First you should need to check with the Alabama Department of Public Safety (DPS) to make sure your son is allowed to drive out of state with only his learner's permit. We have heard that you can but you should check with the AL DPS since they did not get back to us to verify this information. Also see what restrictions, if any, they require your son to follow while out of state.

We have contacted the licensing agencies of Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas in the past about out of state teens with permits driving in their states and following is the information they gave us.

The state of Mississippi told us that a teen with a valid learner’s permit from his or her home state may drive legally in our state as long as they drive with a licensed adult who is at least 21. The MS Department of Public Safety (DPS) did not give us any addition information on what other restrictions a teen permit holder would have to follow so we would advise you to contact them directly to get more information before allowing your son to drive in MS with his AL permit.

The Tennessee Department of Public Safety (DPS) stated to us that TN recognizes a valid out of state learner permit, following all the rules, regulations, and restrictions of the issuing State.

The Arkansas licensing agency told us that in the laws of their state a learner’s permit is only valid in the state in which it was written. Thus if you have a permit that was issued/written in another state, it is not valid in AR. So Arkansas will not recognize your son's Alabama learner's permit and thus he CANNOT operate a vehicle in this state legally.

Though MS and TN said that out of state permit holders could drive in their states we would still advise that you contact their Department of Motor Vehicles about your son driving there with a licensed supervising driver in the vehicle with him and to make sure there are not other restrictions that he will need to follow.

Also make sure that at age 15 he can drive in these states since many states require you to be at least 16 to operate a vehicle. For example the AL DPS (so your own state) told us previously that they accept any state's valid learner’s permit, subject to restrictions mandated by the issuing state, as long as the holder is at least 16 years of age. So even if your son has obtained his AL permit before age 16, other states may restrict the use of his out of state permit until he turns 16.

Review information on teen car insurance here and then click here for your young driver's car insurance needs.