Car Hire Confusion in Florida over new International Driving Licences

Simon Calder's travel article in the "Independent Traveller" yesterday, 16th February featured the new rules about people hiring a car in Florida having to have an International Driving Permit  (IDP) 1949 edition.

Apparently the authorities needed to be able to read the driving licence in English. There are quite a few countries in the world that have English as their first language however.

According to the article Avis and Hertz were insisting that British renters in Florida have one of these.

I recollect having one myself in the early 1970's to be able to drrive in countries like Spain. I believe I got mine from the AA and it had to have a passport photo on it. Today they can be obtained from certain UK Post Offices, the AA and RAC and cost £5.50. 

Car hire in Florida takes a giant leap... back to the Forties is a very interesting article, read it here

Looking at the UK's Foreign Office website today, they state "The State of Florida has suspended enforcement of a recently introduced driving law requiring non-resident drivers to be in possession of an International Driving Permit and a UK driving licence.  Following the change, a valid UK driving licence, or licence issued by another foreign government or US State, is the only requirement for driving a car in Florida".

Hopefully the car hire companies in Florida are fully aware of this change and tourists and business people arriving there are not being stopped ffrom hiring a car.

If you are off to Florida or other parts of the USA and Canada don't forget to buy your Car Hire Excess Waiver Insurance in advance from a specialist insurance company. You can buy daily or annual policies. There are a great choice of companies advertising these products and in many cases you can buy them a few months in advance.  

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If you have not arranged car hire yet then now is a good time to do it in advance.

With Easter holidays not that far away (Easter weekend is early this year - 29th March - 1st April) you need to make sure you book well in advance together with car parks at the airport you are flying from. 

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