Europcar has introduced a number of new initiatives to soften the impact of the driving licence changes to fleets and their drivers looking to hire cars and vans.

From June 8, 2015, DVLA will abolish the paper counterpart of the UK driving licence. Information about an individual’s driving history (including endorsements) will only be accessible direct from DVLA. 

However, rental companies are not able to access a customer's driving licence data direct from the DVLA, potentially causing problems when it comes to car hire.

In response, Europcar has developed an online system for the individual to obtain a code, which is accessible from the DVLA’s ‘Share Driving Licence’ service. This code, valid for 72 hours, can then be used by the rental company to check the licence.

Car hire customers input their driving licence number, National Insurance number and home postcode to generate the code which they then give to a rental company when collecting their vehicle.

If customers have not yet obtained their code, they will be able to use internet access in any of Europcar's branches to do so.

Non-UK driving licence holders renting in the UK aren’t affected by the changes but they will need to bring a second form of ID such as a passport, together with their valid driving licence.

Meanwhile, UK licence holders travelling abroad only need to present their UK photocard driving licence or ‘old style’ paper-only driving licence plus a second form of ID such as their passport, when collecting their vehicle.

“The best way for customers to make sure they’re on the road with the minimum of delay, is by visiting ‘Share Driving Licence’ up to 72 hours before picking up the vehicle”, said Ken McCall, managing director, Europcar UK Group.

“This way we get the information we need to ensure everyone booking a vehicle is fit to drive, keeping all of our customers and other road users safe. If they don’t do that they just need to remember to bring their National Insurance number so that they can get their code online using one of our in-branch tablet devices.”