Turkey Driving Advice and Car Hire Info
Driving in Turkey
First check your governments website for any guidance on travel within Turkey-there may be restrictions on travel to regions bordering Syria and the provinces of Diyarbakir, Tunceli and Hakkari.
Turkey drives on the right and you need your own licence plus an international driving permit to drive here. Speed limits range from 120kmh on motorways to 90kmh on other roads and 50kmh in urban areas. All vehicles must carry a warning triangle, first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. Children under twelve aren’t allowed to travel in the front passenger seat.
Motorways in Turkey are known as Otoyol or Otoban prefixed with an O and most are toll roads.Road numbers are split by region as follows-
O-1 to O-9: Marmara region
O-20 to O-29: Central Anatolia region
O-30 to O-39: Aegean region
O-50 to O-59: Mediterranean region, South Eastern Anatolia region
Main routes include the O5 which connects Istanbul with İzmir, via Bursa and Balıkesir and the O4, known as the Anatolian Motorway linking Istanbul and Ankara.
Tolls can be paid at barriers when leaving motorways in most cases, but the cash/credit card payments are being replaced by automated systems – OGS – Otomatik Geçiş Sistemi (Automatic Passage System) which is a prepaid vehicle transponder and KGS – Kartlı Geçiş Sistemi (Card Payment System), which is a prepaid card. Both systems can be purchased at banks, service stations and tollbooths.
Road conditions in Turkey vary greatly between large, modern, well maintained motorways to pot holed gravel tracks in rural areas. Main Roads in the western, southwestern, and coastal regions of Turkey are generally in good condition and are well maintained.Driving at night presents particular hazards on poorly lit roads which will be driven by badly lit or unlit vehicles and may have pot holes, missing man hole covers and other obstacles. Standards of driving are generally lower than those in Europe and USA and drivers will sometimes ignore road rules and overtake in dangerous situations and may ignore traffic signals so you should always drive cautiously. If a car breaks down the driver may place a pile of rocks in the road about 15 metres from their car which present a hazard if you fail to see them in time, especially at night.Driving and road standards are generally more akin to Europe than Asia but you should still drive with caution and expect the unexpected.
Although I try and keep the information in the site updated as much as possible, in a rapidly moving world, situations can change daily. Therefore please use the site as an approximate guide, and in conjunction with other resources in order to form your view on driving conditions, roads, safety etc.
Turkey Car Rental –
Sixt, Hertz, Europcar, Alamo, National,Avis, Budget, Thrifty, Dollar, have branches here. Also usually features on Car rental broker sites and Web discount sites such as Expedia.
We currently have no local car rental partners in Turkey. If you are a local car rental company who would like to feature on DriverAbroad.com please check details on our Partnering page or contact us on ADriverAbroad@Outlook.com
Turkey Self Drive Rules
None of the companies seem to allow cars to be taken outside Turkey.One way rentals within Turkey should be possible, certainly with the big international companies.
