Right, I am AAA member and saw that. But has anyone ever actually had to use this or is it just something novel to have - like a souvenier?

dbaker: It isn't an international drivers licence -- is it an international drivers <u>permit</u> and is merely a translation of your Stateside license. There is absolutely no reason, whatsoever, to get one for a trip to the UK. (Even in Scotland they can read your license :) Oooh I'm going to get it now!)

Anyway - don't bother getting an IDP for this trip. (But if you were going to Italy ot Spain or eastern Europe, yes)

Absolutely unnecessary. I haven't had one since I was 18; and I didn't need it then.

We can understand YOU, Janis. It's the other way round that can be a scunner

Thanks. You just saved me $20 and a headache fitting it into my schedule.

Just was looking over the &quot;fine print&quot; on the Enterprise rental contract....and it says I must have the Int'l permit, so I'm off to get it today at lunch. Looks like Hertz doesn't ask for one, but Enterprise rental is less expensive.

dbaker,

You may also want to check the fine print about additional driver to avoid any nasty surprise.

Enterprise in the U.S. charges additional driver in many locations, so it is probably advisable to double check that.

I do not know if you use any discount codes when looking up Hertz or other car rentals - there are surprisingly many discount codes floating around the web and quite a few of them do not require ID to use them. The Hertz code I found knocked the price of my rental by 20%, for example.

Another matter you may want to keep in mind too - if you plan to have both spouses drive the car, even if they do not charge additional driver, make them put the other spouse's name on the contract - for insurance purposes. Unless you plan to buy the expensive insurances from the rental car company, if you are like me, relying on our trustworthy credit card to provide the CDW insurance, it would make things much easier to handle if both drivers' names on the contract.

I have to invoke Mastercard's rental car insurance once, in the U.S. though, not aboard. The program works, but not with some twists and turns one has to navigate thru - some of that could be avoided upfront if we know what to expect should a claim is filed.

dbaker,

I press the button too quick - the MC rental car insurance paid $2282 for a hailstorm damage we sustained in Yellowstone NP last Sept. It became a primary insurance because our own car policy is only 3rd party liability insurance, not comprehensive.

Both MC &amp; Visa rental car insurances aboard are primary the last time I check. Make sure you check the fine print of the documents from your credit card to ensure the coverage is there. I got in the mail a few days ago from MC about some changes in countries it cover - they dropped Ireland and some others I dont remember. Since it does not affect our upcoming trips I let the details go over my head.

P.S. I am glad you check the reservation fine print instead of just taking the words from the message board. Cant tell the agent at the counter that I was told by so and so that such document is ABSOLUTELY NOT REQUIRED. (Can't help being a bit nasty here - after being thrown at so many stones, ;-)

I think I recall being advised to always buy the insurance through the rental car company for rentals in Europe.

Where did you see that requirement? My guess is that is generic &quot;boilerplate&quot; on European Enterprise rental contracts.

An IDP is not for the rental agency in any case - it is for the police/authorities if that becomes necessary. It is to translate your license information to the non-English speaking police or traffic warden. Even in countries where an IDP is required, the rental agency doesn't care.

Not that it helps you any here - and it sounds like you've decided to get one anyway - but I have rented from Enterprise, Thrifty, Hertz, Avis, and many UK-based agencies --- probably 40 or more rental contracts in the UK over the years. And not once was an IDP mentioned.

Noe,

That is the safest approach, but also is a rather expensive approach. The credit cards do cover you in Europe with a few countries being exceptions - notably Italy and Israel, Northern Ireland too. But I believe MC just dropped the Ireland itself.

In some countries, such as in New Zealand, there is a mandatory insurance you must buy, (NZ is a no fault country), but there are options on how much deductibles you want. In that type of countries, the credit card companies would not provide coverage as you have to buy it no matter what.

I dont remember about Spain or another European country where insurance is also mandatory.

In countries where insurance is not mandatory to buy, we would let the Credit Card benefit covers it - unless it is only a couple days rental which the insurance might be only $50 or below in total.

Noe,

I just look at the Hertz reservation details, the optional CDW is 18BP per day, Super cover (dont know what that is) is 12BP per day, personal injury/personal effect coverage is 6BP a day. Theft protection is 9.5BP a day.

Your CC would provide the CDW and the Theft coverage. I suspect Super Cover is either some lite version of CDW, (include a deductible), not sure.

