Four Itchy Feet

July 29, 2025. Portland, Oregon. Day 69 of 170

International Driving Permits (IDPs) are not a new concept, but do we truly understand their purpose? I’ve held an IDP before, specifically for a month-long trip to Italy where we planned to rent a car and drive. We decided to get one, yet when we rented from two different companies there, neither ever asked for it.

Since then, we’ve rented cars in Iceland, Spain, Argentina, New Zealand, Canada, and perhaps other countries I can’t recall, and no one ever requested an IDP. So, why get one now? We are heading to Japan, and word has it they strictly require it for rentals.

Procrastination got the best of us, and we paid a dear price. We waited until the week before departing from Seattle to Tokyo to secure our IDP from the American Automobile Association (AAA). You can also apply online and have it mailed but if you needed withing 7 working days you must visit a AAA Service Office. When we called to make an appointment, we discovered that all service offices in Seattle had closed, and the nearest office offering IDP processing was in Portland, Oregon – a three-hour drive away!

So off we went. The process was incredibly easy: $20 for the permit and $15 for the passport picture. At checkout, a “Eureka!” moment arrived. The attendant said, “That will be $35 even…there are no sales taxes in Oregon.” What? No sales taxes on anything? “Nope,” she confirmed. We were off to the mall to complete our shopping for our Japan trip and didn’t return to Seattle until midnight.

It’s important to understand that the IDP is often misunderstood as a driver’s license itself. It is not valid unless accompanied by your state-issued driver’s license. The simplest way to explain its purpose is that it offers a translation of your U.S. driver’s license into 10 different languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, German, Arabic, Italian, Swedish, and Portuguese). This allows foreign authorities, such as traffic police or rental car agencies, to easily understand your driving credentials, even if they don’t speak English. It provides peace of mind when driving in other countries and serves as an additional piece of identification.

The IDP is issued by the AAA, and you do not need to be a club member. While an IDP is valid for one year, you can obtain it in advance and have the start date align with the beginning of your trip.

I hope our IDP experience will help you. If you have any experiences traveling and being asked to provide an IDP when renting a car or by law enforcement, we would love to hear about it!