Car rental Where to drop car outside London?
 

We're planning to rent a car at Edinburgh airport (hope the trip into town isn't too challenging?) and will take the car to Salcombe Devon and then travel to London. We'd like to drop the car before we get to London and take a train into town to our hotel in Bloomsbury. Any idea where would be best? Reading? Guildford? Heathrow? We're not used to UK traffic and roads.

heathrow may have a drop-off surcharge as an airport?

the other two towns are certainly well away from the often IME horrid traffic in and around London and each has great rail service - guildford i'd think to Waterloo and Reading to Paddington - about the same if going on to Bloomsbury.

I hope you are planning at least 2 weeks for your drive from edinburgh to Devon . .

But in any case - the best place to drop a car is at Heathrow. Especially IF you are planning to see anything between Salcombe and London (Wells/Glastonbury, Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Avebury, Windsor, etc).

If you don't plan on seeing any of those - then Exeter or Plymouth would be good. But in general -- It is much easier to drop a car at LHR than in the centre of congested towns/cities.

BTW - you do not need/want a car IN Edinburgh. If you are staying over in the city, it might be better to wait and collect your rental car when you leave Edinburgh.

It's hard to know how to advise on this sort of trip without coming across as negative, so please don't take this the wron way. You want to pick up a car on arrival at EDI and drive into the middle of one of a major city that happens to be one of the least car friendly places in the UK (along with London and Cambridge). Then you want to do a 750 mile road trip from one end of the country to the other and then across to London. And you acknowledge you're not used to UK roads and driving.

Janice's advise is spot on. Do not even think about hiring a car for the period you are in Edinburgh - use public transport and enjoy walking around. Go back to the airport on the day you leave and hire the car. Drive no more than about 50 miles the first day to somewhere small and quiet where you can acclimatise to the driving without stressing (somewhere like the Fife coast or The Trossachs spring to mind).

On the following days, build up your mileage and exposure to more challenging driving situations (larger and busier towns, rush-hours etc).

Budget around 200 miles a day maximum - with stops and busy traffic conditions, this mileage can consume the best part of a whole day. Avoid heavy mileage on consecutive days, try to plan your itinerary on a daily basis so you have some time to actually see things, not just another traffic jam on the M6. I'd agree with Janis's estimate of 2 weeks as an absolute minimum for this trip, 2.5 to 3 would be better.

As fo returning the car, forget Guildford or Reading, or any of the large towns dotted around London. The traffic here is often appalling and even locals like me have to rely on satnav due to the multitude of complex junctions and confusing sighposting when we visit an unfamiliar town. AFAIK, and I'm pretty sure for Guildford, the hire car depots are not next to the main line railway station, so you'd need to arrange a transfer - possible but a bit tricky. LHR - for all its faults - is by far the best place to ditch the car, as it is easly accessible from the motorway system and is well sign-posted to the hire car return area. It's also relatively forgiving if you miss your junction as you can just double back at the next roundabout on the approach roads.

definitely listen to Gordon_R re Guildford and Reading -- I'm pretty sure PQ has not driven in either place . . . .

NO town in England (or Scotland) is friendly to drivers used to driving on the wrong side.

ESPECIALLY not smaller places like Guildford or Reading, where traffic is actually less disciplined than in central London.

The ONLY exceptions to the "always pick up and drop off at an airport" rule are:
- a tiny handful of "parkway" railway stations (like Bristol Parkway) next to a motorway, if they've got a hire place. You might look at Bristol Parkway in your case.
- The Hertz at Kidlington, Oxford - way out of town, pratically in Blenheim and an easy cab ride to Oxford hotels or station. Not in your route, but worth knowing about.

ditch the car and buy a BritRail Pass - leave the driving to the train driver.

Thinking about Flanner's point, another easily accessible parkway station that might work for you en route from Devon to London is Southampton Parkway (actually co-located with Southampton Airport, so full hire car facilities on site). This station is just off the M27 motorway and would be an good option if you drove eastwards from Salcome along the South Coast perhaps stopping off at the likes of Dorchester, Salisbury and the New Forest. You can get a direct fast train from Southampton Parkway to London Waterloo (journey time about 90 mins).

>>ditch the car and buy a BritRail Pass - leave the driving to the train driver.<<

Yeah you could, trains are great for journeys between A-B, but they won't take you to many of the most interesting places in the UK, or give you the sense of freedom and independence that a car offers. Driving holidays in the UK can be very enjoyable and memorable experiences - my message is just not to bite off more than you can chew as a novice.

