Crossing From Scotland To England - Restrictions?

No and no. Although they defend their differences, the United Kingdom is all one, with no border checkpoints on the island.

You'll notice a board welcoming you to Scotland. And from some decades ago I remember a booth where you could change your Scottish pounds in English ones.

Thanks to all that provided feedback. I did find a car rental that doesn't restrict crossing from Scotland to England. And I appreciate all the feedback re: my questions.

We are looking forward to hopefully visiting Castlerigg stone circle.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/castlerigg-stone-circle/

Emma,

I agree re: same country and why should there be any restrictions?!?! Yet, Avis car rental out of Edinburgh restricts their rentals leaving Scotland. No exceptions. I was told that their rentals are not allowed to leave Scotland - period. Also Economy Car Rentals adds a $272 USD charge for a 'cross border card' if we want to drive one of their rentals into England.

Enterprise, Hertz and Arnold Clark rentals had no such restrictions or costs.

Thanks for the 'heads up' on the possible ferry crossing restrictions.

Do you have a link to that Avis policy as I would dearly like to send it to my MSPs after Thursday! Think about it like crossing between North Carolina and Virginia, but the licence plates do not change. The only traffic rule that changes if you are in a car is Scotland has a lower drink driving limit than England and Wales.

It is the same country. The car insurance is defined as 'Great Britain and the islands thereof', the reason the insurance is not necessarily covering the internal ferries is that is part of the conditions of the ticket is you put your car under the ferry operator's insurance.

If Avis are wanting to charge even a single penny to cross into England by road from Scotland they are being a bunch of bampots, cadgers, chancers and nyaffs. Numpties.

who told you about Avis etc. restricting cars from going to England - someone's pulling your leg

I've never heard of any restrictions between Scotland and England - a cross border card is nonsense

RE MC of Glasgow: Do you have a link to that Avis policy as I would dearly like to send it to my MSPs after Thursday! Think about it like crossing between North Carolina and Virginia, but the licence plates do not change.

Perhaps not extra charge or prohibition between NC and VA, but CA to NV could be a problem depending on rental company and state. Apparently some rental cars have GPS trackers. The NY Times report is dated, but the lesson is read the fine print:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/13/business/business-travel-some-rental-cars-are-keeping-tabs-on-the-drivers.html

Mr. Son, who manages a grocery store in Georgetown, Ontario, and his
wife, Junghyun, picked up a Ford Escort at a Payless Car Rental outlet
in November in San Francisco -- their son, Jaehwa, is an intern for a
credit card company there -- and embarked on a 12-day road trip with
him.

First, they drove to Las Vegas, 50 miles east of the California state
line, and from there 200 miles to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, before
circling back to Palm Springs, Calif. They then traveled west to the
coast to drive on the scenic state Highway 1 back to Northern
California.

Mr. Son received a shock when he returned the car. The $259.51 bill he
expected had ballooned to $3,405.05 -- most of it a result of a
$1-a-mile fee for each of the 2,874 miles driven. It turned out that
by crossing the state line, he had violated his contract with Payless.

Or CA to OR:
http://traveltips.usatoday.com/rent-car-out-state-travel-12497.html

Tell the rental company that you'll be taking the car across state
lines when securing the rental. You'll be assessed an extra fee for
wear and tear, but you'll avoid the sizable penalties that come with
being quiet. "Los Angeles Times" reporter Jane Engle writes that a
California resident was "'absolutely furious' when a (national car
rental) licensee that serves the Oakland airport added $786.37 in
penalties onto his $155.52 four-day rental because he drove the car
out of state to Ashland, OR."

Can I rephrase that in light of Edgar's link to 'think of it as crossing between North Carolina and Virginia. Only cheaper.' ;-)

I've taken hire cars across international frontiers and not had to pay a single brass farthing for the privilege.

MC of Glasgow and ramblin' on - Here's the section of the chat transcript from today were I was told about the restriction:

Chat started at 14:14 29 Apr 2016
Kathy : Is there an additional fee with a car rental in Edinburgh, Scotland if we wanted to do a day trip just across the border in England?
[You are now chatting with Christian.]
Christian : I am sorry however it will not be allowed.
Kathy: What is not allowed? We can't go from Scotland to England for a few hours to sight see with and Avis rental?
Christian : It will not be allowed to take the vehicle to England.

Kathy, unless there is a copy of the referendum result that not even the UK Prime Minister or the First Minister for Scotland are aware of, yon Christian is talking out of a hole in his head. Or in a serious need of a geography lesson, with a power point presentation, and a break for tea at eleven and lunch at one o'clock before getting a history and politics lesson with a break for more tea at 4 prior to 'any questions?' just before the six o'clock news.

At the very least it is rip roaring hilarious.