On our Avis reservation, I emailed Avis to ask them to clarify if the rate includes 3rd party liability - personal injury and property damage liability - the reply is yes. I gather it is probably the case with Hertz, but I would email Hertz to find out for sure. The 3rd party liability covers others who get hurt by you or the properties damaged by you, but does not include the rental car itself - that is where the CDW comes in.

You can see the insurance - the CDW and the Theft together, would be MORE than my daily rate including tax and whatnot.

The email confirmation sent to me by Enterprise clearly says (in small print to the side) that anyone renting who is not a UK resident needs the IDP.

I have reservations in at both Hertz and Enterprise. I selected automatic cars on both and they are both around the same price - I think Enterprise is slightly less. I am going to keep both reservations open because I am afraid of getting to the airport and being told they only have manual cars left. That would be a disaster in the making. As far as insurance goes, we have full coverage (accident, liability, comprehesive/collision) on our personal policy, but a hefty $500 deductable. But it sounds like I could easily pay $500 in additional coverage if I buy it at those high daily rates. I do intend to phone my insurance agent to be sure that my personal auto insurance will cover the rental car. I know from trips here in the US that it does, but I want to be sure that I am covered overseas as well. And as for the credit card coverage, I honestly don't know if anything is covered or not. I have 3 cards from different banks so I guess I'll give them all a call to see if they cover anything if we use the card to pay for the rental. Thanks for pointing that out - it is something I wouldn't have thought of myself.

By the way, when I went to the AAA office at lunch to get the driving permit (which only took about 30 minutes and was fairly painless) the travel agent said that they are seeing some car rental agencies that are starting to ask for the permit. She said it is on the rise but didn't know why.

Here is what I cut &amp; pasted from the Enterprise site:

ADDITIONAL DRIVERS MAY BE ADDED TO YOUR RENTAL. PLEASE CONTACT THE BRANCH DIRECTLY.
ALL DRIVERS MUST HAVE A VALID DRIVER'S LICENCE HELD FOR A MINIMUM OF 1 YEAR TO BE PRODUCED AT TIME OF RENTAL. TWO PART LICENCE HOLDERS MUST PRODUCE BOTH PARTS. INTERNATIONAL DRIVER'S PERMIT REQUIRED WITH ALL NON- EUROPEAN LICENCES

Another &quot;surprise&quot;. I read more of the &quot;fine print&quot;. Sounds like my proof of insurance card is not good enough. Enterprise wants the following:

COVERAGES ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE RATE. INSURANCE COVERAGE IS NOT ACCEPTED WITHOUT A LETTER FROM THE INSURANCE COMPANY STATING THE RENTER HAS COVERAGE IN THE UK.*

So I suppose I need my agent to write me a letter saying I'm insured.

I wonder if Enterprise is just way too picky? I'm going to look at my Hertz docs and see what they say....

I'm not trying to follow yhe saga of yoyr rental car problems - but this last post sounds like you are trying to use your stateside insurance to cover the rental CDW/insurance. Unless you have a VERY unusual insurance policy - it will not cover you for rental cars overseas.

Now yours could be the exception - but you need to make sure . . . . . .

Any reason you aren't just using the coverage included w/ your visa card?

sorry about the typos . . . .

I don't know if my Visa has coverage. I usually use mostly cash when traveling and have never thought of this before, but I am surely going to check into it.

Yes, Visa will cover me, but only for damage done to the rental car due to accident or theft, as well as towing and &quot;loss of use&quot; charges. Nothing is covered by my personal auto policy outside of the US and Canada. Not covered by Visa are any injury costs to either driver, passengers, or anyone in another car. Also, damage to any building or another car is not covered. So Visa just covers the rental car. What do you all do to cover yourselves for the liability (medical and the other car in an accident)? I don't even see that offered by either Hertz or Enterprise and my agent has nothing like that to sell me for driving in Scotland. All he could suggest would be an &quot;umbrella&quot; policy as protection from lawsuits, but that is expensive.

Check out nho's post above. She checked with Avis and the 3rd party liability (personal injury and property damage) is covered by Avis in the rate. You might similarly check.

I will check with them about the liability...thanks. I really feel like a fish out of water. We have traveled so much, but always in the US. We've not run into any of these issues or questions before. Thanks again.