My husband and I will be flying into Manchester Airport and renting a car there to drive into the countryside. Then we want to return the car somewhere before we head into London. Questions: does it make more sense to return the car to Manchester and take the train into London, or to return the car somewhere outside London? We'll be heading to London from Nottingham and would need to know a logical location to head to. Any advice welcome!

My last sentence didn't make sense, I see. We'll be going to London from Nottingham. So if we return the car somewhere outside London, we need to know precisely where would be the most convenient dropoff point.

Luton airport

If you're going to be in Nottingham, why not arrange to drop off the car there and then take the train Nottingham- London.
All major car rentals Avis, Hertz etc can usually arrange differing pickup/drop off points. I would NOT get involved in driving to Luton Airport- depressing place!

You've clearly never been to Nottingham

flanner - lol - i know EXACTLY what you mean

penel - get the train into London - I wouldn't recomend driving anywhere near if you can avoid it. You want to see some of the country not just sit for hours on a motorway

I know Nottingham isn't the best place to visit--but it's where we have a child studying for a semester, so please don't sneer at us! gt

We'll look into just dropping the car off there. Thanks for everyone's advice.

In making your decision,do check to see if there is a hefty drop-off charge if you don't return the car to Manchester. If that isn't too inconvenient, then I would choose that alternative and take the train from Manchester to London.

In all the rentals I've had in the UK there has never been a drop off charge. Now I'm sure some companies/locations must assess these fees, but for any booking I've made from the States (probably 25 or more) there were no drop off charges.

Drop off charges seem to be becoming a thing of the past. I don't mean they don't still charge for them -- they just don't call them that.
In some cases you can price a car with pickup and return to the same place and compare to the same car with a different drop off point. Although there will be no drop off charge and it may even boldly declare so, you might find that the entire rental is billed at a higher rate for the one you're going to drop off at a different location. Same thing -- just hiding it differently.

As much as I like AutoEurope, I priced a number of possibilities and I found that they did that sort of pricing.