10159 Renewing an Italian Driving licence

Thought I would warn anyone whose Italian Driving Licence is about to expire by relating the position I have found myself in.
5 years ago I exchanged my British Licence for Italian as required by law when becoming resident. It was due to expire in July so a month before I went to the local ACI office to aplly for a renewal. I was required to undertake an eye test with the local appointed doctor, and was given an appointment just 2 weeks before the expiry date of my licence. I passed the test and was issued with a certificate which entitled me to drive on my expired licence until the replacement was mailed to me. It still hasn't arrived. All well and good until I wanted to return to the UK next week and hire a car.
The hire company have informed me that this document is not valid in the UK. So I contacted the DVLA in Swansea and they have informed me that this is correct, and furthermore, even though they are holding my valid UK licence, they cannot return it to until I apply in writing, which can take up to 4 weeks.
So I am in the impossible position of being qualified to drive in both countries but due to the red tape of both cannot legally drive in the UK until one of them gets their fingers out!
:wideeyed: Alanj

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 18:37

I'm sorry to hear of your problems, and it is a very good warning which you have posted. However - what persuaded you that you should have exchanged your UK license for an Italian one? This has not been a requirement (for EU) for at least seven years (and is still not a requirement), and before that time we had the Geneva convention or a bit of smart talking to fall back on.

Although I think your post might be very valuable to some people, and I don't want to be rude at all, I cannot help feeling you were either badly advised (or you, or somebody else, had misunderstood) to have felt impelled to convert your UK licence to Italian.

Funny thing is, I'm just weighing up the potential advantages of getting an Italian licence! (Though I would also keep the UK one - ways and means, as they say..!)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 20:27

[quote=Charles Phillips;94522]I'm sorry to hear of your problems, and it is a very good warning which you have posted. However - what persuaded you that you should have exchanged your UK license for an Italian one? This has not been a requirement (for EU) for at least seven years (and is still not a requirement), and before that time we had the Geneva convention or a bit of smart talking to fall back on.

Although I think your post might be very valuable to some people, and I don't want to be rude at all, I cannot help feeling you were either badly advised (or you, or somebody else, had misunderstood) to have felt impelled to convert your UK licence to Italian.

Funny thing is, I'm just weighing up the potential advantages of getting an Italian licence! (Though I would also keep the UK one - ways and means, as they say..!)[/quote]

Charles,
I can only reply from memory of those first hectic few weeks in mid 2002 when we moved here, but we wanted to buy a car and were informed by the dealer that in order to do that we would need Italian residency, which we did pretty quickly, and then when we went to our ACI office to tax the car, we were then told that within twelve months we would require Italian licences.
At the time my UK licence was one of the old pink one's, whilst my wife had a new plastic card version. Therefore, mine had to be handed in for returning to DVLA and a new plastic Italian version with photo ID was issued with an expiry date in 2008, whilst my wife retained her UK licence and received just a small label to be stuck on the back of the UK licence.
Alanj

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 04:36

[quote=Charles Phillips;94522]
Funny thing is, I'm just weighing up the potential advantages of getting an Italian licence! (Though I would also keep the UK one - ways and means, as they say..!)[/quote]

Wise move to keep your UK licence especially if you often rent hire cars when back in the UK for any reason.
Often the hire companies charge more if you hold an Italian licence! We once booked a car online for a 48 hour period with one of the major companies, giving the country as UK the cost was £47 - giving the country as Italy the cost soared to £127!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing that had changed was the country. As it is not a legal requirement to change the licence, we have never done so.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 04:45

Hi
There is some good info here too.
[url=http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVehicle/ImportingAndExportingAVehicle/DG_4022582]Taking a vehicle out of the UK both temporarily or permanently : Directgov - Motoring[/url]