Riyadh Travel Forum

I am moving to riyadh shortly and not very sure about how the whole car thing works. Do you have to wait until you get your visa before you can get a new car. In the mean i presume i will be allowed to rent. Any details of where to rent would be great.

many thanks.

regards.

here's the thing, you need to be clearer, because if you came to saudi then probably you already have a visa, if you mean the Iqama which is a little residency booklet you walk around with, yeah i gues you gotta have it before you buy a car, but in all cases you can't drive around either rented or bought untill you get the Iqama booklet and get a saudi driving license, and the car-rental companies won't let you unless you find someone who deosn't mind but that is almost impossible unless you know someone.

Renting a car is not a problem in Riyadh. I have been renting cars for last 8 months or so without any problems. I was on a visit visa earlier and now I have my Iqama (BTW iqama is a card now and not a booklet).

You need a valid visa (type of visa does not matter) and a valid driving license. YOU DO NOT NEED A SAUDI DRIVING LICENSE to rent a car. I have rented cars several times and I still do not have a Saudi Driving license. I have a USA license and that has never been an issue. I am not sure about driving licenses from other countries though.

There are several places to rent a car. You may do it from the Airport or from hotels or elsewhere in the city. There are many choices and I usually rent from Avis at Sheraton Riyadh.

Once you get a work visa on your passport (not a visit visa) then you cannot use any license except the saudi license, however i heard usa and some other countries are an exception, but that i'm not sure about, perhaps, you could enlighten us about this matter.... The iqama "card" has not been implemented on all areas in Saudi Arabia, IT HASN'T BEEN IMPLEMENTED IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE, WESTERN PROVINCE YET! AND SO IT IS ONLY FAIR TO REFER TO IT AS A BOOKLET STILL!

Thanks a lot for your valued response. All my questions were answered.

Many Thanks.

Kind Regards.