Renting a car in Europe (and still driving happily to the bank)

When I lived (briefly) in London, a too-posh friend devised a trick for remembering which way to look before crossing the street: Ralph Lauren. That is, look right (Ralph), then left (Lauren). I used this trick religiously, and simultaneously vowed that if it was this hard for me to remember how to walk across the British streets, I must not endeavor to drive on them.

But today, I'm married to a man who's lived all over the world, and who fears no road. (I barely held him back from driving a scooter through the unpaved streets-without-lanes in India, at rush hour, when honking buses, rickshaws, motorcycles, cows, pigs and goats fight their way through the road, some at top speed, some at low speed, all at once, all in different directions). This week, for our first anniversary, we're heading to Great Britain. He wants to rent a car in Leeds and drive up to Edinburgh.

Friends and guide books insisted that we'd pay far more if we did the renting in the U.K. than if we did it here in America. So I loaded up Google and searched for "Europe favorite rental car." While I searched, my husband got on the phone with Avis. Renting an economy automatic car for five days, he found, would run about $450. He could save $100 by taking a stick-shift. I had some ideas about where they could stick their shift.

Online, extensive clicking led me to Europcar, where I found the comparatively paltry rate of $200 for a manual "mini" car. But since I don't drive manual, and because the animals in Scotland can generally dwarf a Volkswagen, I thought the mini size might not be prudent. So I searched further, and found an automatic Hyundai, all taxes included, for $283 if I paid up front ($319 if I didn't). I decided to call Europcar directly to be sure I was getting the best price. A nice operator named Jenny quoted me $444. She noted that Europcar's prices "can be lower online."

Yet more intriguingly, I checked the prices online in British pounds instead of in dollars. The same car would run me 245 pounds--that's almost $500! Be careful when you book: clicking the wrong currency can lead to a very nasty conversion rate on your credit card later.

I comparison-checked Europebycar. Though one blog praised it, the layout of the site reminded me of an ad for repossessed cars, so I skipped it. Another site, Autoeurope, quoted me $350 and up for an automatic ride.

I'm feeling good about the little Hyundai we've rented without A/C (it's winter; I can only hope we need the A/C). Should I be nervous that I looked up the model and discovered that it's being marketed in India? Perhaps not: if it can dodge animals in Delhi, it might be a natural highland cow-protector.

Here's betting I get into the car on the wrong side at least twice. As long as I don't let in a sheep, I think I'll be all right.

Photo credit: Billy's Captures.