Faremax: Travel Forums

Learn a stick shift (manual transmission) very few rental car companies in europe have automatic transmissions, while you're at it, lots of americans are in car accidents from driving on the wrong side of the road.   

Good advice!

Before I really became comfortable with driving in the U.K., I'd also pick cities that weren't as busy as London to pick up a car.  Sometimes, getting out of an airport is the hardest part!

 

Vicki2

Yes, double check with the rental company if you reserve an automatic in advance through the web. We reserved an automatic online and then when we arrived at the rental company to pick it up, they informed us that they did not have any automatics. We had to find other transportation.  

vicki2:

Before I really became comfortable with driving in the U.K., I'd also pick cities that weren't as busy as London to pick up a car.  Sometimes, getting out of an airport is the hardest part!

Ain't that the truth! Even in the US -- the time I drove a rental car out of the Seattle airport was one of the scariest! And that icky snowy day in Indianapolis, when the shuttle dumped us out at the car and drove off before we could say, "Do you have a spare snow scraper? There's none in the car!"

Gotta second the vote for learning stick. It's a very good thing to know regardless. You get a better feel, too, for what the gears of a car really mean and what the various sounds your engine makes at different RPMs is.

In the US a lot of rental companies seem to think "bigger is better" even though I'd rather have a smaller car in which I'm closer to the ground and can fit in more parking spaces. Is it like that in Europe, too, or are people more sensible there?

I think people are pretty sensible here for the most part ...especially in urban areas.  I live in a rural area though, and bought an SUV here just as I had in America, because I have large dogs and do a lot of things which require carrying space.  So, I have an older diesel Land Rover which is great on fuel consumption. Parking is a pain, but it isn't that often that I'm so determined to fit in a tiny parallel space that I even try.

 Little cars are popular here as much for fuel consumption (because it's so expensive) as for ease.  There are so many accidents involving zippy little cars doing high rates of speed, and usually they're fatal.  There's one in the local paper every week, which really keeps me in something larger, stronger, and slower.

By all means, learn a stick shift!  I've always used one and it wasn't that much of a test to switch from right hand to left hand either. 

 

Good thing I already know how to drive a stick then.  My father insisted on it, even for a girl.  And my husband is also a manual transmission fan, so there's just no getting away from it now.  I'm actually amazed now at how many adults don't know how to drive a stick at all.  Blows my mind.

That's too funny. To think of car accident because some people forgot where they were, or somehow did not know that driving is different across the ocean.

WHarbaugh:

lots of americans are in car accidents from driving on the wrong side of the road.   

Never mind car accidents - my mum almost got hit by a bus in Manchester crossing the road because she was looking the wrong way before crossing the street! I had to grab the back of her jacket and pull her back, just in the nick of time.

Wow, don't the touring Americans figure out that they should be driving WITH the flow of traffic? I can see if nobody was on the road to follow, but what a dumb mistake.  Although keep in mind Ive never attempted to drive in Europe so the joke may be on me right now.

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I think what happens with most Americans in accidents, just like it happens with the Brits on the Continent, is that they get tired, something happens, and their instincts from home kick in.  I've seen that happen and it's frightening.

I love the signs when you come out of the Chunnel or the ferries into France ...there are huge signs posted reminding you that you have to switch sides of the road.  Those are there for a reason!

I just don't think I'll be driving in Europe.  I'm 37 and my last lesson on a stick shift was when I was 16 and I almost hit a tree in our yard.  It may be too late to teach "an old dog new tricks."

Personally I prefer a stick shift over an automatic, but I can see why it might be a problem for someone who can't stand them.

I just never learned to drive one.  They are a lot of work for us "automatic" drivers. 

That would be messed up to have gotten to your destination and they give you a car that you can't even operate. SO not cool,lol.

I find it very odd that you could do this at all. In the UK, if you learned to drive in an automatic, you are not ALLOWED to drive a stick shift. Unless you test in a stick shift, automatic is what your license will read and you will forever be stuck with it.

But if you learn in a stick shift, you are allowed to drive either. So why would you limit yourself like that?