Britinusa1966

I am trying to find an economical rental in the UK for 28 days for a 7 seater. We have been quoted around $4500 from Heathrow for a month. Which seems crazy. Cheapest way we found was to to book one way one day rental from heathrow to Leeds Airport ( spending some time in Harrogate and Leeds) then rent another from Leeds airport for 26 days and then rent one way from Leeds to Heathrow - this comes to around $2200. It's a lot cheaper but lot more hassle. Any ideas / suggestions.

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. Do you mean driving from LHR to Leeds (or actually from LHR to anyplace) on your arrival day?? If so, a bad idea -- a VERY bad idea.. Do not drive after an overnight flight -- and especially don't try to drive a huge vehicle like that.

Where are you mostly touring? Sounds like Yorkshire is a big part of your trip?? Tell us a bit about your itinerary and we can suggest practical places to pick up a car. If Yorkshire is prominent in the plan, then suggestions could include: 1) Flying from LHR (or take a train from central London) to Manchester and collecting a car the next day; 2) Train from central London to Leeds and collect a car the next day; 3) train to York, stay 2 or 3 days in the city and then collect a car for the 26 or 27 days you'll need.

There are other options of of course -- tell us more and we can help . . .

Britinusa1966

Thank you for your reply. We will be around the Leeds, Harrogate area for the first week, lake district. Back to London for a few days and then have a wedding back in Yorkshire for the last week.

janisj

Is there a reason you are doing Yorkshire twice with the Lake District and London in between?? Assuming you are flying home from LHR this really makes little sense. That would mean something like LHR > Leeds/Harrogate > the Lake District > London > back to North Yorkshire > back to London/LHR. That's a lot of zigging and zagging. Plus it also indicates you plan on having the car for the time you are in London before the wedding. No one needs/wants a car IN London.

Are your dates set in stone (I know the wedding is a fixed date but do you have flexibility otherwise)? Have you already booked the flights?

But assuming the framework of days is firm and flights are booked, you are jumping around so much. W/o changing arrival/departure you could do London first (without a car), then train to the Lake district/collect car there, then all of the Yorkshire time grouped together at the end, drive to LHR, turn in car and fly home.

This would be a more linear route plus result in a shorter car hire/£££ savings.

bilboburgler

fly into London and out of Manchester might be a better way to go as well

for such a van you want a "people carrier" in Brit speak

have you tried Auto Europe?

driving after a long flight, yikes

rough dates often help us help you

which dollars are you working in? It might be easier to think in £

janisj

Normally, yes, but not if they use AutoEurope to book the car since they'd be paying in $$$

bilboburgler

janisj, I was asking for me ;-)

janisj

Britinusa1966

We arrive in London on 29th of July and leave on the 24th of August. We are kind of stuck with back and forth to London and Yorkshire due to timing of some events and people availability.

janisj

No matter if there is no flexibility in the order of the itinerary -- driving the first day is definitely not a good idea.

On arrival, either 1) fly LHR to MAN, and get a car the next day (or you could take the train from MAN to Leeds or Harrogate) - but still not collect a car until at least day two - or - 2) take the train from London to Leeds/Harrogate and collect the car day two.

I see you needing two different car rentals since driving/parking in London - especially a 7+ seater is difficult. So one car for Yorkshire/the Lake District, then another car for the wedding period (unless the wedding is actually IN York where where you wouldn't need a car at all)

Comicman

I know with 7 this adds difficulty, but any chance you are willing to use trains for the longer legs and rent vans in each place you go , for the days you are there?

uktravelover

The lead time on the rental is fairly short which will make it more expensive particularly at Heathrow and for a large vehicle. I agree with the others that probably hiring something in Yorkshire is the better option. I would have looked at the train so you don’t have to face driving on the M62 from Manchester to Leeds/Harrogate, however currently there is a TRAIN STRIKE scheduled for July 29. You can take a coach from Heathrow to Leeds and that may be worth considering.

uktravelover

Taking another look at car hire prices, surprisingly your quotes are pretty good even though expensive. I would go for the $2200 option, but if you are likely to be jet lagged, I would look at stopping in a small town somewhere on route for a night or stay near Heathrow such as Windsor and leave for Yorkshire the following day.

crellston

The last few times I had cause to rent a car here in the UK have found Volkswagen's own rental company to be very cost effective and they provide great service. The downside is they don't currently have a huge number of outlets. The nearest one to LHR is probably Slough - No one really wants to stay there but you could hole up in close by Windsor on the night of your arrival and set off the next day . 28 days hire of a 7 seater comes in at £1744 https://www.vwfsrentacar.co.uk/vehic...search-results . As with all car rentals watch out not just for the headline price but the "optional " extras like CDW - personally, I take out a separate standalone policy which cost less than a couple of days insurance from the rental company.

janisj

Do note that insurance policy and options may be different for UK residents and those from the States and other countries.

Britinusa1966

Thank you all for your input. We finally made it to the UK. We rented two cars from heathrow. Hertz had a special on electrical cars online which worked out at $900 each for the month. I guess they had too many electric cars. Everything was smooth till we made it the rental office. It was just crazy in there. We were number 215 and they were helping number 160. For some reason they only had 3 assistants. Sfo to Lhr 11 hours- hertz rental office 5 hours - London to Leeds
5 hours but we are happy to be here in the rain and the wind.

crellston

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal. Sorry about our weather! This July was one of the wettest on record.

Surfergirl

Hertz at LHR is the worst! Last time there, with the long wait time, not the car I booked available, I was so tired I got upsold because I didn't read the fine print.

crellston

"I was so tired I got upsold because I didn't read the fine print." Maybe you should not have been driving?

annhig

Glad you finally got your cars, Britinusa, despite the appalling wait in the Hertz office. Until I read your last post I was going to suggest 2 cars instead of one, and good to know that there is an excess of electric hire vehicles. Hope that the weather relents soon and that you have a great trip .

if you have the time, keep us posted!