# Car hire / license question



## Confiture (Jan 9, 2011)

We are due to arrive in DXB on Wednesday and move to temporary accommodation for a few weeks until a permanent residence is secured.

My employer has deposited my employment visa at the airport for collection, so my entry stamp will reflect that I am coming for the purpose of employment and (hopefully) residence.

I want to hire a car so we can drive to some of the prospective residential areas etc. but my employer tells me I will not be able to hire a car as I will need to change my license to a local one. Because my passport will not have a tourist stamp, I cannot drive on the UK license, however my wife can drive on hers as she is still effectively a tourist.

Is this correct? Will the hire company look at the passport for anything other than identification?


Thanks


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## stuartmatthewson (Feb 15, 2011)

You can hire a car.

To change your UK license to a UAE one you need to have your residents visa

The Car Rental Company need a copy of your passport (back page) and copy of your UK DL

Easy as that


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## Confiture (Jan 9, 2011)

Nice one Stuart, thanks:clap2:

Weird that my employer believes I cannot drive on my UK license once my residency process has started.



Will probably hire the car under my wife's name with me as an additional driver, just in case there are any problems.


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## rebeccatess (Dec 17, 2009)

Does anyone know if it is legal to drive a rental car under someone elses name if you are not a named driver but have a UAE licence?


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

Confiture said:


> Nice one Stuart, thanks:clap2:
> 
> Weird that my employer believes I cannot drive on my UK license once my residency process has started.
> 
> ...



Your employer is correct. If you have a employment visa, you are required to have a UAE license to be able to legally drive a car. Now for the catch - you cannot get the UAE license until you have the residence visa, stamped in your passport. This can take anything from a few days to a few weeks depending on how efficient your PRO is.

Your wife will be able to hire a car. However, it is a legal requirement to also have an International Driving Permit, which you can obtain from your local post office. Some car rental companies (mostly the small companies) do not ask for this but the bigger and well known rental companies will ask for this, so make sure you have it with you.


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

rebeccatess said:


> Does anyone know if it is legal to drive a rental car under someone elses name if you are not a named driver but have a UAE licence?


If you intend to drive a rental car hired under someone else's name, you will need to be included as a named driver on the rental agreement. The charge varies from nothing to about AED 150 per month, depending on the company.

If you drive the car without being included on the insurance, the rental company will charge the full cost of the repairs in the event that you have an accident.
Ultimately, whilst the insurance typically covers the car, you are only insured if you have the permission of the car owner to drive the car.


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## rebeccatess (Dec 17, 2009)

Maz25 said:


> If you intend to drive a rental car hired under someone else's name, you will need to be included as a named driver on the rental agreement. The charge varies from nothing to about AED 150 per month, depending on the company.
> 
> If you drive the car without being included on the insurance, the rental company will charge the full cost of the repairs in the event that you have an accident.
> Ultimately, whilst the insurance typically covers the car, you are only insured if you have the permission of the car owner to drive the car.


I sometimes drive my boyfriends car (once or twice a month). Does this mean I need to be included as a driver? or should I just stick to taxis?


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

rebeccatess said:


> I sometimes drive my boyfriends car (about twice a month when he has been drinking after work or something so can't drive) with permission. Does this mean I need to be included as a driver? or should I just stick to taxis?


If he owns the car, then you are covered by the insurance.

If it is a rental car, you should get yourself added to the insurance, particularly if you are renting from one of the rental companies that do not charge any extra to have an additional driver added to the rental agreement. You'll only ever have a problem if you are unfortunately involved in an accident.


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## Confiture (Jan 9, 2011)

Thanks

Looks like wifey will be driving us around for a while.



Maz25 said:


> Your employer is correct. If you have a employment visa, you are required to have a UAE license to be able to legally drive a car. Now for the catch - you cannot get the UAE license until you have the residence visa, stamped in your passport. This can take anything from a few days to a few weeks depending on how efficient your PRO is.
> 
> Your wife will be able to hire a car. However, it is a legal requirement to also have an International Driving Permit, which you can obtain from your local post office. Some car rental companies (mostly the small companies) do not ask for this but the bigger and well known rental companies will ask for this, so make sure you have it with you.


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## bluefoam (Jan 27, 2011)

I had the same issue.Rented a car for a month on my Irish drivers license & then got my visa, had to wait for a few days to transfer my drivers license to UAE, but the rental company refused to renew my rental as I was now a resident and required a UAE drivers license...


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