Farang Abroad With Thai Driving Licence

[ThaiHome]

Big_Kahuna said:

I repeat: Hertz in Los Angeles has repeatedly accepted mine.

 

I think that Lukdod's point was that an IDL is not a standalone document. It is merely a translation of a valid drivers license.

I don't know what country's drivers licence you hold, but I bet that Hertz would have accepted that instead of the IDL just as readily. Have you ever been stopped by CHP or local police and used the IDL?

 

I know 4 long time Bangkok expats that use their Thai licence to rent cars in US on their annual leaves (2 in CA other 2 in Texas).

TH

[Guest]

Really? How do they know it's really a license? I am looking at mine right now, and there's no English on it apart from my name. The years are in Buddhist years, not Western. How do they know it IS a license, and how do they know it's not expired? No flame, just want to know.

[Guest]

Hertz may have accepted your IDL...but check the law, as previously posted for the Calif. Dept of Motor Vehicles. It plainly states that an IDL is _NOT_ valid for driving in Calif. Period.

So, the question is, what would happen if you were stopped by the police and had only an IDL. Obviously it is a violation of the state's law and I can only speculate whether you would receive a ticket or not. Legally you would be guilty of driving without a valid (acceptable) driving license.

I agree, that a local officer likely would not understand a Thai (or other countries) driver's license, written in that countries not western script, hence the IDL...is good for ID purposes only. B-K, you are beating a dead horse by posting that the IDL is acceptable, when the _law_ specifically states otherwise.

 

>B_Kahuna wrote: "How do they know it's really a license? I am looking at mine right now, and there's no English on it apart from my name. The years are in Buddhist years, not Western. How do they know it IS a license,"

...Hertz, in Los Angeles accepted mine"<

[JAYBLOOM]

In Colorado the foreign drivers license is valid if you are a "Non-Resident Alien". My fiancee (now wife) used her Thai Drivers License when she first arrived in the US on a K-1 Visa(nonimmigrant visa). She carried the actual Thai license and an English translation. I also had her carry the Drivers Manual

(link below) with the section highlighted, just in case she ever got pulled over. Jay

http://www.mv.state.co.us/formspdf/DRP2337-1nocover.pdf

(page 3)

SPECIAL EXEMPTIONS C.R.S. 42-2-102

AND 24-60-1106

The following persons need not obtain a Colorado License

provided they are 16 years of age or older and possess a

valid license from their home state or state of last

assignment

.NON-RESIDENT ALIENS: Foreign tourists, instructors,

and business persons may drive any private

(noncommercial) vehicle with their personal Driver

License.

[Guest]

Pardon me for continuing to beat that dead horse, but I honestly do not understand how a major car rental company like Hertz could rent a car if you have nothing that qualifies as a legal driver's license in that state. I've never tried showing it to a cop, so I don't know, but the fact that the rental company will let me drive off with one of their cars after I show it to them tells me THEY believe it to be legal.

[Guest]

B-Kahuna persists: "Pardon me for continuing to beat that dead horse, but I honestly do not understand how a major car rental company like Hertz could rent a car if you have nothing that qualifies as a legal driver's license in that state. I've never tried showing it to a cop, so I don't know, but the fact that the rental company will let me drive off with one of their cars after I show it to them tells me THEY believe it to be legal. "

 

IF you read the post containing the State LAW as cited by the California Dept of Motor vehicles, then you _should_ fully know that an IDL is _not_ legal for driving a vehicle in Calif as well as most (if not all other States). So what if a _clerk_ at Hertz rented you a car based on an IDL, that does not indicate that is the policy of the Hertz Corp. Yet, if it is their policy and you are stopped by a cop, then only you, and not Hertz, are in trouble for driving illegally!! Now, guess who would be responsible for paying for the driving infraction. Clue: it's not Hertz!!

Maybe, to clarify your continued lack of understanding, I suggest you should query the Calif DMV and the Calif Highway Patrol,by e-mail, before continuing to beat this long dead horse!!

[Guest]

I agree. I have rented cars in California and elsewhere in the US many times using an International Driver's License based on my Thai driver's license and was pulled over once. I got a warning rather than a ticket, and had no problems with the International Driver's license (it neither helped nor hurt me.)

 

If you look at your International Driver's license, you will see it refers to an international convention. International conventions are treaties and when the US is a party to a treaty that treaty trumps contrary state law. At least that is what I recall from my high school civics class, but if there are some legal beagles here perhaps they can clarify.

[Guest]

Can you PM me with instructions on how to get an international license?

thanks heaps!!!

[iuytrede]

got pulled over once in Iowa and once in Montana with my IDL.

I might as well have shown them a Mongolian library card.

Sure, the IDL has latin script and even some English words on it... but is definitely a foreign thing and they are not used to see foreign things in Iowa. They asked me whether this really was a driving licence and they believed me ::

 

Oh, and I have rented cars all over the US (including California) using my IDL.

[Guest]

Yes, and that is my point: Car companies will NOT rent to anyone without a *valid* driver's license. The IDL must be valid, or the company would never part with their car. Therefpre, certain people who shall remain nameless, but go by the initials LD, are full of fecal matter.