Renting a Car in the UK & Europe: A Simple Guide for Travelers

We usually like to explore by road. Whether it’s a Hire car, a Motorhome or a Caravan, we find road based exploration suits us the best. For that reason, we usually hire a car, when we don’t have our motorhome with us. Hiring a car has so many advantages, and a couple of disadvantages, so read on with us and we’ll list them here, along with a few hints and tips for both the UK and the European Mainland.

• Go anywhere at your time and schedule.
• Carry all of your stuff around in style and comfort. Leave things in the car if you want to. You aren’t limited to a single suitcase or bag. For us this one applies when we travel especially, as we tend to do groceries and almost always have apartments or cottages with kitchens. Carrying a few bags of groceries between sits means you can have some of those long term cooking items like salt, pepper, oil etc without having to rebuy them regularly. (Daniel even bought a coffee machine for one 16 week stint!)
• Stop for as long or short a time as you wish at your attractions.
• Go and see heaps of smaller less popular attractions that aren’t covered by tour busses or train stations.
• Go to more popular attractions at times when the normal bus crowds aren’t there.
• Cost – Depending on how many of you there are, normally by the time we do 3 train or bus tickets per day/destination, hiring a car works out cheaper and more convenient. We usually get hire cars for between $20-45 AUD a day, depending on the season and locations.

• Driving can be stressful, when you aren’t familiar with the roads, languages, customs, side of the road etc.
• Parking costs in most of the UK, and in a lot of European cities. We usually chose apartments with parking specifically when we travel Europe with a hire car. For example we have stayed in Zagreb, Vienna, Budapest, Lubjana, Munich and heaps of other cities with a hire car, by choosing this option. Sometimes it costs extra, but we have found it consistently works out cheaper than public transport for our travels.

Those Mountain Views

140km/h on the autobahn

Slovenia Mountain pass

Driving the Transfagarasan Highway, Romania

• Rental companies such as Hertz, Avis, Europcar, and Sixt operate widely across the UK and Europe. We have used smaller and lesser known companies too, and have had no issues with any of them. We book our rental cars here to ensure we get the best deal!
• It’s best to book online in advance for better rates and availability.
• Automatic cars are available but limited—if you prefer one, book early.
• Most rentals require a credit card and a valid driver’s license both in the name of the person booking. An International Driving Permit (IDP) is recommended for non-EU travelers but we have never needed it and it is not legally required anywhere other than Italy.
• Ensure your rental includes insurance; third-party liability insurance is required by law.

• If traveling with young children, you can rent car seats, but they can be expensive over long periods (about $10/day)
• If hiring a car for more than a month, it may be more cost-effective to buy a car seat from a local baby supply shop. We bought one for Aria in Germany when we first arrived. We just googled to find a shop and then looked at details and reviews online for suitable options. Once at the shop we chose from what was available and from the research we did. It cost us about $150.

• Australians and other left-side drivers will feel at home, but if you’re used to driving on the right, it may take a couple of hours to adjust, but after that, you’ll wonder what you were worried about.
• Roundabouts are common—give way to traffic from the right and choose the correct lanes (which may change in the round-a-bout).

• UK roads can be narrow, especially in rural areas, but they are always manageable with careful driving. Be aware that you may encounter large trucks and other vehicles on roads you wouldn’t think are suitable at home.
• Parking is generally easy; just use Google Maps or apps like Parkopedia to find parking spots. Be aware that a lot of UK car parks use Camera based enforcement, including shopping centres, so overstaying 1 or 2 hours, or returning to the same supermarket within 2 hours can get you a parking fine, that your hire company will add a nice administration fee too. (Ask us how we know this one!)
• Some cities, like London, have congestion charges, and low emissions zones. —check before driving into urban centers.

• Rental cars cannot be taken on ferries between the UK and mainland Europe or between the UK and Ireland. If you need to travel across, return your UK rental and hire a new car on arrival.

• Insurance in the UK isn’t the same as Australia or other countries. When hiring a vehicle, having a driver named on the rental as an extra driver actually legally allows them to drive for the compulsory insurances. If a driver isn’t named on the rental agreement, they aren’t legally allowed to drive the vehicle, and can have the vehicle confiscated and fines levied.

• Speeds vary in the UK and it’s common to see a black circle on a white background with a cross through it. That means that the speed limit is the “national limit”. In practice this changes based on the type of road, but you can generally assume that 60mph is the norm, unless on a divided dual carriageway, when it is 70. (We find this quite annoying! Just put the actual speed limit sign up!)

• In Europe, driving is on the right-hand side, which may take adjustment for UK and Australian drivers. Again it will only take a couple of hours to adjust and then it will be like normal.
• The road network is well-maintained, and major highways (autoroutes, autobahns) have tolls in some countries like France and Italy, and something called a Vignette in other countries (like Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia) which must be purchased to travel on the main highway networks. This can be done easily at a service station at the border, and even online in some countries.

• Like in the UK, parking is manageable with Google Maps or parking apps. Some places have the paid meter which take card and cash, or one or the other only. Sometimes this is also done by an app, which we had trouble downloading one of as you need a local phone number, so couldn’t park in that particular park.
• Some cities, such as Paris and Milan, have restricted driving zones—check local regulations.

• Driving between European countries is straightforward, with open borders under the Schengen Agreement.
• Some rental companies charge extra for cross-border travel—confirm in advance. They can track the vehicles in their fleet also, so just tell them in advance!

• Different countries operate differently with speeds in Europe, but generally you will be able to understand and recognize the signs. Some countries go up to 130km/h on highways (France) , others like Germany have no speed limits on some Autobahns (stay right unless overtaking!) and others limit you to 100.
• When entering towns, quite often there will be no speed limit change sign, and you must assume that the town name sign is also a speed limit sign, with speeds varying from 30km/h to 70km/h. We usually go with whatever Google maps says to keep life easy.

• Book round trip hire cars whenever possible, or at least work out the different options and costs. We usually pick a hub city that we want to see, that has great flight connections and cheap hire cars, and use that to do large 12ish week loops. Ie. Frankfurt for Western Europe, Budapest for Eastern Europe, Rome for Italy and Barcelona for Spain and Portugal.
• Get familiar with local road signs and speed limits, a lot of these are common sense though.
• Have a navigation app like Google Maps or Waze for easy routing.
• Check fuel policies—some rentals require returning the car with a full tank, others require it returned at the same level you picked up at (which is actually really hard to do).
• Keep emergency numbers handy in case of breakdowns.

Renting a car in the UK and Europe is a hassle-free way to experience incredible landscapes and hidden gems. If you are planning a trip that is capital cities only, we don’t recommend a car, we recommend flights or trains to go between each capital. With a little planning, you’ll enjoy a smooth and memorable road trip through UK & Europe!

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