UK Rental Cars on Thai License

[chiang mai]

I'm off to London at very short notice and am trying to book a rental car using my Thai driving license.

 

Using a Thai license isn't an issue it seems and I have done so before. But proof of address may be a problem because all the rental agencies seem to want a utility bill and a an original copy bank statement.

My utilities are not in my name and my bank statements are all online so I'm just curious to see how others have handled this aspect.

 

Thanks in advance for any clues in this matter.

[Upnotover]

Over the past 5 years or so I have rented cars every year with Avis from Heathrow and other locations using only my Thai license.  I have never been asked for any proof of address.

[Dipterocarp]

Are you trying to rent (hire) a car without a UK issued credit or debit card?


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[theoldgit]

I rented an Avis car at Gatwick last month, as you say no issue with a Thai licence and proof of address wasn't requested. I used a Thai CC as a deposit and they blocked a couple of hundred pounds.

I was talking to the Avis rep at Gatwick and she told me that they were being given unrealistic targets to sell extras like CDW protection, sat navs and the like, I have an annual policy to protect my excess and she just smiled and said that reps are still expected to try and sell the excess insurance.

I rented a car from Enterprise on the south coast earlier in the year, again no proof of address was requested and neither was proof requested from Budget at Heathrow last year.

I can't guarantee you'll never be asked, but I never have. I took a Nationwide IOM statement, a Thai CC and a Civil Service Pension statement, they all remained in my bag.

[ThaiPauly]

Strange, I booked a car through Rentalcars.com at Heathrow a couple of months ago and they told me beforehand that a Thai Driving license would not cut it, so I had to get an International Driving License.

 

I tried through another company to do the same two years ago and once again I was told that a Thai license was unacceptable, although they do want to see a copy of the TDL at the customer desk when you take the car

[theoldgit]

^^^^^ I've never ever had my Thai Licence questioned by any company in the UK, and whilst I've never used the broker Rentalcars.com, I've used Avis, Hertz, Enterprise and Budget and my Thai licence was accepted without comment.

 

Obviously I can't explain why you encountered a problem with your broker and the other company, but I've always been led to believe that providing the licence is printed in Romanised text it will be accepted, you've probably already seen their T&C's.

 

Not all suppliers accept the Chinese Driving Licence and its notarised translation.

UK licence holders who have a paper licence only, will also need an official photo for identification.

Customers should email the details of any endorsements / penalties on their driving licence to Rentalcars.com, as they might be refused the car at the counter.

An International Driving Licence is required if the driving licence is printed with non-Roman Alphabet.

An Indian driving licence will need to be accompanied by an international driving permit / licence.

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, ThaiPauly said:

Strange, I booked a car through Rentalcars.com at Heathrow a couple of months ago and they told me beforehand that a Thai Driving license would not cut it, so I had to get an International Driving License.

 

I tried through another company to do the same two years ago and once again I was told that a Thai license was unacceptable, although they do want to see a copy of the TDL at the customer desk when you take the car

rentalcars.com is a brokerage with out of date or incorrect information regards Thai DL acceptability. 

 

The full, 5-year Thai DL is acceptable for a car rental in the UK.

 

A 1-year and latterly 2-year provisional Thai DL is not acceptable for a car rental in the UK.

 

Quote

From rentalcars.com T&C: Customers should email the details of any endorsements / penalties on their driving licence to Rentalcars.com, as they might be refused the car at the counter.

 

Incorrect. Since the paper counterpart of the UK DL has been discontinued, a UK DL holding visitor that plans on using his UK DL for a UK rental needs to contact the DVLA online ahead of travel and obtain a one-time password that the car rental agency will require to access the DVLA database to check on drivers eligibility, points, etc.. at the time of collecting the vehicle.

Edited October 24, 2016 by NanLaew

[chiang mai]

Thanks to everyone for their replies.

 

I misunderstood what is written in the web sites for the car rental search engines which seem to think most renters live in the UK (maybe they do, I don't know), as a result the emphasis is heavily on renters proving their identity and address - no distinction is made between UK residents and non-residents. So I sent an email to Budget who clarified that overseas residents do not need to prove their address in the same way as resident Brits do.

 

As for rental companies themselves: I agree that Rentalcars.com has some of the best deals around but their requirements are out of date, I also have rented successfully in the past using my 5 year Thai license but usually directly from Enterprise or Eurocar.

 

As it turns out I had everything booked and then had to cancel on the day of departure and I'm now having to go through it all again today in trying to rebook for next week.

 

[Mattd]

As a footnote to this post and just for advice for those for whom it may concern.

 

A few years back I had cause to ask DVLA with regards to UK / Thai driving licenses and the use of either on UK roads, this is because my UK license is the old paper version with an old UK address of where I was living in the UK prior to moving to Thailand in 1989.

Basically, a UK driving license, regardless if paper or plastic type, must have the current UK address of the holder and this must be verifiable, the big rental companies do this by way of the electoral role.

As I am no longer registered on the UK electoral role and have no UK abode, then I cannot legally use the UK license to drive on UK roads, it is an offence to do so, even if you do actually reside in UK and the address on the license has not been updated.

The advice from DVLA to me was that I had to use the Thai license for renting a vehicle, which I have done loads of times for visits to the UK, never had a problem, in fact a Europcar rep, when renting out of Manchester airport one time, did tell me that had I not presented the Thai license then she would not have been able to rent the car to me, she did check my UK license on her system at my request, as a matter of interest.

