Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Information and Services in Turkey Section => Cars, Bikes, Scooters, MOTs, Speeding... => Topic started by: lissa on May 18, 2012, 20:07:58 PM
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Do you need a Turkish driving licence if resident in Turkey? Heard you do, as it can invalidate the insurance if you do not have.
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The law is
If you are here on a tourist visa you can use your UK Driving Licence
If you are here for 6 months or more with a residence permit you must have a Notorised translation of your UK licence
If you are a resident here (as above) you can apply for a Turkish Licence but it is NOT a legal requirement.
If you have taken Turkish Nationality you must have a Turkish Licence.
The above is all in reference to cars.
If you wish to drive a scooter or motorbike then your UK licence must cover the engine cc that you are wanting to drive, if it doesn't then you must take a Turkish driving test to get the correct licence.
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My UK licence does not cover my little 50cc scooter. When I got it
a few years ago, I also applied for the Turkish licence to cover this with no problem, all done and dusted in less than a week.
Not sure if there has been any changes with the law since then.
quote:
Originally posted by lissa
Do you need a Turkish driving licence if resident in Turkey? Heard you do, as it can invalidate the insurance if you do not have.
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how much does it cost for a turkish driving licence (car) please.
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About 600ylt
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Firo is bang on.
Would just like to add that once you become a TC, then you have 12 months to change your license.
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hello, can anyone please tell me where i need to go to apply for a Turkish driving licence and what documents i will need to bring? thank you, Joan
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It is quite a complex process and you need to go to about 6 different offices including, police for fingerprints, court for certificate for no criminal record, hospital to get report from 2 or 3 doctors depending on your age, tax office and traffic police. You also need a translated and notarised copy of your current licence. All this can be done in one day if you have a good run.
My wife (who is Turkish and so knows how the rules work) does offer a service to assist people and make things a little bit more painless. If this is of interest to you please contact me.
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Joan, why do you want a Turkish driving licence? Have you taken Turkish nationality? Please read Fi's post above before you start shelling out money that you may not need to do.
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Don't need Turkish nationality to require a Turkish license, If you LIVE here in Turkey you need a valid driving license, unless of course YOU LIVE here and have a "pretend" address in the UK to renew your UK license. A lot of people do not have a LEGAL address in the UK and wish to have a legal license for both countries, hence obtaining a Turkish one.
Of course if you get caught not being a resident at the address you give in the UK it is £1000 fine and no license.
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We got our licences a few weeks ago for peace of mind. As Barry says if you're caught using a fake address you face a big fine. It can also invalidate your insurance. There seems to be conflicting advice floating around. At a meeting in Bodrum recently with the Consulate people were told they did need at Turkish licence. Either way, you pays your money and you takes your choice! Our choice was to get our licences.
We did the whole process ourselves but as Paul says there is an awful lot of red tape to cut through. If we took into account the stress, fuel and time spent queuing at various government offices and departments with hindsight I would definitely have asked Neylan to help us. She helped with our BagKur last year and has been brilliant since when the goalposts kept moving and the SGK office kicked us back out of the system for reasons known only to themselves. Thanks to her persistence we are back on the system (I have fingers, toes and legs crossed as I type this).
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The law as as I have reported it came from 2 independent Turkish translators who both contacted the head of Mugla Traffic police.
As they are responsible for enforcing the law I'll go with their advice rather than the consulate.
The below is copied from the Direct Gov site with reference to UK licence and moving abroad.
Moving to another country
If you move to another country, you should check with the driving licence authorities there for information about driving and exchange of licences. You don't need to notify DVLA of a change of address when moving to live abroad.
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And this is from another translator.
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This is really important for anyone who drives any vehicle in Turkey and applies in full to anyone living here and also part to those on holiday who may hire when over here.
I was asked by an established registered translator (Volkan Sankir) to bring this to everybodys attention as a result of recent enforcement of existing rules relating to driving laws in Turkey that are now being enforced to the letter in the Mugla District.
The legal requirement is that you can only drive in Turkey on a UK licence for one year. This has been in place for a long time but only recently has it come to light via Volkan's contact and work with Fethiye Emniyet that this ruling is now being strictly enforced.
Effectively it means anyone living here should consider applying for a Turkish Driving License after they have used up their 1 year allowance.
Many people may consider this insignificant however, in the event of any accident you would on production of Residency that shows you have been here more than 1 year you will be deemed to be driving WITHOUT a license and face severe penalties and liable for injury damages to other parties if so caused. Your insurance would be invalidated.
Moreover, the Polis are also requiring the GREEN additional paper that accompanies the new picture license in the result of an accident and failure to produce both parts will deem you driving illegally and insurance would be void. This is equally important for those on holiday renting a car who would have limited time to produce their documents before departure.
If you wish to qualify the information herein you may contact Volkan directly who will gladly elaborate.
So which translator is right!!!
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My educated guess would be the ones who actually spoke to the Head of the Mugla Police 3 weeks ago, one of which is Koray Atak who you have praised highly in the past. So therefore it is not, as above, a translator telling us the facts, it is the Head of Mugla Taffic Police,
I'd also like to point out that your quote above states "Effectively it means anyone living here should consider applying for a Turkish Driving License "...consider being the operative word!
It could be a translator telling people that, to get the job of helping them to do it! Not unheard of in the past!
I have never had cause to doubt Korays word and work, over the last 6 years, and I will stick with his recommendations gained from Mugla Police dept.
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I have had my new licence a few years and certainly dont have any green part to it ,cant even remember getting it ,can you apply to
DVLC to get copy [?] ;)
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The green paper part of your UK licence always accompany's the photo one, this is what you need if you change name, address etc and has to be signed, and this is where your points (if any) are recorded.
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hi i just need a bit of advice i have just got my residency, i only stay in turkey may and june and then go home cum bk for sep oct will i still need a turkish driving liscence if i buy a large motor cycle to use there i hav hav full car and bike liscence in the uk thanks
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My friend has e mailed me this from the TLF as she has been telling me that I needed to get a Turkish driving licence even although we don't have a car but do hire one when we have family over, she said that her insurance agent told her that the same thing two months ago it's a lot of money for both of us to get TDL just for 2 weeks a year,
Oh this post is dated September 2012. what do u all think?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I received a letter from my insurance company this month regarding a "new law" covering driving licences.
" Dear Client,
In accordance with the new traffic laws please note the following points concerning your vehicle insurance. If the following requirements are not met your insurance cover will be null and void.
1. 1. If you hold a residency permit you must have a Turkish Driving Licence
2. 2. If you are here on a tourist visa a legal overseas driving licence will suffice but your passport, visas etc. must be in order. (if the visa and/or the driving licence is out of date you will have no cover)
Many thanks for your consideration.
Kind Regards,"
The insurance company involved is reputable and acts for AXA insurance. The letter seems to have been sent to all their non Turkish clients. I already have a Turkish driving licence and nationality so it is not something I will have to be concerned about but I wondered if other Forum members have received anything similar?
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I am going by the law as explained by Mugla police. Why the insurance company is doing this is beyond me. Perhaps it is easier for them to process your insurance rather than trying to sort out the different classifications.
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I went and asked our AXA agent 2 weeks ago and she said we don't need Turkish driving licences.
If we have an accident then we need to complete an accident form, and have it translated and notarised.
That's all.
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We checked again as this subject keeps coming up and we also checked with an Insurance agent and he said that as residence holders living in Turkey we only needed a translated copy of our UK licence. He said that there had been no change in the law and when he had questioned other agents that were saying that having a Turkish licence was law they could not reproduce any documentation to show that the law had changed.....