Hi, We are wondering how difficult it is to return a hire car to HEATHROW aIRPORT, CONSIDERING THE DRIVING AND TRAFFIC ETC.
originally we were going to return it further out and catch a train , now i am thinking it would be good to be able to drive to the airport
any ideas, thanks John

DEPENDS ON DAY OF WEEK AND TIME OF DAY - any working day between 7:00am & 10:00am and 4:00pm & 7:00pm can be a tadge horrible. Otherwise it's OK

Stories of Heathrow's traffic are almost always preposterously exaggerated.

During the inbound rush hours (which now start around 0615) driving from the West or round the M25 you need to allow an extra half hour or so to get to the off-airport drop points. Driving from the South, I'd turn off the M25 at the T4 exit, then follow the signs for T4 then car hire dropoffs (driving from the North on the M25, take the T1-3 exit). Don't panic if the M25 traffic looks static: it never is.

Driving from the West during evening rush hours is rarely a problem, though the last couple of M25 junctions before Heathrow can look terrifyingly gridlocked coming from the South. Again it never is, but allow an extra half hour coming from the South.

Actually, the worst traffic problem at peak hours is getting from the dropoffs to the terminals (for which allow an extra 15 mins at peak times). The only way to avoid these completely is tube or train - only really practicable coming from the centre of London, since all public transport from anywhere else requires a bus or messy doubling back on yourself.

Offhand, I can't think of any realistic circumstances (a catastrophic halt to all trains from Reading is probably MORE likely than the M4 being closed) or time of day when dropping a car further out will be quicker than driving the car to Heathrow.

none of the car hire depots are actually ON the airport so it also depends which one you are using. LHR is a good place to drop a car since it is on or just off several motorways and convenient from different directions.

In general though LHR is easier than navigating in most cities (Oxford, Bath, etc.) to drop a car.

Thanks for the replys, would like to know a bit more about LHR, What is it and were is for a start.
Were would you recommend staying for 1 night, we fly out at 1825 oct 11th

LHR is simply the TLA* for Heathrow. janisj is simply saying it rarely makes sense to drop a car off anywhere else if that's where you're flying from, and you're starting off anywhere other than central London.

*three letter acronym

Three weeks ago I returned a Hertz rental at Heathrow and I drove there from Dorking, Surrey where i had made a sightseeing stop.

This was on a Sunday afternoon so perhaps not "typical" traffic-wise.

I thought the traffic going to Heathrow was "moderate" at worst.

As someone mentioned above, the actual pick-up/dropp-off point is somewhat removed from the terminals; in this case it was on North Perimeter Road (I believe that is the correct name) which runs more or less parallel to Bath Road where there are any number of hotels.

I was using a GPS so I didn't have any difficulties in terms of getting lost.

I think Flanner has given excellent advice in this case.

It is relatively simply to return a hire car to Heathrow. If you look at this google map:
http://www.bluecarhire.com/nonrental...at=0&id=37
you can see where the rental locations are. Courtesy buses run every 5 to 10 minutes from the rental locations and take about 5 minutes or so to get to the terminals.

JohnBhoy - read the rules. Advertising is not allowed on here . . .