Here’s a question we get almost every week at TripRents: “What do I actually need to bring?” And the honest answer is shorter than most people expect. Georgia keeps car rental paperwork refreshingly simple — no notarized translations, no stack of forms, no waiting in line at some government office. Most of our customers walk from the arrivals hall to the driver’s seat in under fifteen minutes.
Still, “simple” doesn’t mean “nothing.” There are three documents you genuinely cannot rent without, plus a couple of situations where one extra piece of paper saves you a headache. Let’s go through them.
Your Driving License
The obvious one, but with details worth knowing. To rent with us you need a valid license that you’ve held for at least one year. Georgian licenses work, and so do foreign ones — Georgia recognizes a foreign driving license for up to a year after you enter the country.
One catch: the license should be in Latin script. If yours is printed only in, say, Arabic, Chinese or another non-Latin alphabet, bring an International Driving Permit (IDP) alongside it. The IDP is basically an official translation booklet — cheap to get at home before your trip, and it removes any doubt at pickup or at a police check. If your license is already in English or uses Latin characters, you can skip the IDP entirely.
Your Passport or ID
We need to match the person signing the contract with the person driving the car. A passport does the job for international visitors; Georgian residents can use their ID card. Nothing gets photocopied and kept in a drawer somewhere — we check it, note the details on the rental agreement, and hand it straight back.
If a friend or partner will also drive, they bring the same two things. Additional drivers have to be named on the agreement before they get behind the wheel, otherwise the insurance doesn’t cover them. It takes two minutes to add someone, so there’s no reason to skip it.
A Payment Card for the Deposit
Depending on the vehicle category, a security deposit may be required — smaller for a compact city car, larger for an SUV. It’s a hold, not a charge, and it comes back to you in full when the car returns in the same condition it left. Bring a card with enough available balance to cover it, and you’re set.
What About Age?
The minimum age to rent from TripRents is 21, combined with that one year of driving experience. There’s no upper age limit and no young-driver surcharge hiding in the fine print.
What You Don’t Need
This list is my favorite part. You don’t need proof of accommodation, a return ticket, a local phone number, or your own insurance policy. Third party liability, Collision Damage Waiver and theft protection are already included with every car — and if you want zero-deposit peace of mind, read our guide to renting a car with full insurance.
A Few Practical Tips
Keep your license and passport in your hand luggage, not your checked bag. Airlines lose suitcases; they rarely lose the backpack under your seat. If you’re landing at Tbilisi International, our step-by-step airport pickup guide shows exactly how the handover works. Flying into western Georgia instead? Car rental in Kutaisi follows the same rules with the same three documents.
Once the keys are in your hand, the paperwork part is over. From there it’s just you and the road — and Georgian roads deserve a little preparation of their own, which is why we wrote a separate guide to driving in Georgia.
Ready to Book?
Pick your dates, choose a car from our Tbilisi car rental fleet, and bring those three documents to pickup. Anything else you’re unsure about — deposits, insurance, one-way rentals — is answered on our FAQ page, or just message us. We answer fast.