What Documents Do I Need for Car Delivery in Phuket?
When a rental car is delivered to your hotel, villa or airport arrivals in Phuket, each driver shows three originals at the handover: the passport, the national driving licence as a physical card and an International Driving Permit. The permit counts only together with the national licence, so a driver who left either one at home cannot be written into the agreement. Drivers from ASEAN countries are the exception and show a passport and their own national licence.
Updated 4 October
- Delivery to your hotel and the airport
- Answers in chat, no phone calls
- We go through the insurance before you sign
What do I show when the car arrives?
Three documents, all of them originals. Each driver shows the passport, the national driving licence as a physical card and the International Driving Permit at the handover, and the details go into the rental agreement. A photo on your phone replaces none of them.
Why all three? The passport says who you are. The permit only translates the licence card, so it is worthless on its own. Leave the card at home and there is nothing for it to translate.
Why the card has to be physical
The handover takes the physical licence card: a digital licence in a phone app is no substitute. Check its expiry date before you pack, because the card has to be valid for every day of the rental, not only on the morning the car arrives.
Bought the permit from a website? Raise it in the chat before the handover. A real permit names the authority that issued your licence and matches the card in your wallet. A doubtful one is far easier to sort out by message than in a car park with the bags at your feet.
ImportantThe passport is shown at the handover and stays with you. We do not take passports as security, and nobody should ask to keep it.
What changes for an ASEAN licence?
Less paperwork. Drivers from Malaysia, Singapore and the other ASEAN member states show a passport and their own national licence at the handover, because their licences are recognised in Thailand under the ASEAN agreement and the IDP rule for other visitors does not apply to them.
The language printed on the card is the one thing to check before the flight. An ASEAN licence printed in English needs nothing beside it, while a licence card in another language travels with an IDP or a certified translation, which makes the card readable at a roadside police check. The ASEAN licence page lists the member countries.
Everyone else needs the permit, and it has to come with you: the International Driving Permit is issued at home, in the country that issued your licence, and it cannot be obtained in Thailand after you land. The page on where to get an IDP names the office for the most common countries.
Does every driver bring the same papers?
Yes. A second driver is added before delivery and shows exactly what the main driver shows: passport, national licence and IDP. Send photos of both sets of documents in the chat when you book, so the agreement is prepared with both names, then bring the originals to the handover, where they are matched against it.
This is the step people skip and regret later. An unlisted driver at the wheel voids the insurance, just as a missing licence does, and it makes no difference that the other person only drove to the shop for ten minutes. A couple where one person left the permit at home has one driver, not two, for the whole trip.
The same three papers apply to a second driver from Europe, whether the card is an EU driving licence or a Dutch rijbewijs.
What happens at the handover, in order?
The order is the same at a hotel gate, a villa driveway or the airport car park. At the handover the documents come first, then the walk-round of the car together: body, tyres, air conditioning and fuel level, with photos of the condition. Only then do you sign the rental agreement and take it in hand where the car is delivered; there is no office to visit afterwards.
At the airport the meeting, the walk to the car, the inspection, signing the contract and the photos usually take no more than fifteen minutes all together. After dark the routine stays the same, it just needs more light: use your phone torch on the sills, the bumpers, the wheels and the windscreen, since anything not marked before you sign is treated as yours at the return.
Money questions do not belong at the door. The deposit has its own page, how the deposit works, and it is settled in the chat before the car leaves for your address, so the handover itself is documents, inspection and signature.
- Show the passport, licence card and IDP of every driver — the details go into the agreement
- Walk round the car with the person who brought it — body, tyres, air conditioning, fuel
- Photograph every mark that is already there — the photos settle the return
- Check the fuel level against the agreement — the car goes back the same way
- Sign and keep your copy — photograph it the same evening
- Set the route before you start the engine — the first drive is the one to keep simple
What should I send in the chat before delivery?
Four details save a round of messages: the dates, the delivery address with the hotel or villa name, the flight number if the car meets you at arrivals, and the names of everyone who will drive with photos of their documents. Mention a child seat in the same message if you need one.
For villas on the slopes of Kamala and Surin, send the villa name first, so the car that is brought fits the driveway. For delivery at airport arrivals send the flight number when you book: it lets us track the actual landing, and the handover follows the real arrival rather than the time printed on the ticket.
Send the dates and the drivers' details on WhatsApp or use the booking form. We deliver an automatic car with first-class commercial insurance to arrivals, a hotel, villa or apartment in any area of Phuket at any hour, including night arrivals, and the total for your dates is fixed in chat before delivery. For everything else, start from the car rental in Phuket page.
Which papers stay in the car while you drive?
The licence, the IDP and the rental agreement are kept in the car rather than in the hotel safe. Police checkpoints ask for them at the roadside together with your passport or a copy of it, and the answer cannot be that everything is back in the room.
Take a photo of the signed agreement on the first evening as well. The paper copy goes into the glovebox and gets creased, while the photo stays on your phone with our details on it, which is where you will look for them the day something happens on the road.
Is it the same at the airport and at a hotel?
Yes. The documents do not depend on where the car is handed over: arrivals at the airport, a hotel in Patong and a villa in Rawai all take the same passport, licence card and IDP. Only the meeting point and the hour change, and both are agreed in the chat.
Cars for this question
Easy automatic cars for a first drive in Phuket:
Common questions
What documents do I need when my rental car is delivered in Phuket?
A passport, the national driving licence as a physical card and an International Driving Permit, all as originals. Every driver who will take the wheel shows the same three at the handover.
Does a licence in a phone app work at the handover?
No. Bring the physical licence card, because the permit only translates the card and is worthless on its own.
Can I rent a car in Phuket with only my national licence?
Only with an ASEAN licence, which Thailand recognises under the ASEAN agreement. Every other driver adds an International Driving Permit issued at home before the trip.
Does the second driver have to be at the handover?
Yes, with their own originals, which are matched against the agreement. Photos sent in the chat beforehand only prepare the paperwork, they do not replace the documents.
Is the deposit part of the handover?
It is settled in the chat before delivery, so the handover itself is documents, inspection and signature. The details are on the page about how the deposit works.
Will you keep my passport at the handover?
No. The passport is shown at the handover and stays with you, and nobody renting you a car should ask to keep it as security.
What documents do I need to rent a car in Phuket?
The same three originals for every driver: the passport, the national driving licence as a physical card and an International Driving Permit. A holder of an ASEAN licence can drive on that licence without the permit.
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