Renting a Car in Turkey – Everything You NEED to Know in 2024

Renting a car is a beautiful way to see Turkey. It allows you to get around much quicker and stop off at beautiful locations along the road that you wouldn’t be able to if you took public transportation. 🚌 ⛴️

But … is it safe? How are the drivers in Turkey? How are the roads? Is it expensive?

The first time I drove in a round-a-bout in Turkey I was shocked when the car coming into the roundabout didn’t yield to me (I was in the roundabout already). Eventually I would learn that this is normal in Turkey. The car coming in has the right-of-way, and the cars already inside are supposed to yield. Would have been helpful to know beforehand! 🚗 🚙 🚕

We took a road trip through Southern Turkey in May of 2024 and are happy to answer all of your questions for your upcoming Turkey Road Trip.

🇹🇷 Our Favorite Resources for Turkey 👇

Table of Contents

renting a car in turkey trolley
renting a car in turkey fethiye downtown
renting a car in turkey waterfall
renting a car in turkey boat

Renting a Car in Turkey – Everything to Know

The most common cars to rent in Turkey are the Renault Clio and the Hyundai i20. I drove each of these at one point during our trip to Turkey.

renting a car in turkey clio
renting a car in turkey hyundai

Should You Rent A Car?

First off, it is not absolutely necessary to rent a car for your whole trip in Turkey. The public buses are good, and you can use these to travel between cities. Once you get to a place and you realize you want transportation to visit things outside of the city, it is very easy to rent a car for just a day, and even cheaper to go with a motor bike for the day.

However, a car will make things a lot easier, faster, and more efficient. One thing to consider is that you are probably going to have to backtrack on your trip to return the car to the place where you rented it from – unless you are fine with paying a large premium.

Another thing to consider is that driving in Turkey is not exactly like driving in the US or Europe. It is not as crazy as Southeast Asia or South America, but it certainly is not perfect. People will pass you on the wrong side of the road frequently, they will drive through red lights, and they will drive the wrong way on one way streets. If you are not comfortable with a bit of “unpredictability”, then maybe renting a car for your trip in Turkey isn’t for you. 🛑 🚗

➡️ Read: The Perfect 2 Week Turkey Itinerary 🇹🇷

Cost to rent a car in Turkey 💰

For a manual, you’re going to pay about $15-20 per day for an Economy car.

For an automatic, you’re going to pay about $25-30 per day for an Economy car.

If you rent it in one place and return it in another, you are going to pay a huge premium. Maybe an extra $100-200 on top of the rental cost.

Driving on the Roads

This is the thing that most are worried about. Are there rules? Is it safe for a foreigner? Turkey was the first country that I drove in outside of the US, and I found it to be pretty manageable. There are certain unwritten rules on the roads in Turkey that we certainly do not have in the US or Europe, but for most part I felt perfectly fine.

➡️ Read: Top 10 Things to Do in Kas, Turkey 🇹🇷

renting a car in turkey taxi street
renting a car in turkey road

Here are some general tips and things I noticed while driving in Turkey…

  • Driving off the road (on the right side aka the barrier) so others can pass is very normal.
  • When making a left turn, a car behind you will cut you off, drive to your left, and make the left turn before you.
  • Drivers will pass very aggressively on two lane roads. Best to just slow down when they do this.
  • Motorbike drivers will do whatever they want. They will weave in and out of lanes and drive right up to the front when traffic is stopped at a light.
  • Round-a-bouts are very common, and traditional rules (cars already in the round-a-bout have the right-of-way) are not always followed. Some sources say the round-a-bout rules are backwards in Turkey and that the person coming in has the right-of-way. This seems to depend case by case in my experience. I would just assume the person coming in is going to go if you’re already in the round-a-bout.
  • Outside of the cities, it’s very normal to encounter goats/cows on the road. Just stop or continue slowly and they’ll move out of the way.
  • Blinkers are not used very frequently – be prepared to stop on a dime.
  • There are random checkpoints where police officers will check your papers. This happened to us and we just showed our passports and they let us through, but it seemed as if Turkish people were forced to show much more than this.
  • There are paper cutouts of police on the side of the highways to discourage you from speeding.
  • When you stop at an intersection, the stop light is right above you as opposed to in front or across from you. This makes it very hard to see when the light changes if you are first in line. Usually people behind you will beep to let you know the light has changed.
  • Turkish drivers (especially men) have a very short fuse. They will blow up over the slightest problem/disagreement. I would recommend you never engage with them, as they are known to blow up over nothing.

