Guide to driving in Romania

At pick-up you show your original driving licence, an identity document and a credit card for the deposit. Which documents and cards are accepted is set by the Rental Conditions of the company that hands you the car, summarised below under “What the rental company’s conditions say”.

An International Driving Permit is required in the cases listed in the rental company's conditions, including documents issued in countries that do not use the Latin alphabet and licences obtained in right-hand-drive cars. The full list, with the example countries given in the conditions, is below. Check before you travel whether one of these cases applies to you.

Under the Road Traffic Code, valid national licences issued by states that are party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, by EU member states and by states with which Romania has a licence-recognition treaty are recognised; other licences generally need an International Driving Permit as well (art. 83). At pick-up, however, the rental company's conditions apply, and they require the international permit in further cases.

While driving, a traffic police officer may ask you to hand over (art. 35 of the Road Traffic Code):

• your identity document (passport or ID card);
• your driving licence;
• the car's registration document.

At pick-up, check that the registration certificate and the RCA insurance policy (compulsory third-party liability) are in the car, together with the compulsory equipment: a first-aid kit, two warning triangles and a fire extinguisher (art. 8 of the Road Traffic Code).

• Signs take precedence: on some road sections inside built-up areas the limit can be raised up to 80 km/h, and on others it can be lowered (art. 49 of the Road Traffic Code).
• With less than one year of driving experience, your limit outside built-up areas is 20 km/h lower (art. 50).

• Headlights: on all public roads use dipped headlights or daytime running lights during the day as well (art. 44 of the Road Traffic Code).
• Seat belts are compulsory for the driver and for every passenger in a seat fitted with one (art. 36).
• Mobile phones may not be used while driving, except with a hands-free system (art. 36).

• Children under 12 or shorter than 150 cm must wear seat belts adapted to their weight and size, and children under 3 travel only in approved child restraints (art. 97 of the Implementing Regulation of the Road Traffic Code).
• The driver is responsible for making sure that minors wear a seat belt or sit in an approved child seat (art. 36 of the Road Traffic Code).
• When you book you can add child seats, chosen by the child's weight, and a booster seat if they are offered for the car you choose. The price is shown in the booking.

Do not drive after drinking any alcohol at all: Romanian law sets no permitted level.

• Driving under the influence of alcohol is punished with a fine and a 90-day suspension of the right to drive (art. 102 of the Road Traffic Code).
• Above 0.80 g/l of pure alcohol in the blood it is a criminal offence, punished with one to five years in prison. The same penalty applies to driving under the influence of psychoactive substances (art. 336 of the Criminal Code).
• Refusing to give biological samples to establish alcohol or drug levels is also a criminal offence (art. 337 of the Criminal Code).
• After an accident, do not drink any alcohol until you have been tested (art. 78 of the Road Traffic Code).
• The rental company's conditions: if you drove under the influence of alcohol, medicines or drugs, you are liable for the full value of the car, whatever protection you chose. The rule is in the conditions summary below.

• On roads covered with snow, ice or frost the car must have winter tyres. The Road Traffic Code sets no calendar period: what counts is the state of the road. Without them you risk a fine and the police keeping the registration certificate (art. 102 and 112 of the Road Traffic Code).
• The Road Traffic Code mentions snow chains only for goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and for passenger vehicles with more than 9 seats. On mountain roads, follow the road signs and traffic information.
• The rental company's conditions do not say which tyres the cars have, so if you travel in winter, ask when you book, through the Support page. Snow chains can be added to the booking if they are offered for the car you choose.

• The road vignette (rovinietă) is included in the rate under the rental company's conditions: you do not need to buy anything for Romania's roads. You can check a vignette's validity on etoll.ro, CNAIR's portal.
• The Danube bridges at Fetești–Cernavodă (A2 motorway) and Giurgeni–Vadu Oii (DN2A) used to have a separate crossing toll, set by OG 15/2002. That ordinance was repealed with effect from 1 October 2026, and for cars the road administrator CNAIR now lists only the vignette. Any road charge other than the vignette is paid by you under the same conditions, so check etoll.ro before the trip.
• The Giurgiu–Ruse bridge leads to Bulgaria. You may leave Romania only with the rental company's written consent and only to the countries its conditions allow; which countries these are and what deposit applies is set out below under “What the rental company’s conditions say”. Cross-border travel cannot be booked online: when you book, write the country you want to visit in the “Observations” field; the request reaches the rental company with your booking.

• Fuel is not included in the rate: you pay for it, under the rental company's conditions.
• At pick-up, the fuel level is recorded in the handover report; the rule for the return is below under “What the rental company’s conditions say”.
• Before your first fill-up, check which fuel the car takes. At the pump, benzină is petrol (gasoline) and motorină is diesel. Under the rental company's conditions, filling up with the wrong fuel is not covered by any protection, not even the optional ones.

• Leave the car only where signs and road markings allow parking. Read the panels next to the space: they show whether parking is paid, at what hours and how to pay.
• The police can have cars that are parked illegally towed away, and the costs of removal, transport and storage are borne by the vehicle's holder (art. 64 of the Road Traffic Code).
• During the rental, parking (including at airports), fines and the costs of any action by local authorities on the car are paid by you, under the rental company's conditions.

• Stop when a traffic police officer signals you to. An officer in a police car can signal "stop" with an arm held out of the right-hand side: the signal is for the vehicles behind the police car (art. 92 of the Implementing Regulation).
• Hand over your identity document, driving licence and the car's registration document (art. 35 of the Road Traffic Code).
• The police may test you for alcohol. Refusing to give biological samples is a criminal offence (art. 337 of the Criminal Code).
• Fines received during the rental are paid by you; if the rental company pays one, it invoices it to you, under its conditions.

• You can call from any public phone network, including with a foreign SIM card: the call is free and you do not dial a country code.
• Without a SIM card in your phone you cannot call 112 in Romania.
• Calls can be handled in several widely spoken international languages.

• The high sections of the Transfăgărășan (DN7C, between Piscu Negru and Bâlea Cascadă) and of the Transalpina (DN67C, between Rânca and Curpăt) close for the cold season.
• The road administrator CNAIR announces the closing and reopening every year, depending on the weather. Even when the roads are open, traffic may be allowed only at set hours and can be stopped at short notice in bad weather.
• Before you go, check CNAIR's press releases (in Romanian) and the Romanian Police Infotrafic page, or call the CNAIR dispatch centre on 021/9360.
• CNAIR warns that bears are often close to the road on the Transfăgărășan: do not approach them and do not feed them; feeding them is forbidden.