Modern Vespa

A dear friend from the UK is hoping to come visit me here in the US later this year. She's an experienced rider and has a scooter license in the UK (as well as an international driver's license I think), and since I have a spare scoot, I'd love to have her join me on some rides when she comes to visit. Does anyone know what steps one must take to legally ride a scooter here if you're a tourist? I live in PA, specifically.

An IDL is just a translation doc, so I presume it's irrelevant to a British visitor.

IANAL, but I'm reasonably sure that a foreign license is valid here so long as you don't have residency. I know some gap year kids who had a bad time getting pulled over as French interns in California.

I would call your insurance agent and confirm that your insurance is still good if someone else is riding. They can probably also answer any questions about a foreign person riding in PA.

A pedant moment.

It will be an International Driving Permit. (IDP)

Sorry waspmike, that link isn't working for me.

I don't think it's usually too much hassle for international drivers to drive cars, but how does that apply to 2-wheeled vehicles?

I'm sure it's possible... While traveling in Scotland a few years ago, I struck up a convo with a pub waitress who was excited to tell us all about a stateside HD group ride she took across Route 66 a few years prior. I wasn't a 2-wheeler myself at that point though, so I never thought to ask her about the licensing.

I don't expect or understand why it would be different. If you have a license to ride that class of vehicle and you're not a resident here, your foreign license should cover you.

Shouldn't be a problem at all. As a Dutch visitor, I rented cars in the USA and had no trouble. Friends of mine rented motorcycles in the USA and also didn't have any trouble.

If it would have been a problem, the rental company wouldn't have rented the cars and bikes to us.

IDP / IDL should not be a challenge.

I don't know (or understand) how vehicle insurance in US works.
I have loaned Sunny, my first GTS, to a Vespa buddy who's scoot is in for warranty repairs.
A copy of his driver's licence and his home address was e-mailed to my insurance broker and my portfolio was amended to reflect him as an authorised rider with his home as an authorised overnight storage. As he is of similar age, there is no change in my premium, but there is a change in the deductible applicable if he has an accident.

I assume something similar would be applicable in your case.

An International Drivers License is just document that certifies your existing license of your country and translates it into many other languages.

When we were going to go to Greece (canceled due to Covid), we got IDL's from our local AAA office. They may know the requirements in reverse so might be worth a phone call.

We've rented bikes in UK, Australia, New Zealand on just our US motorcycle licenses In Spain, Portugal, France and Italy we has both our US license and International Drivers License WITH motorcycle license checked. You have to make sure they include the portion about your motorcycle license is included as they usually don't bother so be careful that all your l licenses are included.

You can ride or even rent a motorcycle in the US with a valid license issued by most countries as the requirements are the same as for cars. As mentioned some states require an IDL but not all. Eagle Rides has a FAQ on what motorcycles you can rent depending on where your motorcycle license was issued the type of licence you have. https://www.eaglerider.com/motorcycle-rental-license-requirements Eagle Riders does a lot of those Route 66 tours for foreign visitors. We'd see quite a few of their tour groups and overseas rentalriders when we lived in Colorado. So it is quite likely one of their tours your waitress mentioned.

For your EU/UK friends:

Licenses issued from the European Union (Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden):

A1/A2 – Will allow you to rent scooters.
A – Will allow you to rent motorcycles or scooters.
B1 – Will allow you to rent three-wheeled vehicles.

Your friends should be able o ride your spare scooter under your insurance policy but individual policies can have different restrictions so you may want to check first or at least read your policy documents. Mine includes licensed riders who have my permission. I know some cover unlicensed riders as well.

Thanks cdwise, that's incredibly helpful! I am checking with her to see what her scooter/MC designation states.

I am actually an insurance agent.

Remember from previous posts, each State in the USA makes up their own
insurance laws - insurance is not Federal. Despite each State making their
own laws - they are pretty uniform from State to State.

