Before coming to California, driving was one of the things we researched most. We’d never been to the USA before and although we’ve hired cars in France, Croatia, Slovenia, Finland and most recently Sicily (that’s a whole other story!), driving in America felt like it might be completely different.
As it turns out, we’ve absolutely loved it.
We’ve done plenty of driving holidays over the years and I’ve previously shared some of our tips for planning a family road trip, but this was our first time hiring a car in America.
I should point out that Mr 2A3C has done all the actual driving. I’m a very good navigator and an excellent nervous passenger! We’ve driven around San Francisco, stayed around 40 minutes outside the city in Castro Valley and have now travelled further through California towards Yosemite.
There are definitely a few California driving rules that have taken some getting used to, but overall driving here has been so much easier than we expected.
Is Driving in California Difficult?
Our experience so far is surprisingly not. Our first experience of driving in California was leaving San Francisco Airport on a Friday evening after a 14-hour journey. Not exactly ideal conditions for your first drive on the opposite side of the road. Even that was plain sailing.
Ironically, our biggest problem was nothing to do with the car. Our Holafly eSIM wouldn’t work until we could verify it using Wi-Fi. We’d already left the airport Wi-Fi by the time we realised, which meant a little bit of guesswork finding the correct freeway. Look at me using the lingo!
Definitely make sure your phone and data are working before leaving the airport. Next time I’d download an offline map too, just in case.
California Driving Rules That Surprised Us
There are a few differences between driving in California and driving in the UK that we wish we’d known about beforehand.
You Can Turn Right at a Red Light
This took us a few days to realise.
At many junctions in California you can turn right when the traffic lights are red, as long as you come to a complete stop first and it is safe to go.
We weren’t doing this and couldn’t understand why we occasionally got a little beep from the car behind. Even the beeping here seems fairly polite!
There will be signs if turning right on red isn’t permitted, and you can’t turn against a red arrow.
California Loves a STOP Sign
There are STOP signs everywhere, particularly since we’ve moved away from San Francisco onto some of the more rural roads. And everyone actually stops at them.
Four-way stops seemed particularly strange at first. Everyone stops and traffic generally moves according to who arrived first. There’s a lot of taking turns here. Drivers really do seem to wait their turn.
Flashing Traffic Lights
These confused us the first time we encountered them too.
A flashing red light means stop and proceed when it is safe. A flashing yellow means slow down and proceed with caution.
Much easier when you know this before you arrive at one!
Watch Your Speed Around Schools
We’ve noticed that drivers are particularly careful around schools. Reduced limits can apply when children are present, so keep an eye on the signs rather than assuming the speed limit.
School buses are another important difference from the UK. There are strict rules about stopping when their red lights are flashing, so this is definitely worth reading up on before driving here.
Cars Can Pass You on Either Side
Oh wow, this is a big one! This has probably taken me longer to get used to than anything else.
On multi-lane roads, cars can pass on the right in circumstances where we’d be expecting them to pass on the other side in the UK. It still makes me nervous. Mr 2A3C is completely unbothered.
What Are California Freeways Like?
I find the freeways slightly terrifying. Mr 2A3C loves them and says he feels completely safe driving on them.
They can have a LOT of lanes and I swear the lanes themselves feel too narrow considering the size of some of the vehicles here.
What has surprised us is how smoothly everything flows. We’ve driven around some really busy parts of San Francisco and the Bay Area and drivers have generally been patient.
Most California highways have a maximum posted speed of 65mph, although some stretches are 70mph. Plenty of drivers seem to go considerably faster, but we’ve stuck to the posted limits.
Another surprise was that everything is measured in miles and MPH rather than kilometres. After so many European road trips, this actually makes things much easier for us.
Hiring a Car in California
We hired our car through Avis Preferred and paid £413 for 10 days.
Obviously car hire prices vary enormously depending on when you’re visiting, what you book and how far in advance you book, but hopefully this gives an idea of what we paid.
Collection at San Francisco Airport was brilliant, probably the smoothest car hire collection we’ve experienced in any of the countries we’ve driven in.
We were even offered a bigger vehicle but declined. The one we’d booked looked enormous enough.
Our car is a Dodge Durango, which has been plenty big enough for five of us.
There are three rows of seats, with our youngest travelling in the back row. We’ve even managed to fit all five of us and our luggage inside when we’ve been moving accommodation, although I wouldn’t want all the luggage in there every day.
We’ve since realised that our Durango isn’t even particularly huge by Californian standards.
Some of the cars and trucks here are enormous!
