Digital IDP in Egypt

Question

I want to rent a car from SIXT at Hurghada airport. In their booking process it says nothing about International Driver's Permits, but apparently Egypt required IDP in theory at least. Since there are lots of police or military checkpoints and Egyptians love baksheesh I'd like to avoid giving any excuses.

Is it allowed to use the digital IDP in Egypt, the one you can get in 8 minutes?

Does sixt or other car rentals require IDP at all and does it have to be physical?

I am already in Egypt and physical IDP is not an option. My license is EU.

Answer 1

Here is the theory...

To be able to drive (and rent a car) in a country, you need to have a driver's license which is recognised by that country.

If you are resident of the country, there is usually a time limit for licenses from other countries to be recognised, after which only local licenses are accepted.

For visitors, what is acceptable depends on what international Convention on Road Traffic the visited country is party to.

• If they are signatories to the older 1949 Geneva Convention, then:
  • They can (but are not required to) accept driver's licenses from other countries using the older 3-part pink format, using vehicle categories A to E
  • They can also require an International Driving permit using the 1949 format (grey cover, white pages, between 6 and 12 languages). They are most likely to do so if the national driver's license is in a language which is not recognised .
• If they are signatories to the newer 1968 Vienna Convention (amended), then:
  • They should accept a driver's license from another country if it is in an official language of the visited country, or if accompanied by a certified translation
  • They should also accept licenses conforming to the 1968 standard (old three-part pink format and a few variations thereof using categories A to E for licenses issued up to 29 March 2011, new credit-card sized format with numbered fields and more categories after that).
  • And they should accept 1968-format IDPs (there are a number of changes in the format, including which languages must/can be included).

In all cases, conditions apply, like minimum age (18 in general, older for some categories), learners permits not being accepted, etc.

Wikipedia is not up to date, Egypt is party to the 1968 convention (since 15 Dec 2023). So if you have either an older 3-part pink drivers license issued before 29 March 2011, or the newer credit-card-sized EU drivers license, that should be enough. But since this is a relatively recent development, expect to encounter people who still think you need an IDP.

When an IDP is required, only IDPs issued by the official organization(s) for each country are valid. The official list (maintained by FIA/AIT) is here. Depending on the country, it is usually either the same authority which delivers national driver's licenses, or local AA chapters.

Do not order an IDP from anyone else. In particular, the official site lists a few scam sites on this page.

I'm not aware of "digital IDPs" having any validity anywhere. If they are issued by any of the sites listed on the page above, just forget about them.

Now in practice... Ask and they will tell you.

Answer 2

There is no officially recognized "digital IDP". The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which Egypt is a signatory to, specifies the IDP as being a paper booklet, issued by an organization specifically authorized by the country that issued the driving license.

There are plenty of websites that are willing to take your money to give you something that they call an "IDP". It is not useful for you to do this. If you want an actual IDP, check with the government service which issued your driving license to find out what organization is authorized to issue IDPs.

And, needless to say, if you want to find out what documentation a particular rental company requires, you should ask them. There is no set of documentation which all rental car companies are legally required to accept as sufficient.