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Old August 30th, 2004, 10:06 PM
Ian Hutchby
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Cathy wrote:

Will I need an International Driving Licence to drive a hire car in New Zealand?

Cathy


The simple answer is you shouldn't.

As far as the law is concerned you can use a UK licence for up to a year
(at which point you must have converted it to a local NZ licence
otherwise it is back to an L plate!!!)

As for hire companies in my experience I have never been asked for
anything other than my UK licence when hiring a car over here (I have
used both local and inter-national companies (as I now live here I have
my own car so haven't needed to hire one since converting my UK licence
to an NZ one earlier this year)

Having said this the best advice is to double check with the company you
are actually hiring from to see what their policy is. You can usually
find a contact e-mail address somewhere on their websites and they tend
to be helpful - the best question to ask is whether you only need your
UK licence rather then asking whether you need an IDP (from memory it is
a Permit not Licence) as in the former they should tell you if you need
one, whereas in the second they may just reply that you should take one
whether you need it or not!!!

Although we drive on the same side of the road in both the UK and NZ it
is important that the hire company explains the major differences in the
road rules between the two countries. The obvious ones (at least for
me) a-

The give way to the right rule - you should definitely get this
explained to you when you pick up a car - if they don't mention it then
ask directly as it can cause chaos/confusion (in very simple terms (NB
still get this explained in full) if you are making a turn (usually
left) and another car is also making a turn and is going to intercept
your path from your right (ie will hit the driver's door) then you have
to give way to it - this does take a while to get used to (and several
irate drivers giving you strange looks and leaning on the horn!!!) but
is an important road rule difference that should be explained by the
hire company)

You have to carry your licence on you at all times when driving - you
don't have the grace period to produce it at your local police station
as in the UK.

When parking you have to park in the direction of travel (ie on the
left, the obvious exception is on one way streets where you can park on
the right as well as that is also the direction of travel for that part
of the road)

Undertaking is legal, so you have to be very aware of traffic on both
sides when travelling on multi-lane roads.

I hope this helps you
Ian