International Driver's Liscence?

Check with the travel insurance company or the car hire company. I think you will find it obligatory, or at least very sinsible in case of any monit scrapes to the rental car..

You should get one; if stopped you are supposed to have one. But you don't need to pay $70; they are $15 or so at any AAA office. Just bring in a passport-type photo (maybe its two photos, don't remember exactly).

Your question is a good one and is asked/answered in these pages about 20 times a year. Here's the latest consensus from this board: Your rental company doesn't require it, but Italian law does require an IDP (int'l drivers permit) to drive in their country, it's their law. It's a translation of your state license so that the Italian officer who pulls you over (more common there, they have routine roadblocks and seem to be more interested in rental car drivers) knows which numbers are your birthdate and which are your license's expiration date. If you don't have an IDP in Italy, the police can fine you & collect 75 Euro on the spot. Some travelers here haven't bothered with getting one in the past but say they will in the future. Here's why (if complying with Italian law isn't a good enough reason): Italy uses random roadblocks to check drivers for a variety of reasons. All it takes is one police officer impatient with your lack of Italian language skills to decide that he has a good excuse to fine you for not having an IDP. They're cheap and easy to get at your AAA office for about $15 & 15 minutes & the AAA takes the pics of you. Search on "IDP" or "IDL" or other terms if you want to read 100 opinions about whether you should bother to comply with the law of the country you are a guest in. A lot of us feel that foreigners visiting our country should comply with our laws and they probably feel we should do the same when we're in their country.

Heather,

I have rented cars here in Italy multiple vendors and all have different rules. For exmple, Hertz ALWAYS asked for my IDP.

Kent is correct. Whether or not your auto rental requires it, having an IDP is the law in Italy. If you do not have an Italian Driver's License you must have an IDP. I ride a motorino and carry my IDP. Friends who work and drive here all have IDP's. They are good one year and over here we have to pay about $60 to get ours renewed - every year! For you only $15. Every person who will drive the car must have an IDP.

As Kent says, go to your local AAA office and take passport photos. It's just not worth the hassle if you have an incident. Like many "laws" in Italy, the enforcement is haphazard. You'll see that in everything from traffic violations to waiting in lines... Play it safe - it's good for a year!

Good Luck and Be Careful!

Heather after reading all the posts concerning IDP's I decided my husband & I should get one for our upcoming trip to Italy in 6 weeks. Yesterday we went to a local drugstore & for $7.99 each got 2 passport size photos (which AAA requires) & then on to our local AAA & for $15 each got our IDP's.

BTW I should add, since it isn't obvious, that AAA will do this for anyone. I'm not a member, I got my int'l drivers license there.

The IDP costs 15 bucks and takes about 5 minutes to get. Just do it then you won't spend your whole trip worrying about police traffic stops. I know people think that all laws in Italy are a joke, but you won't be laughing if you get a fine.

FOR RON--I notice that you post on here a lot and I was wondering if you were a legal resident in Rome. If you are you can only use your IDP for one year and then you must (according to Italian law) get an Italian drivers license. I say this because this is exactly what I had to do!

Thanks to the list, I went to AAA which also will take your passport photos and charged me the same $7.99 PLUS $15. Also, thanks to all who suggested AutoEurope... they have been wonderful to work with. George, Pittsburgh

Claire - you're correct. In June my IDP expires and I have to get an Italian license. So I've been studying and reading... many embassy friends are "coaching" me - not sure it they're that helpful!!

I'll just add to this that AAA also lets you do it all by mail if you don't have a nearby AAA office.

As was mentioned above, the purpose of the intl. driver's license is that it's hard for foreign officers to read and figure out all the drivers licenses they see from different states and countries.

Along this line, we hosted a Swedish exchange student a few years ago. He was 18 and we found out he was using his Swedish ID to get into bars in Memphis because the staff at the bar don't read Swedish very well, and didn't know that the Europeans write dates differently from us, so they thought he was over 21. Didn't matter to me...18's plenty close enough...at least it was when I was in college ;-)

Just wanted to wish you good luck on the test, Ron. Getting an Italian license is one of the things that I most proud of doing!

AAA 10 dollars you dont need to pay 70 anywhere go to the local aaa office