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What Documents Do I Need to Hire a Car in the UK?

Whether you’re visiting from abroad or you’re just a citizen doing some travelling, the best way to see what the UK has to offer is by hiring a car. In this article, we will be going through exactly what documents and information you will need to hire a car in the UK.

Driving licence

The most obvious item you will need. If you haven’t got full valid driving licence, you won’t be able to hire a car, so be sure to take it with you when you are collecting your hire vehicle. However, you will also need: to be between the age of 25-75, have held a full driving licence for 2 years minimum and have a maximum of two lots of 3-point fixed penalties. If you don’t meet the criteria, you will need to contact us to check whether you can be insured to drive.

DVLA code

In order  to check your driving history if you’re a UK licence holder, you can provide a DVLA code. With this, we will be able to check your details such as disqualifications, endorsements and penalty points.

Your DVLA code can be retrieved from the GOV.UK website here. Note that it will only be active for 21 days, so don’t retrieve a code and then forget about it.

Note that, if you are hiring with us, you can also bring your National Insurance number instead of a DVLA check code. With this, we can simply perform the check ourselves.

International Driving Permit

For those who hold a non-EU driving licence, you might need to present a passport and an International Driving Permit (IDP). Over 140 countries require an IDP (not including America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) and sometimes it’s a legal requirement. An IDP allows you to share your driving licence in multiple different languages, meaning that anyone needing to assess the details can easily understand it. If you’re unsure whether you would need to have one, contact Traffic Self Drive and would be happy to advise you.

It should be noted that an IDP is only valid for 12 months and shouldn’t be created more than 3 months ahead of travel.

To apply, you need to complete an application for which can be retrieved from the relevant motoring body from your country of residence.

Proof of address

You will need to bring some documentation which proves that you live at your stated address. Whether it’s a bank statement or a utility bill, it will need to be dated within the last three months in order to verify your licence address. If you’re asked specifically for a credit card statement, the likelihood is that you will need to bring a statement for the card you used the security deposit.

 

If you’re looking to hire a car in the UK, Traffic Self Drive are here to help. With over 30 years of experience, we provide great-value car and van hire for customers throughout St. Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Welwyn Garden City. Licenced under the United Rental System network, we always meet strict quality standards with regards to our vehicles and services. If you would like more information about our services, feel free to get in touch today and speak to our friendly team.