There also seem to be Teslas everywhere, and seeing driverless taxis travelling around San Francisco is just crazy. I don’t think I’ll get used to seeing a car moving around with nobody driving it.
Automatic or Manual Car?
Automatic. Definitely.
All of the hire cars we saw were automatic anyway and Mr 2A3C recommends choosing one, particularly if this is your first time driving in America.
There are enough differences to concentrate on without having to think about changing gear with the opposite hand too.
And after seeing some of San Francisco’s hills, I’m particularly pleased we chose an automatic.
What Do You Need to Hire a Car in California?
Requirements vary between car hire companies, so I’d check the exact terms of your booking rather than relying on someone else’s experience.
You’ll need a valid driving licence and an accepted method of payment, and there may be different rules or extra charges for younger drivers.
We checked everything before leaving the UK and our actual collection couldn’t have been easier.
Filling Up With Gas in California
I’m slowly getting used to calling petrol gas.
We’ve found it considerably cheaper than petrol at home, even though we’ve been told several times that California is one of the more expensive US states for fuel.
You’ll see different grades of gasoline at the pumps. Diesel does exist, but we’ve noticed far fewer diesel pumps than we’d be used to seeing in the UK.
Our Costco Tip
If you’re already a Costco member, bring your membership card.
We’ve found Costcos all over California and try to fill up there when there’s one convenient to our route because the gas has been even cheaper.
Our UK Costco membership works here – we’re simply recognised as international members.
Parking in California
Parking has been much easier than we expected outside San Francisco.
Supermarket car parks are huge and, thankfully considering the size of our car, the parking spaces are generally really generous too.
We tend to park miles away from the supermarket entrance just to be on the safe side.
In San Francisco, you really need to pre-book parking.
We used the car park at Pier 39 and paid around £20–£25 by booking in advance. You might manage to get a space by just turning up, but parking can be almost double the price that way.
I’d definitely research and book parking before setting off for a day in central San Francisco. It’s one less thing to think about.
Tolls in California
We’ve actually encountered fewer tolls than we expected.
How tolls are dealt with will depend on your hire company, so check before travelling. With our Avis hire, any toll charges are dealt with separately afterwards.
One useful thing to know if you’re visiting San Francisco is that the Golden Gate Bridge only charges a toll when travelling southbound into San Francisco.
There aren’t cash toll booths – payment is electronic – so again, check how your particular hire company deals with this.
Driving in San Francisco
San Francisco was the part I expected to find most stressful.
It definitely gets busy, but the drivers have been surprisingly patient and well behaved. The hills are something else though!
One thing I definitely wasn’t prepared for was some of San Francisco’s double-decker bridges. Traffic travelling in opposite directions can be on completely different levels, so you can find yourself driving underneath the bridge with another whole road directly above you.
It’s quite freaky the first time you realise you’re on the underneath level!
For the first few days of our trip we stayed in Castro Valley, around 40 minutes outside central San Francisco depending on traffic. This worked really well for us as we could drive into the city when we wanted but didn’t have to deal with city-centre driving and parking every time we left our accommodation.
Since leaving the Bay Area and heading towards Yosemite, we’ve experienced much quieter country roads too. It has been lovely seeing how quickly the landscape changes once you move away from San Francisco.
Our Tips for Driving in California
If you’re coming from the UK and wondering if you’ll cope with driving in California, these are the things we’d recommend:
- Hire an automatic. It makes adjusting to driving on the right much easier.
- Get your phone working before leaving the airport. Don’t do what we did!
- Download offline maps as a backup.
- Learn how right turns on red work before you arrive.
- STOP means stop. Don’t just slow down.
- Expect cars to pass on either side on multi-lane roads.
- Follow the posted speed limits, rather than the car in front.
- Don’t underestimate your luggage when choosing the size of your hire car.
- Pre-book parking in San Francisco where possible.
- Check how your hire company handles tolls.
- Take your Costco card if you’re already a member – we’ve saved money on gas by filling up there (but obviously the girls made us go into the shop for a hotdog and soda so beware!).
Would We Drive in California Again?
Oh yes! Driving has turned out to be one of the easiest parts of the holiday.
Mr 2A3C has loved driving here and even I’ve found it much less stressful than expected, although I’m still not volunteering to get behind the wheel.
Having a car has been brilliant for exploring California and I’d definitely hire one again.
We’re still travelling as I’m writing this, so there may well be a few more tips to add before we go home.
And after driving in California, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Finland and Sicily, I’m thinking this might be the start of a whole series about driving abroad as a UK driver.
Although Sicily might need a post all to itself…