Never been asked for proof of address using the Thai license, just a contact telephone number.

 

You can use the Thai license to drive in the UK for up to one year, expats returning to the UK technically have to be resident for 2 years in order to get their old UK licenses upgraded to the plastic photo ID type, not yet worked out how to make up that missing one year should I ever go back to live, suppose one could register on the electoral role one year earlier, if have enough notice of moving, otherwise, there must be another way, just not sure how!

Edited October 28, 2016 by Mattd
mistake!

[chiang mai]

1 hour ago, Mattd said:

As a footnote to this post and just for advice for those for whom it may concern.

 

A few years back I had cause to ask DVLA with regards to UK / Thai driving licenses and the use of either on UK roads, this is because my UK license is the old paper version with an old UK address of where I was living in the UK prior to moving to Thailand in 1989.

Basically, a UK driving license, regardless if paper or plastic type, must have the current UK address of the holder and this must be verifiable, the big rental companies do this by way of the electoral role.

As I am no longer registered on the UK electoral role and have no UK abode, then I cannot legally use the UK license to drive on UK roads, it is an offence to do so, even if you do actually reside in UK and the address on the license has not been updated.

The advice from DVLA to me was that I had to use the Thai license for renting a vehicle, which I have done loads of times for visits to the UK, never had a problem, in fact a Europcar rep, when renting out of Manchester airport one time, did tell me that had I not presented the Thai license then she would not have been able to rent the car to me, she did check my UK license on her system at my request, as a matter of interest.

Never been asked for proof of address using the Thai license, just a contact telephone number.

 

You can use the Thai license to drive in the UK for up to one year, expats returning to the UK technically have to be resident for 2 years in order to get their old UK licenses upgraded to the plastic photo ID type, not yet worked out how to make up that missing one year should I ever go back to live, suppose one could register on the electoral role one year earlier, if have enough notice of moving, otherwise, there must be another way, just not sure how!

 

My last trip back was three years ago and at that time the rental cars weren't fussed about which license I used, albeit that was before the DVLC code thingy was put in place. During that trip my car was hit in a parking lot and I had to make a police report for the insurance, the police (Avon and Somerset) weren't fussed either about which license I used! Later, I got pulled over for using my mobile whilst driving (I answered an incoming call out of habit, sorry). The police, a couple of really nice lads were also not fussed about which license but did say it would be cheaper and less painful if I offered up the UK license, which I did - they even made me eligible for a safety course which would reduce my fine!!!

[kickstart]

I was in the uk back in April and wanted to  hirer a car, I had the same problem  proof of address  ( now the vain of my life in the uk ),so I gave them  my Thai  driving licence , no problem ,they just classed  me a  tourist, which in theory  I was  only in the uk for 2 months,  they took  my Thai  address and uk passport details ,and that was it ,this was  Eurocar   ,in  Slough .

[wordchild]

you really should not have or at least use your old UK licence if you live in Thailand. the rules are quite clear on this, if you do not live in the UK and dont have a UK address then your UK licence is invalid. I have used a Thai driving licence to rent cars in the Uk, USA,  (both countries several times) and also Australia,Germany, Ireland and France within the last few years all without any issue whatsoever.

[wordchild]

there may also be some advantage in using your Thai driving licence. If they can be bothered to pursue it, then you can of course be taken to court (and fined) for a UK motoring offence, but they cant take your licence off you or give you any sort of points.

According to the manager of the London car hire office i rent from regularly , in his experience, the UK police rarely bother to take forward motoring offences (unless of a very serious nature) once they realize the person concerned holds a non UK licence

[GinBoy2]

On a slightly tangential note to this, there are advantages to using your Thai DL.

 

I'm American, and generally use rentalcars.com for car rentals when I travel.

 

Usually using your Thai address and license will get you cheaper rates, I've found this when rented in the US, UK & Spain.

 

As for proof of address, never been asked when using a credit card, I suspect that's only when using a debit card,

 

I've been stopped by police in the US and still provided my South Dakota license even when rented on the Thai one without any problems

[blackcab]

I've hired from Avis at Heathrow using a Thai license. Zero problems and they were very professional. My wife paid with her Thai credit card.

 

They did ask to see our passports, which I think is fairly standard when you hire from an airport. No proof of address needed.

[SussexExpat]

I recently used Rentalcars.com when hiring from Gatwick. Appears they are an agent for Enterprise with whom I hired the car.

 

Couldn't be more happy with them. Everything was a doddle. Almost new car with 3K on the clock.

 

The only problems I had was that between booking and collecting my CC expired, so I had to get the new one issued in the UK delivered to me in Thailand.

When I pre-paid two crossings via the Dartford Tunnel I used the tag on the ignition key for the registration. I mis-read an S for a 5 and lost the booking. On returning the car I mentioned this and they credited my deposit refund with an extra 7 pounds to cover the loss.

 

It was cheaper to hire the car at the airport than with Enterprise at my home town.

[overherebc]

Never had a problem with Thai licence in UK for renting.

As an add on, check the rental period charges as some on line booking sites block book the car and although you may have the car for say 10 days they will hit for extra days at the end of the rental period.

I started a thread on it a while ago. We got hit for 3 or 4 days extra.

It will be somewhere in the VERY SMALL print.