janisj

As I understand it the OP is IN Europe -- and renewed <i>from Europe</i>. So I think she is SOL.

But it doesn't matter what any of us think. It is really up to the rental agent across the counter when she tries to pick up the car. And how one can get an IDP w/o having a valid/physical license is also an issue.

Take buses . . .

IMDonehere

The trains and buses in Spain are generally excellent.

bvlenci

I think you can get an IDP only in the country in which you are licensed to drive. I looked this up for a relative once, who was already in Italy and needed an IDP to accompany his American license. I learned that only Italians could get an IDP in Italy, and Americans could get one only in the US. There was the possibility of getting an official translation instead, but it would have taken weeks.

StCirq

Actually, if you go online to the AAA website, you'll see that if you're American and already overseas, you can apply for the IDP from overseas. I just did it last week because I'm not going to finish my auto école training and exam before my U.S. license expires here in France on April 27. You don't have to appear in person for it.

Melnq8

Brooke -

FedEx? Perhaps the person who receives your license for you in the US can have it overnighted to you in Europe?

ribeirasacra

It is actually considered a criminal offence in Spain to drive without a valid licence. 6 months behind bars, sounds like no vacation I would not want to take.The period of sentence has been taken from Spanish websites. Here it almost the same in English.
Pan down to the bottom of the page:
http://spain.embassy.gov.au/madrcastellano/driving.html

Brooke_Herron

StCirq-interesting thanks! But wouldn't that have to be shipped from U.S anyways?

shipping is definitely not in the budget for me. that would be well over a hundred Euros. When I had my passport mailed registered mail-it took two weeks and cost 100 dollars. And that was 'expedited' and registered. Ridiculous. I'd skip the car rental before spending a couple hundred dollars-I'm on a super super tight budget and am going back home soon, so Only looking for ways to drive without having anything shipped. If I can't, I'll plan something different to do and just assume the universe meant for me to do other things

UPDATE: I Have spoken with some Spanish friends and they say in Portugal it's way more lax than Spain (Spain wants you to have a police report confirming you have a license-directly from the police-it's pretty crazy since our police have nothing to do with a license) and they think I can probably just bring the recently expired one (will be expired only 10 days) and no one might even notice. Plus I'd have the color copy of my new one on paper and they say there's a good chance it would be fine in Portugal.

And, if it doesn't work, I just go on my merry way and use my back up plan of no car and no Galicia. Stay in Porto and Lisbon.

Wouldn't suck...

Brooke_Herron

OH! and... p.s I'm shocked how cheap the car rentals are in Portugal compared to Italy where I last rented a week's car rental with a friend.

only $75 including damage coverage FOR A WEEK! in Porto. That's a steal!

Seamus

Your legal authorization to drive will not actually be expired, just that the document you have carries an expiration date which is in the past. Here (Texas) when you do online renewal, you receive some sort of confirmation that you can print out which, in tandem with the expired license, is accepted as documentation of current licensure. Is that an option?

StCirq

I'm not having my IDP shipped. I'm having it mailed. It usually takes 2-4 days to receive something from the USA, regular postage, and I'm out in no man's land.

ribeirasacra

Whist the legal authorization to drive will not actually be expired in the USA. It will be considered so here in Europe.

rialtogrl

-only $75 including damage coverage FOR A WEEK! in Porto. That's a steal!-

Toll roads and fuel would likely double that. If not more than double it.

traveller1959

>> I'm shocked how cheap the car rentals are in Portugal compared to Italy <<

Simple. Italy belongs to Europe's most expensive countries while Portugal is among the cheapest countries.

Very expensive:

Switzerland.

Expensive:

United Kingdom.
Italy.
Scandinavia.

Fairly expensive:

France:

Moderate:

Germany.

Inexpensive:

Spain.
Portugal.

Cheap:

Greece.
Croatia.