I’ll admit it: I obsess over travel planning.
Not just the big stuff like flights and hotels. I mean the tiny details that probably won’t matter…until they suddenly do.
That’s exactly what happened before our recent trip to Europe, when I started reading about International Driving Permits (IDPs).
We were renting a car in Germany and planned to drive through Switzerland and France. As I researched rental car rules, I kept finding the same frustrating answer over and over again:
You might need one.
Some countries officially require an IDP. Some rental car companies recommend one. But there are plenty of travelers who say they’ve never been asked for it in decades of international rentals. In other words, a classic Your Mileage May Vary situation.
Did I actually need one?
In our case? No.
When we picked up our rental car from Sixt in Germany, I told the agent we’d be driving into Switzerland and France. He added the intercountry fee without hesitation. He also told me about the rules for driving on toll roads in Switzerland. But he never asked for the IDP.
He asked whether I had insurance coverage, and I told him my travel insurance and credit card protections covered me. That was apparently the more important concern.
So technically, I spent time and money getting a document nobody looked at. Honestly, I’d still do it again.
Because otherwise I would’ve worried about it the entire trip
Here is where my travel personality kicks in. I know that if I hadn’t gotten an IDP, I’d be thinking about it every time we crossed a border or saw a police car. Part of my brain would’ve been wondering: “What happens if someone actually asks for it?”
That’s the kind of low-level travel anxiety I try to eliminate before a trip starts.
For me, the $20 AAA fee wasn’t really about the document itself. It was about removing one more thing I might stress about during the trip.
Getting the permit was easier because I prepared ahead of time
The U.S. Department of State authorizes two official organizations to issue IDPs:
- American Automobile Association (AAA). If you have a U.S. driver’s license, learn how to apply for an IDP online, in person, or by mail through AAA.
- American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA). Complete the AATA application online with your passport photo and U.S. driver’s license.
I went to my local AAA office. Make sure to check, as not all locations offer the service.
I brought:
- my driver’s license
- a passport photo I already had printed from my passport renewal
- the completed application form
That made the process incredibly quick.
Meanwhile, other people who showed up while I was there, had to:
- fill out paperwork onsite
- Pay to have a passport photo taken
To AAA’s credit, they were perfectly happy to handle everything. But being prepared definitely made the experience easier.
Final Thought
In hindsight, at no point during our trip did I actually need an International Driving Permit.
But if I hadn’t gotten one, I would’ve spent part of the trip wondering whether I should have. I know that’s a “me” problem, and not everyone is going to stress about a document most travelers say they never needed.
Still, for me, not having to think about it during the trip made the permit worth the small amount of money and effort.
Because sometimes the best travel purchases aren’t the ones you end up using. They’re the ones that let you stop thinking about them altogether.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary.
