Fake International Driving Permits sold online: why they are not valid in Spain or abroad

What do these websites sell?

Search "international driving permit online" and you find sites offering an "International Driver's Document" or similar, delivered in minutes as a PDF, sometimes followed by a laminated card, for around 35 to 150 US dollars, often with "three-year" or "lifetime" options.

None of that exists in law. An international permit is issued by the competent authority of your country of residence under the Geneva Convention of 1949 or the Vienna Convention of 1968. In Spain that authority is the DGT, the permit lasts one year and costs €10.51. Nothing is downloadable.

Why police and rental companies reject them

Because no authority issues them, they have no legal value anywhere. A rental agent or police officer sees a translation printed by a private company, not a government document. Spanish travellers have reported in public reviews refused rentals and fines abroad, on top of the money paid. When Avis in the United States says it accepts licences from Geneva Convention countries, it means the official permit issued by that country's authority, not a website's PDF.

How to recognise the real Spanish international driving permit

• A grey booklet of 16 pages, 106 × 143 mm, Geneva Convention model (annex 10), in Spanish, German, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian.
• Carries your original 32 × 26 mm photograph and the categories of your Spanish licence.
• Issued by the DGT at a Jefatura. The DGT never sends it by e-mail, as a PDF or by post.
• Costs €10.51 (DGT fee 4.5), by card.
• Valid one year, not renewable.

If what you are offered fails any of these tests, it is not the Spanish IDP.

Warning signs

• You can pay and download it within minutes.
• Offered to anyone, whatever country issued the licence, with no residence check.
• Validity longer than one year.
• Priced in dollars, several times the DGT fee.
• Called a "driver's document" or "translation booklet": wording that avoids claiming an authority issued it.

Already bought one?

Do not rely on it. Apply for the real permit before your trip: online with Cl@ve or a digital certificate, collecting it two days later at the Jefatura you chose, or through us. It is ready in two working days, so there is usually still time. Recovering the money is between you and the seller; we cannot promise anything there.

How we are different

We do not issue permits: only the DGT can. We prepare and submit your DGT application and spare you the forms, the certificate and the queue. The permit you collect at the Jefatura, or receive at home by certified post from a chartered gestoría with a DGT agreement, is the official grey booklet printed by the DGT. The €10.51 fee is included in both options below. Depending on the option you choose, the application is handled by our team or by a chartered gestoría with an agreement with the DGT. We are not the DGT and have no connection with it. If someone sold you a document and you have doubts, write to us in the chat and we will tell you honestly what it is.