Questions people actually ask.

An international driving permit is a booklet that translates your national driving licence into the languages named by the 1949 Geneva and 1968 Vienna road traffic conventions. It is carried alongside your own licence, never instead of it, and it lets an official or a rental agent read your entitlements in a format they recognise.

No. It is a translation of the licence you already hold and grants no driving rights of its own. If your national licence is expired, suspended or revoked, the permit is void with it.

Yes, always. The permit is only valid when presented together with the national licence it translates. Travelling with the permit alone will fail at a rental desk and at a roadside check.

They are the same document under different names. "International driving permit" is the wording used in the conventions themselves; "international driving licence" is a common informal name for it. Be wary of any seller implying an IDL is a licence you can drive on by itself.

The booklet carries your details in the languages specified by the conventions, including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Swedish and Danish. That is what allows an officer who reads none of your documents to read this one.

The digital copy is issued the same day, usually within minutes of a person checking your documents. Printed booklets are dispatched by tracked courier and typically arrive within five to nine working days depending on the destination.

A valid national driving licence, a clear photograph of its front and back, a plain portrait photo of yourself, and a signature. The whole application takes about four minutes.

Yes. The digital copy is issued the same day wherever you are, so a permit obtained after landing still works — unlike permits from most motoring associations, which must be collected in your home country before you leave.

The 1949 convention caps validity at three years, so a permit is issued for one, two or three years and never longer. If you bought a longer entitlement from us, you re-download a fresh document when the current one lapses.

No. The application is entirely online and we ship the printed booklet anywhere in the world.

Yes. Add a second traveller at checkout and they get their own private link to fill in their own details — you never need to handle their licence images.

Around 150 countries recognise a permit issued under the 1949 or 1968 conventions. We publish the current position for every destination we cover, and tell you before you pay which document applies to yours.

It depends where you are going. Many rental firms accept a digital copy, but some countries and most roadside checks expect the physical booklet. If your destination is one of those, we say so on its page before you buy.

No. China recognises neither convention. Visitors who want to drive there must obtain a temporary Chinese licence locally, and no international permit substitutes for it. We will tell you this rather than sell you a document that will not work.

Only a permit issued under the 1968 Vienna convention is recognised in Vietnam. A 1949-convention permit is not accepted there, which is a distinction most sellers do not make clear.

No. The permit is for driving abroad. In the country that issued your licence, that licence is the document that counts.

Acceptance is set by local law and by each company's own policy, so no honest seller can guarantee an individual desk. What we do guarantee is that if the destination you told us about refuses the document we recommended for it, you get every cent back.

No. We are a private document preparation service. We are not a government agency, a licensing authority or a motoring club, and we do not issue national driving licences. Any seller in this category claiming otherwise is misleading you.

The document is a translation prepared under the format set out in the 1949 and 1968 conventions, and it is presented alongside your genuine national licence. It is not a forged licence and we refuse applications built on one.

They are encrypted at rest, seen only by the reviewer who checks your application, and deleted from our processing storage 30 days after your document is issued. We do not sell traveller data and never share it with rental companies, insurers or advertisers.

We reissue free of charge — digitally straight away, and in print on the next dispatch — regardless of who made the mistake.

If the destination you told us about refuses the document we recommended for it, we refund the order in full, including the printed booklet and its shipping. You can also cancel for any reason before the booklet goes to production.

No. You pay once. There is no recurring charge and no automatic renewal — if your permit lapses and you want another, you choose to buy one.

Shipping is included in the price of a printed order. There is no separate charge added at the end of checkout.

Tell us what happened and where, through the chat on any page or by replying to any email from us. We do not ask for a police report or a written refusal from the rental desk.