AlpacaLlama

Okay so I’m already abroad and will be going to Greece in 7 days. I just learned today from a friend that apparently you need a special driving international permit and they don’t accept US driving license.

im already abroad. Is there anyway to get it like maybe filling out an online form? Or am I SOL?

Jean

No experience whatsoever, but you might try this website... Obviously, you're going to want a digital version.

https://internationaldriversassociation.com/

StuDudley

WOW Jean. You saved the day!!!!

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, AAA is "out" of IDPs. We live close to the SFO airport, and our closest AAA offices are in Daly City and Redwood City. Today we called Daly City and they said they were out of them & don't know when they will receive more. They told us the Sonoma AAA (1 1/2 hrs away) might have some. Called Redwood City & they are out also and no idea when they will receive them. They said the office in Santa Rosa (1 1/2 hrs away), or Mendocino (4 hrs away) might have some.

My wife will work on landing one tomorrow & will report back.

Stu Dudley

Jean

Yay! I only hope the website is legit and reliable...

VANAARLE

I would warn against that website jean has given.
One is the location given on the website.
And this wording.
When you look up Toptravel this result is a little concerning.
https://sgpgrid.com/company-details/toptravel-pte-ltd
Sorry about all the capitals but these are cut and paste from the websites.
Jean how did you find this website?

rialtogrl

VANAARLE, the Indernational Drivers Permit (IDP) IS a translation. It never was a replacement for a drivers license. You need to show it in addition to the official license if asked.

i don’t think it matters where the website owner is based, and it is about time someone made the permit available online. The only thing is they are a bit expensive on this site unless you go for the 3 year option. Thanks Jean for finding this and I hope the OP will report back if he gets a permit.

Stu, how can they be “out” of little booklets that coukd be reprinted in any high school repo depo? Weird.

VANAARLE

Too many members here jump to conclusions.
Moving on the wiki states the following.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern...Driving_Permit
They also give a link to the official website.
https://internationaldrivingpermit.org/
This is the link covering those with a license issued in the USA.

https://internationaldrivingpermit.o...es-of-america/

rialtogrl

It is true - you cannot get the IDP through that website if you are a US citizen with a US license. You gotta check the fine print.

Oh well. I guess if the government approved AAA cannot even supply the IDP "because they are out" people who need one will be out of luck.

StuDudley

""Stu, how can they be “out” of little booklets that coukd be reprinted in any high school repo depo? Weird.""

I thought so too. But we called the 2 closest AAA offices, and both gave the same story. The second office put my wife on "hold" while she did a little research, and then got back to my wife & told her to try Santa Rosa and Mendocino. I E-mailed a friend in San Diego and passed the info to her (she is traveling to France also). She said the San Diego office has IDLs.

I read in our local paper about 10 years ago, that SF Bay Area residents travel more than residents do in any other area of the US.

We don't depart until late August. I think I'll wait a couple of weeks and try AAAs in the immediate area.

Stu Dudley

Jean

For U.S. people, you can apply to AAA by mail. It takes 5-7 weeks.

https://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.htmlverseas

AlpacaLlama, these options don't help you. Sorry. FWIW, although we've always carried an IDP when traveling, we've only been specifically asked to present it once in 20+ years and that was probably 15 years ago. We were once asked by French traffic police out in the boonies to show our documents, but the officer wasn't interested in the IDP, only our U.S. license and passport. I have no experience driving in Greece, but the IDP would be most valuable if you were involved in an accident.

Jean

I can't make that URL look right. If the link doesn't work, it should read "...htmlverseas"

Jean

I can't make that URL look right. If it doesn't look right, it should read html [hashtag] overseas

StuDudley

Thanks for the link. We used it to apply for the IDL by USPS (snail mail). Could not find any way to apply by internet. It told us to mail it to our local AAA office - which is out of IDLs. So we called our friend in San Diego who got hers a week or so ago, and hopefully they will process it from the San Diego office.. Our friend is also going to try to obtain a blank IDL & send it to us so we can take it to our local office for processing. Our neighbor just dropped by and we told him our story. He called his AAA in San Francisco and got phone mail. So between us, our friend in San Diego, and our neighbor - we have made 5 phone calls to different AAA offices. We were only able to reach 1 of them after being on hold for 5 mins. The other 4 told us to leave a message and they will call us back. Only 1 of these 4 have done so already. I don't think California AAA has "geared up" for travel yet.

We have been driving around France for about 2 months every year since 1999. He also have never been asked for an IDL.

Stu Dudley

Jean

I can't imagine AAA would let someone have a blank IDP.... too much potential for fraud.

Have you tried calling AAA's Travel & Booking Dept.? 1-877-898-5792. I think it's a retail division, but they might have advice.

If all else fails, take your old/expired IDP and, on the off chance someone asks for it, hope no one notices it's out of date.

suze

Do you at least have your US driver's license with you?

lavandula

Have you called the rental agency in Greece to ask about their policy and best advice under the circumstances? They might say it's not really an issue.

Lavandula

StuDudley

""I can't imagine AAA would let someone have a blank IDP.... too much potential for fraud.""

Yep. Our friend in San Diego finally received the call back from her AAA office. They can't/won/t do that. Early tomorrow, we are heading to Walgreens for the passport photos to go with the paper AAA application for an IDP, then to the post office to mail it to the San Diego AAA office. I can't believe that there is not an online way to do this. The San Diego AAA office was not surprised to hear that the SF Bay Area is "out" of IDPs. She said - to her knowledge, AAA is the only source for them.

My wife is desperately looking for her old IDP. Or maybe some ancient ones. When we returned home from our trip to France in July 2019, her 99 year old father had a stroke. It was chaos for the next 2 1/2 years with her father & Covid at the same time. Things got misplaced or forgotten about.

Just another challenge!!

Stu Dudley

Heimdall

IGNORE most of what was written above. Greece no longer requires drivers with US licenses to have an IDP (International Driving Permit), although the US Department of State travel advice hadn’t been updated last time I checked.

You can’t order an IDP over the internet, and any website that offers to sell you one is fraudulent. A red flag is when the website offers to sell you an IDL (International Driving License) — there is no such legal document, and has the same validity as a fake ID teens sometimes buy to get into bars.

The AAA is the official organization authorised to sell IDPs to US drivers, and the document has a distinctive grey cover. You can order it through their website, but the IDP will come to you by mail, so is useless for someone already overseas on a short trip. Years ago, back around 1970 as I recall, AAA had an office in London where I got my IDP, but that office no longer exists.

rialtogrl

Stu, if your friend is willing, you may be able to mail her the application, photos, a copy of your license, and a check for the fee and she can get it for you. My friend in Sacramento was able to do it for me in 2021.

Heimdall

Just checked again. Although the travel.state website still hasn’t been updated with current information, the US Embassy Athens has updated theirs.

”U.S. citizen tourists/temporary residents with stays less than six months with a valid United States driver’s license can drive in Greece with their U.S. license.”

https://gr.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen...ing-in-greece/