Stolen drivers license - can we still rent a car.

Do you have your license and are you prepared to drive? that might be your only alternative.

No License, No Driving. Period.

Without a physical license in hand I'm afraid no rental car company is going to rent a car to your husband or add him as an authorized driver.

I think your only options are to either re-plan your trip to avoid driving, have you do all the driving, or for your husband to get a replacement license (which I realize may unfortunately be impossible from a practical perspective while in France).

I'm sorry to hear this happened (my parents were pickpocketed on the Paris metro last month but we were 'fortunate' enough to only have had the cash taken) and hope you are able to figure out a salvageable solution for your trip.

I'm really sorry this happened to you.

I've never been asked for an IDP when renting a car (even when it's required) but I've always been asked for a driver's license and credit card - whether in the U.S. or overseas.

I seriously doubt you can rent a car without having a physical driver's license with you.

Do you have an IDP and passport? Depending on where you're from, you may be able to apply for a replacement online and print a temporary license right away. If so, you're passport and IDP would provide photo proof of your identity. It might take some convincing but it may work.

Most states have provisions for license replacement on line. It is possible to have a temporary license issued which you can print at home (or anywhere). Assuming you have already have an IDP, that along with the provisional license might allow you to rent a car.

No guarantees but you have few options.

Back before smartphones, we landed in Sofia, Bulgaria, and it turns out my husband had left his Colorado driver’s license at home. I wound up driving us the whole trip in Bulgaria, Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. We’ve both made sure that’s never happened again, and so we haven’t needed to employ a backup plan, but still, we now have photos of each of our driver’s licenses on our iPhones, which might or might not be accepted by a car rental checkout desk - probably not, but it can’t hurt. Hope you get a workable solution.

I did get a wallet stolen on the metro in Athens, and reported it to the police, and spent a good part of the day phoning credit card companies to report the theft. A few months later my wallet came back to me in the US Mail, dirty and with no cash, but with my license and all credit cards still inside. The thief just wanted some quick cash, apparently, and didn’t get much, and probably pitched the wallet on the ground or in the trash. Amazingly, someone found it and arranged thru the Athens Tourist Police, or using the address on my drivers license, to mail it to me in the USA. Not that that would’ve let me a rent a car if I’d needed to at that point on the trip, but there are some very good people out there, along with the bad ones.

How frustrating, I'm so sorry. Some areas in France don't require a car as much as others tend to. Where did you want to go? People might be able to provide logistical options.

Contact your state’s DMV. Maybe they have online a site to order a replacement overnighted to you via FedEx. No license, no rental.

Thanks everyone for your concern and replies. Looks like any kind of quick license replacement isn’t possible from Washington state DOL. We will be here in France for a month watching various Women’s World Cup soccer matches. Using public transport mainly, but hoped to do short term car rentals to get out into the countryside. Guess I will just have to woman-up and do the driving!

Do you have an International Driver's Permit to go with your licence?