International Driving Permit

It's legally required in Italy and recommended in France (for non-European licences).

However the chances of you being required to produce it are slim, hence many posters here say it's not needed.

The purpose of the international permit is to translate your driver's license information. From personal experience, French and Italian police might struggle to figure out which line is your name and which is your address, but they'd have to be pretty pissed off to write you up for not having an international "permit".

I wish they'd call the document a "translation" and not a "permit". They're not substitute licenses.

Don't bother. As long as you have your passport handy and your driving license from home, there won't be a problem. I have been stopped before in Spain and this was all that was needed. Once it was even because they thought I'd stolen a policeman's car! Then I realized that the car I'd borrowed from a friend was her fathers and he was a retired policeman. There were some kind of stickers on the car that identified it as a policeman's. That was fun! Still, no problem with the passport + California driver's license.

Not at all required in France. The French police are trained in reading foreign licenses. Do you think they spend all of their time in police school at the shooting range?

#3 Spain isn't France or Italy and Spain now requires an IDP - so an anecdote from several years ago isn't helpful nor will it be helpful if a policeman insists that you produce something you don't have that is a LEGAL requirement

Which country are you from?

I am from India and I rented a car from Hertz at TGV Lyon Railway Station (Part Dieu) last May. They asked for BOTH my local and the International Driving Permit. Fortunately I had it - so no problem. Passport of course is essential.

Maybe your nationality will be a factor? If you are from Europe or USA / Canada for example - I think they may not insist on the IDP.

But always SAFER to have it.

If you have conflicting responses - I suggest you should have it - does not cost much !

#5: You might be right, still I can't imagine there being a big problem and I wouldn't personally bother with it. One year I did go to the trouble to get one and it was just a printed card with a bunch of translations in about 20 languages, very unofficial looking . I thought it was ridiculous and never bothered since then. When I did get it I was able to do it through the AutoClub USA. So, I'd say, if you want to be safe and are a member, then inquire there.

Another anecdote, for what it's worth: One time, probably 1993, I was driving a friend's car in Catalunya. She was sitting in the passenger seat. We were stopped at a highway check point because they were looking for some escaped criminal or something. They asked for my license. I handed him my California DL. He looked at it and said, "Does anyone in the car have a REAL driver's permit?" We all laughed (cop included). My friend handed him hers and that was good enough. Take it for what its worth.

With all the tourists driving in Spain, do you think they all have international drivers permits with them? Lo dudo.

Badger (living dangerously as all badgers do)

With all the tourists driving in Spain, do you think they all have international drivers permits with them? Lo dudo.

I'm quite sure many of them don't. They are breaking the law - even if that law is rarely enforced.