best time to drive out of London
 

We will be picking up a rental car from Marble Arch area and wish to drive towards oxford. Please could someone advise us the best time of day to drive out of London when the traffic levels are low

Don't think the traffic levels can ever be described as low (apart from Christmas Day) - it's the busiest, largest, most congested city in western Europe. Sunday mornings or other days between 10am and 2pm are your best best.

Saturday or Sunday morning, or on a weekday as Gordon says between 10 and 2 pm. From Marble Arch to Oxford is easy, just up Edgeware Road and onto the A40 west.

Depends on the day - sat mornings can be very busy if it is a bank holiday weekend!

There's a lot of traffic around Marble Arch at weekends, as people come for shopping, and there's no congestion charge at the weekend. Driving out of London in the mornings is usually OK though.

I wouldn't sweat it.

Sunday mornings are usually OK westbound, so that's when roadworks can get planned. After midnight on Monday through Saturday mornings (traffic's awful late Saturday nights), it's usually under an hour from Marble Arch to the "Welcome to Oxford" sign - but not if the motorway's closed (which it is surprisingly often is).

If you're actually driving into Oxford (in which case: don't), traffic going into and round the city is London-like at evening rush hours.

Much of this is unpredictable, and it's silly to rearrange your life to get quiet traffic, only to find there's a mega diversion the time you choose.

In what feels like centuries driving or hitch-hiking that route, I've never managed it in less than 55 mins, and can remember the westbound journey taking over 2 hrs just once.

2:00am tends to be quiet

But why do you need to hire a car to go to Oxford?

Good point by dothe. You might be better off taking the train to Oxford and renting a car when you leave there. The train avoids road traffic. Of course, trains have issues sometimes....

If you're not actually going into Oxford, did you consider picking up a rental car at Heathrow and going west from there? If you don't have too much luggage, you can take the tube to Heathrow.

It's really not a problem to drive from Marble Arch to Oxford. Just park it on the outskirts of town (unless you have a hotel there with parking).

If, as appears to be the case with the poster, you routinely drive on the proper side of the road, collecting a car from Marble Arch or Kings Cross is a million zillion times easier than schlepping out to Heathrow to get a shuttle to collect a car only an hour or two later than you'd have got to the Oxford ring road if you hadn't wasted all that time touring West London.

For most people, most of the time, driving is a seriously dozy way of getting to Oxford itself - but it's the only sensible way of getting to most of the city's hinterland.

<<when the traffic levels are low>>

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That might happen during a blizzard.

It looks like you're driving from London to Edinburgh via Oxford. It may be quicker, and easier, to take a train to Oxford and hire a car there. The express trains from Paddington would be faster than your car hire.

What are you doing in Oxford? Just seeing it for the day or staying there.

If staying over - I'd definitely consider taking the train to Oxford, exploring the city and stay over. Then collect the car as you leave Oxford.

If on the other hand you are just driving through Oxford and are headed elsewhere after spending a few hours in the city - yes, get your car in London. There isn't a convenient place to leave your luggage while sightseeing, so you'd basically be using the car boot as a luggage locker. Problem is - you'd need to use one of the park and ride lots and take a bus into the city centre so make sure every bit of you luggage/stuff is well out of site in the boot.