View Full Version : Something had to go wrong .......
Well it had to happen :( we're due to fly early Friday morning and we can't find my driving licence :(
I rang the DVLA yesterday and was told there was no way they could get me a duplicate by Thursday yet a friend has just told me his son rang them and got one in 48hrs :(
I've faxed Dollar at MCO and explained, we've got a Platinum package and there are 2 other drivers available but neither is keen to drive in the USA!. The DVLA will fax a copy direct to Dollar but I don't know if they will accept this, I have hired from them before at Sanford airport so would they have my details on file?. I've not had a reply from Dollar as yet (8 hours).
Any suggestions would be extremely well received :)
florida4sun
01-12-2002, 02:33
Well if you have extra drivers. Designate one as the main driver and they no longer ask to see the other driving lisences. Just dont get caught for speeding as your suposed to carry it with you. If you have a copy of it that should help. Its iffy buit the only way I can see for you to get around it.
quote:Originally posted by phaedra
Well it had to happen :( we're due to fly early Friday morning and we can't find my driving licence :(
I rang the DVLA yesterday and was told there was no way they could get me a duplicate by Thursday yet a friend has just told me his son rang them and got one in 48hrs :(
I've faxed Dollar at MCO and explained, we've got a Platinum package and there are 2 other drivers available but neither is keen to drive in the USA!. The DVLA will fax a copy direct to Dollar but I don't know if they will accept this, I have hired from them before at Sanford airport so would they have my details on file?. I've not had a reply from Dollar as yet (8 hours).
Any suggestions would be extremely well received :)
Martin's right about Dollar not asking to see anyone other than the main driver's licence - they only asked to see the main one when we last rented a car in April this year.
The only other alternative I can think of is to ask Dollar if they will accept an International Driving Permit which you can get from the AA or RAC or some large travel agents. I know they don't usually accept this but perhaps if you explain your situation? If Dollar agree, you could get the copy of your licence faxed to yourself to take with you to get the IDP and you'll also need a passport type photo. Then take both with you to Florida.
If Dollar don't agree, then you'll have to try what Martin suggested but also get an IDP... just in case you're unlucky enough to get stopped by the Police.
If you can't get hold of Dollar by email or fax, you could try ringing them? Try a different office to the one you're renting the car from, just in case they remember you and you end up doing Martin's dodge! If you've rented from them before, have you got the copy of your rental agreement in case this helps them? You usually get a pink and yellow copy in a small Dollar folder when you collect your car.
Let's hope in the meantime, your licence turns up somewhere in your house, where you've filed it in a safe place!
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
01-12-2002, 02:59
When myself and Roger rented from Dollar at MCO in September they did see both of our licences. I can't remember if they asked specifically for this or if we just profered them anyway.
Thanks All :)
Still looking, it's amazing the number of places we've found where it isn't!
I'll ring the RAC and ask them about the IDP, sounds like a good idea.
Back to the search.........
Well, it's one way of getting the spring cleanout done early! ;)
Always photocopy your driving licence as soon as you get it - so that you at least have the number and info it contains (or scan it into your PC!). Plus, photocopy your passport and travel insurance documents before you go to Florida and leave the photocopies at home with someone - they can fax them in an emergency!
Spoke to Dollar and they won't accept a fax even from the DVLA or an IDP, checked on Google groups and the DVLA won't do an "over the counter" replacement so it has to be by post.
I've rang the car hire co. (hire for lower) and they've changed the voucher name details to my brother in-law, problem is he's a very cautious driver and doesn't fancy driving in Florida!. I'll badger the DVLA tomorrow morning and see what I can get out of them, I could fax a copy of my passport to them and email or post a passport photo so they would get it Tuesday, I'll also phone the RAC and try to get an IDP from them.
Oh woe! The reason I'm being mega sympathetic here is that I have a confession that this once happened to me! I was booked with a car rental company who did accept an IDP (Budget - but it was some years ago) which was pretty lucky as we had no other drivers!
If it's any consolation, I did find my driving licence eventually... but after we returned from Florida! It was filed in another larger envelope (for safety) with a pile of other things I couldn't find either (yes, I know!).
Guess who travelled to France with a passport that had been chewed the day before by our puppy? Didn't have time to renew it so we went hoping and a praying that we didn't get stopped. I showed our passports with mine on top (it was Chris's that had been eaten!!) and phew we got through!!!
You could read most of the info and the picture was intact but it was obviously chewed!! Guy in the PO had a field day when I went in to get it renewed - no of course I didn't tell him what we'd done!
phil moloney
02-12-2002, 02:16
Last Easter my husband's driving licence was seriously out of date, it would taken 7 days to receive the new one. I did not want to be the main driver. We went to Orlando with a photocopy of an out of date licence and a receipt for payment for the new one. When he came back with the keys of a car I asked no questions, he said it was no problem. We had our car from Dollar at Orlando Int.
