International Driving Permit: which countries Australians need one for

An International Driving Permit is not a licence. It's an official translation of the licence you already hold, valid for 12 months, and it only works when carried alongside your Australian licence.

The critical detail: you can only get one in Australia, before you leave. There is no way to obtain an Australian IDP once you're overseas.

Where to get one

Only the state and territory motoring clubs affiliated with the Australian Automobile Association can issue one — NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RAA, RAC, RACT and AANT. It costs around $49, you don't need to be a member, and most can turn it around same-day in a branch or post it within a week.

Anything else selling "international driving permits" online is not issuing a recognised document.

The Convention problem

There are two international conventions governing driving permits: the 1949 Geneva Convention and the 1968 Vienna Convention. They are different documents, and countries recognise one, the other, or both.

Australia is a signatory to the 1949 Geneva Convention only. That's the only IDP an Australian motoring club can issue.

For most destinations this is fine. But it creates a hard limit in a few places:

• Vietnam recognises the 1968 Vienna Convention permit. An Australian IDP is not valid there. Most Australians cannot legally drive or ride in Vietnam at all.
• China doesn't recognise International Driving Permits of any kind. You need a temporary Chinese driving permit, obtainable at some major airports.

In both countries, hire shops will happily rent you a scooter without checking anything. That doesn't make it legal, and it definitely doesn't make it insured.

Where Australians need one

IDP required: Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, India, Italy, Greece, Spain, the UAE and most of Europe.

Australian licence alone is fine: New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Fiji and the Philippines. In several of these an IDP is still a useful backup — some hire counters ask for one regardless of the law.

IDP won't help: Vietnam and China.

Italy and Japan are the two that surprise people most. Both genuinely enforce it: Italian police check, and Japanese hire companies will refuse to release the car without one.

The insurance consequence

This is the part worth reading twice.

Australian travel insurance policies almost universally exclude claims arising from driving or riding without a valid licence for that vehicle in that country. Two things follow:

If the country requires an IDP and you don't have one, you're driving unlicensed as far as your insurer is concerned. A crash means no cover — not for the vehicle, not for your medical costs, and not for anyone you injure.

A car licence doesn't cover a scooter. This is the single most expensive mistake Australians make overseas. Hiring a scooter in Bali, Thailand or the Greek islands requires a motorcycle class on your Australian licence plus the IDP. Without both, a scooter accident is entirely uninsured — and scooter accidents are the leading cause of serious injury claims for Australians in Southeast Asia.

Bali is where this bites hardest. Police roadblocks specifically check foreign riders for licence class, and medical evacuation to Darwin runs from $40,000.

Before you go

Apply at least two weeks before you fly. Check your destination page for the specific rule, and if you're planning to ride a scooter, check your licence class first and your insurance PDS second.