I’ve already booked a trip to Turkey for early summer, and I’ve been thinking about transport. Here in the UK, I’m used to the whole process being fairly straightforward, but a colleague of mine who travels a lot says that car hire in Turkey has its own peculiarities that are worth knowing about. I’m most interested in exactly which documents they check there and whether it’s better to pay for the hire online in advance rather than sorting it out at the airport.

Online in advance every time, airport desks tend to push unnecessary extras on you when you're jet lagged and just want to get moving. Documents wise your regular license plus an international permit covers most operators, though some are fine with just the license depending on where you're from.

The advance booking point is spot on. Car rental in Turkey works out noticeably cheaper when you plan ahead, and you get a better pick of vehicles rather than whatever's left in the lot. The country itself rewards having a car more than most places, there's a lot sitting between the well known spots that tour buses completely skip. Operators that have been running for a while tend to handle the whole thing more smoothly, less small print to worry about. One that seems to have the process well sorted is https://turkey-rentcar.ru/en/