Driving in Turkey on a UK or Irish Licence: Car Hire, Tolls & Rules

You can drive in Turkey on a full UK or Irish licence, but the Foreign Office says you also need a 1968 International Driving Permit (£5.50 from a PayPoint shop) or a notarised Turkish translation of your licence. Hire cars come with an HGS toll tag, you drive on the right, the drink-drive limit is 0.05% and the motorway limit is 120 km/h unless signs say otherwise. Fuel is about £1.20 a litre for petrol and £1.50 for diesel.

Licences: what the UK and Irish governments actually say

The FCDO travel advice for Turkey is blunt: you need a 1968 International Driving Permit (IDP) or a UK licence notarised in Turkish to drive. It adds that the older 1949 IDP is no longer accepted and that you cannot buy an IDP outside the UK, so sort it before you fly.

In practice most hire desks at Antalya, Dalaman or Bodrum will hand over the keys on a UK photocard alone. The IDP matters if you are stopped at a police checkpoint or involved in a crash, when an insurer may look for a reason not to pay. For £5.50 it is not worth the risk. The gov.uk IDP page lists Turkey under the 1968 convention and sells permits in person at PayPoint shops; bring your licence and a passport photo.

Irish drivers: the DFA advice for Türkiye says to bring a full Irish driving licence with adequate insurance and does not mention an IDP. Irish IDPs are issued by AA Ireland; check with them which convention your permit is issued under before you travel, because Turkey only recognises the 1968 version. The DFA also warns against handing over your passport as security when hiring a vehicle. Keep it with you and offer a credit card instead.

Hiring a car: age, deposits and what to check

• Minimum age: 21 for economy cars with a licence held at least one year. Mid-range cars usually need you to be 25 with three years’ driving; SUVs and premium cars 28 with five years. Under-25s often pay a young-driver surcharge.
• Documents: physical licence, passport (with your entry stamp) and a credit card in the driver’s name. Debit cards are regularly refused for the deposit.
• Insurance: the FCDO notes that insurance sold by hire companies is often only third party. Read what the excess is and consider a standalone car-hire excess policy from the UK, which is far cheaper than the desk upsell.
• Damage: photograph every panel, the windscreen and the wheels before you leave the car park. The FCDO warns you will be charged for damage and could face arrest if you refuse to pay.
• Fuel policy: full-to-full is the fair one. Avoid pre-paid fuel.
• HGS tag: confirm it is fitted and loaded, and ask how tolls are billed (usually deducted from your card after you return the car).

Book through a company you can trace. Our guide to verifying a Turkish travel business shows how to check a firm is registered, and our car hire listings only include operators we have vetted. For what you will spend overall, see Turkey travel costs 2027.

Road rules at a glance

Speed cameras are everywhere, including average-speed sections on motorways, and fines land on the hire company, which passes them to your card with an admin fee. The 2026 scale starts at ₺2,000 (about £30) for 11–15 km/h over and reaches ₺30,000 plus a 90-day ban for 71 km/h and more. The FCDO says police fine drunk drivers and can confiscate your licence for six months.

Winter tyres

Turkey’s winter-tyre law runs from 15 November to 15 April, but it applies to commercial vehicles (buses, lorries, minibuses and vans in intercity service), not private cars. The ministry only recommends them for cars. If you are hiring in Cappadocia, the Black Sea or eastern Anatolia between December and March, ask for winter tyres anyway; the roads around Göreme and Erzurum ice over.

Tolls and the HGS tag

Turkey has no toll booths you can pay at. Every motorway, bridge and tunnel is cashless and uses HGS (Hızlı Geçiş Sistemi), a sticker on the windscreen or a plate-reading camera. Your hire car will have one, you drive through the gantry without stopping, and the operator bills you later. If you drive your own UK-registered car in, you buy an HGS tag at a PTT post office and top it up online or at the counter; the General Directorate of Highways (KGM) publishes the tariffs. Unpaid crossings attract a fine of four times the toll after 15 days.

State-run bridges and motorways were repriced on 1 January 2026; the privately operated Osmangazi, Çanakkale, Yavuz Sultan Selim and Eurasia crossings had a second rise on 1 July 2026, so expect another round in January and July 2027. The pattern that matters: the old state motorways are cheap, the new build-operate-transfer bridges are not. Driving from Istanbul to Bursa over the Osmangazi Bridge costs more in tolls than the fuel.

