Do I need International Driving Permit?

I have always gotten one from AAA (it's $20, I think). While it's kind of a money grab,
under the circumstances, I'd just get one so there is no question. This situation is a
bit like all the questions about lines for EES registration. Anecdotal experiences are
not the greatest way to predict what is going to happen in an individual situation. In
this case, it kind of depends on what the person at the rental car counter decides.

Yes you need one. Though it's for showing authorities should you need to do so, our car rental agency (Enterprise) in France asked to see it. It's a translation of your driver's license.

Under French law, an International Drivers Permit (IDP) is required of any drivers who do not have an EU or EEA drivers license. It is the police who will require the driver to produce the IDP in the event of an accident or other reason an official might ask you to produce it.
Heavy fines can be levied if you do not have one.
Bring both your U.S. drivers license and your IDP with you to France.

Anecdotal evidence is rather pointless if you really want to be sure of being in compliance with French law. This is what the French have written:

Votre permis de conduire étranger délivré par un pays non européen (UE/EEE) doit remplir les conditions suivantes :

Être en cours de validité

Respecter les prescriptions médicales notées sur votre permis.

Être rédigé en français, ou être accompagné d'un permis de conduire international (sauf pour le permis britannique), ou d'une traduction officielle . La traduction doit être légalisée ou apostillée si elle est faite à l'étranger. Si la traduction est réalisée en France, elle doit être faite par un traducteur habilité ou par l'ambassade en France du pays qui a délivré le permis.

https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1459

Essentially:

You can use your foreign license within these conditions:

• It is valid

• You observe any restriction

• It is translated into French or it is accompanied by an International Driver's Permit.

Note: For those having US drivers licenses, official IDPs are issued from AAA and are valid for one year from date of issue.

Yes, by law an IDP (or an authorized, certified French translation) must be carried in addition to your driver's license. If you are stopped at a checkpoint or involved in a traffic accident and fail to produce one when asked by a police officer you can be fined, have the car seized, and be banned from driving in that country. Further, since you would technically be considered as driving without a valid license, your car insurance would not cover you.

The rental desk may or may not require proof of an IDP at pickup. Enforcement is not their job. And while some may consider it to be merely a cash grab, it's purpose is to both prove the validity of your DL, and to provide a translation of your DL into 10 different languages. You need to realize that not every police officer in every country is fluent in English.

ETA wow, that was some quick responses. IIRC, Washington AAA doesnt sell the IDP s from their physical offices any more. You have to order them online.

With many trips to Europe, especially France, we have always gotten an IDP for both of us, even though my husband does all the driving. The person at the car rental place is not an employee of the French govt. or authorities. Get one. It is a small price to pay in the overall cost of your trip. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
(Also, I do not regard out as a money grab from AAA. They are involved with travel and are a handy source for obtaining the IDP which is required in France and other countries. To me, it is part of the services provided by AAA, like getting passport photos or maps or even travel agent services.)

Info on AAA in Washington

https://wa.aaa.com/travel/order-idp-online#kiosks

I believe Congress designated AAA as an authorized provider of the IDP. its under an old agreement between countries. It proves someone with authority has looked at your US license and agreed it was valid. Not every country's' police force is trained on recognizing all international licenses and determining they're real.

I agree with Judy about all travelers getting an IDP. I hadn't planned to drive in France two years ago, but we both got IDP's at AAA. My husband injured his foot early into our trip. So I was the driver. Medical travel insurance and IDP's both came in handy in one situation. (Probably the two most common questions (outside of taking the official taxi at CDG conversation!!) on this forum...do I need travel/medical insurance; do I need an IDP?)

Thanks for all your responses. I have decided to get IDP as it a legal requirement (although rental companies don't seem to care).

I have decided to get IDP as it a legal requirement (although rental
companies don't seem to care).

Good choice. The rental car company doesn't "care" as they aren't the ones pulling you over on the road. The obligation to supply a translated license to law enforcement is on you. If the law held the rental company responsible they would most certainly be checking that you have one.

In addition to the legal considerations, which as stated above require one to have an IDP, I've found increasingly that French rental car agencies require them to be presented when picking up the car. This is a sea change from even a couple of years ago.

Bottom line: get one.

The Rental Agency did not care about IDP, but they did care about state licensing. My son who was to do all the driving had gone to the trouble of getting an IDP because one should always follow the laws of the host country. Sadly, he managed to lose his state license on the way to France. We had two possible drivers. One with no state drivers license but an IDP and the other (me) with state drivers license and no IDP. After all, I had no plans to drive. The rental agency rejected him and signed me right up…….

