I am wondering if it would be wise to rent a car to best travel from Edinburgh (only because we would be leaving from Stirling on a Sunday when the rentals appear to be closed) to travel to Stirling, then to Inverness, finally returning the car in Glasgow, where we hop on a plane to travel to the Isle of Islay. I am thinking a car rental may the best way to hit these less-traveled areas, as I am not turning up great public transportation options. However, I am worried about driving in Scotland (the whole left-side of the road thing), as well as parking, etc. Also, I do not know the first thing about WHO to rent from in Scotland--does anyone have suggestions for car rental companies to frequent and those to avoid in Scotland? Are companies like Budget/Avis, etc. good companies there, or are the unknown (to Americans like me, at least) companies that I am turning up, ones to gamble on? I would appreciate any advice, thanks!
Posted by
Texas
518 posts
Try Autoeurope.com It is an American company that specializes in European car rentals. I have found their prices to be quite good. All the major companies found here are over there as well, plus a few others. I have used Europecar several times. Each time was fine. If you've not driven on the left side of the road before, Scotland is not a bad place to start. It's not very busy in most places. Even though the roads can be narrow, I wouldn't worry about driving. You can request an automatic transmission, and I would advise that. You will get the best rates by reserving your car before you leave home. If you use Autoeurope, you get a voucher number that you take with you to the rental agency. Driving in Scotland with Scotish music playing on the CD is one of our most vivid memories of our last trip there.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
1 posts
Hi there, We are also considering a car rental for the Scottish Highlands and while we have traveled in Europe many times by train, we have never rented a car. And we've only rented a car once or twice in the US! What sort of extra insurance should we purchase when we rent the car? And we have also read that some rental companies put a hold for some amount on the credit card used to reserve the car. Any idea how to find out about that before actually reserving a car? I'm not sure what sort of hidden costs we should be looking for when renting so any advice on this would be very helpful! Mel
Posted by
Charlotte, NC, USA
3428 posts
We DON't drive in the UK and Glasgow,Sterling and Inverness can be easily reached by train. Not sure about Islay as we haven't been there, but easy to catch a cheap flight in Inverness or Glasgow. If you really want to drive, I'd suggest looking for some posts on the North board about Scotland and finding an answer from Pamela. Then send her a private message. She has driven the "wee roads" of Scotland a great deal and seems to love it. As to "hidden" costs- gas in the UK is VERY expensive, parking is scarce and expensive and driving on the left on very small (often small and single lane) winding roads scares the bejibbers out of me. Good Luck!!!
Posted by
Marion
177 posts
I have rented cars from Edinburgh a couple of times. We use gemut.com and got good results-better price than autoeurope. If you have a problem at the rental desk they give you a toll free number to call. I have never had to call but it is reassuring to have this option. The places you are going do not require you to get on any wee roads unless you make a wrong turn. Edinburgh airport in on the outskirts of town and easy to get in and out of. I don't know about Glasgow but it seemed like a bigger city to me but I suspect the airport is out from the city To me a car is needed to visit the countryside and sights.
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1864 posts
If you want access to any tiny village or glen on your own schedule, you need a car......We have driven several times in Scotland and Ireland without any problems. You get used to the left-side driving fairly quickly....the trick is not to keep making mental comparisons with what you would do if you were driving on the right-hand side in the states. On the little side roads, all the drivers we have met in the daytime have been very courteous and we have encountered few of the crazy speeders types.......We try to avoid late evening driving on the side roads, since I figure that's when the inebriated are out there. We stay in small towns where we can walk to the pubs or at country inns which serve dinner......We have rented from Hertz at both the Glasgow and Edinburgh airports without any problems......Have heard a few horror stories about people renting downtown Edinburgh and different franchises having no cars available, even though they had reservations......Our rental in June, 2010 was a VW diesel Passat which got 60 mpg.
Posted by
OP
Snohomish, WA, USA
2 posts
Thanks to everyone for the helpful tipsI've found that if I want to avoid spending an entire day traveling from Inverness to the Isle of Islay, I'm going to have to rent a car to avoid sitting on a bus from Inverness to Glasgow, then catching another bus to catch the ferry over to Islay. Since everyone seems so optimistic on driving in Scotland, it looks like we will be doing it! Hopefully, it will allow us the freedom that we want to go and see things otherwise impossible!
~Kelsie