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hello wise people of dubai

some friends are visiting from the UK. If my mate has his normal UK licence plus an international driving licence, will he be legally able to drive my car here in Dubai and be properly legal and insured?

cheers, RK

As far as I know and the way my insurance works in the UAE is - the car is insured not the driver, so anyone can drive the car as long as they have a valid UAE driving license.

So in your case I would say no - he will not be insured to drive your car.

If that's the case and the car is insured, then the visitor should be able to drive it, with the owners permission.

No - because the insurance will only cover valid UAE driving license holders. As his friend does not hold this - then he is not covered.

when he comes, tell him to take his card and paper counterpart license, with a passport copy and passport, 100 dhs, two passport photographs and about 200 dhs and head on down to the Dubai Police Traffic dept. just off Interchange 4 SZR. He will have a temporary (6 months) UAE license. He can then drive any car.

V-Man wrote:when he comes, tell him to take his card and paper counterpart license, with a passport copy and passport, 100 dhs, two passport photographs and about 200 dhs and head on down to the Dubai Police Traffic dept. just off Interchange 4 SZR. He will have a temporary (6 months) UAE license. He can then drive any car.

Correct

As for last year (I remember looking into that when I arrived in Dubai) with an UK licence (or any of the nationalities allowed to exchange licences with the UAE) you can drive here, but only RENTAL cars.

If you want to drive a private car, you have to have a UAE licence. As mentioned before, you only have to get a provisional licence (it lasts 6 months), which won't be a problem with a UK licence.

Julieta wrote:As for last year (I remember looking into that when I arrived in Dubai) with an UK licence (or any of the nationalities allowed to exchange licences with the UAE) you can drive here, but only RENTAL cars.

If you want to drive a private car, you have to have a UAE licence. As mentioned before, you only have to get a provisional licence (it lasts 6 months), which won't be a problem with a UK licence.

This has very recently been changed, you need a permit to drive any vehicle if you do not have an International Permit when on visit visa, according to our HR Dept.

V-Man wrote:when he comes, tell him to take his card and paper counterpart license, with a passport copy and passport, 100 dhs, two passport photographs and about 200 dhs and head on down to the Dubai Police Traffic dept. just off Interchange 4 SZR. He will have a temporary (6 months) UAE license. He can then drive any car.

Yeah, just queue for 4 hours of your holiday and you're fine!

International license needed for rental cars, probably your best bet.

Thanks for the update Sage, no idea of this recent change. As I said, the information I had was a year old. But things here change quite quickly!

what paperwork do you need if you have a residence visa?

it took me about an hour in total. Dont go on a sunday...

Best time is about 9am on Monday or Tuesday...