Iceland & Scotland 2013
 

Four female friends heading to Iceland and Scotland in May 2013 for 2 weeks.

In Scotland, splitting time between Edinburgh & Portree.

In Iceland, splitting time between Reykjavik & Vik.

All hotel rooms and airplane tickets booked, but we need serious help on renting cars in both countries. Thanks for any help in advance!!!

I rented a car in Scotland with www.autoeurope.com, picking it up in Glasgow and returning it in Edinburgh. It worked fine.

where are you planning to rent a car? at the airport or in reykjavik?

we just got ours through the internet - they are VERY expensive though.

If you can book your hotels and flights, I'm confused why you need "serious help" to book hire cars as well. What are your concerns?

@Gordon. Well, from what I'm reading on different websites, people say that renting from a place called Easycar is only good if you are a single, or going short distances. Many people like AutoEurope, but others haven't. One girl in my group was checking on Kayak/Orbitz, but we were unsure if that would work well abroad. Booking hotels is so easy when you read all of the comments on TripAdvisor. Airlines are a breeze. But finding a rental car company to provide a GOOD rate, with automatic, with max insurance, with navigation, etc seems a bit confusing. Esp in Iceland, where we'll have a language barrier.

@Annhig, we're renting at the airport. We've heard it's terribly expensive, at least $100/day with gas around $6/liter.

Thanks for the help and comments everyone!

"Esp in Iceland, where we'll have a language barrier."

I don't know about car rental but I doubt you'll come across any Icelanders who won't speak English - it's compulsory in schools.

one of the websites cautioned that Americans sometime have difficulty with road signs in Iceland... that was my only concern. I didn't realize that all Icelanders were bilingual, that's wonderful to know, thank you for the tip.

<<one of the websites cautioned that Americans sometime have difficulty with road signs in Iceland...>>

I'm sure you'l be fine. Perhaps there should be a period after "road signs" in the above sentence? :S-

Enjoy your trip.

First, realise that the likes of EasyCar and AutoEurope (as well as Kemwell, HolidayAutos and a whole host of others, together with the more general on-line travel agents such as Expedia, Kayak etc) are intermediaries (brokers) who will compare the different hire car companies (Avis, Europcar, Hertz etc...) to offer the best rates. This is a good thing as it saves you the legwork of going round all the individual hire car companies websites for quotes. There is no problem at all using these companies to hire cars in other countries as they are all linked up to the hire car company databases.

I don't know where you saw the bad reports on using AutoEurope - I've hired cars thru them all over the world and always found them competitive. Bear in mind what I said above though - they don't operate the cars themselves.

That said, one local hire car company in Scotland that I an recommend is Arnold Clark, their service and prices are really good.

Hi MC,

>... a GOOD rate, with automatic, with max insurance, with navigation, etc....<

So you would like to dine at 3-star restaurant but not pay more than at MacD? :)

You should be aware that anyone from whom you rent will not guarantee that you will actually get an automatic with or w/o a GPS, nor will they guarantee a GPS with whatever you get.

The reason is that outside the US most cars are manual and don't have gps.

I have been very happy with www.kemwel.com - an associate of AutoEurope.

Their rates are good. They will meet any other equivalent offer. They will stand behind you in case of trouble.

I also use American Express to rent the car for their excellent insurance coverage.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

My friend Ira - - if you were trying to schlep around 4 American women with suitcases of clothes & shoes, camera bags, and god knows whatelse, AND trying to drive stick with your left hand, you would realize that a fuel efficient, cheap Fiat would probably not be in the cards. :)

Thanks for all of the website links, I sincerely appreciate your help. Hooameye, you rock.

<i>Many people like AutoEurope, but others haven't.</i>

In many instances, there is a confusion between the broker Autoeurope and provider who may have a similar name. This was the case in one discussion about an unsatisfactory experience in Italy; which is not to deny that some people may have had problems with the broker's service. I haven't, although mix-ups have occurred. www.kemwel.com is a sister company whose name will not be confused with a provider.

<i>4 American women with suitcases of clothes & shoes, camera bags, and god knows whatelse</i>

You may have to establish limits luggage limitations.

correction: establish luggage limitations.

You have heard/read so many weird/daft things, I'm curious where you've looked?

easyCar is not the same as Autoeurope (easyCar is part of easyJet, easyHotel, etc . . . you MUST like orange to use them :)

Autoeurope is a VERY reputable broker that will get you the best rates maybe 75% of the time.

re insurance - you should check w/ your credit card provider. Most of the time your cc will cover your CDW.

"<i>if you were trying to schlep around 4 American women with suitcases of clothes & shoes, camera bags, and god knows whatelse, AND trying to drive stick with your left hand,</i>"

I'm an American woman, have schlepped many other American women (and men) around the UK, and manage just fine w/ a stick. So if the $$$ is important - you can too. But in ANY case - you had all better pack light. Like carry-on only, or 24 inch suitcases maximum. No normal car no matter how large/expensive will have space for 4 large suitcases plus carry on's/camera cases/crap.

Not only are icelanders bi-lingual, quite a few people employed at places like the airport are english or speak it VERY well [i met some who really didn't speak icelandic] so you really won't have any problems on that score.

$100/day actually sounds like quite a good rate.