Toll road charges - car hire sharp practice?

tomkil · 22 May 2024 at 6:23PM

Anyone had any experience of hiring a car in Turkey and having to make an upfront payment to cover any toll charges?

Just hired a car in Istanbul for four days to drive down to Eceabat on the Gallipoli peninsula. Had booked the car from Autounion through Booking.com for what seemed like a decent rate but arrived to find I had to pay an additional 13 Euros a day to cover any toll charges or accept I'd be charged 9 Euros for each occasion I triggered a toll camera.

Had no idea how much any tolls would be, nor even whether I'd have to pay them at all on my route though I suspected I would.

I said I was driving down one day and staying in Gallipoli for two before driving back on the fourth day so wouldn't be using any toll roads for two of the four days but the guy said you pay for each day of the hire regardless. So, I paid it.

Virtually nobody on the toll road down to Gallipoli, it was glorious. Still reckon it's a scam of sorts though but don't know how much the toll charges would have been and resent having had to pay a daily charge when there were days I was never likely to be using a toll road.

Any Turkish toll charge experts out there?