Is an International Driver's license required in Switzerland?
 

My husband is going to Zurich on a business trip this Sunday and will be renting a car. I understand that Italy is now requiring an International Driver's License when renting a car and wondered if Switzerland does also?

He's arranged the rental car through his company's travel site and it doesn't say anything about this for Switzerland...but then it also doesn't say anything about it when renting a car in Italy.

Thanks for your help,

Margy

I would think not because after I moved here I was given a year to convert my Massachusetts license into a Swiss one. But I will ask at work today to make sure.

I dont't know if it is required or not,
but take one anyway. If you have an
accident it really helps to have one.

You are speaking of an International Driver's PERMIT.

Here's what I found by Googling:

"Persons wishing to rent a car in Switzerland are required by law to possess a valid international, EU or UK driving license which should have been issued at least one year prior to the car rental application in Switzerland."

Hi margyb,

The two times I rented a car in Switzerland (and regretted it both times!), I didn't have one and only used my USA license.

s

Dukey,

It doesn't seem practical to require that a "permit" be obtained a year before renting a car. I will have to research further.

Thanks for your responses.

Margy

margyb,
Your husband should get an international driver's permit from your local AAA office - it will take about 15 minutes. Don't worry about the one-year requirement, assuming his regular state driver's license, which he should definitely carry, was issued more than one year ago.

Hausfrau is correct..it is the license that apparently cannot have been recently issued. The permit simply translates it into a variety of languages.

You may not be required to produce it at the rantal car counter but if you are stopped by the police on the road somewhere the IDP would probably be a good thing to have.

Switzerland does not required a International drivers Permit.

If someone posted that they drove for two years without any auto insurance and they never "needed it", would you feel that means you shouldn't buy any?

I'll never understand the idea that somebody will post that because they weren't stopped by the police and asked for a license (international permit or other)that you probably don't need one.

In reading my last post, I want to say that I didn't mean that to be a put down of anyone's post, just that I wouldn't want anyone to interpret the idea that because someone else wasn't stopped, that would have anything to do with the law or needing one if you are stopped.

Well, you certainly don't need one to rent a car; you don't need to show the rental agency the International Permit.

s

My husband and I rented a car in Switzerland for a week last summer and did not have a permit. We only had our US driver's license. We ran into no problems.

No one is denying that if you didn't get stopped by the police or weren't involved in an accident whether it was your fault or not, that you won't "need" the permit required by law. It just seems to me like a very risky way to travel, particularly for such a cheap and easy preventative measure!
I'm still curious if those who proclaim they didn't "need" the permit, will next time avoid taking any insurance since they didn't "need" that either since they didn't have any problems on their last trip?

NeoPatrick,

I'm not convinced that the IP is "required." As I understand it, it's only a translation of one's US drivers' license. And because English is so well spoken in Switzerland, I doubt its usefulness.

Can you determine if it is "required"?

s

Well, I'm only believing Dukey's directly quoted statement above that it is! I don't see where it suggests that just having a US driver's license fits the law.

I haven't googled for Switzerland, but I always hear these same arguments about "we didn't need it" in Italy where I know it IS required by law.

Right, but there are several things that are confusing about Dukey's post:

1. Is it the license or the permit which is required?

2. If it is required for rental agencies (as Dukey's post says), why are we not required to produce it at the rental agencies?

3. Dukey later says it is in fact a translation.

s

Bonjour margyb,


http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/imm...rs.rental.html

"Payment and rental conditions:
You must have a driving license and a credit card. A deposit will be held up until you return the vehicle, at which point the payment is directly debited from your credit card. You are responsible for the cost of fuel.
You do not require an international license."

Hope it helps ...

I believe it is required in Italy and Austria, but not Switzerland.

Any tales about someone stopped in Italy and not having an IDP? I wonder what the penalty would be. It really annoys me that the IDP is only good for one year, and I have to buy another one for this May. If it's just a translation, I wonder why one couldn't have an expired one? ((b))

Google the nonsense (what's an "EU licence"? How does it differ from a UK licence?) Dukey quotes.

The source has no authority: it's taken from a commercial British site, with no specialist knowledge of Switzerland, traffic rules or anything except getting click-through revenue.