Scotland car and gas prices
 

Really want to go to Scotland with my husband in September, but of course, the US. dollar is worse in Great Britain than even vs. the Euro.

So.. some money questions:

We'd like to travel around the countryside and so must rent a car. Anyone know what a small car for one week would cost? Same for price of gas?

Petrol is between about £1.05-£1.10 per liter -- or about £4 ($7.80-$8) per US gallon. But could certainly be higher by Sept. And will cost more in remote areas.

Cars are small and get very good mileage - but it is still pricey.

BTW &quot;<i> the US. dollar is worse in Great Britain than even vs. the Euro.</i>&quot; is not true at all. Do not look at &pound; = $1.96 and &euro; = $1.59 and figure the &euro; is a better deal. The dollar has almost the exact same buying power in both currencies - maybe <i>slightly</i> better in the UK.

Have you thought about taking a bus tour to avoid the ridiculous cost of gas in the U.K.? That,together with bed and breakfast at around $60 per person per night, makes touring by car an expensive option.

But when totaled up - most coach tours are even more expensive. No choice of accommodations (which one would have on a self-drive tour). Plus on a tour, every person pays the full price. The cost of a rental car would be prorated for each passenger so in the long run, driving can definitely be cheaper.

&lt;&lt;&lt; No choice of accommodations &gt;&gt;&gt;

Many of the tours I've seen exclude accommodation so you can choose the level you want

I was talking about the typical guided coach tour. When touring around Scotland there would be few if any choices.

Now a fly/drive package is another option - but again you can usually do better booking rental cars independently.

There is so much to see in Scotland that a car is usually a better option, especially if you like things off the beaten track. For instance, I am not a big shopper, so stopping at the gift shop is not something that will interest me for more than 2 minutes. A castle or abbey, stone circle or hidden old-style pub, that's another story :) You get more of a chance to talk to the locals on your own, as well.

We are renting a car from Enterprise for 20 days for $650, including taxes. Automatic is usually much more (sometimes twice as) expensive than a manual, but if you aren't used to a stick shift, you don't want to learn in the Scottish highlands. Ours is manual. We are also renting an intermediate size, as we are large folks - a compact would be less.

Enterprise, Hertz, AutoEurope, these are all good sites to find cars and compare prices.

Totally agree with GreenDragon. I personally would never even consider anything other than renting a car but then we have been to Scotland so many times we have stopped comparing currencies or worrying about the price of gas. We just do it. It is what it is. Unfortunately it is the price one has to pay but it is sooooooo worth it! :)

AutoEurope also does price matching (this has happened a few times for us). Just something to keep in mind.

Oh, and last time I was in the UK (2005), while gas was three times what it is here, their gas mileage was like 50mph, which is 3 times what my husband's car gets :)

We had a party of 3 last summer and wanted a slightly larger car so that we could accomodate everyone comfortably and put the luggage out of sight in the boot. The car was about $600 for 1 week. We traveled about 800 miles, and spent about $220 on gas (it would be a little more to do it this year, but so much of the price of gas over there is tax that the percentage increase they've seen at the pump appears to be much smaller), if I recall corretly. You could do better than that with a smaller car (both the rental rate and on the mileage, although we did get 30 mpg in our Saab 9-5).

GreenDragon - How many miles do you think you'll be putting in in your 20 days?

I've heard of a couple of tours that go out of Edinburgh - one is called &quot;Haggis&quot;. Anyone know of it?

I see a price of $300-something per person for a 5 days tour of Loch Ness, Northwest Highland and Isle of Skye. Sounds reasonable to me but truly have never gone on a tour so don't know if we'd like it, even for 5 days.

kenav, we are driving Edinburgh to Grantown-on-Spey to Orkney to Lewis to Skye to Mull to Killin to Glasgow, so I would imagine quite a bit of mileage. However, there are two cars and six people, so three people per car on average.

I've heard of the Haggis tours, that they were more geared towards the younger crowd. But that's all I've heard...

I just checked my route on Viamichelin, and (without day trips from each spot) it looks like almost 900 miles - which translates into about $250 in fuel costs, (twice for two cars) equals about $80 per person. Not terrible.

We recently hired a smallish car for a week and it cost just over 100 GBP. Vauxhall Astra, 4 seater or 5 at a push. This was in a very remote part of Scotland so in the central belt you should get a better deal.
Our price included 4 GBP per day to limit our personal liability to 100 GBP for any accident. You could take a chance, keep the 4 ounds per day and accept the risk of paying 500 GBP if the worst happens.
Most hire cars run on unleaded petrol which is around 1.15 GBP per litre or just over 5 GBP per UK gallon. Prices are higher in remote areas, strange since the oil comes from the north sea into terminals in the remote areas! If you drive sensibly you should get 35 to 40 miles per gallon from most hire cars.

When talking petrol costs - remember, the a UK gallon is 20% larger than a US gallon. Doesn't make it cheaper - but just so you don't panic hearing that gas $10 a gal. :)

From what company did any of you rent your car? Did you reserve it in advance?

Most any rental company is comparable.

What I usually do is start by checking Autoeurope. They are a US-based broker that handles most of the major brands. They often (but not always) have the very best rates. Then I go searching for a better deal. Sometimes Autoeurope will match a lower rate.

You definitely want to pre-book - walk up rates are often 20%-40% higher - or more. And <u>especially</u> if you think you want a automatic, you must book ahead.

Be sure when comparing rates that you read all the small print/terms/conditions. Insurance options can cost several &pound; a day. Is the 2nd driver included or extra cost?, How much excess (deductible)? The cheapest might end up actually costing more.

I've used Enterprise and AutoEurope.

I used Argus, which is a consolidator like Autoeurope. No complaints on my end. I chose them simply becasue they had a better price on the class of vehicles I was interested in.

GreenDragon -
Is there a reason you're staying in Grantown-on-Spey rather than Inverness? (I've never been to either of them. Never in Scotland, for that matter.)