"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our rental cars!" - William Wallace's younger brother Avis Wallace

Hire cars please, Emma. Scottish Standard English is still British English even if your name is Nicola Sturgeon! ;-)

was this an online chat (with a real person or maybe even a chatbot)??

or did you speak to someone? Was it someone in Edinburgh or in the US?

It just sounds as though there is miscommunication here as there in no way that info is correct. The country is the UK; there are no border controls between any of the four home nations.

I am reading this with astonishment, Scotland England Wales are all the same country and I have hired cars many times and travelled between each of the places many times, 2 of my sisters live in England and I often visit .Never heard of such charges, there may be additional charges if you want to take a car across the water to Ireland but even than that is unlikely or if you wanted to travel to mainland Europe but between Scotland and England there are no such restrictions and apart form huge signs on the motorway you will not even notice a border.

We have taken our own car across the border from Scotland to England and back again many times and there has been no problem at all. The only problem for us has been that the drink drive laws in Scotland are now much more strict that they used to be. The drink drive laws in England remain what they were. So having an alcoholic drink in England and still being under their limit, would put you over the limit set in Scotland and liable to prosecution should you drive over the "border" and be stopped by the Scottish police. This is something all travellers need to be aware of.

When you drive over the border into either country you will likely see large notices saying "Welcome to England" or "Welcome to Scotland" or equivalent. You will not find Checkpoint Charlie anywhere, or be asked to show you passport or anything. No one is.

It is exactly the same for people driving hire cars.

There will be no problem crossing the border into England to visit Castlerigg Stone Circle, Hadrian's wall, Stonehenge or anywhere else. There will be no problem taking a hire car on a ferry to Orkney, Shetland, Mull or any Scottish islands.

You might have a problem taking a hire car to Ireland (Eire) and this is where you should check with the car hire company. There would likely be additional charges. There might also be a problem taking a hire car to Northern Ireland even though it is part of the United Kingdom. Again someone would need to check with the car hire company involved. I have never tried to do either, so cannot say.

Yes, I was going to say that I never had issues with taking a car on the ferry to the islands. I think you're right in that the problems arise when you want to go to Ireland, or maybe Man?

At any rate the rest of the thread is a hoot.

Pam

Rentals that start in Great Britain and spend sometime outside of it even in Northern Ireland often require additional insurances and recovery cover charges. One way rentals outside of Great Britain will have a large charge - for example a one way for Hertz to the Channel islands or Isle of Man costs an additional fee of £600. However, there should be no additional charges for moving around Great Britain and the one-way charge should be relatively small.

Looking at Avis' terms and conditions you need written permission and 'Continental Cover' to take the vehicle outside of the UK.

MC, Avis Wallace was from the lesser known American branch of the Wallace family....keep up!

Got you! This has got to be one of the funniest threads in a while, but I can understand the OP's concern when the hire car company is making things up as they go along.

It is worth repeating, as far as car insurance is concerned there is no Scotland, Wales or England. Great Britain is treated as one, the only bit that breaks is if there is a dispute is if it is covered by the courts of Scotland or of England and Wales.

Having said that on the A1 there is a spot where controls could be, you can instead, get off the road, photograph some flags and signs, and have salmonella in a bun.... err the culinary delight that is a hamburger from a caravan. And possibly see Northumbria Police's and Police Scotland's wildlife squads operating to prevent illegal smuggling of the endangered wild haggis. Scotland to protect the natural environment, Northumbria for reasons of taste.

I can attest that we rented a car from Avis in England a year ago and returned it in Scotland without so much as a blink of an eye from Avis.

A modest fee was built into the price for dropping off at a different location from the pickup, just as most car rental companies do in the US. It didn't have anything to do with crossing the Scottish border, AFAIK.

I think "Christian" gave you incorrect information. He stopped reading after the words "across the border." As everyone else here has said, it's NOT across the border; it's all the same country. You'll be fine. I bet if you called back, you'd get a different answer. Go on your holiday and have fun!!!

While I can't speak for renting cars in the UK, in the USA I've rented cars from some firms that have asked if I was taking the car into another state. Another, I think it was Enterprise, said I couldn't cross state borders.

Not sure why. Could be something to do with insurance.

I tried to make an Avis Reservation with pickup in Edinburgh and drop off in Edinburgh. No problem and it even stated that Avis cars can be taken into other countries. (And England isn't another country.)

Then I tried to make a reservation where I picked up the car in Edinburgh and dropped it off in Liverpool . No problem. In fact, it was cheaper by the week than dropping the car off in Edinburgh.

I think the guy you spoke to didn't know his stuff.

This car rental guy must be related to the travel agent that once told me Glasgow was definitely not in the UK.
I've never used a travel agent since: 18 years ago.
Agents in other countries do not always know the geography of the place they are selling for, so this guy was not informed about the UK in the least.
Hope you had , or are having, a great trip!

Since this thread started in April, and since the trip was to be in September and September only has 5 days left, there's a fair chance that Kathy now has her answer.