Don’t be caught out by the new DVLA rules on car hire

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• Simon Schus says:

  13 Jun13 June 03:40

  AMEX were fairly good as they told me about the changes when I phoned them up about car rental.

  Simon

  • Simon Schus says:

    13 Jun13 June 03:41

    * they told me about it a month or two ago

• Alan says:

  13 Jun13 June 03:43

  Hertz emailed me about this earlier in the week and I saw some coverage about it on the Beeb a couple of weeks ago. Realistically I’ve yet to be asked for my paper counterpart previously, esp when a member of a loyalty scheme with the car hire company.

• Nick M says:

  13 Jun13 June 04:24

  I booked a hire car last weekend for a rental from next week… I was aware of the changes but they haven’t pointed them out to me, all of the automated emails are still saying to bring paper counterparts… will be generating codes today and digging out counterparts too

• Martin R says:

  13 Jun13 June 05:08

  I generated a code yesterday (Thursday) whilst in Las Vegas for a collection today.
  I didn’t need it, wasn’t asked for it, or the paper counterpart.

• James67 says:

  13 Jun13 June 05:14

  What happens to those with a UK license but no NI number?

  • JQ says:

    14 Jun14 June 00:03

    Dunno. I guess you won’t be allowed to rent with Hertz in the UK, Angola, Austria, Bahrain, Balearics, Botswana, Canaries, Croatia, Namibia, Oman, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden and Tunisia.

• RK says:

  13 Jun13 June 05:55

  I have rented cars outside the UK 10-20 times over the last 5 years and never once have I been asked for the counterpart. In the US, I would be almost certain they would never ask.

  • mike says:

    13 Jun13 June 06:27

    Also rented about 20 times in continental Europe, never been asked once. Both times I rented in the UK I was asked. Once I didn’t have it and they charged me £5 to call up DVLA. Don’t know why they place the burden on the public? This should be an arrangement between the rental companies and the DVLA.

    • Martin Deutsch says:

      13 Jun13 June 07:48

      I think, in the past, car rental companies could call the DVLA on an 090 number, so perhaps they were recouping the cost.

  • Nick says:

    13 Jun13 June 07:04

    Same with me RK. I’ve rented all over the US, every year for over 35 years now, and have never had a request for the paper counterpart from Avis, Hertz, National, Alamo or Budget.

• Frankie says:

  13 Jun13 June 06:11

  Hi Raffles. I had to follow this new procedure to pick up a car at Belfast International airport on Thursday from Budget. So it must apply to N.I. too. They told me that if someone didn’t arrive with a print off or a code they could phone the DVLA during office hours. Alternatively they could look up online with a driver licence number and national insurance number. But if the DVLA office was closed and you’d no NI# then the agent told me you’d not get a car!

  • Frankie says:

    13 Jun13 June 06:22

    Do you mean people who have licences issued in Northern Ireland are unaffected, rather than people who are hiring cars in Northern Ireland without Northern Irish issued licences?

    • sandgrounder says:

      13 Jun13 June 08:01

      The DVLA do not licence drivers or vehicles in NI, the DVLNI do. It does not apply to people with DVLNI licences, only people in GB with DVLA licences. It’s not the location of hire which is important.

  • JQ says:

    14 Jun14 June 00:04

    What if you’ve prepaid for one?

• Rob Al says:

  13 Jun13 June 07:01

  Not sure how you didn’t hear about this – it’s been in the news for months. I even checked out my own account about 8 weeks ago!

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