Good news for any Brits travelling to Florida; the new law that stated that Britons had to carry an International Driving Permit (IDP) when hiring a car in Florida has been withdrawn.
The new law has been causing havoc in Florida as UK residents arrived unaware of this new law and were unable to hire cars due to the fact they didn’t know about the requirement to also have an IDP. For those of you that have been to Florida you’ll know that hiring a car is pretty essential if you want to be able to take in all the parks and the sights.
The law was brought in primarily for non-English speaking tourists visiting Florida but Brits, Canadians and Australians were also being asked to carry them which really didn’t make much sense at all.
When the law was brought in in January travel companies were not made aware of the changes and subsequently holidaymakers were not advised of the changes. The new law only became apparent when a British holidaymaker attempted to collect his car at the airport only to be told he needed an IDP as well as a UK license. The AA in the UK were also completely unaware of these changes.
The state of Florida were also not happy about these changes and refused to enforce the law, so things have been in a state of limbo ever since, with drivers unsure of whether they need an IDP or not or whether there insurance companies would pay out for an accident without one.
Although most car hire companies in Florida will not ask for an IDP now, they are still entitled to impose their own terms and conditions so please check these thoroughly when hiring your vehicle.
For details of our car hire facility please click here.
