Has anybody got any experience on renting a car in Vietnam using an IDP - International Driving Permit? The way I understand it if you're not native of any ASEAN countries you need to produce an IDP backed by your home driving licence which I have.  Even after a long discussion with a car rental guy in Hanoi via whatsapp, it's still uncertain that the insurance will pay the basic cover should anything bad happen to the car. Tried to get the insurance details from him a few times to check with the insurance people directly but he never disclosed them to me so it's becoming a hard one. If anybody has any experience with driving using an IDP I would be interested to hear. Thanks

You can drive in Vietnam with an IDP (and your home country licence).

 

The insurance is a different matter and individual to the rental company. 

 

If you are renting from a company that is not being forthcoming with the insurance policy, its perhaps wise to look elsewhere and perhaps go with a more known 'company' (such as Hertz, Avis etc).

 

Usually with insurance there will be quite a high 'excess' unless you pay extra per day to reduce that.

 

 

 

 

There is not much choice with international providers. Avis seems to be the only one that provides cars in Hanoi but in Avis website only chauffeur driven cars are available where as through third parties like Klook or QeeQ.com they say they can provide same Avis cars but self driven and the insurance deal with Axa for example seems to be separate from the renting! Quite odd methinks.  Anyway thanks Richard for your input!