Phil
Phaedra,
When we went in August we rented with Dollar. My husband used his IDP with no problem at all.
You can download the IDP form from the internet.
Hi Mo :)
I rang Dollar again and they refuse to accept anything but a real driving license, good news is that I've found my birth certificate which was in my wife's bag that she had searched 3 times already!, I rang the DVLA this morning and have sent off my application by Special Delivery, I even enclosed a pre-paid Special Delivery envelope for the return, I put a nice letter in for the department manager so we'll have to see what happens now. I rang the RAC and the Post Office and neither would issue an IDP without a copy of my license, the DVLA refuse to fax a copy to either me, the RAC or the Post Office, but they are quite willing to fax it to Dollar in Orlando [V]
Last but not least I rang Hire for Lower again as they changed the lead drivers name to my brother in-law but on the email copy they sent it has my name and his address!, despite ringing them twice more today and being told it was all sorted I still haven't received the revised voucher email :(
Good News :D got a better exchange rate from the Post Office than any of the travel agents in our nearest town :D about 1.497, I know it's only a few dollars difference but I'd rather have them than not! :)
I'll let you know if it turns up by Thursday evening!, we're going to my in-laws in Sunderland and getting a minivan/taxi to Newcastle Airport from there, £15 each way for the 7 of us:) Kids are looking forward to it and our 2 boys (11 & 14) even asked me to give them a haircut tonight!, our youngest (Charlotte who's a big 8!) has gone off to camp with the school for 3 days and was a bit worried we might go without her:) I told her not to worry, we couldn't go without her as we need her to carry the cases:D She's really looking forward to browsing round FAO Schwarz and making a note of the Barbie prices, then she's off to Walmart to see if they're cheaper there!, she's got it all planned :)
Totally off topic, but how did you manage to get flights from Newcastle? Are they direct flights?
Just most I have seen are from London which go direct.
Thanks
Hi Andrew :)
These are scheduled flights, Newcastle-Amsterdam-Orlando Int., the charter flights from Newcastle stop around September/October. We were lucky to get these, web searches said there were seats available but every travel agent we tried said there weren't any apart from Dial A Flight who confirmed there were seats and even checked again and rang us back to double confirm them!. Costs wise it's not a huge jump up from the £99 flydrive's, cheapest we were quoted was £99 for 1st 2 + £600 for mini-van hire (14 days) then £159 for next 2, £169 for next 2 and £179 for the last 1 (7 of us going) which with cc charge, meals & tax etc. worked out at about £1600 plus we had to get to Gatwick which with BA would have cost about £95 each (£57 flight + airport tax/security £28) and a wait of 13+ hours in Gatwick over night or expensive hotel rooms, rough total about £2300. Scheduled flight from Newcastle with Martinair came to £2352 and I got the mini-van for 15 days from Hire For Lower for £484 (platinum package) so only about £500 more and no overnight wait :)
If my in-laws weren't coming I may have considered a charter from Manchester, but for next year I'll be looking at booking an American Airlines flight from Newcastle if I can get one, 34" legroom as standard which helps when you're 6'6" and have oseteoarthritis in both knees :)
Martinair have been very good, faxed them a letter from my doctor (charged me £25 for it!) and they've given me a seat with extra legroom and 2 "leg rests" which I assume mean I can sit with my legs horizontal :D:D:D They also provide special diet or childrens meals at no extra charge, 2 smallest kids (8 & 11) are having hamburger & fries and Macaroni & cheese for the 2 in-flight meals, plus free boooze/soft drinks etc. with the meals, we only got one very small cup of tea/coffee last year with Airtours. No booze for me though :( I'll be taking a large dose of anti-depressants about 4 hours before the flight to help me sleep!, I have IBS and the anti-depressants help to relax my "bits" (doctor doesn't know why but they do!) so hopefully I'll sleep through most of the flight, also 4 Immodium just in case!, we arrive at MCO about 8:15pm and have booked a couple of double/double rooms at the Days Inn as they have a free shuttle service to/from the airport, have a good sleep and collect the minivan on Saturday morning, return flight is 11:45pm so I should sleep on the way back as well :)
glad to hear you got sorted out :)
Do American Airlines fly direct from Newcastle, I am going in November next year and there are six of us going (including an infant) and wouldnt mind going direct. Im prepared to go anywhere though I suppose if it means its cheaper :)
Short answer is no, not in November, they fly from Heathrow/Gatwick so it's a quick flight from Newcastle 1st, same as we're doing only there were no seats on the American Airlnes flights left when we tried to book.
