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This is the question we are asked most often, and the short answer is dull: an original driving licence, one photo ID, and a refundable deposit. It is the exceptions that cost people a morning, so they are worth setting out properly.
The licence
It has to be an original, valid, and for the class of vehicle you are taking — a car licence for a car, a two-wheeler licence for a scooter. A photograph of it on your phone is not enough, and neither is a photocopy. We take a copy at handover and give the original straight back to you; nobody should be asking to keep your licence for the length of the hire.
A learner's licence will not do. It is not a matter of policy on our side: a learner's licence requires a qualified driver in the passenger seat, which is the opposite of what self-drive means, and the insurance on the vehicle is written on that basis.
One photo ID besides the licence
Aadhaar, a passport, a voter ID or a PAN card all work. The point of the second document is simply that it is issued by somebody other than the transport department, so the two together are harder to fake than either alone.
If you are visiting from abroad
Bring your home licence, your passport, and an international driving permit alongside the home licence — the permit is a translation, not a licence in itself, so it is only valid presented with the original. If you hold an Indian licence and live overseas, that is simpler: the Indian licence alone is fine.
Visitors home for a few weeks usually want an automatic, and there is normally one of those rather than six, so it is worth asking for it before you land rather than on the morning you want it.
The deposit
A refundable security deposit is standard across the industry and it is not a fee. It is held while you have the vehicle and returned when the vehicle comes back, less anything owing for kilometres beyond the agreed allowance or for damage. The figure depends on the vehicle, and you should be told it before you book rather than when you arrive to collect.
What actually gets checked at handover
- The odometer reading, written down in front of you
- The fuel level, noted the same way
- Existing marks on the bodywork, walked round together
- The date and time the vehicle is due back
Five minutes of this at the start is what stops a disagreement at the end. If a rental does not do it, ask them to — and if they will not, that tells you something.
The one thing people forget
Kilometre limits. Every self-drive hire includes a daily allowance, and anything past it is charged per kilometre. Both numbers should be on your booking before you leave. A day trip to Kanyakumari and back from Nagercoil is about forty kilometres; a day that takes in Padmanabhapuram and the falls at Thirparappu can be a hundred and fifty. Those are very different against a limit, and it is better to know which you are planning.
More from the blog
- A one-day Kanyakumari drive, with honest timingsMost one-day Kanyakumari itineraries are written by people who have not driven them. This one has the distances, the closing times and the bit where the ferry queue eats an hour.
- Self drive or with a driver? An honest comparisonWe hire vehicles both ways, so we have no stake in the answer. Here is when each one is genuinely the better choice, including the days when self drive is a false economy.
- KM limits, extra-KM rates and deposits, explained plainlyThree numbers decide what a self-drive hire actually costs, and only one of them is the daily rate. Here is what the other two mean and how to work out whether a quote is a good one.
- Driving in Kanyakumari district: roads, monsoon and what to expectThe highways are good, the town centres are slow, and the inland roads have more going on than the map suggests. What to expect, season by season.