So I am looking to rent a car in France and driving along through Italy, then into Croatia, Slovenia, and up through Austria and Germany and then back into France. Can anyone tell me if my International Drivers Permit will allow me to drive legally in Croatia and Slovenia?

I literally just got back from getting mine at AAA, and both countries are listed in it - they both have astericks saying "not party to 1949 Convention: International Driving Permit Honored" which I take to mean you're covered.

An IDP is not like a license - it is just a translation of your license into that language so it is not about allowing you to drive anywhere legally. It may just help if you were to be stopped for some reason.

We were stopped for speeding in Croatia in October and were not asked for the IDP (good thing - we didn't have one). Before we left for Croatia we were told that an IDP is not required, just recommended. We live in Canada so I do not know whether that makes a difference or not. We have travelled all over Europe and look into an IDP/other driving info each time and have been told thus far it is not necessary.

"It is intended to overcome the difficulties drivers may have while travelling in other countries that may have widely varying license requirements. It is printed in 10 languages - the five United Nations official languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese) plus German Arabic, Italian, the Scandinavian languages and Portuguese. It may also be a useful form of pictured ID in the case of a lost or stolen passport."

It is actually required in certain countries - just recommend to have in others. I have to have to drive in Austria, from everything I've read. It won't be checked upon entry, but if I get pulled over and don't have one, I could be fined.

http://www.austria.org/motoring/

I just did some more checking and found the following info:

"An IDP is required in the following countries:

Afghanistan Egypt Pakistan
Albania Equatorial Guinea Philippines
Algeria Guinea Russia
Angola Haiti Rwanda
Argentina India Senegal
Armenia Indonesia Somalia
Benin Iran Surinam
Bhutan Iraq Swaziland
Cayman Isles Japan Syria
Central African Rep Kampuchea Taiwan
Chad Korea (South) Thailand
Colombia Kuwait * Ukraine
Comoros Leeward Islands ** United Arab Emirates
Ivory Coast Macao Vietnam
Curacao Nigeria Zaire"

I guess to be on the safe side it certainly wouldn't hurt!

Hi erin,

There is another post about rental cars going into Slovenia. We, too, are renting ours in France, driving through Italy, and, had hoped to go into Slovenia. Three companies told us we couldn't take the car to Slovenia. Do you know differently???

this is probably too late by now. but we rented our car with auto europe, which we did through a travel agency. i'm not sure if we got the best rate, but we looked a couple up on the internet and it all seemed to work out to about the same. our car is a Peugeot 207 and it worked out to be a little over 2000CAD for 40 days. We are allowed to bring it into Croatia and Slovenia which were our problem countries at first. I also think we paid a little extra because we are under 26. I'm probably telling you this for nothing now. So I hope you enjoy your trip!