Driving in Germany

Hi Dan, You will need to get an international driver's license. My mother is here visiting us now and was advised by AAA that she would need to have one. She had to show her international D.L. when she got her car. Enjoy your trip! Patty

Dan, Aside from the international driver's license, I find it to be important to remember that German drivers are serious about rules of the road. Pass and immediately return to the right lane. Use your signals. Use your mirrors. Pay attention. They expect drivers to do what's expected. Love driving there! Have fun.

Hi Dan, It's called an International Driving Permit (IDP). You can get them from AAA for about $20. Paul

The IDP is not required for Germany but is required for Austria.

Remember that AAA has a dog in the fight so they'll tell you that you need one everywhere. I rent cars in Germany fairly often and have never been asked for an idp.

Before I moved here, the two times I have rented a car in Germany, my US license was sufficient.

Ditto - rented a car in 2009 and 2010 in Germany and no one asked for an IDP. Now, I never encountered the police, so I don't know if they would have asked for it. But, it is my understanding that a U.S. drivers license is recognized in Germany.

Quoted from the German Federal Ministry of Transportation, Building and Urban Development: " If you hold an International Driving Permit, you do not have to have it translated. You must carry a translation of your domestic driving licence if: it was not issued in a Member State of the European Union (EU) or a state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), or it is not in the German language, or it does not comply with the provisions of the Convention on Road Traffic of 8 November 1968 (Annex 6). You can find out whether your driving licence complies with the provisions of Annex 6 by enquiring at the appropriate authorities of the issuing state. " http://www.bmvbs.de/SharedDocs/EN/Artikel/STB-LA/validity-foreign-driving-licences-in-germany.html The rental companies don't care, and neither will most cops -- at least with cars ).
But you're counting on their leniency and have no legal standing, §4 IntKfzVO and §29 FeV are quite clear. ) A couple I know had to interrupt their motorcycle tour of Germany because their motorcycles were impounded by German cops while the embassy translated and verified their licenses...

Following on, in the list below, from the website "The Federal Republic of Germany does not require a translation of licences issued by the following states: Andorra Hong Kong Monaco New Zealand San Marino Senegal
Switzerland" the United States and individual States are conspicuous by their absence. The fact that people have not had to produce a translation or IDP does not mean it is not required by law.

Here's my perspecive on the stupid idp. I generally have one. I always have a shot card. The shot card is always current, the idp runs about half and half - - I did better before AAA went to the one-year business (a Florida dl is good for several if you're a good citizen). I drive a lot. A whole lot. I've only been stopped once for an infraction (red light, Hamburg, going slow, missed it, butt chewing, no request for any kind of dl, showed passport as told). I've gone though more road blocks (purpose unknown) than you can shake a stick at and about an equal number of the blow-in-the-straw deals. With a single exception, any kind of driving license was never asked for. A passport probably usually was. The exception occurred in Italy, the place that's usually touted as where you'll go to hell in a handbag if you don't have one. It was a little-used freeway off-ramp. Two cops. Herself was asking one guy questions, I was translating while trying to see what the fellow at my window wanted, exactly. It was a dl. I told him the idp was in the trunk, but had my regular one in my wallet. He said that'd be just fine. Still translating, while digging in my wallet, I inadvertently handed him a concealed weapons permit (Florida's is almost identical to the dl and both stay in the same slot of my wallet). He looked it over, but was more interested in the conversation on the other side of the car. After a while, another car came along, my wife's conversation finished, and we left.

That's the absolute closest I've ever come to having to cough up an idp, but I still go though the supid rigmarole of getting one - just in case - - when I think of it. And I sure as heck don't go into high panic when I don't. I really suspect that the fuzz can figure out what a foreign drivers licnese is about and that, if they're not trying to build a list of add-ons to a more serious offense, are not about to make an issue of it. And like I said, stops that don't involve an infraction are probably more of an anti-bandito identity check.

" I really suspect that the fuzz can figure out what a foreign drivers licnese is about " You really expect a German policemen to know that "CLASS E REST AE" on a DL issued by the state of Florida means
"any non-commercial motor vehicles with Gross Vehicle Weight Rating less than 26,001 pounds, Corrective Lenses, Daylight Driving Only"?

err.....ummmmm....aaahhhhh.....well.......no.......I guess, maybe not. But ........................that scoop ain't on my idp either :)

My husband and I were in Germany and Austria 4 weeks ago. My husband did all the driving and did not need to show the rental car company anything except his US drivers license and a credit card. Austria is the same. However, in order to drive on highways in Austria you need a sticker to put in your front window. . . less than $10 for a 9 day sticker. Also, check your car to see if you have a yellow emergency vest. Austria requires you to have in inside the car (not the trunk). We didn't know if our car had one so we purchased one for $12. . . .only to find one in the glove box 2 days later.

Get the IDP and then pray that you will never need it, it's like health insurance. It may not be an absolute requirement in Germany but unless you are sufficiently fluent in Grman to explain a Minnesota drivers license to a thoroughly pissed off German driver and/or cop, get the IDP. I have wittnessed a very minor traffic shunt in Germany and thought it was the start of WWIII. As for the comments about rental car desks not asking to see one in places like Italy where the IDP is mandatory I would remind you that the guy at the rental car desk doesn't give a rat's rump since he is not the one facing the cop. He may even think it's funny.