I don’t think I am ever going to let my son live this one down!

Two different questions.

Should you get one? Yes, if you want to be in full compliance with French law.

Do you need one? That's a matter of probability and the probability is very, very low that you would need one.

As with many things in life, it comes down to risk tolerance.

Unlike in the U.S., traffic enforcement in France by police (actually, more often than not, Gendarmes) is a very low priority. It can happen, but it's rare. I have a French driver's license and I've been driving here for about 15 years in total, over 200,000 kilometers, and I've been stopped exactly twice by Gendarmes. Once was during the Covid pandemic to check paperwork, so that could be chalked up to an exceptional incident. The other was in a small town near Saint-Lô on D-Day a few years ago. The Gendarmes asked if I'd been drinking. I said no. And they waved me on.

In France, traffic enforcement is largely done with cameras and does not serve as a moneymaker for local jurisdictions as it does in many parts of the U.S.

An official translation cannot be the main requirement; Brits do not require an IDP.

An official translation cannot be the main requirement; Brits do not require an IDP.

The UK negotiated a UK - EU trade and cooperation agreement that included a special arrangement for UK drivers driving short term in France. This happened post Brexit

Trivia- Canadians with valid DLs from Quebec or New Brunswick are not legally required to have an IDP in France because they are already in French, or English and French. Canada requires an IDP for international drivers with a DL that isn't English or French (or a certified translation). The US makes it harder for visitors to figure it out since they need to check the law for every state they think they might drive in..

the probability is very, very low that you would need one.

Once again: my experience since March 2026, renting three different cars in France, is that all three agencies I used required me to show my IDP. So I don't think the probability argument any longer holds water.

One of the pleasures of living in a bilingual province - drivers license is already in French!

So I don't think the probability argument any longer holds water.

Opinion noted. That's very interesting and is diametrically opposite from my experience when I rented cars in France using my American driver's license; and so completely different from what I've seen from other drivers from the U.S. renting cars in France.

That's what's great about forums like this: the diversity of experience. Evidently, with certain rental companies in certain locations, certain employees ask to see an IDP.

To make this more informative, I wonder if the respondent could note what companies and where these experiences occurred.

For me, when I rented cars in Lyon (Gare Part Dieu) and Marseille (Marignane Aéroport) from Hertz and Avis there was no mention of an IDP.

Clarification - Brits with a photocard licence can drive in France without an IDP. Those with a paper licence (like me) need an IDP, because the paper licence is not a format recognised by French police.

the probability is very, very low that you would need one.

The last time the police at home asked for my driver's license was the early 90's. Does that mean I shouldn't bother with it anymore, or should; I don't know, obey the law?

Why disregard the law just to save $20.00? It seems foolish to me when spending a few thousand for a trip to France. The rental car agency is not the one who wrote the law, so their asking for it, or not, is irrelevant.

I always get one before I travel to any country just to have in hand in case I need to rent a car. I normally don't rent a car but it's a Plan B option in case of a flight or train cancellation. One never knows if you'll get stuck somewhere. For instance, what if the plane has to detour to Iceland on the return trip and you were going to be stuck there for 3 days? You would be able to rent a car and travel around for a few days. To me, it's just being prepared.

The rental car agency is not the one who wrote the law, so their (sic) asking for it, or not, is irrelevant.

I would suggest it's not irrelevant. The chances of a driver being stopped and asked to show a driver's license in France -- IDP involved or not -- is very low.

Very low, because of how the nation of France chooses to enforce its traffic laws. It's not like the U.S., where local police departments use traffic stops and fines to raise revenue or otherwise harass drivers meeting certain... let's say... characteristics.

And, there's principle involved. In the U.S., one can get an IDP that's good for one year, and one year only, by paying $20 to AAA. Travel next year? Cough up another $20 to AAA.

In France, one can get an IDP by sending an email to their préfecture and you'll get one that's good for three years and that costs nothing. Zero.

Some folks may be OK with that. Some may not.

I'm simply pointing out that fear of traffic stops and being caught without an IDP is a fear that I believe is overblown. But of course, I only live here and have driven here in both large cities and rural areas for over a decade, so what do I know?

I don't think it's only the caution against a traffic stop but not knowing the consequence of a driving incident, ie. accident, without the required translation. Will the insurance use this as a loophole not to pay? We don't know. For the measly sum, they should cover themselves unless their licenses meet the requirements.

