015 I’ve always bought one just in case.
I do know that if you want to rent a scooter in Bali, you better have an IDP. The cops there just sit on the road and pull over anyone who does not look local. No IDP means a fine and no more driving. I got pulled over by the same cop twice in 2 hours but luckily I had an IDP
I can translate!
English: Matthew
German: Matthew
English: 2022
German: 2022
Next time rent from Kuhner next door, the clerk there is much nicer.
Matthew, I certainly sympathize. However, I just checked the terms and conditions for that Avis location and it says that an IDP or translation of license to German is required for non-europeans. As a lawyer, you always should read the fine print, and I make it a practice to do so on the rare occasions that I rent a car. The facility apparently lulled you into a false sense of security by waiving the requirement over the years, but then suddenly deciding to enforce it. Having said that, I agree with everyone else that the IDP looks like a joke and appears to be a money grab. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, if the IDP lasted for as long as your DL was valid, or something.
Wondering how to interpret that terms and conditions like a lawyer would do. Do they specifically say they need for non-European citizens or for non-European driver’s licenses? I personally have European citizenship and US driver’s license. Anyway, you hit an interesting point which is the IDP is only valid for a year while your original DL is still valid which reinforces the money grab scheme. I am just not sure who benefits from this scheme. Definitely not the country renting the car.
Is the online site you posted for international permit legit? Any readers care to comment and share your experience? As far as I know only the AAA and its equivent overseas can issue permit. I just flew out of Slovenia where the law specifically says that I need a permit to rent a car.
Mine arrived in my inbox in a couple hours and looks legit to me. It’s a nice .pdf document…
International Driving Permits are required and issued under the auspices of several United Nations conventions, for those countries which have signed onto those U.N. Conventions. The process of obtaining one is truly an exercise in checking some boxes and paying a fee for something you would find in the bottom of a cereal box. However, I think one is taking a serious risk of not having an IDP in a country that requires it. In case of a serious accident, I believe the failure to follow this “bureaucratic” law could be used by your insurance carrier to deny you coverage, and local authorities could use your failure to follow the law to impose very unpleasant legal and financial penalties.
Finally, the only common-sense comment in this while thread.
You’re right IDPs are issued under conventions passed on 1926, 1949 and 1968 in Paris, Geneva and Vienna respectively. The first 2 are valid for 12 months and the last for 3 years. They could poetically be faked although you’d need to emboss part of the card cover but is it worth it if you’re found out. It’s not that expensive for me. £5.50 or about $7 US.
I’m amazed at all the people on here who claim to have visited numerous countries and rented and driven in those countries but have never bothered to Google “driving in a foreign country”. I always present mine when renting so I’ve no idea if I would be asked and I think there may be circumstances under certain rules that mean you don’t need an IDP but I think it’s just as easy to get one.
I can tell you with a very high degree of certainty that IDP you got from that website is not legit. Only the automobile association from the country which issued your license can provide you with an IDP. In the USA, it’s only AAA and AATA that can produce a legit IDP.
That’s interesting. I guess the only way I’ll know is if I get asked for it during a future car rental.
I don’t disagree but I doubt a clerk in a rental car agency in Europe has ever heard about AAA or know who can or cannot issue IDP.
Yeah but does the clerk need to know? If he or she is told it’s required ..then (deep breath), it’s required!
I also don’t think that e-ita.org is legit. I had the issue in Barcelona, Spain last summer. Enterprise would not rent to me and I researched options to see how to get one immediately. I came across many sites stating e-ita.org is not legit and only AAA can issue IDP. Luckily Sixt did not require IDP. I wish Enterprise would have advised clearly when I made the reservation. I was going to some remote places so it was a close call.
I always thought the IDP was voluntary.
Maybe the guy (rental agent) previously got in trouble for some oversight with someone else, was severely warned and decided he was going to apply the letter of the law to everyone. Not that I’m defending him but it only takes one rogue agent, a bad mood, a fight with his boss, wife, girlfriend or whomever that can start the ball rolling…… and the victim/recipient will never really know.
Another scam is the requirement to have a written copy of your credit card agreement which says you have collision waiver with your card. Got nailed by a shady company in Germany a few years ago. Wouldn’t take an American company’s insurance card either, even though it covered rental cars. Wouldn’t rent the pre-reserved car without their ridiculously inflated insurance.
That is a scam.
I suffered the same consequence at Cabo airport, Mexico some years ago where they (Budget) wouldn’t accept my worldwide permanent car rental insurance from UK nor the cover from US issued credit card that provided cover. Ended up buying inflated insurance by the rental facility in.
I had it happen once in 199+ rentals.
I always book cars in two places, for good measure.
There was a period of time where drivers with a licence from a Canadian province renting a car in Florida required an IDP. This was mandated by state law.
Years ago I had a leased car in Germany for 1 year with a US license alone, no IDP (this was through BMW Financial Services Germany) – I was out of the country for a month so my 6 month validity to drive on a US license was extended. The only time I’ve had an issue with no IDP is rural Italy and some former eastern bloc states – smaller police departments. Typically it’s those random pull aside the road inspections every now and then.
NEVER had a rental agency ask for it but during police inspections and the rare ticket for speeding over 20+ years I was asked for the IDP. Always had one, even if expired they’ve been OK with it.
e-ita.org? It’s a scam and not one of the two official IDP providers.
That said, I’ve NEVER been asked for an IDP anywhere in Europe over the past 20 years. Only once was I asked for one (and didn’t have it) was Japan.