Survival Guide - Discover Turkey: Experience the Best of Turkey - page 774

INSURANCE
When hiring a car, 100%, no-excess insurance is increasingly the only option on offer. If
this is not the only option, the basic, mandatory insurance package should cover damage
to the vehicle and theft protection - with an excess, which you can reduce or waive for an
extra payment. You may be offered personal accident insurance; your travel insurance
should cover any personal accident costs in the case of a crash.
As in other countries, insurance generally does not cover windows and tyres. You will
likely be offered cover for an extra few euros a day.
PARKING
Parking is easy to find in most towns and smaller settlements, and you can generally park
next to accommodation and sights outside Turkey's main centres. Space is at a premium
in cities and some towns, but there are normally plenty of car parks where you can park
cheaply for an hour or so, or safely leave your car overnight. You will often have to leave
your keys with car park attendants.
» Accommodation Top-end and a handful of midrange hotels offer undercover parking
for guests, and most midrange and budget options have a roadside parking place or two
that is nominally theirs to use. If they don't, parking will be close by in an empty block
overseen by a caretaker, or on the road; in both cases you have to pay a fee. Your best bet
is to set it up in advance when you book your room.
» Clamping Park in the wrong place and you risk having your car towed away, with the
ensuing costs and hassle.
ROAD CONDITIONS
Road surfaces and signage are generally good - on the main roads, at least. The most pop-
ular route with travellers, along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, offers excellent
driving conditions. There are good otoyols (motorways) from Edirne to İstanbul and Ank-
ara, and from İzmir around the coast to Antalya.
Elsewhere, roads are being steadily upgraded, although they still tend to be worst in the
east, where severe winters play havoc with the surfaces. In northeastern Anatolia, road
conditions change from year to year; seek local advice before setting off on secondary
roads. There are frequent roadworks in the northeast; even on main roads traffic can crawl
along at 30km/hr. The new dams near Yusufeli will flood some roads, and the construction
causes waits of up to half an hour. Ask locally about the timing of your journey; on some
roads, traffic flows according to a regular timetable, posted at the roadside.