Second, we've were never asked for an IDP when we lived in the US but I do remember handing over my French license with my Indiana license a couple of times. I don't remember why. I don't know when the law was decreed, but it sounds like some companies are now asking.

Finally, we've been stopped for balloon tests several times but always later in the day on a Friday after work, or Sunday afternoons when people are more likely to have been enjoying long, alcohol filled family meals. We've also had a couple of routine stops just to check car registration and license, but all of these are over a fifty year period.

But answering this question this does lead me to ask another question, a can of worms: some American visitors rely on their credit card insurance for a single-car mishap. But what happens with a multi-car accident, particularly when the American is at fault. Does the American pay out of pocket for both cars, hospitalization, and more? What exactly would that credit card insurance reimburse in case of driver fault in a multi-car accident? Just like having the IDP to cover yourself, what kind of insurance is sufficient?

I recently had a conversaton with the manager of my hotel in a medium sized German city. We were talking about tickets on the local public transportation which, like the rest of Germany, runs on the honor system.

She said for years she has been purchasing tickets and never got checked. She was thinking of just taking the chances.

I reminded her that with the way things go, the one time she didn't buy a ticket, an inspector would show up. She agreed.

Its the same with the IDP in France. You are required to have a translation. It doesn't matter if the odds are 1 in 1 billion that you won't be stopped. With your luck, you could be that one.

Of course explaining that you thought the odds were in your favor is probably not going to get you out of being fined.

Advice from Bobby Fuller Four

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgtQj8O92eI

Backed up by The Clash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL8chWFuM-s

Its the same with the IDP in France. You are required to have a translation. It doesn't matter if the odds are 1 in 1 billion that you won't be stopped. With your luck, you could be that one.

Standard game theory would say, don't get an IDP. Lets say the fine is $1000 (I'm sure its less) and you have 1 / 10,000 chance of getting caught (not nearly 1 in a billion). So the expected cost of going without an IDP is $0.10. If the IDP costs $20, you are costing yourself 200 times more than you would by taking the risk.

That's just my tongue in cheek take, but that's what a mathematician would tell you.

And Green Day makes it a trifecta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9uakL0hW3A

Adding on to Frank's point of view , there is a definition that applies to what he advances. It is termed " Normalization of Deviance " here is a brief definition , but the underlying principle can be applied in a variety of situations . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance The IDP is one . For anyone who is interested , this short video describes another ( a bit off topic , but interesting , nonetheless ) https://youtu.be/aFlromB6SnU?si=t9hthCh-ZDmxBWyY

Do I need International Driving Permit?

To be driving in compliance with the law, Yes.

It is like a spare tire, you don't really need it until you do.

I wonder how many contributors here have removed the spare tire from their car to save weight and/or have more space for their 'stuff'. ( or would accept a rental car that had no provision for dealing with a flat tire)

The email confirming the AutoEurope rental car I'm picking up includes the following:

INTERNATIONAL DRIVING PERMITS ARE NOW REQUIRED IN FRANCE
Please note at time of pickup in addition to a valid Driver’s License, all non-European Union residents must provide a valid International Driver’s Permit (copies and digital versions not accepted) which must be obtained in advance of your trip.

all non-European Union residents must provide a valid International Driver’s Permit

If that is what AutoEurope is enforcing, yet another reason not to deal with them. That is much more restrictive than the law requires. Many Canadian and West African and other drivers licenses are already in French, which is all that the law requires.

Yes, that's true if the license has the French. But I wouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater just because someone wrote a sloppy warning about the law requiring a French translation. But letting AutoEurope know your point of view would be a good idea, so they can update their wording.

If you’re looking to avoid an IDP…..go ahead the odds may be with you. In 13 years of living in Europe and another 5-6 years of extended stays I’ve presented an IDP once at field sobriety checkpoint. Ultimately avoid even a limited chance of getting in a bind and just get the IDP.

How did you use a US license for 13 years? What country is this? Or were you on a base? In France, people have to obtain a French license by the end of the first year of residence.

We rented a car in France last year and I found the confirmation email (Auto Europe).
It says:

An International drivers license is required for renters holding a non EU license and must be presented in addition to home license.

They probably mean International Drivers Permit.

Then I found the confirmation email for a 2022 trip, Italy (Avis), which says:

Without these mandatory documents, you cannot collect your car...
...The main driver's original full license (the physical license) and an International Driving Permit (where applicable)...

So we get one because they’ll ask for it at the car rental check-in desk. No, other than the rental car company, no one has ever asked to see it. But it's not expensive. Haven't ever been pulled over out there, but if I am I want to be able to present that if asked.