Guide

Can you hire a supercar on a foreign licence in the UK?

Updated August 2026 6 min read Performance & Prestige

A non-UK licence is answered case by case rather than yes or no, because the decision belongs to the policy covering that specific car. What is checked is the same in every case: that the licence is valid and current, that it has been held long enough for that vehicle, that the endorsement history can be evidenced, and that the driver is entitled to drive in Great Britain on the dates of the hire. Send the details at the enquiry stage.

Is a non-UK licence accepted at all?

It is not an automatic no, and it is not an automatic yes either. Hire on a foreign licence is decided against the policy covering that specific vehicle, so the honest answer is that we confirm it before you plan around it.

What we will not do is take the enquiry, take the details, and raise it the day before delivery. If the answer is going to be no, it is worth far more to you at the enquiry stage than at the kerbside.

Ask in your first message and name the issuing country. That single line is usually enough for us to tell you which direction the answer is going.

Why is a foreign licence a different conversation?

Because of what a UK licence lets us verify. On a British photocard we ask for a DVLA check code, which shows the endorsement record directly from the licensing record rather than from what the driver tells us.

There is no equivalent for most overseas licences. The endorsement history has to be evidenced another way, and that is the part that takes time rather than the licence itself.

It matters because every car on this site sets a points tolerance as well as an age and a minimum period of licence held — 105 tolerate up to six points, 6 tolerate three, 1 tolerates none. A criterion that cannot be checked cannot be signed off.

What gets checked, whatever the licence?

Four things, and they are the same tests a UK driver passes:

Validity. The licence is current, unexpired and covers the category of vehicle.
Entitlement to drive here. The driver is entitled to drive in Great Britain on the dates of the hire.
Time held. Every car sets a minimum period of full licence held, and across the catalogue that runs from three to ten years. It is measured from when the full licence was issued, not from when you started driving.
Endorsement history. Whatever the equivalent of points is in the issuing country, evidenced rather than described.

Identity and address are checked as they are for anybody: photo ID and something recent with your address on it. The driver requirements page sets out the full document list.

What should you send at the enquiry stage?

The issuing country, the date the full licence was issued, and whether there are any endorsements or convictions on it. Add the dates you want and the car or category, and that is enough to get a real answer moving.

Send it in the enquiry rather than waiting to be asked. The gap between "we will check" and "yes, on this car" is entirely made of information we do not have yet, and every hour of it is an hour where somebody else could book the car.

If you also hold a UK licence, say so — that usually simplifies the whole conversation.

Does a foreign licence change the car you can hire?

It can, and not in the way people expect. The constraint is rarely the badge — it is the combination of the licence, the time held and the endorsement record against the criteria for that specific vehicle.

Those criteria climb steeply with the car. Age runs from 25 to 32 across the catalogue and licence held from three to ten years, and the fastest cars sit at the top of both ranges. A driver whose evidence is thinner will find the accessible end of the catalogue opens first: 44 cars are hireable at 25.

So the useful question is not "do you accept my licence" but "which cars can be signed off for this driver on these dates". That is the question we answer.

What about an International Driving Permit?

An International Driving Permit is a translation of a licence rather than a licence in its own right, and it does not replace the underlying document or the checks above. Where one is relevant it accompanies the licence rather than standing in for it.

The same principle applies to a photograph of a licence, an app, a digital wallet or an expired card with a renewal receipt. What is checked is the current, valid licence itself, seen at handover as well as in advance.

If your licence is being renewed or replaced over the dates of the hire, tell us early. It is a solvable problem three weeks out and an unsolvable one on the morning.

Is it different on a partner-sourced car?

Yes, and it is worth knowing which you are looking at. Most of the catalogue is arranged through vetted partners, and on those the driver criteria are set by whoever holds the vehicle rather than by us.

We confirm them with you in writing rather than assuming they match ours. That is also why a sourced car carries a guide rate rather than a confirmed one, and why it needs more notice.

On a car in our own fleet the answer is ours to give. See our own fleet.

Common questions

Can I use a DVLA check code with a non-UK licence?

No. The check code service reads the DVLA record, so it only exists for licences the DVLA holds. On a non-UK licence the endorsement history has to be evidenced another way, which is the part worth starting early.

I have lived here for years on my original licence. Does that help?

It is relevant and worth telling us, along with how long you have held the licence and whether you have exchanged it. What matters to the check is the document you will actually present at handover and what can be evidenced about its history.

Can somebody with a UK licence hire it and let me drive?

No. Only drivers named on the hire and accepted for that vehicle are insured, and every named driver has to pass the criteria in their own right. Driving a car hired in somebody else’s name makes you an uninsured driver, with the value of the car at stake rather than the excess.

Can I be added as a second driver on a foreign licence?

Possibly, and it is checked exactly as a first driver would be — in advance, against that vehicle’s own criteria. Nobody is added at the roadside, whatever licence they hold.

Will you tell me before I book, or after?

Before. The whole point of raising it in the enquiry is that you get the answer while there is still time to choose a different car or a different date.