Fuel

Pump prices in Istanbul on 2 November 2026 were about ₺80.40 a litre for petrol (benzin) and ₺100.50 for diesel (motorin), which is roughly £1.20 and £1.50 at the current rate of about ₺67 to the pound. Diesel is dearer than petrol in Turkey, the reverse of the UK. Prices change weekly with the lira and oil, so take these as a guide. Stations are attended: say ‘doldur’ (fill it up) or name a lira amount, pay by card at the pump attendant’s terminal, and do not tip unless they wash your windows. LPG (otogaz) is common and cheap, but hire cars are almost always petrol or diesel.

Picking up at the airports

• Antalya (AYT): the big international names are inside the terminals; cheaper local firms shuttle you to a yard five minutes away. The D400 coast road west to Kemer and Kaş is good; east to Side and Alanya is dual carriageway most of the way. Our Antalya page covers the region.
• Dalaman (DLM): about 45 minutes to Fethiye and Ölüdeniz, an hour to Marmaris. The Göcek tunnel is tolled by HGS. See Fethiye and Ölüdeniz.
• Bodrum-Milas (BJV): 35 minutes to Bodrum town. Peninsula roads are narrow and busy in August; park outside the centre. See Bodrum.
• Istanbul (IST/SAW): do not hire a car for Istanbul itself. Traffic is brutal, parking is scarce and the metro and ferries are excellent; see our Istanbulkart guide. Pick a car up only when you are leaving the city.

How Turkish roads actually feel

Main roads between cities are wide, well surfaced and quiet by UK standards. The problems are behaviour, not tarmac: tailgating, undertaking, overtaking on blind bends and lorries crawling up hills. The FCDO says accidents are common and mostly down to poor or reckless driving. Keep right, let people past, and never assume a flashing indicator means anything. Night driving in rural areas is worse, with unlit tractors, animals and pedestrians on the carriageway. Jeep safaris and quad hire in the resorts have a poor accident record; the FCDO specifically flags them.

Roundabouts work the other way round, and many drivers treat them as a free-for-all. Give way to traffic already on the roundabout but expect someone to pull out anyway. In towns, scooters and motorbikes weave through everything; moped hire needs an A1 licence category, which standard UK car licences do not carry.

Parking in cities is paid, with attendants in blue or orange waistcoats (İSPARK in Istanbul) who give you a receipt. Yellow kerbs mean no parking. Tow-aways are quick.

If you have an accident

Call 112 for police and ambulance. Do not move the vehicles until the police arrive unless they are blocking a motorway; for minor bumps with no injuries, both drivers can fill in an agreed accident report (kaza tespit tutanağı) with photos, but do this only if the hire company agrees by phone. Ring the number on your hire agreement straight away. Our Is Turkey safe? and health and insurance pages cover what to do if someone is hurt and why GHIC is no use here.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need an International Driving Permit for Turkey?

The UK government says yes, a 1968 IDP or a notarised Turkish translation. Hire desks rarely ask, but police and insurers can. It costs £5.50 and takes five minutes at a PayPoint shop, so get one.

Can I drive in Turkey with a UK paper licence?

Take the photocard. If you only have a paper licence, bring your passport as photo ID and the IDP, which carries your photo. Some hire firms refuse paper licences outright.

Is it safe to drive in Turkey?

Roads are good; other drivers are the risk. Stick to daylight on rural roads, keep your distance and leave the motorway lane-hogging to the locals. Millions of tourists drive here every year without incident.

How do I pay tolls in a hire car?

You do not pay at the gantry. The car’s HGS tag is read automatically and the hire company charges your card afterwards, sometimes weeks later, often with a small service fee.

Can I take a hire car from Turkey into Greece or Bulgaria?

Almost never. Turkish hire companies do not allow their cars across the border, and Greek and Bulgarian insurers will not cover them. Plan a one-way hire and cross on foot or by bus if you need to.

Prices and rules checked on 8 November 2026 against official sources and change often; always confirm before you travel. Sources: FCDO Turkey travel advice, gov.uk International Driving Permit, DFA Ireland Türkiye advice, KGM, 2026 toll tariff report, July 2026 toll update, Avis UK Turkey road rules, Fuel prices 2 Nov 2026.