🚗 We recommend to rent a car for Turkey through Discover Cars. Book your rental car here! 🇹🇷

renting a car in turkey goats
renting a car in turkey sheeps

Gas

We paid about $50 to fill up the tank of our Hyundai i20 Economy Car. The average gas price as I am writing this in May of 2024 is $1.37 per liter.

When you go to get gas, someone will pump the gas for you. If you are paying with credit card you will probably take the receipt inside and pay at the counter.

💡 TIP: The word for Gas is Benzin. The word for diesel is Dizel. ⛽️

English is not common in Turkey. The first time we pulled into a gas station the guy asked me if I wanted “Benzin”. I had no idea what that meant – I thought it might be a type of special gas … but it’s not. It’s just normal gas.

Almost all gas stations will have free bathrooms for you to use, even if you are not buying anything. We stopped at gas stations quite often to use the bathroom – even if we weren’t getting any gas.

➡️ Read: Top 12 Things to Do in Fethiye🇹🇷

Where to Rent A Car From?

I rented our cars through Discover Cars, and had no problems. I find their interface easy to use, and their customer service to be very responsive. Discover Cars is a platform that finds local rental agencies who have cars available for rent.

Personally, I find other rental sites like Kayak, Priceline, etc. to be a bit hard to use.

👉 Rent your car with Discover HERE! 🚗

The Rental Process – Things to Know Beforehand

First off, there is very little English in Turkey. Odds are there will be someone who speaks English at the rental car agency, but don’t count on it. When you show up to rent the car you will need to present your passport, driver’s license, and credit card.

👍 Here are some things we think it would be beneficial to know before you rent a car in Turkey.

The Deposit – Depending on the company you rent the car from, you are going to have to put a deposit or “hold” on your credit card. This can range anywhere from $50 – $950. This is quite a big range, especially if you are renting a car multiple times during your trip in Turkey. The one company we rented from in Antalya wanted to put a hold of $950 on my card for up to 25 days. For this rental, I was only renting the car for one day! Discover Cars said on their site that the hold would only be there until “the end of the rental period”, but when I got to the rental place in Antalya, this wasn’t true. Make sure you read the fine print when you get to the rental agency as the details online might not be exactly accurate.

🇹🇷 Travel Insurance 💌

Don’t forget Travel Insurance for your trip. Safety Wing covers emergency medical, dental, trip interruption, lost luggage, and more.

Check out Safety Wing here. ⬅️

Meet & Greet – A lot of rental agencies will list “Meet & Greet” in order to pick-up the car. However, this is often only offered if you are coming from the airport. If you are already in the city, then you will have to make your own way to the agency. Make sure you clarify this beforehand.

Rental Insurance – Ideally your credit card comes with rental car insurance. So make sure you pay for the rental car with the right credit card. If you do this, there is no need to purchase extra coverage. Your card should cover everything. Don’t let them bate you into this extra cost.

➡️ Read: 8 Things to Do in Antalya🇹🇷

renting a car in turkey road
renting a car in turkey road with view

Conclusion – Renting a Car in Turkey

If you are a confident driver and you have the cash, then it is worth it to rent a car when you come to Turkey. The roads and drivers are quite different from the US and Europe, but not that much different. The convenience and freedom from having a rental car when you come to Turkey will give you the freedom to get to the spots you would have trouble getting to with public transportation. It will also give you a cultural experience and allow you to stop at places you wouldn’t visit if you were taking the public bus. Turkish roads are very well maintained, and there are plenty of reputable companies to rent from when you come here.

➡️ Read: 2 Week Turkey and Greece Itinerary 🇬🇷 🇹🇷

Enjoy your road-trip through Turkey and let us know if you have any questions. Turkey is an amazing country to visit!

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