Having a valid driving license with you is very essential for car rental but what happens when you need to rent a vehicle and your driving license has expired or soon to expire? In case you book a car rental online, what you may need is a card to pay for your booking. However, during the car pick up, the counter staff will check the important documents you may need. First, it is a valid driving license without it, higher chances are that you won’t pick up car.
Before you plan rent a car, you need to be aware of your driving license expiry date the fact that it is illegal for one to drive without a valid license. Whereas the DVLA may send a renewal reminders before the expiry date, it is your responsibility to ensure that your license is up to date including the renewal forms where need be. Driving with no valid license may lead to additional charges that perhaps you had never prepared for.
If you want to rent a car but your license is soon expiring or has expired make sure that you renew it first then go ahead to hire your dream car. This alone builds confidence in you while on a road trip. For any plans to embark on long trips, you need to find out how early you need to renew your driving license as each country has its own policies when it comes to renewing driving licenses.
The other possibilities may include changing your rental date-in case you plan for a flexible trip then you can push back your car pick up date to when you need a valid license. Changing your booking comes free of charge however, the rates may hike afterwards and this may become a challenge and therefore, you need to make changes as soon as possible once you get to know about your new dates. On the other hand, you can choose someone else to drive-this is possible if you are traveling in a group and you are age mates and some other person has a valid driving license. You may also opt to cancel rental-this should be the last thing you can think about in case all the above options fail to work. But first check the cancellation policy, terms and conditions in your booking.
In case you get to car pick up point and you realize that your driving license has expired, higher chances are that you may not be in position to pick your car. However, you can still apply the same 3 options above. The unfortunate bit of it is that, the money paid for reservation may be lost. In case you booked via a 3rd party, it is better that you get in touch with them as soon as you encounter such a problem and prior leaving the counter. Otherwise, they might be in position to see how best they can help you.
For cases where you have a car rental already and you realize that your license has expired, make sure that you get back to the counter fast enough but of course it is uncommon for counter staff not to spot the expiry date on your driving license. Please note that in case someone drives a car hire using expired driving license, the rental agreement they signed at the start may become invalid and therefore any insurance they had for the car automatically also becomes invalid.
For those with expired international driving permit and they want to hire a car, take note that international driving permits last for only a year and this means that you must renew your permit before embarking on the next trip.
