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!