OP: This is not going to be country based. You need to do an interview which is indepth and very specific. You may lose candidates, but they probably can't drive.

In SA and Thailand, you can buy driver's licenses. International licenses are JUST TRANSLATION documents. They aren't actual licenses.

Ask, "How often do you drive?"
"Where do you drive to?"
"Whose car do you drive?"
"When you are driving for a long time, what type of music do you listen to?"

Be straight forward. Do you live in the suburbs where you have to drive a mile to the store because there are no sidewalks? Are there stores she could get to by bike or on foot? Be very clear.

I see profiles often that say, "I am confident that I can drive on highways."

This is a great twist in resume language. I'm relatively confident I could renovate a house because I have watched Flip or Flop enough, but I wouldn't necessarily give me a sledge hammer and a wrench and expect it to end up being open house ready.

You are putting your children AND the financial health of your family into this person's hands when you give them the keys. People have been sued when their aupair has had a major accident and your insurance will reflect the fact you have an older teenager or a young adult covered.

We had aupairs drive our kids for the entire 6 years we hosted. All 4 of the them had minor accidents. In our experience, Germany and UK were the best drivers. South Africa and Colombia were awful. Colombia nearly killed my husband on the initial test drive.

If they live in a city in Brazil, don't own a car and borrow their friends to practice, assume a mile here to college is how far they can walk because they don't realize it may snow and there are no sidewalks, I wouldn't give them the keys. It's also a whole different skill to drive screaming kids.

There are good and bad drivers everywhere, so if driving is very important for you, and it’s possible to obtain easily in their country, then consider asking for a driver history.

Keep in mind though that many countries allow dl only at 18, and in countries with good public transport options / bike lanes, young people rarely drive, even if they have a license. So I’m a bit surprised at the Germany / Austria, where sure, they get licenses, but most don’t drive a lot. So, irrespective of country of origin, get the AP into a defensive driver course, and then start them with short distances till they get used to roads here.

Our SA au pair had an accident in the first few weeks and a year later is still a pretty bad driver.

First lesson learned - do not give any credence to the fact that they have a drivers license from their country / an international drivers license.

Second lesson learned - do not take them at face value when they tell you “I got this!” And “I’m a really good driver.” Make that decision for yourself. My AP completely overplayed her abilities.

SA drives on the other side of the road. And agree with the bribe comment.

Austria, Poland

Finland by a mile

worst drivers come from Brazil, ime

Anonymous wrote:Our SA au pair is a great driver, but she herself said that the only way to get a drivers license in SA is to put a bribe, so I wouldn’t think that they’re all good drivers across the board.

This. Had a SA au pair who was licensed there, but couldn't drive AT ALL. Like, failed every single category on the driving assessment when I hired a driving instructor to assess her skills.

Germany, Austria, Poland

Individual experience matters too. Don’t forget to ask about that.

Any middle to Western European countries will have decent drivers. Search for countries with winter driving if you want snow experience. Israel has decent drivers, no snow experience. There are a bunch of countries in which you either bribe or buy a license, frequently without taking a test.

Our SA au pair is a great driver, but she herself said that the only way to get a drivers license in SA is to put a bribe, so I wouldn’t think that they’re all good drivers across the board.

Germany
Austria
Sweden
Norway
Etc... you get the idea - Northern European


I have no basis for this, but I am skeptical re South Africa.

Israel
Germany
South Africa

We are a first time host family - and working around the visa issues - our children are elementary age and require a lot of driving in the afternoons (including highway). Which counties have you found the most competent drivers?