Car rental when leaving Central London
 

Going to Britain in June and planning a few days in London without a car. Will be renting from AuroEurope and heading towards the Cotswolds. Am I better to go back to the Heathrow to pick up a car or is there a better option?

It is a fairly easy drive from LHR to the Cotswolds. We have done this many times--take care to avoid driving in Oxford. Our first driving experience in England many years ago involved picking up car at Marble Arch--Hertz I think. It was not a pleasant experience driving in London!

The best/easiest would be at Heathrow.

Thanks Nini and Janis. What is our best transportation from Lambeth Road Tube station to Heathrow on a Sunday morning around 8:00am. Carry on luggage only

There is no 'Lambeth Road' station -- I assume you mean Lambeth North - right?

Either the tube or a pre-booked car service justairports.com will charge about £30 door to door and drop you right at the rental agency.

For the tube: Bakerloo line from Lambeth North to Green Park and Piccadilly line to LHR from where you would take a rental shuttle to the car lots.

On a Sunday AM -- I'd personally take a car service since it would be quick/little traffic.

Yes I meant Lambeth North (my bad). Janis do recommend any particular car service?

Janis, I meant to say"do you recommend..."!!

Sorry Janis, I see, upon reading more carefully, that you said Justairports. Need more coffee (or is it wine?)

Sorry Janis, I see, upon reading more carefully, that you said Justairports. Need more coffee (or is it wine?)

Agree Heathrow is great for Cotswolds in general but are you also going to Oxford -if so take the train or bus there from London and you have Avis (in Oxford train station); Enterprise and Thrifty.

None require driving out of the congested city center-Enterprise is at the Parkway- motorway well out of city but a short taxi ride.

Thrifty is in between so all well out of city traffic.

So Heathrow makes good sense- unless doing Oxford and if Oxford has an agency you want.

But if planning on doing Oxford too a car rental or return there makes sense.

None of the Oxford locations are convenient for driving out of the city . . . EXCEPT for up at/near Oxford airport which is close to Woodstock and well out of the city centre. Would require a cab ride.

None of the Oxford locations are convenient for driving out of the city.> Why not two are them are out of the old center and the Parkway one further out.

So Oxford has a perpetual traffic snarl even on the outskirts.

Are you sure it is such a plague getting out of Oxford from say the Parkway pick-ups - locals here have said otherwise. I've been to the train station several times -and don't recall a perpetual traffic snarl -of course that was generations ago or so it seems.

Where's flanner for the definitive word? Probably stuck in traffic!

In comparison with Central London, Oxford is a breeze. The key issue for me when getting a car in the area near Oxford station is the staying calm for the first 5 minutes or so when you deal with the complex traffic flow. If you can deal with that then I'd pick up there.

Since I'm very used to british roads I would do it happily.

Queues out to the ring road are not too bad.

There are some youtubes which show how to deal with british roads, if you've not done it before then I'd bone up.

Swindon, Reading,Slough or Oxford are good pick up towns and away from the madhouse traffic of London/M25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_yZz10mI8k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deuiJVURCyo

>>Swindon, Reading,Slough, Oxford<< All are possibilities but LHR is easier to drive out of than any of them IME. (Yes, I've driven in and through each many times). Again - IF you can collect a car north of Oxford (near the airport) -- that is the easiest of all but would require a cab ride from the station.

>>of course that was generations ago or so it seems.<<

yep

Interesting discussion. We are not going to Oxford this trip as we have been there twice before. Not that we don't like it, just wanting to try some new places this time. I have booked to pick up the car at LHR.

Yes if not going to Oggsford then Heathrow makes a good choice though Reading would be closer but may not have the firm you want.

Reading would be ideal - short direct train trip from London and closer to Cotswolds-getting to Heathrow would take much longer from central London and once in Heathrow have to get to car rental area, etc.

If Reading has what you want it would perhaps be more convenient than Heathrow it seems.

PQ -- have you actually driven in Reading? It has generally horrible traffic.

jane1144, I have nothing to add but to congratulate you on your choice. We drove out of London many years ago (20+) and had one of our worst fights ever during the process.

For future reference:

For most car trips to the Cotswolds (including those that start with seeing Oxford), the easiest strategy is:

- tube to Marylebone
- train to Oxford Parkway
- discuss with Enterprise car hire earlier whether their Oxford Airport branch will meet you at Parkway station (they say they do generally, but this may change)
- if you can't arrange to be picked up at the station, there's a cab rank at Parkway. The car hire depot is about 3 mins by cab from the station.
- if you want to see Oxford first, put your luggage in the hired car's boot, drive it to the Peartree Park & Ride (fully secured: open 24 hrs a day), then get a bus into Oxford.

This strategy avoid hanging round LHR waiting for buses to take yuo to offairport hire depots, gets you to Oxford in the time you'll otherwise take getting to Heathrow, and avoids having to deal with Oxford's diabolical traffic and kamikaze cyclists.