In Minnesota, and most other States, you can allow anyone to drive your car/scooter
on a temporary basis without notifying the insurance company. All foreign
drivers licenses are adequate to drive in the USA.

Insurance companies differ in the sense that many will not issue a policy in your name
with a foreign license. The same fussy companies would still allow a temporary
user with a foreign license to drive an existing insured car by a USA license holder.

The Progressive Insurance company will insure a foreign national with a foreign
drivers license who has bought and driving a car here in he USA.

Warning: The State of Texas may only cover drivers listed on the policy. Meaning,
if you let your neighbor drive your car the policy is void. I am not Agent licensed
in Texas so I can not verify the above. Hearsay from my experience.

KEEP IT SIMPLE - you can drive in the USA all you want to with a foreign drivers
license. Just make sure you bring the license with you. To borrow someone's car,
check a local State Insurance Agent to see if vehicle is insured with Winston
Churchill behind the wheel.

Your local State Insurance Agent will know. Do not trust a friend told a friend.

Bob Copeland
Licensed Minnesota Insurance Agent - Show me the Money!

It might be worth checking what license she has. A lot of people who ride 50cc-125cc bikes don't have a motorcycle license.

Here in Victoria Australia if you do your motorcycle license on an automatic motorcycle (typically a scooter of course) then you can't ride a manual motorcycle. (this change happened somewhere in the last decade or so, after I got mine on a scooter). Guess therefore wouldn't be able to ride a manual Vespa?

This is just like with cars here.

so maybe such a restricted motorcycle licence might not be recognised in other countries?



https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/licence-and-permit-types/motorcycle-licence-and-learner-permit/motorcycle-licence-and-learner-permit-restrictions

I know that other countries have some more sophisticated two wheel vehicle
license designations. Here in the USA it is sort of all or nothing. If you have
a motorcycle endorsement you can ride anything. There is some permit
designations where you are restricted from riding two-up, at night, or without
a helmet. When you pass the test and get the full motorcycle endorsement
you can ride anything.

If you showed up in the USA with a foreign license that indicated anything about
motorcycle - you would be good. Further, I expect if you rented a motorcycle
scooter in the USA with any kind of drivers license the rental company would not
care. They surely would pay claims and not revoke coverage because of a
license designation.

Simple answer - contact the rental agency, or if you are borrowing a friends
already insured US two wheeler coverage applies because insurance follows
the vehicle not the driver

Bob Copeland

I get the impression from this forum that in other countries insurance companies
try to find ways to not cover you. In the USA, if the owner of the vehicle has
insured it and paid the premium, the vehicle is covered even if a Collie Dog was
driving.

You mean , something like this?

My Texas insurances policies have always covered any licensed driver I've given permission to use the vehicle whether 2 or 4 wheels. They only had to be named if they resided in my household. My kids were covered while they had their permits but had to be added when they got their licenses. The only time I've seen when that isn't the case was an accident my husband was involved in where the woman driving the other car was excluded by name from the policy. The judge threw the book at her for driving it.

But it is always best to check.

Don't be ridiculous. That's not a collie!

Certainly in the UK it's the named driver(s) that's insured for that vehicle. There's no easy or cheap way to loan a car or bike to someone else without getting them specifically added to the insurance. And that won't happen if they don't have a UK licence and they aren't resident there. I went through many hoops to get Mrs jimc insured on a GTS250 in the UK just for a few weeks - I had to be quite inventive as to her situation with a specialist insurance firm.

I feel like you could have more pertinent-to-you information much more easily by simply calling your local police department and asking them, and calling your local insurance agent.

Then instead of having to wonder how much of this information may or may not be accurate, and how much of it may or may not be accurate and valid where you are, you're getting the information straight from the horse's mouth.

Communities are fantastic ways of getting help and insight for many things... but when it comes to bureaucracy and things that could have grave consequences if misunderstood or mistaken... I'd go directly to the source if I were you.

Good luck either way!