Unsure what you need to bring on the day you collect your hire car? Let us help you out by explaining exactly what you’ll need with our 6 point checklist.
1. Driving Licence
If you are a resident of England, Scotland or Wales simply bring the card part of your driver’s licence along with your DVLA check code (see point 4). For the rest of the UK and Ireland, you will need to bring both the card and paper part of your licence.
If you only have the paper counterpart, then you must bring an additional photographic ID. Your driver’s licence must be in date and valid to drive a Category B vehicle. If you are 23-24 you must have held a valid licence for at least 2 years.
If you are 25 or over held for at least 2 years. International licences must be readable in English, if not you must provide your international driver’s permit alongside. Your licence will be scanned into our system and returned to you before you leave our branch.
Hirers from some International locations will require referral to our Insurers. All hirers, other than those holding a UK or EU license, must have held a valid license for 3 years otherwise, it will be necessary for Drivalia to refer your license to our insurers for authority to hire.
Hirers from any sanctioned countries require referral to our Insurers prior to the start of the hire.
EU license holders who have resided in the UK for over 3 years must obtain a UK license.
Non-UK or EU license holders must obtain a UK license if they have resided in the UK for over 1 year.
2. Proof of Address
If you are a UK resident, you will need to provide two proofs of address with your name on them. These must be dated within the last three months of the hire start date. Official documents accepted include utility bills, bank statements, letters from the council/electoral roll, etc.
Your proofs will be scanned into our system and returned to you before you leave our branch. We can also accept electronic copies of these proofs via a handheld device or emailed to the branch.
3. Valid Credit Card
A valid credit card with enough available to cover your deposit (£150-£2500) plus the card you paid for your booking with (if different). The payment card must be in the name of the main driver.
We do not accept virtual credit cards or cards without a visible card number.
You can take a hire car with a debit card by choosing one of our excess waiver packages though some terms apply. Your card will be put into our card machine and you will be asked to enter your PIN. Your card will be pre-authorised and returned to you straight away.
4. DVLA Check Code
UK HIRERS ONLY: For us to check your licence is clean and valid, we require a DVLA check code which is free to obtain from the DVLA website.
Please bring the case-sensitive code with you when you collect your vehicle. Failure to bring this code will result in a call to the premium rate DVLA number incurring an additional charge of £10.
Your code will be entered into our system and the staff member will tell you if you have been approved or not straight away.
5. Travel Documents
If you are flying into the UK to collect your car, you will need to provide your passport (or ID card) and a return ticket. If your driving licence has a UK address but you no longer live in the UK, you will need to present a return ticket or proof of your overseas address.
We will accept a copy of a paper bill or from a mobile device/tablet. Your proofs will be scanned into our system and returned to you before you leave our branch.
6. Local Hirers
A local hirer is someone who is a UK resident.
You will ALSO need the following:-
- Proof of employment (recent payslips, employee contract, etc.) If the hirer cannot provide proof of employment, they then must agree to and pass a credit check.
- If the hirer cannot provide proof of address, they then must agree to and pass an address check.
- Proof of age 25 or older at the time of the rental (Passport, Licence, Birth Certificate, ID card, etc.)
- Valid credit card if leaving the excess deposit. The debit card is allowed if taking one of our Relax Zero packages (reduces excess deposit to £0).
- Category A, B, C or D vehicle fitted with telematics tracker only.
If you are still unsure or have any questions please contact our Live Chat team or Reservations team on 08000 75 80 75.