On 11/07/2013 5:18 AM, tim..... wrote:


My point was that the IDL was unnecessary.

I haven't bothered, since.

Just because no-one bothered with it on one (or more) occasion(s)
doesn't mean that the next person wont

tim


Then by all mean whoever is worried about being asked for one should
do as I did: got through the hassle of getting it, and never bring it
on a second trip.

A more helpful reply would be citing where you know it will be required.

There's no answer to that question.

It's required when the official that you are dealing with decides to do
things completely by the book.


That about sums it up. An IDL is meaningless on its own. It serves only
as a translation of your home jurisdiction diver license. And FWIW I
worked in commercial vehicle enforcement and I had no training on IDLs.
They were not mentioned in our policy and procedures manual. It's
usually a safe bet that anyone driving a car and has a license to drive
has the proper license for a car. IDLs serve to translate the
information that is displayed on the driver license and explains the
class indicated.

How can I (or anyone) possible predict that?

I'm not talking the situation where people get one without first
checking that a particular country requires it for their DL type. I'm
talking about the anecdotal evidence given here, that even when a
country does officially require one, no-one ever checks. You simply
cannot rely on that advice, it may be you who gets stopped by the
jobsworth!

My anecdotal input is that I got one once for a trip to Europe. When I
picked up the rental car they wanted to see my driver license but never
bothered with my IDL. The next time I rented a car over there I didn't
bother to get one (they are only valid for one year here). No one asked
for it. In fact, we had booked the rental through a travel agent here
and he said nothing about needing one.


Since vehicle owners can be held liable for some offences committed by a
person driving their vehicle, and they do check your driver license, I
am assuming that if an IDL were actually required, they would ask.

Personally, if I were renting a car in western Europe again, I would
not bother getting the IDL.