Can I Use A Foreign Driving Licence When I Rent A Car In Sydney?

Most overseas visitors to Sydney are looking to hire a car during their stay in Sydney, so we very often receive questions about if and how one can do so without an Australian driver’s licence.

In almost every case, the answer is very very simple (no problem!); however there are some requirements that one should keep in mind if you have in mind to arrange for a rental package.

Here is an outline of these requirements to help answer any of your concerns about car hire with a foreign driver’s licence.

Checklist for those who plan to drive in Sydney

In order to help you avoid running into any hurdles while trying to book a rental car in Sydney, here is a short list of the major things you need to consider before setting out on your voyage.

• Your national driver’s licence’s language – If the driver’s licence from your home country is not printed in English, then unfortunately you will need to get either an international driver’s licence or a certified translation of your home country’s licence (and make sure to always carry the latter as well while driving).This is important not only for our purposes, but so that local police officers are able to determine whether or not your are licensed to drive your vehicle.
• Your licence’s validity: If you plan on staying for a long time and will visit a country in which driver’s licences have to be renewed frequently, you should definitely check the expiry date on your licence before you leave for your trip. If your licence expires in the middle of your trip, you very likely will not be able to renew it in a foreign country, and will be stuck busing and training for the remainder of your stay.You could apply for a local licence, but this is going to involve a lot of testing as well as at least 25 hours of supervised driving: in other words, a lot of time and trouble you don’t want to deal with while you’re on vacation.
• The photo on your licence: you should make sure that you still look the same as you did in the photo on your driver’s licence. So shave your beard and get a haircut if you need to, or if not then have your photo updated so that it looks more like the current you, or else you may run into problems either with your rental or on the road.
• Your address: you also want to make sure that your home address on your licence matches the billing address on your credit card in order to make things go more smoothly at the rental company.Also if there if the two addresses do not match you may not be able to take advantage of the deals offered on budget car rentals in Sydney when they are available.

However, if your address and photo are both up to date and your licence is written in English, you will not run into any problems with your foreign driver’s licence.

We personally have helped out thousands of travellers from abroad in their search for affordable car hire in Sydney, and we would be more than happy to give you a hand as well.

Please call or e-mail us and simply tell us what you need, or you can simply book your vehicle online from our website.