Hi guys,

Does anyone here know if with my swiss driving license, i am allowed to drive in canada if i go for a couple of weeks or do I need an international license?

tks
a

Yas ,Ja ,oui,si ,

thanks Cannut buy it's Ya on which part of the question?

ya i can drive with swiss license or
ye i need an int'l license

Thanks

Swiss license , but I will confirm. I will ask my son what he will do if he stops someone whit a swiss licence

Yes your swiss license is valid to drive in Canada.

Hello! I noticed this post is a few years old, so I was wondering if anyone knows if it is still accurate, and if one can indeed drive in Canada with a Swiss License, and without an international DL?

Merci!

yes

I regularly rent cars in both the US and Canada and my Swiss driving licence has always been accepted without question.
There was some fuss last year about foreign licences in Florida, but I think it went away when the local tourist industry got angry.

Thanks Guys,

All clear now!

To be safe, I would print out the English translation of the CH license to take with you.

Link: English translation of Swiss drivers license

When will people realise an international license is only a translation document.. on its own it is useless.

I guess at the same time as people will stop posting comments like that on EF.

Even car rental companies don't know. If you look at the terms & conditions on most U.S. websites it says you need an international license. Never actually been asked for one, though.

Hi, I am Canadian with a Swiss driver's license but no Canadian license.

I have one of the old blue paper type Swiss licenses.
Can I drive in British Columbia with just the Swiss license?

It has been a few years since anyone responded here and I just wanted to be sure.

If the old blue type license is still valid you can use it in Canada. I would however recommend that you change it for a credit card size one .


Any Swiss license is valid in North America

I rented a car in Montreal with one, but that was back in '98.

Tom

Thanks for the quick responses!

I have used the old blue paper type (has French on it) to rent a car in 2002. No problems.

Now I have used Booking.com to rent a car from Alamo and on the voucher you download it says:

"Licence
The main driver and any additional drivers will need to provide a full driving
licence in their name.

An International Driving Permit is required if the driving licence is printed with
non-Roman Alphabet.

If the driving licence is in a language other than English, an International Driver’s
Permit is required, along with the renter’s country of residence driving licence."


Booking.com might have taken that information from Alamo itself, not sure.

Google search for Alamo license requirements gave this handy website:

https://www.alamo.ca/en_US/car-renta...uirements.html

"Customers travelling to the U.S. and Canada from other countries:

It is important that customers check with the appropriate Department of Motor Vehicles in the States or Provinces in which they intend to travel to ensure compliance with their various licensing laws. The following practices are used to ensure the customer is presenting a facially valid license at the time of rental.

Customers traveling to the United States and Canada from another country must present the following:

Their home country driver's license, and

If the home country license is in a language other than English (or French, for rentals in Canada) and the letters are English (i.e. German, Spanish, etc.) an International Driver's Permit is recommended, but not required, for translation purposes in addition to the home country license.

If the home country license is in a language other than English and the letters are not English (i.e.alphabet is not an extended Latin-based alphabet like German or Spanish but is Russian, Japanese, Arabic, etc.) an International Driver's Permit is required.

If an International Driver's permit cannot be obtained in the home country, another professional, type-written translation may be substituted. In either case the home country license must also be presented."

I rent cars from Alamo in Montreal and Florida six times a year.



I have always used my credit card type Swiss Drivers License since it was changed from the paper type.


Never had a problem in all my years of renting.


I would also suggest that you rent direct from Alamo and enter Switzerland as your home. you will get better rates .



Additionally you can check in at any time using a credit card and bypass the counter as sometimes the lines can be very long.


On arriving at the car rental you go to the assigned area that has the type of car which you have rented and choose any in that group.



Take your confirmation and CC and drive out to the exit.


They will look at it and generate a printout and away you go.


Absolutely nothing else is required.

If your driving license is in French there is no way it will be refused anywhere in Canada (Including British Colombia).

The credit card types issued now are standardised with many EU countries - so a Swiss license is familiar to check in agents.

How long does it take to get one of these credit card type licenses?

I assume you have to send in the old one...