Car Rental Options

Making a car rental reservation online is easy as is an airline reservation. There’s no reason to go through a third party. If you don’t want Hertz have AAA cancel it and reserve with a company of your choice. If you still want AAA to make the reservation for you, tell it which company you want to use. We used Enterprise and it was fine. On a prior trip we used Avis.

With car rental reservations costs can change day to day. If you make your own reservation and the price goes down you can make a new reservation and cancel the higher price one.

Arnold Clark is very popular for Scotland car rentals on this forum. I used Celtic Legends to book, but picked the rental up from Arnold Clark. I was very happy with them.

We rented from Arnold Clark/Celtic Legends and were very happy with them. I’m not sure what the relationship is. The communication was all via Celtic legends but the car was from Arnold Clark. When I found a cheaper rate Celtic legends matched the price. We also got a car with GPS for no additional charge.

Arnold Clark is the actual rental company, Celtic Legend is just a third party, that either gets a commission from AC or perhaps bundles their own insurance coverage. We have always rented direct from AC and gotten excellent service and the lowest prices. They don't have the typical CDW mess, so their rates might be a tad higher until you get to the counter and are faced with the insurance options with the other companies. I usually try to use my credit card insurance, but AC doesn't offer that (except for tire/windshield insurance).

Price shopping up to the last minute is fine if you have the time and energy, but some companies are adding cancellation fees or time limits, so read the T&Cs. The "at-the-counter" surprises include Collison insurance, tire/windshield insurance, second driver, GPS, forced upgrades due to availability, and even daily charges to use you own CC insurance. The agents are commissioned on these add-ons, so it can get pretty ugly. I've found that when they say "that size car isn't available" or "that car has a GPS" you can hold out and get both at no charge.

Hi, winesnot,

Are you hiring from the airport or in town? I've had pretty good luck with Avis - I've used them for our last eight trips to Scotland. This year, I used Avis at Aberdeen Airport, as we were coming in from Bergen. The pickup was much easier than I'd ever had at GLA.

I had looked in to Celtic Legend/Arnold Clark, but not only were they about $300.00 higher (for a four week rental), but the Arnold Clark location is in central Aberdeen, about a 30 minute drive from the airport. Although they offered free pickup at ABZ, there was a 35 pound charge at the end to take us back to the airport.

There was no pressure from the Avis agent for add-ons, and I used my credit card for the damage waiver. Fortunately, I had no incidents during our four weeks, but in the past, Visa has reimbursed me for a scratched alloy (hubcap) charge.

If you're picking up your car at EDI, you may want to check Avis for their rates. It's worth joining their frequent renters program, even if you don't rent frequently, and use any other discount which they accept. AARP is one of them.

Have a wonderful time in Scotland, and if it's your first time driving in Britain, check out the YouTube videos for getting around those roundabouts.

Best wishes for your travels.

Mike (Auchterless)

Here's another recommendation for Arnold Clark, either through Celtic Legend or direct. I've done both and been very happy with the process. They have locations in many places and are very reliable imo. I think the one advantage to booking through Celtic Legend is that you do not need to pay anything upfront.

Thanks to all you responded. We are going with Arnold Clark. Picking our car up in Leith (where we are staying) and dropping off in Inverness. I will let all know how it goes when we get back.

I am not impressed with Arnold Clark in Sighthill. We waited 45 minutes for our reserved car and another 20 for them to actually put gas in the car. We planned to make the parade for the Bowhill games and now I just hope we don't miss too many events. We've used rental cars all over Europe and, but for Cars by Sicily, this service is the worst.

I lied. It's an hour and whatever after we arrived and the car we thought we were getting is not our car. Our agent laughed and said they were still preparing it. We asked for another car and they were going to give us a smaller car - wouldn't fit our luggage. The other agent at least appeared helpful and gave us some attention. Car has just arrived.