Renting Car with "Standard" License
Jun 2, 2019, 7:07 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 15
Renting Car with "Standard" License
I have a car rental booked for my upcoming vacation. I will be in a location (Iceland) where my US license is sufficient for driving. My only potential worry is I have a "standard" NY license, at the moment, which is not REAL ID compliant, and therefore carries a stamp that says "NOT FOR FEDERAL PURPOSES" on the front of it. I assume this shouldn't trip any red flags to an overly scrutinous rental car agent? I'm sure they'll understand I'm out of the USA and therefore there is nothing "federal" about what I am trying to do? The last thing I want is them looking at my license and thinking it's fake because of this stamp that's on it.
Ironically, I'm currently waiting for my new REAL compliant ID to arrive, but it may or may not get here before my trip. If it does, I'll bring both IDs this way it doesn't look like I was issued a driver's license for the first time two weeks ago, haha (it's a requirement that you be licensed for a minimum of one year and NY licenses don't show the date the driver was first ever licensed, which for me would have been in 2005)
Ironically, I'm currently waiting for my new REAL compliant ID to arrive, but it may or may not get here before my trip. If it does, I'll bring both IDs this way it doesn't look like I was issued a driver's license for the first time two weeks ago, haha (it's a requirement that you be licensed for a minimum of one year and NY licenses don't show the date the driver was first ever licensed, which for me would have been in 2005)
Jun 2, 2019, 9:34 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 969
Icelandic car rental companies have dealt with US licences for many years, and with cheap flights from NY they've seen their fair share of ones from your state. Real ID is internal to the US, and as s0ssos states above no one outside the US will care.
Jun 3, 2019, 2:14 am
#4
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 6,578
Non-REAL ID compliant licenses are perfectly valid for driving, so you should have no problems.
With that said, licenses that are marked "not valid for federal purposes" are still not widespread, so it's hard to predict whether problems will arise, especially in foreign countries where people may not understand how US federalism works. I have heard stories of US car rental employees rejecting perfectly valid foreign licenses for arbitrary reasons, and I'm sure this could happen in other countries too.
With that said, I wouldn't be too worried. If you're paranoid, I guess you could carry a printout from the NY DMV explaining the REAL ID Act.
With that said, licenses that are marked "not valid for federal purposes" are still not widespread, so it's hard to predict whether problems will arise, especially in foreign countries where people may not understand how US federalism works. I have heard stories of US car rental employees rejecting perfectly valid foreign licenses for arbitrary reasons, and I'm sure this could happen in other countries too.
With that said, I wouldn't be too worried. If you're paranoid, I guess you could carry a printout from the NY DMV explaining the REAL ID Act.
Jun 3, 2019, 3:18 am
#5
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...licenses that are marked "not valid for federal purposes" are still not widespread, so it's hard to predict whether problems will arise, especially in foreign countries where people may not understand how US federalism works. I have heard stories of US car rental employees rejecting perfectly valid foreign licenses for arbitrary reasons, and I'm sure this could happen in other countries too.
As a side note, there was a rule change with the UK licence which has made all the car rental companies require a recent print out to the effect that there are no endorsements - but I have never been asked for such, even though they all "require" it. So the counter agents don't always read the memo.
Jun 3, 2019, 12:50 pm
#7
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
Non-REAL ID compliant licenses are perfectly valid for driving, so you should have no problems.
With that said, licenses that are marked "not valid for federal purposes" are still not widespread, so it's hard to predict whether problems will arise, especially in foreign countries where people may not understand how US federalism works. I have heard stories of US car rental employees rejecting perfectly valid foreign licenses for arbitrary reasons, and I'm sure this could happen in other countries too.
With that said, I wouldn't be too worried. If you're paranoid, I guess you could carry a printout from the NY DMV explaining the REAL ID Act.
With that said, licenses that are marked "not valid for federal purposes" are still not widespread, so it's hard to predict whether problems will arise, especially in foreign countries where people may not understand how US federalism works. I have heard stories of US car rental employees rejecting perfectly valid foreign licenses for arbitrary reasons, and I'm sure this could happen in other countries too.
With that said, I wouldn't be too worried. If you're paranoid, I guess you could carry a printout from the NY DMV explaining the REAL ID Act.
I think for every one US license rejected in another country there are hundreds of foreign licenses rejected in the US for no reason.
And in Iceland they speak English.
Jun 3, 2019, 8:33 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 969
... Airline employees/hotel employees saying someone needs a "passport" to go to Puerto Rico, or New Mexico isn't a state. You cannot make these things up.
I think for every one US license rejected in another country there are hundreds of foreign licenses rejected in the US for no reason.
....
I think for every one US license rejected in another country there are hundreds of foreign licenses rejected in the US for no reason.
....
But airline employees?
Jun 3, 2019, 8:46 pm
#9
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
Always amazes me when I read posts on NotAlwaysRight where the cashier (checking out alcohol) won't accept a US licence from another US state as proof of identity, as you say because "New Mexico (et al) isn't a state", or won't accept a foreign passport because it's "not government issued".
But airline employees?
But airline employees?
Jun 6, 2019, 12:47 pm
#10
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At first I thought this thread was going to be about standard (manual) transmissions... In some countries, to drive a stick you must take your driver's license test in one. Thank God not in Missouri - I took the test in an automatic and then spent that afternoon driving around country roads in a stick, killing it about 25 times in the process. 
Jun 6, 2019, 2:54 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 151
Always amazes me when I read posts on NotAlwaysRight where the cashier (checking out alcohol) won't accept a US licence from another US state as proof of identity, as you say because "New Mexico (et al) isn't a state", or won't accept a foreign passport because it's "not government issued".
But airline employees?
But airline employees?
