Car Hire With A Paper Licence?
In the UK, the paper counterpart of the photocard driving licence was abolished, meaning that they’re no longer valid – the photocard licence is typically all that is needed to hire a car.
However, a question that we’re asked a lot is whether it’s possible to hire a car with a paper licence – and if your licence was issued before 1st April 1999, the answer is yes.
The photocard licence was only introduced in April 1999, meaning that if you passed your test before that date, you would have been issued just the paper licence and would never have received a photocard. If this is the case, you will only need your paper licence to be able to hire a car, as licences issued before the photocard was introduced are still perfectly valid.
If your licence was issued after 1999 and you did receive a photocard, you will need that to be able to hire a car – in most cases you wouldn’t be able to hire without it. However, if you’ve lost/misplaced your photocard and are looking to rent in the UK, do get in touch with us, as we can help with this in some locations.