Rental car Pickup/Dropoff Question

Hi, Terry,

You didn't say which company you're renting from. Most of them are in the central part of town. Even if it's not your first time driving on the left, I would advise against hiring your car in the center of the city. Edinburgh is very confusing for a first time driver in the city, especially with the driver's seat on the right, and shifting gears with your left hand (assuming you're hiring a standard transmission - most of the cars for hire are not automatic transmission). There are a lot of one way streets, and restricted bus/taxi lanes, in the central area. You mentioned that you had previously driven in Britain. Did you hire a car in the center of a city previously, or from an airport?

Your best bet would be to pick the car up at the airport and drive around the area of the car hire office a couple of times to get your bearings. Don't be afraid to ask someone at the rental agency for some tips. You should familiarize yourself with all of the bits and bobs (light switch, windscreen wipers, boot release, petrol cap release, heat/air conditioning controls, etc.) before you get on the road. If you don't get the add-on SatNav, make sure that your navigator remains calm at all times. After you leave the airport area, it's fairly easy to go west on the A8 to pick up the M9 for Stirling. If you're heading for Cumbernauld first (Outlander interior sets studio?), the M9 will lead you to the M876, and then the M80. The M80 will take you back to Stirling.

By the time you have 10 days under your belt, you'll be ready to drive in to Glasgow to drop off the car. The same thing applies - there are lots of one way streets and bus/taxi lanes. You really have to watch out for the bus/taxi lanes. They are notorious for fining drivers for driving in them. Also, when you're approaching a traffic light, if there is an outline of a bicyclist in the road just before you get to the light, be sure to stop before the outline. Again, your best bet would be to drop the car off at the airport, and take the express bus in to town.

Now that I've scared the bejesus out of you, let me assure you that driving in Scotland, outside of the cities, is no worse than driving the Northern Idaho roads around Coeur d'Alene.

Very best wishes for your long postponed holiday!

Mike (Auchterless)

I’m laughing Mike…so you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing our crazy drivers here in North Idaho!!! How about in winter?! Yes, it can be treacherous here for sure, especially the black ice.
Some days we just grit our teeth and say our prayers and off we go!
Even though we’ve both driven on the ‘British’ side of the road before ,it always takes a little time behind the wheel for it to feel normal again. I like to play it safe because I know from experience how crazy tiny streets can be. We’ve encountered some nerve wracking situations in Italy and France, and I happily survived some near-misses in Ireland (Irish drivers were aggressive). My husband did a motorcycle tour last year to Egypt and claims that it’s the worst he’s ever experienced.
He’s usually the driver when we travel together, and I’m the navigator as I’m better with the maps. Still I try to keep things as simple as possible so we can avoid having a shouting match in the car!
I haven’t arranged the car rental yet, we’ve rented through Sixt before but I’m looking at all options. I will need to drop in Glasgow for sure as our AirBnb does not offer parking and a car there is unnecessary.

The bus lanes and cameras catch a lot of people out in Glasgow. It is worth leaving the car at the airport. Glasgow has good public transport so within the city a car is not needed.

Collecting the car, Edinburgh Airport is a good location to collect. It takes you out on to the M9. If you take the M9 it is a good road to practice driving on the correct side of the road, from the correct side of the car. It is simply not that busy even now.

Years ago staff from the then Scottish Office were apparently showing foreign investors to sites on West Lothian.

They thanked the Scottish Office staff for closing the M9 for them but it was not needed.

This thread is very helpful to me, too. We will be renting a car in Scotland in June, and I was debating picking up the car in central Edinburgh or at the airport. Edinburgh is our first stop for 4 nights. I will probably reserve the car in the next week or two. I always use Kemwel/Auto Europe. So, based on these discussions, i will pick up the car and drop off the car at the Edinburgh Airport.

Thank you!

A car is an unnecessary luxury as a tourist in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Both cities have good public transport, street layouts designed to get you personally, and parking is difficult.

Elsewhere a car is either useful, for say most of the central belt or effectively essential, the rest of the country. If you are staying in Edinburgh or Glasgow, like staying in London, York, Paris, Amsterdam and so on and so on, leave the car until you leave. It saves money that could be useful for say a nice meal out, or giving to a random local say with the initials MC and living in Glasgow.

Seriously, if the hire car is £50 a day, and you have four nights in Edinburgh, you will save potentially £200 that could be used elsewhere rather than a lump of metal that all it does is get parked in the hotel car park or a car park that costs £20 per 24 hours.