That's really helpful advice. Here's another question. Where do you recommend staying - and what do you recommend for visitors with teen boys - between Edinburgh and Salcombe? (We're still hiring the car :))

odiecheryl, without making light of the difficulty you might encounter driving in the UK for the first time, I think you shouldn't be scared off.

The first time we drove was from Glasgow Airport to Bishopbriggs to stay a few nights with wife's relatives. The next day we drove west along the Clyde to Gourock, Largs and back thru Paisley. The third day was to Edinburgh and back. The fourth day from Glasgow to Durham with stops at Hadrians Wall. The next three or four days we spent getting to Salisbury for a visit with BIL.

The last day with the auto we drove from Salisbury to the dropoff at King's Cross (Hotel was close). Don't recall the exact route but we did find ourselves driving thru Piccadilly Circus and out Shaftesbury Avenue. It looked pretty direct on the map.

Do get a good road atlas to plan your route. It should have a page or two of the road signs. Find the AA or Royal Auto Association websites to find the rules of the road.

You should be fine.

"<i>Where do you recommend staying - and what do you recommend for visitors with teen boys - between Edinburgh and Salcombe? </i>"

That is hundreds of miles. How many stopovers/days are you planning between Edinburgh an South devon?

odiecheryl, noticed another poster gave this address for the highway code:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...code/index.htm

Edinburgh to Exeter 454 miles - significant distances could be on the motorways.

Guildford and Reading -- I'm pretty sure PQ has not driven in either place . . . .>

Ah your usual pithy condensending snarky remark - and i suppose you have, janis darling. No i have not driven in either and i was not commenting on the efficacy of doing so - just on that they had great rail service to London and yes were well out of the often horrendous traffic of greater London.

Janis dear i have driven in many British towns - though not those two - much more than i dare say you ever have - for ten summers i drove between Crystal Palace and Heathrow Airport daily - taking the always clogged South Circular Road - incredibly to me the main thoroughfare thru south London - if you did not get up at 5am the trip would literally take forever.

Now Reading may have its traffic congestion, like all British towns i've driven in seem to have, but driving thru it to the car rental depot would not NEARLY be the hectic driving to reach Bloomsbury - even the West Way, or whatever they call the freeway that terminates near Paddington, can be bumper to bumper - then you must fend with city traffic on roads where cars are said to move slower than horse and buggies once did (though Traffic Congestion Charge may have lessened this - and this hefty charge is another reason someone wants to return the car before central London)

Basically what has been said here is that you do not want to drive in any British city - thus doing a car trip in Britain is not feasible unless you are sticking to rural areas.

and even getting into Heathrow Airport can mean serious traffic snarls.

so yes i would think returning the car in Reading or Guildford would be a good option - or any other place outside of great London.

Janis - drop the attitude.

I lived in England for five years . . . drove absolutely everywhere. Been back countless times - drive hundreds of miles most trips. I generally try to give advice about things I actually know . . . .

LHR is by far the easiest place to collect/drop cars in the region. Other places may make sense in specific situations -- but for someone heading towards London -- yep, LHR's usually the best place.

I have no argument about that Janis dear - it's your condesending attitude that i object to - like this:

<I generally try to give advice about things I actually know?

I have tons of driving history around Britain - I drove vans for months each summer for years around the UK so yes i do know of which i am talking - again yes you are the biggest font of knowledge of Britain on Fodor's - including any Brit IMO - but don't think others do not also have a great deal of experience to and that you are not the only one and that your advice is thus automatically the one to take - again sto making such belittling and yes condesending remarks. Snark.

Wish i could make a smily face too - and then be able to turn it upside down.

cheers - and please drop the attitude!

:) :( >)

I do know one thing janis - by being in English city centres on Sundays that they are dead as door nails - so if OP can arrange a Sunday drop in any town close to London they will have clear sailing - that is if a car rental drop-off in towns like Reading is open on Sundays - and sometimes it don't matter as you can drop the car off without it being open.

" by being in English city centres on Sundays that they are dead as door nails -"

Simply not true - and hasn't been for nearly 15 years.

Any town with reasonable shopping gets packed on Sundays. And half the problem for visitors is navigation: even satnav doesn't necessarily help you find a car hire office. Airports have signs saying "car hire return this way". Cities have small signs saying "Shunters and Wheeltappers Avenue" that you don't see till you've driven past them.

No-one wants to stay in a boring industrial estate, so navigating your way through Chipping Campden (or even Bath) to a hotel is worth the hassle. Fighting your way to the Swindon Hertz office is a pointless chore