Europe rules on Moped/Motorbike/Car Licences

If you just want to get to out of the way areas, hiring a car would be easier and more practical.

But would they let me with a learners car licence?

NO Gramsay you can't hire a car on a learner's permit.

Get a license before you go or FORGET this idea altogether. Stop looking for a way around it, there ISN'T ONE.

In most European countries there is nothing like a learners permit: You go to a driving school (pay a fortune)- go to the tests - pass - get the full license - and THEN you can drive.

If you are not leaving until November, surely you can acquire a licence in Australia before then.

Well, if the requirement is that you sit on an old Vespa with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth looking all 1950's ...
Other than that, forget it. Bike or even scooter insurance for people under 30 is expensive anywhere, and you need that license or no license. Adding the foreign status of the rider...nahh.

In Spain where I live moped-related accidents are so high not many companies bother renting scooters anymore - the money they make from rentals isn't enough to cover the insurance.

Those little engines are very unreliable, so if you bought a moped, you'd need to know how to fix it yourself or know a good mechanic who wouldn't skin you alive. I've owned about 5 scooters and had so many problems with them I gave up.

Oops, I missed this whole "winter" discussion. Surely, OP, you jest? Have you ever tried sitting on a motorbike in wind and rain?

There is no learner's permit in Europe and you surely cannot hire ANYTHING on one. Some rental companies even require that you have had your license for 2 years to rent from them.

Ok now i have a decent number of people give me the same consensus I will look for other ways (bus, train, hitch-hike)
im wasn't aware that Europe doesn't have a learner system but that and the insurance problem makes things very hard so thank you for all the answers.

I really doubt all this. I've had several 50cc's and I really do wonder how you toured 4 countries on something that doesn't exceed 40 km's per hour - maybe 60 if you soup it up against the law. They're not allowed on motorways. They burn pistons up like mad. Spark plugs get clogged up every five minutes. Did you carry that Honda from country to country on a truck?

I can believe riding one around between villages if you know what you're doing, but not between countries.

Scrivner, you seem to have missed the whole point of the OPs post. He doesn't have a license and is looking for a way to do this WITHOUT a license. That of course can't be done.

As for your own experience, I take exception to "a German address for registration and insurance." Yes you wer able to buy insurance but NO you were not covered by insurance. When you applied for the insurance you had to give an address. A RESIDENCE address. So of course you lied on the application and the insurance policy was not enforceable.

Insurance companies aren't dumb. IF you had been involved in a serious accident which resulted in a major claim on the insurance company, the first thing they would have done is look for a way to deny the claim. Every insurance company in the world has a department which doesn't show up on an organizational chart but nevertheless exists. It is the 'Claim Denial Department'. Every claim goes through their hand first.

The first two things they would check in your case would be whether you were legally in the country or had over-stayed the Schengen limit of 90 days, and whether you had given a residence address which was not in fact your residence. Either would be sufficient cause to declare the policy void and deny your claim.

So you may have thought you were insured but in fact you were not.

The ONLY way to be insured in a case like yours is if you find an insurance company (there are a few) who will insure you as a foreigner. The cost of course is far higher than the cost for a policy with a local address. In many cases as much as the vehicle costs or more.

My point being, before you go encouraging people to do as you did, you need to be aware of what risks you are encouraging them to take. Driving without VALID insurance can cripple you financially for life.