driving in Oz

showboat

Hey guys,
long time reader first time etc etc.....

i was wondering if anybody knows the story about driving in Australia. I got my full license in November '07 and will be heading over in September this yr for a few mnths. I've heard things about an "international drivers permit" and about tht you need to have your license for a year before you can hire a car. Does anybody have any experince/knowledge in relation to this?

thnx a million

interested

Hey

Yep - was in same boat as yourself last year.
Grabbed an 'International Drivers Permit' from the AA shop in Dublin (back of westbury mall on street running parallel with Grafton street) for around 10 Euro if I remember correctly. Think you need a signed photo and your full license.

Id booked car hire with 'Thrifty' in Perth and they didnt even look at it - but thats not to say some other companies or employees may be stricter on the rules if you catch my drift.

Big thing I noticed before my trip was how unforthcoming some car hire companies in Oz are with regard to
a) relocation fee of car (if you pick up in one city/region and drop in another)
b) limited miles (your agreement is for X no. of KMs, after that we'll be charging you 15cent per KM or the like)

One more thing I noticed that kinda freaked me out over there - I was driving between Perth, North to Exmouth, and South to Dunsborough etc over a period of 3 weeks - after a couple of hours driving on day 1 an engine malfunction indicator light switched itself on - Im no mechanic but checked the oil, brakes, power steering, water, engine temp etc ... and continued on with the light on. Called AA breakdown since I was pretty much leaving civilisation north of Geraltdon when it comes to mechanics - light was off when the guy arrived - after advice went to local garage - they told me that the car chips for some hire companies are programmed to give alerts similar to the one Id reported to ensure tourists using them take breaks on very long drives in Auzzie heat. Fairly alarming way to grab someones attention but hey ho the car was fine and we put 6000 k on the clock without a hitch.

Hope this helps - have a good holiday

5starpool

Get an international permit anyhow before you go (providing you can and there are no restrictions for new drivers), but when I was there I wasn't asked for it at all, Irish licence was fine for hiring car. When stopped by the cops, passport was pretty much all they were interested in, they looked funny at irish and international licences and handed them back sharpish.

dodgey69

I just used my irish driving licence and hired cars all over the place in oz no worries. Even used it in NZ no problem.


The only problem i had with the irish driving licence was trying to get into an irish bar in brisbane who wouldn't accept an Irish driving licence as ID only an international one!!!!!!:rolleyes: , so had to return with my passport to get in to watch the soccer.