driving in new zealand?

Lillydee

Hi,

I applied for an international drivers licence for Oz but New Zealand wasn't on the list of countries it covers, what do you need to drive in new zealand?

coylemj

Depends on whether you're renting a car or driving one you're going to borrow from your hosts. If you're renting then the Irish licence should suffice and I can't imagine the local cops would have a problem with an Irish licence.

General consensus is that the IDL is a money making racket (you still need to carry your Irish licence) and that the requirement to have one is questionable in most countries that use the Roman alphabet i.e. A, B, C etc. and not cyrillic, hebrew or arabic.

Unless you're explicitly told to bring an IDL I wouldn't bother.

NBO

I used my Irish licence when driving in NZ in jan this year. be careful of speeding in NZ, police are very strict and speed limits are lower than here!

kerry4sam

Moved from Travel. Feel free to move back if you like

Thanks,
kerry4sam

spunkymunky

Irish full licence is fine here. You can drive on it for up to a year after entering New Zealand. After that you have to switch to a New Zealand licence. Just fill in a form, pay 50 bucks and done. You do have to hand over your Irish licence though by request on the Irish side. I guess they want you to pay for a new one when you get back, lame!!!

pclancy

Love my kiwi licence. Shiny. Do they still use those stupid pink paper licences in Ireland?

Cookie_Monster

spunkymunky wrote: »

You do have to hand over your Irish licence though by request on the Irish side.

I got to keep mine, my g/f didn't the

and yes pclancy they are still pink bits of paper but cards are on the way apparantly

spunkymunky

Its a new enough rule it think about handing the licence over. Took me by surprise. Shook me a little to as it was the first piece of "Irishness" I had to hand away since leaving a few years back. As soon as my new licence fit nicely in beside my credit card, I forgot all about that stupid awkward flimsy pink yolk.
Good luck to it!!

spunkymunky

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

they are still pink bits of paper but cards are on the way apparantly

Actually....whats so difficult in creating a new licence. Go to England, grab the licence making machine thing, design it and bobs your uncle. Done!!

BlackEdelweiss

pclancy wrote: »

Love my kiwi licence. Shiny. Do they still use those stupid pink paper licences in Ireland?

Still the pink paper here. I had to travel to London recently and had no passport so I had to use my driving licence. When I showed it to the woman at the London side she looked at it and me as if this was some kind of joke. She dident believe it was a genuine official licence.

Mrs OBumble

spunkymunky wrote: »

Its a new enough rule it think about handing the licence over. Took me by surprise.

A while ago ... earlier this year I think ... Ireland finally agreed to recognise NZ licenses. (I'm not bitter and twisted that 'cos I arrived five years ago, I had to go through the whole theory-learner-practical test over here ... much! )

I suspect that the handing back in NZ is related to that - because now when you come back to Ireland you can "trade in" the NZ license for an Irish one again.

And that they don't want you to have more than one in your hot hands, 'cos otherwise they can be used to manipulate points systems, and also for other identity fraud-ish things.

kiwipower

NBO wrote: »

I used my Irish licence when driving in NZ in jan this year. be careful of speeding in NZ, police are very strict and speed limits are lower than here!

Speed limits are not actually lower. (Except for the Irish motorway limit of 120km/hr)
Its just that they are inforced in New Zealand. (Heavily) as a result everyone tends to stick to the speed limit.

Where is in Ireland general practice is to drive 10-15km/h over the speed limit at all times.
Take for example travel speed in towns where the limit is 50km/h speed limit in town most traffic travels at 60-65km/h. In 60km/h zones traffic tends to travel at 70-80km/hr. It is also not unusual in Ireland to see traffic on a 100km/hr road travelling at 120km/hr. Or the car that was travelling at 80km/hr in the 100km/hr zone to stay at 80km/hr when they pass through a village/town with a 50km/hr speed limit!

I know when Im home I severly curtail my travelling speeds compared to Ireland. Speeds that would earn you a toot for driving slow in Ireland get you a ticket for speeding in NZ!!

spunkymunky

Dunno if i fully agree with ya there Kiwipower. It strictly enforced at times, bank hol weekends mainly. I think there is a small amount of grace given, like about 10%. I find that cars generally travel about 105 on most motorways, maybe more. Ive been done at 107 and 110 and both fines....$30!!! Not a huge deterrent really.
What scares me is the bad ass police cars they have here. Those yolks with the siren on in the rear view mirror is a scary sight!! Not like the little puntos of Ireland!

Cookie_Monster

kiwipower wrote: »

Its just that they are inforced in New Zealand. (Heavily) as a result everyone tends to stick to the speed limit.

hahahahahaha

In my experience there is zero enforcement in New Zealand, everyone speeds constantly, everywhere.
Was home last week, far far more garda presence checking speeds than I've ever seen before too..

cullend2

Your Irish licence is acceptable for a year here, though if you do stay longer you'll need a Kiwi one. And if you've had your Irish licence for less than 2 years, you'll have to sit the driving test again AFAIK