Hi again, Terry,

It wasn't that long ago - I still remember driving on 95 from Coeur d'Alene to Moscow in a December blizzard, in a VW bug with no chains. One of the most nightmarish drives I've ever had! To paraphrase Paul Simon, we were slip slidin' away!

I'd recommend that if you or your husband are still a little bit uncomfortable after you leave the car hire area at the airport, find an empty car park, and just drive around for a bit until you or he are comfortable. The A8 isn't too bad to start out on. There are two lanes in either direction. Just remember to keep to the left!

Best wishes once again!

Mike (Auchterless)

We used Celtic Legend in June. https://www.celticlegend.co.uk/ Picked up at the Edinburgh East location which was across the street from a Tram stop that was one stop before the airport and a quick drive to the M8 to get you to Stirling. and dropped off in town at the Glasgow East location a week later. They gave us a shuttle ride to our hotel in downtown Glasgow. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

Well, I DID drive in Edinburgh, but am not recommending it…. I used Arnold Clark and picked up and dropped off at the airport. I agree driving wasn’t that difficult elsewhere (didn’t go to Glasgow), but I did reserve an automatic.

When we arrived in Edinburgh we took the tram into town. We got the round trip ticket since we’d be heading to the airport to pick up the rental car and it saved a little money. We rented from Enterprise. After getting the rental car we drove over to see the Forth bridge, the Falkirk Wheel, the Kelpies, and did a quick drive to Culross before going to our B&B in Stirling. Stirling was the only town where the parking machines only took coins. Every other town the machines accepted with coin or card.

Anyway, since the airport is on the west side of Edinburgh, it was easy to ensure we were headed in the right direction. Our rental had a navigation system and it worked well. The intersections did come up quicker than it seemed they would so that took a little getting used to. Otherwise driving wasn’t too bad.

I once was supposed to return a rental car to a central Edinburgh location, but after dropping my parents and husband at our hotel just off the Royal Mile, I was so rattled that I drove out to the airport to drop it off. (And took the tram back into town, easy-peasy.)

So I can definitely support the thinking behind going out to the airport to pick up the car.

(On my trip a few weeks ago to the Highlands and Glasgow, I picked up and dropped off my rental car at the airport there, too — headed straight to the Highlands from the airport (but I am only coming from France so I don't have jet lag to contend with). When I was done with that part of my trip, i returned to the airport, dropped off my car, and took the 500 bus into the center of Glasgow to my hotel there.

June 2022 we rented from Arnold Clark and picked up and returned the car at Edinburgh airport. Arnold Clark is a Scottish rental car company and also has a few locations in England. Best rental car experience ever, total SCDW included and the car came with an integrated GPS. The rental agent was very patient explaining everything about the car, especially the GPS. We had some minor damage to the car and there was no hassle or additional expense for that. They have a small extra charge to return to a different location.

You have all been so much help with your advice. I’m going to go along with my original idea based on the advice. I’ll be ‘hiring’ a car from the EDI airport, as we’re leaving Edinburgh.
Mike (auchterless), we will go to Cumbernauld because my husbands family came from the area more than a century ago to start a new life in the West. We will search out Crawford Castle, but I fear it might be little more than a pile of stones at this stage!
We will spend the next 10 or so days throughout Scotland, stopping in Pitlochry, Stonehaven ( can’t wait to see castles), up and around to Inverness. From Inverness we’ll do some day trips, Loch Ness, Culloden, and some of the north coast. Then on to Skye, Oban, then to Glasgow, where we will drop our car at the airport before going into town. 4 days later we head back to LHR for our flight home.
I’m still working on some details for the trip. I absolutely love the planning, so I don’t rush it. I do however have our lodging all booked. I’m waiting for the magic date to hit so I can book my train tickets in advance. I’m getting excited!

Sitting in the front passenger seat on the left is a little nerve racking for me. Since one has the “driver perception” on the left side, I kept yelling “you are too close to curb”. After a heated verbal exchange, my husband and I decided the best course would be for me to calmly state “curb” if my passenger side perception felt he was going to hit the curb. And yes he did hit the curb on the left several times, but fortunately no flat tire.

And our roundabout rule to stay calm, as myself, as the navigator, is reading signs and trying to understand which exit, hubby is to continue round the roundabout until I can calmly and correctly direct hubby to exit. The beauty of roundabouts is that wrong turns are easily corrected by slingshotting back at the next roundabout.

If you are going to Cumbernauld don't go expecting anything much more than a modern commuter town, it was a new planned town in the 1960s and is mainly modern housing, box stores, and a famously ugly shopping centre.