We’d hired cars in Europe at least 15 times before we’d even heard of the DVLA code.

It came up when I was going through the booking notes for a hire in Cyprus, reading the list of documents to take with us. There it was, listed as required, and I had no idea what it meant.

My first thought was that we’d been missing something for years. My second was that it might be specific to Cyprus, or just to that particular car hire company. So I went and looked into it properly.

What the DVLA code actually is

Your paper counterpart licence disappeared years ago, so there’s no longer anything physical showing your penalty points or what you’re entitled to drive. The DVLA code fills that gap.

It’s a code you generate through the official gov.uk service, and it lets someone else look up your driving record online. Hire companies use it to check whether you have any endorsements before they hand over a car.

It’s free. If you land on a site charging for one, you’re on the wrong site.

How to get your driving licence code

You generate it through the government’s view or share your driving licence information service. It takes a couple of minutes, and it’s only for licences issued in England, Wales or Scotland.

You’ll need three things to hand:

• Your driving licence number
• Your National Insurance number
• The postcode on your driving licence

That’s it. The code appears on screen and you can print it, screenshot it, or write it down.

Worth knowing: it’s per driver, not per booking. Our hire cars are always in my husband’s name, so I generated his rather than my own. If you’re both driving, you both need one.

How long does the DVLA code last?

The code is valid for 21 days from the moment you create it, and it’s designed to be used once.

That expiry catches people out. If you’re the organised type who sorts everything a month before you fly, your code will have run out before you reach the desk. Generate it a day or two before you travel instead.

You can hold more than one active code at a time, so there’s no harm in doing one each for two drivers, or redoing it if you’re travelling again soon after.

Do hire companies in Europe actually ask for it?

Here’s the honest bit, and it’s not what most articles on this will tell you.

We have never once been asked for it. Not in Cyprus, where the booking said it was required, and not on any hire since.

We still printed it and took it, and I’d do the same again. It costs nothing, it takes two minutes, and being turned away at a desk after a flight with two tired kids would be a genuinely miserable way to start a week.

What I would say is that requirements vary by company and by country, and the code is a UK system. Plenty of overseas suppliers either don’t use it or don’t bother. If your booking confirmation lists it, take it, and don’t assume the desk will wave it through just because ours did.

I have wondered whether you could simply generate one at the desk if they asked, since it only takes a minute on a phone. In theory yes, but you’re relying on signal, data roaming and the DVLA site behaving, all while a queue builds behind you. Not a gamble I’d want to take.

What else you’ll be asked for at the desk

The code is the unfamiliar one, but the documents they genuinely check every time are more mundane. If you’ve never hired abroad before, this is the part worth getting right.

• The driver’s photocard driving licence
• Passport
• A credit card in the driver’s name

That last one matters. They’ll place a hold on the card to cover the excess in case of damage, and it usually needs to be a credit card rather than a debit card, in the name of the person driving. It’s also why it pays to understand the difference between collision damage waiver and excess insurance before you get to the counter, because that hold is exactly what the desk staff will use to sell you cover you may already have.

Is it worth bothering with?

Yes, on balance. Not because you’ll definitely need it, but because the downside of not having it is so much worse than the two minutes it costs.

Print it, put it with your passports, and forget about it. That’s genuinely all there is to it.

For everything else we’ve learned across 15 plus hires, from boot space to fuel policies, our family tips for car hire in Europe covers the lot. And if you want a sense of what all this was actually for, our family holiday in Polis and the Akamas is where the whole DVLA code business started for us.