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car rental in Scotland

We are family of four doing a road trip around Scotland next July.
Pick up and drop off in Edinburgh.
We are two tall adults and two teenage girls.
Looking at car rentals and not familiar with European models.
We want to be comfortable, plenty of leg room, but the smallest car due to narrow roads.
What is suggested?
TIA!

Posted by
7 posts

Last October we rented a car in Edinburgh. We found a great deal through kemwel.com - we went with an intermediate class (VW Jetta or similar) from Hertz. They ended up giving us a Kia Carens (in the US it is a Rondo). Before the trip we were quite concerned about finding a vehicle to fit us - The three of us are tall (I'm 5' 11", husband is 6' 5", and son was over 6'). We had plenty of leg room, there was room for luggage, and it felt manageable to drive for our first time driving on the other side of the road and on single track roads. We put on over 1200 miles on the 8 days we were there so we spent a lot of time in that vehicle!

Have a wonderful trip!

Posted by
8319 posts

I have found that Scotland (and Ireland) have great fly and drive packages thru European travel agents and consolidaters like Tripmasters.com. They handle all arrangements and give you vouchers for accommodations.
Kemwell and AutoEurope.com are both great car rental consolidates if you just need a car.
A mid size car should work for you. Just make sure everyone brings a carryon bag, and the trunk will have sufficient room.

Posted by
1221 posts

Keep in mind that unless you're spending the big currency for a specific exotic sports car, all the listings are 'or equivalent' so there's no real point in contemplating a Fiat Panda or a Ford Mondeo or such right now. What you actually get isn't decided until you hit the airport, and if you hate the first vehicle offered, most of the major rental agencies will accommodate a very polite request for a different car in the same class, provided one is on the lot. I'd probably just go with the small station wagon (aka 'estate' vehicle) or smaller SUV that looks to be a category with decent space for luggage.

And rental cars are generally an area where you're better off not prepaying because there will be a zillion different offers and sales between now and then, and checking once a week or trying a different affinity or partner code when you search can put the reservation-only rate well below that first prepaid rate you are offered.