Did you have to surrender your UK/home country licence?

[Loke 0]

Hi, I have a UK driving license and have been driving on it here in Georgia. I am a perm resident. I went to take my test for a GA license on the weekend. I passed the written and then went to book the practical - they told me that I would have to surrender my UK license in order to get the GA license. That I would also be given a learners permit until I got the GA license. They also said they would not return it to me despite the fact that I said I needed it to drive in the UK. I know they make drivers from other states do this but felt it quite ridiculous to have them take away a UK license. Has anyone had this problem? I now wish I had not presented my UK license to them. Please help!

My father lived and worked in England for several years and was required to surrender his Australian drivers licence in order to hold a UK licence. He made several return trips to Australia during this time and it would have been useful to have an Australian licence on these occasions. As ridiculous as it seems to you, its not just a US phenomenon...

[NYPeach 13]

(I didn't have time to read all the responses, sorry if I'm repeating)

In NY they require you to surrender your UK license but supposedly they keep it in a file and you can go request it if you need to return to the UK and want it back. I am assuming they make you swap the NY for the UK.

That said, no one ever asked my hubby for his UK license at the DMV so he still has it.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I have just checked the Georgia legislation and it states that in order to receive a Georgia DL you must surrender all previous Driver's Licenses in your possession. So, you can try and stand your ground and hold on to your original license but, if you are a resident you are not allowed to drive with it in the State, so you kind of defeat your purpose.

[Boiler 43,419]

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quote name='Kathryn41' date='Jul 31 2007, 11:57 AM' post='1086582]

I have just checked the Georgia legislation and it states that in order to receive a Georgia DL you must surrender all previous Driver's Licenses in your possession.

So make sure you do not have it in your possesion. No need to complicate matters

Plus you can not surrender the license, only the evidence of it. And the Euro one comes in two parts, they probably do not know that.

So, you can try and stand your ground and hold on to your original license but, if you are a resident you are not allowed to drive with it in the State, so you kind of defeat your purpose.

You can use it out of State and out of Country, and as ID. You can not use it in State assuming you are a resident and have exceeded whatever the local time allowance is.

[ktun 0]

I dont believe I ever told them at my local DMV that I had a UK license, they never asked and it did not occur to me to show it to them. So I still have my UK license. I just have my parents address in London listed on it. I used it when we spent Christmas in the UK to rent a car and was glad I had it as they did not seem to know what to do with my husband's Iowa License (it was a small local rental company). It does seem a bit crazy to make you hand over your hard-earned home license!

[Lisa and Spence 0]

I took my florida driving test about 3 weeks ago and i showed them my UK license and they gave me it back, i passed and that was that, i still have my Uk licence.

Just tell the DMV you have miss placed your license or lost it, i know people have done that to keep there overseas driving license

[thesnowman 1]

When my wife was in the UK, they refused to let her drive a manual car on her American driving licence, she had to drive an automatic, and this was an Avis at Gatwick airport. I didn't have to surrender my UK licence when I past my test in Missouri.

[Dr_LHA 3]

When my wife was in the UK, they refused to let her drive a manual car on her American driving licence, she had to drive an automatic, and this was an Avis at Gatwick airport. I didn't have to surrender my UK licence when I past my test in Missouri.

They were just being idiots. There's no law that says you can't drive a manual in the UK with a foriegn license. The UK is the only place I know that has licenses that distinguish people who can't drive a manual, combine this with the usual stereotype of America that everyone drives an automatic (which is not true) and some idiots at the Avis counter who probably get a comission for getting you to drive a more expensive automatic, and you have the above situation.

As I said, I have rented cars in the UK many times and never had this issue. If I did I would certainly give the rental car rep a significant piece of my mind.

[Lansbury 19]

When my wife was in the UK, they refused to let her drive a manual car on her American driving licence, she had to drive an automatic, and this was an Avis at Gatwick airport. I didn't have to surrender my UK licence when I past my test in Missouri.

They were just being idiots. There's no law that says you can't drive a manual in the UK with a foriegn license. The UK is the only place I know that has licenses that distinguish people who can't drive a manual, combine this with the usual stereotype of America that everyone drives an automatic (which is not true) and some idiots at the Avis counter who probably get a comission for getting you to drive a more expensive automatic, and you have the above situation.

As I said, I have rented cars in the UK many times and never had this issue. If I did I would certainly give the rental car rep a significant piece of my mind.

What has law got to do with it.

It is their car they can hire it to whoever they wish, or not, and put whatever conditions on that hire they wish. If they prefer not to hire a stick shift to someone with a US licence their past experience of doing so might has shown them it wasn't a very good idea.

[Dr_LHA 3]

What has law got to do with it.

It is their car they can hire it to whoever they wish, or not, and put whatever conditions on that hire they wish. If they prefer not to hire a stick shift to someone with a US licence their past experience of doing so might has shown them it wasn't a very good idea.

This is a fair point.

However in my experience people who can't drive a stick shift would certainly not choose to rent one. A friendly question as to whether they wish to rent an automatic or a stick would certainly suffice, rather than a policy of banning all US drivers from renting stick shifts.

My point however is that I don't believe such a policy exists with these rental car agencies. I have certainly never encountered it, in my experiences of renting many times in the UK with a US license, and can only imagine that the person who tells someone they can't rent a stick shift is most likely doing so from their own personal stereotype that Americans can't drive stick. Perhaps I've never been told I can't rent a stick shift is because I'm obviously English, despite having a US license.