hello, good afternoon !

i have an upcoming trip to Scotland & Ireland.
I land in Edinburg and the plan is to rent a car at the airport & then drive to Ireland and then return it back at the Edinburg airport.

I have a few questions:
1) Can i rent a car in Scotland with a US Drivers License?
2) Can i rent a car in Scotland and take it to Ireland ?
3) Here's the Ferry i plan to take across the 2 countries (will appreciate any tips on how to save time) - Take the Cairnryan - Larne/Larne - Cairnryan ferry (does anyone know how much it would cost me, one-way?)

appreciate all your responses ! thank you SO much!

Welcome to Fodors. You are landing at Edinburgh airport (not at Edinburg -- that is in Texas )

Sorry but it makes absolutely no sense to take a rental car from Scotland (or anywhere in the UK) to Ireland and back. Not only would you have to pay a lot on the ferry . . . Your credit card which will cover the excess insurance in the UK will not cover you in Ireland so you'll have to pay a boat load extra €/£/$ for the insurance.

Either fly between the two countries or take a ferry as a foot passenger, and rent two different cars -- one in the UK and a different car in the Republic..

Oh and yes -- you can drive with a US driver's license.

And please don't drive immediately upon your arrival in Edinburgh -- if coming from the U.S., you won't be safe to drive for at least 36 hours. Safe for you or anyone else on the roads.

Oh Lordy - I missed that entirely. If your plan is to land at EDI and dive from there to Cairnryan -- absolutely 100% not!. If you are at the airport and want to get to Ireland -- fly to DUB. If you want to get to Northern Ireland -- fly to Belfast.

Maybe there are a lot of details missing?? Are you planning on spending some time touring Scotland before heading to Ireland? Even if that's the plan. don't drive on your arrival day. And -- definitely rent a separate car for each country.

As for how much the ferry costs - it depends on when you want to travel. A simple internet search will give you the ferry company website and you can see what it costs.

This was many years ago and it's possible the rules have changed. My aunt and uncle rented a car in the UK, drove area for a week or so, then they planned to take the car ferry to Ireland with the rental car. When the people at the ferry found out it's a rental, they told them it's not allowed to take rental cars from the UK to Ireland. They had to turn in the car, walk onto the ferry, luggage in hand, then rent a different car in Ireland.

Again, this was long ago so take that information for what it's worth. My point is that you might not be allowed to do this. Even if it is allowed, I still wouldn't do it for reasons mentioned by other posters.

If you decide after the above posts that you still want to take a car across, then you need to check with the company you are using if they allow it, and many do, but they must be informed. Also accept there will be extra European insurance coverage involved.
You can then do the sums to decide what makes sense for you.

thank you for the candid response ! based on the response received on here, i have chosen to not drive from Scotland into Ireland (taking a flight instead).

thank you for the candid response ! based on the response received on here, i have chosen to not drive from Scotland into Ireland (taking a flight instead).

i have a US Driving license valid for another few years, it is in English. On top of that, do i still need an international drivers permit to rent a car in either of these countries ? Scotland and Republic of Ireland ? thank you again for valuable information : )

No

Check the terms and conditions of your rental company. They can refuse to rent a car to you without an international DL. We have had it happen recently in Italy. The ensuing hassle was not worth the money we saved by not getting the IDL.

i was in Italy last year and had rented a car there - i did get a International Driving Permit (not license) from AAA in the USA before i went there. Although no one asked me for my permit when i rented the car (from Hertz at the time).

but this is Scotland and Ireland - are you sure i am going to need the IDP ? i leave tomorrow, i really only have today - so need to know for sure.

thank you J62!

Italy is not the UK / Ireland. An IDP (it’s a Permit, not a ‘license’) is a translation of your drivers license - which presumably is in English so no translation is needed.

Thanks for that clarification Janis. In 20 years we had only been asked for an IDP once before in Europe, so it came as quite the surprise when Europcar in Venice refused us a car because we had not brought the IDP with us. They pointed out that their Terms and Conditions say that Europcar may refuse to rent a car to you if you don't have an IDP. That is why I will now always check the Terms and Conditions.

We were travelling on to Santa Margherita Ligure and Piemonte and really wanted a car to get around to the small villages in Piemonte. So I booked ahead to Genoa train station, where we were able to rent a car when we arrived there a few days later. And yes, I realize that was Italy and not Ireland. And thanks for pointing out that it is a permit, and just a translation of your license, although I don't know how anyone could have understood the handwriting of the AAA agent if they had needed to look at the IDP I think Google translate would do a better job.

@ natylou: Geesh! Glad you managed despite this "snag."

I suspect the IDP is designed to put the details in the same place as most police forces logging system.

Hand filling the form in sounds like crazy town