Just had email voucher number 5 from Hire For Lower, all sorted apart from the fact that this time my brother in-laws name doesn't show anywhere on the voucher now!, I've just rang them again and once again it's been "sorted out" so I'm sitting here waiting for email number 6 :)
Latest Update :(
DVLA rang this morning, my license won't be posted today as they didn't get my application until 4pm yesterday, I nicely explained that in fact they got it at 08:05 according to the Royal Mail tracking system, she admitted it didn't arrive on her desk until 4pm even though it had huge re labels all over it saying "URGENT" "Time Sensitive" "Please Read Immediately", apparently these were completely ignored!. Short version of the conversation is that they can send it 1st class post on Thursday but can't guarantee to send it in my pre-paid Special Delivery envelope until Friday as someone would have to walk it from despatch back to her office on Thursday afternoon :(
I've arranged to have it sent to my in-laws address and have rang the local sorting office who will try and grab it from the mail so I may be able to collect it early Friday morning from them.
Best bit :D .... "If you'd posted it on Friday it would have been no problem"!!!!!! I was told on Friday that they couldn't do it in less than 3-5 days so not to bother posting it!. She did offer to send me an official confirmation document stating I have a valid license which she says is every bit as good as an actual license but didn't know why nobody had offered this on Friday either!.
Not to worry :) I've given up caring, if my license comes that will be great, otherwise I'll just drive without it.
Well, I guess we should have remembered that you're dealing with a government department here which is probably full of 'jobs worth' people!
Just don't 'lose' the replacement one when it arrives! ;)
Final update!, DVLA did send it on Thursday :), but they sent it second class so it didn't arrive until Monday! :(, they returned my pre-paid Special Delivery bag as well but they posted it to me without putting it in an envelope first so it's cost me over £4 to have an empty bag sent!.
The Dollar people very VERY unhelpful, wouldn't accept my nice letter from the DVLA and wouldn't even ring them to confirm it, we booked using my brother in-laws licence and I drove (naughty I know but you haven't seen him drive!), we got a Dodge Caravan Sport which managed about 19mpg and just commuting from Westridge to the parks, trips to Walmart and 1 trip to Kennedy we racked up over 1100 miles :)
Are we going again next year? of course we are! :D
We may do Disney next year, we have year passes for Universal/Seaworld (no giant Xmas tree this year!) so we don't have to pay for those again :)
Thanks to everyone for the help with this years fiasco :)
I must just say that Martinair were VERY good, seats are a bit narrow (15") but I got the legroom as promised, meals were good, plenty of free drinks, kids got special meals and backpacks and the staff were very nice, no hesitation in using them again :)
Phaedra, you were completely illegal when you drove in the States. You are so lucky that you didn't have or cause an accident otherwise you'd have probably had an extended stay in prison or been deported. Whatever, it would have been your last trip Stateside!
If you had hurt or killed someone then you would have lost absolutely everything that you own in the UK. Why do you think that insurances cost so much in the US? Accident victims almost always sue for damages - when driving legally your insurance covers you! Driving as you did you would have had no cover whatsoever!!!!
Anyone else who is contemplating doing the same moronic thing should think very, very carefully and then still not do it. The authorities and car hire companies take a very dim view of anyone breaking their laws and are very keen to prosecute.
Carla, thank you for the reply.
I would just point out that the hire was with platinum insurance for any driver over 21 so I was fully covered, we only used my brother in-laws name as lead driver and Dollar did not ask for any other information, if they had asked for each drivers name and license then I obviously would not have driven
I also had a covering letter from the DVLA stating that I do have a valid UK license which had been replaced and was in-transit when we left, it also incuded their contact numbers for anyone wishing to verify my details with them.
May I also take this opportunity to wish A Happy New Year to Everyone :)
Sorry Phaedra, but as far as the hire company are concerned you were illegally driving their car because you couldn't produce a license. You said yourself that they didn't want to know and that they didn't want a DVLC letter, only the original license. Had you had an accident when you were the driver then the insurance would not have covered you - everyone knows that Insurance companies look for every possible way of getting out of paying a claim!!!
Your brother-in-law may well have been in great trouble as well, since he was the one who actually rented the car. You took a great risk and were lucky. It's important that other holiday makers realise that they just should not do what you did.
We also have Platinum with Dollar. I completed all the paperwork and when my daughter arrived 4 days later we went back to the Dollar desk to have her details listed with Dollar - 2 mins while her mum and sister waited for the bags. I've got a couple of friends arriving Saturday and will do the same procedure. You have to show your valid driving licence to be added to the insurance. It's straightforward and can be done at any Dollar rental desk - I picked up my car (supposed to be a full-size 4-door, but after asking for a free upgrade, the charming desk clerkess ''lost'' a few keys and upgraded me to a 7-seater van, brilliant!) at Tampa and added the extra drivers at Orlando. Like I say, its easy and straightforward, and as Carla says - its illegal if you drive without it!
Ian