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Hire cars, trips and a new name
Book the hire car in the name on the licence you will hand over, and pay with a card in that same name. Avis, Hertz and Europcar each tie the payment card to the main driver, and at UK desks Avis and Hertz also want your GOV.UK driving record. The harder part is timing: DVLA keeps your licence while it makes the new one, usually for about 3 weeks, so plan the trip around the day you sign your Deed Poll.
Section 99 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 has a licence whose name is no longer correct surrendered “forthwith”, so once your Deed Poll is signed, form D1 should not wait for a holiday. Until you sign it, or start using a married name, your licence still shows your name and DVLA needs nothing. Choosing that day well is how you keep a licence in your hand for the trip.
Enter the day you pick up the car, or set off in your own, and where you are up to. The planner counts GOV.UK’s usual 3 weeks and DVLA’s 4 weeks before chasing, then lists the name each document will carry on the day.
Count from the day form D1 goes in the post to the day you pick up the car.
| Between posting D1 and the trip | What to expect |
|---|---|
| 4 weeks or more | The new licence should be back, even allowing for DVLA’s 4 weeks before you chase it. |
| 3 to 4 weeks | Usually back, as GOV.UK’s usual time is 3 weeks, but with little to spare. |
| Under 3 weeks | Plan on having no licence card to show at a hire desk. |
| Not signed yet, trip within 4 weeks | Sign your Deed Poll once you are home. Until then your licence still shows your name. |
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| Document | The name on it |
|---|
Times from GOV.UK and DVLA, desk rules from Avis, Hertz and Europcar’s UK pages, checked November 2026. The card DVLA sends, and the hire firm, have the final word.
Licence from Northern Ireland? The DVA works to different times: it aims to deal with a complete application within 10 working days and asks you to allow at least six weeks before chasing. Northern Ireland, below.
Post form D1 on the day you sign, as the law expects, and this is what the next few weeks look like for anyone hiring or driving.
Each firm’s own UK pages, as they read on 11 November 2026. All three want the licence itself and a payment card in the main driver’s name.
Not one of these pages says what its desk accepts when your passport and your licence show different names, and none mentions a Deed Poll. We found no rule to quote, so we will not guess one. Ask the firm before you travel, in writing if you can, and take its answer with you.
Keep the card and the licence in step. If your bank moves your cards to your new name before your new licence arrives, the two will disagree at the desk. Under Avis’s rule the card’s name must match the main driver’s licence, so a card in your new name beside a licence in your old one does not meet it. Tell the firm before the day if that is where you will be.
Make the check code from the card you will show. GOV.UK’s view or share service creates a licence check code for a car hire company. It lasts 21 days, can be used only once, and asks for your licence number, National Insurance number and the postcode on your licence. GOV.UK says you can make one up to 21 days before a trip abroad.
A new surname or new first names change your licence number, so make the code with the number on your new card. How your licence number changes.
Many trips need none. Where one is needed, you need your licence in your hands to get it, so the order of things matters.
Not in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein with a UK photocard licence, GOV.UK says. Elsewhere it depends on the country and how long you stay, and in the US you may need both your licence and an IDP to hire a car. GOV.UK’s advice for a hire car is to check what the hire company says.
GOV.UK’s country by country tableNeither GOV.UK nor PayPoint says, and neither says what happens to a permit after a change of name. What they do say is that you need your full licence to get one, and that you must carry the licence with the permit when you drive.
So if the trip allows, apply once the new card is in your hands, and the permit is issued with the licence you will drive on. PayPoint says you cannot apply more than 3 months before you travel.
From GOV.UK’s get an international driving permit, DVLA’s services update and PayPoint’s DVLA page, checked November 2026.
GOV.UK says to take your licence, your log book (V5C) and your insurance certificate. The log book is not optional: you must take it for a trip of less than 12 months, and you may be asked to show it at a port or on the road.
A new name has to go on the log book too, and GOV.UK says the new one can take up to 6 weeks to come back once you send it off. If your Deed Poll is the proof for both, the log book waits until it is home from the licence, so a trip in your own car needs the longest run-up of all. Your V5C and a new name.
Your insurer needs the new name as well. Inside the EU, and in Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland, GOV.UK says no green card is needed; for some other countries one may be, and a posted one can take up to 6 weeks. Everything to update for your car.
Taking abroad a car you hired or lease in the UK? GOV.UK says you need a VE103 certificate.
The flight follows your passport and the car follows your licence, so for a few weeks the two bookings may carry different names. Each rule belongs to its document; what a hire desk makes of the difference is for the firm to say.
The flight
The passport’s name
Book the flight exactly as your passport spells your name: GOV.UK says the two have to match. If a new passport is on its way, GOV.UK says not to book travel until you have it, because its number will be new too.
The hire car
The licence’s name
The main driver, the licence and the payment card all carry one name at Avis, Hertz and Europcar. Book the car in the name on the card you will slide across the desk.
Visas, ESTAs and travelling on a passport in your old name are covered by the Deed Polls Online handbook, our sister site: can I travel on a passport in my old name? For the passport itself, go direct: HM Passport Office on GOV.UK, or a Post Office, and never another website. Licence or passport first?
Northern Ireland licences come from the Driver & Vehicle Agency, which takes a new name only on form DL1, by post. nidirect says the DVA aims to deal with a complete application within 10 working days, and asks you to allow at least six weeks before chasing, so leave more room than the planner counts. Its check code service, for car hire firms and employers, is used with your eight-digit driver number. Keeping your licence up to date, on nidirect.
Avis, Hertz and Europcar’s UK pages do not say either way, and none mentions a Deed Poll. What all three do say is that the payment card must be in the main driver’s name, and Avis ties it to the name on the licence. Book in the licence’s name and ask the firm before you travel. What each firm asks for.
Plan on not. Avis says you cannot collect a car without your licence, and GOV.UK says to take your licence with you to drive abroad. DVLA’s leaflet INF188/6 adds that the UK rule letting you drive while it has your application may not be accepted in other countries. Check your dates.
Not if you have already signed your Deed Poll. Section 99 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 says a licence whose name is no longer correct must be surrendered forthwith. If you have not signed yet, your licence is still correct, so signing once you are home is the way to keep it for the trip. When the duty starts.
The name on the driving licence card you will hand over at the desk, with a payment card in that same name. The flight is different: GOV.UK says it must be booked in the name on your passport. Two bookings, two names.
Yes, once the new licence arrives. A new surname or new first names change your licence number, and GOV.UK’s check code lasts 21 days and can be used only once, so make it from the new card shortly before the hire. The check code.
Neither GOV.UK nor PayPoint says which name a permit shows. You need your full licence to get one, at a shop with PayPoint for £5.50, and you must carry the licence with it, so apply once your new card has arrived. IDPs and a new name.
Something else? Ask a paralegal and we will answer, usually the same working day.
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