Driving abroad guides

Practical, plain-English answers to the questions travellers ask before driving abroad.

• Do I Need an International Driving Permit? A Country-by-Country Reality Check — Whether you need an International Driving Permit depends on the country, your licence, and the rental company. Here is how to work out the answer for your trip.
• 1949 Geneva vs 1968 Vienna Convention: Which IDP Format Does Your Destination Use? — The two UN Road Traffic Conventions produce different International Driving Permit formats with different validity periods. Here is what separates them and why it matters.
• What Documents Do You Need to Rent a Car Abroad? The Complete Checklist — A practical checklist of everything a rental desk can ask for overseas — licence, permit, passport, credit card, age proof — and the mistakes that cost travellers their booking.
• How to Get an International Driving Permit: Official Routes and Translation Services — The two ways to obtain an International Driving Permit — through your country's authorised issuer, or as a private multilingual translation — and how to choose between them.
• How Long Is an International Driving Permit Valid? Validity, Expiry and Renewal — IDP validity ranges from one to three years depending on the Convention format and your national licence. Here is how expiry actually works and when to renew.
• Nine Mistakes Travellers Make When Driving Abroad (and How to Avoid Them) — From assuming your insurance follows you to misreading speed limit units, these are the errors that turn a road trip abroad into an expensive problem.