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International Drivers License - required in Croatia?

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International Drivers License - required in Croatia?

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Old Apr 28, 2016, 8:53 am
  #1  
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International Drivers License - required in Croatia?

I have managed to travel all over the world for the past 30 years and have managed to avoid wasting $15 at AAA for an IDL.

However, I've been reading some online blogs and a few have mentioned how the rental car agencies in Dubrovnik, Coratia are sticklers for the IDL, especially if taking the car into Bosnia.

Any recent experiences with car rentals in Coratia out there? Please shed some light on this if you can - thank you!
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Old Apr 28, 2016, 12:25 pm
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If you checked directly with the car rental company websites, you'd find the rules laid out pretty clearly.
Hertz says: An International Driving Permit (IDP) is also required except for driver's licenses issued by the following countries: Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
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Old Apr 29, 2016, 6:56 am
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Hertz info might be outdated, as Croatia is an EU member, so all EU issued DLs should be valid.Of course Hertz might have different requirements than the authorities for their rentals
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Old Apr 29, 2016, 7:01 am
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Especially since all (new) European DL share a common format.
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Old Apr 29, 2016, 8:44 am
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No, you do not need an IDP if you have a US DL. I've rented plenty of times with a California DL at Avis locations in Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik and I'm sure Hertz would be the same.
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Old Apr 30, 2016, 11:47 am
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What Hertz requires and what the authorities will require are two different things.
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Old Apr 30, 2016, 12:51 pm
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Originally Posted by Palal
What Hertz requires and what the authorities will require are two different things.
If you do a search here, you'll see a long thread about driving in Croatia. Other flyertalkers have been stopped by the police and there was no concern about driving with a US license. It's just common sense that you will be fine. Croatia loves tourists and unless you are there to cause trouble, you will not find trouble. Millions of people have rented cars in Croatia over the years and I guarantee you the vast majority don't have IDL's.

From the Croatia tourism wiki...

In 2012, Croatia had 11.8 million tourist visitors, and in 2013 over 14 million tourists and 73.25 million nights. a record number of visitors. Croatia aims to double these numbers by 2020 with national strategy to bring in 17.5 million foreign tourist and revenue from tourism exceeding $17 billion.
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Old May 2, 2016, 11:43 am
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I agree with stimpy. Wish I would have saved my $15. I recently rented a car in Dubrovnik and had no problem taking it into Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Nobody at the rental agency, or any of the border crossings asked for my IDL. If you're planning a one-way road trip, watch out for the rental car drop fees. They can be hefty.
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Old May 2, 2016, 1:47 pm
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Originally Posted by Kate031
If you're planning a one-way road trip, watch out for the rental car drop fees. They can be hefty.
One way international or domestic? I did a couple of domestic one-ways in Croatia with Avis and saw no hefty fees.
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Old May 2, 2016, 2:18 pm
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International. I picked up the car in Croatia, and originally wanted to drop in in Macedonia, but it was a crazy expensive drop fee, so I ended up just looping back to Dubrovnik and flying to Skopje instead.
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Old Jun 4, 2016, 7:53 pm
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I rented with Oryx in Spit last year with a US license no issues.
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Old Jul 3, 2016, 6:09 am
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OP Follow up: No IDL was ever brought up in conversation when renting the car in DBV, not requested when crossing the border either.
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Old Jul 4, 2016, 11:34 am
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Originally Posted by stimpy
No, you do not need an IDP if you have a US DL. I've rented plenty of times with a California DL at Avis locations in Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik and I'm sure Hertz would be the same.
I had no problem either, including with Hertz. And I did have the police check my DL twice while in Croatia but had no problems because of it -- rather they were more interested in our passports than even the US DL.
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