Hi,

I am making my first trip to England in September. I will not rent a car until we leave London. I was wondering if anyone knows if renting a car at Banbury is a good idea or not. It's a little past Oxford and we want to do a little exploring of the Cotswolds before driving to Salisbury for the night. I was concerned about renting a car in Oxford cause I thought it might be weird enough trying to remember to drive on the left without learning in a big city. Does anyone have thoughts on this idea? Also, any thoughts on whether it's a good idea or not to rent so far out? Would I be better off renting somewhere closer to London, and if so, where?

I strongly recommend you do NOT hire a car in Banbury if you've not driven in England before and are heading for the Cotswolds.

The size of the city's immaterial. But the direct route from Banbury to the Cotswolds, the A361,becomes a nasty, narrow, twisty uphill road a few miles out of Banbury. I don't like driving it on the finest of days, even with perfect visibilty at 4 am on a summer's morning : by British standards it's an accident black spot. Admittedly, that just means half a dozen collisions a year - but there's one bit, round South Newington, where lorries coming towards you can't see you, and are forced to drive on the wrong side of the road. If you're got the hang of driving here, you sort yourself out pretty painlessly - but it really, really isn't a place for someone with 10 mins' experience.

I always argue the best place to collect a car for the Cotswolds is Heathrow, because you can practise in the car park, then have 60 painless miles of divided highway before hitting a real two-way road.

The alternative is Hertz' Kidlington depot, five miles north of central Oxford. Get a taxi to it from Oxford: it's in a reasonably untrafficked commercial estate, where you can pootle around a bit, and then go onto the A44 in almost open country a couple of miles south of Woostock. As long as Mrs F's not late for a meeting (ie as long as Mrs F's not going to a meeting), the traffic on the A44 northwards is usually light by British standards and sensible. The road is infested with traffic cameras, so stay within the limits.

The driving on the left issue is, to me, overstated. I first did so in Australia and due to the steering wheel and driver's seat location on the right, driving on the left seemed proper.

Just laugh it off the first 15 times you turn on the windshield wipers when trying to signal a turn.

That said, you're better off renting outside of London. Check out this forum, people continually underestimate the sheer size of the city (look at the posts asking for hotels "near ALL the sites" -- as if one exists). Greater London nearly has the population of New York and in the UK, people drive like Europeans. Would you like to drive on the "wrong" side of the road for the first time amongst a horde of NYC cabs?

Finally, make sure what you can do about returning the car. Many rental agencies charge steep fees for returns to somewhere other than the city where you originally rented.

Very good advice from flanneruk. Starting off on a freeway is best. It actually doesn't take too long to get used to the wrong side of the road -- when you're sitting in the wrong side of the car. Just ignore the occasional screams from your passenger. But we always get an automatic, just to simplify things.

I think the narrow roads with no shoulders (verges) are more difficult, especially when there's a curkerb)or a hedge or a rock wall right at the edge of the road. Driving in Britain takes more attention because of these narrow roads; we get more tired driving there as opposed to whizzing along the wide roads here in the US West.

I second the advice to get an automatic, particularly if you have not driven a stick shift for awhile.

The difficulty for me is using the left had to shift. Old habits die hard, and it just seems WRONG to use that hand. It takes me the best part of a day's driving to train my spinal cord to automatically do the shifting, rather than having to think of the shift pattern and consciously tell my stupid left arm and hand what to do -- NOW! If you have to take your attention away from safely driving on the wrong side of the road to educate your nervous system -- bad things can happen to your underwear.

I know automatics are scarce, and more expensive but, if you are worried about it, it might be the best idea to spend the extra bucks.

Best of British luck!

I would also agree that starting at an aiport on the edge of a city, where you will be getting on a freeway leading away from the city, is a good idea. I started out at Edinburgh's airport on got on the freeway for Stirling. My problems didn't start until I got off the freeway to go to Stirling castle; first, I got in the wrong lane for the roundabout, and ended up going west rather than east, then, after backtracking to go through the roundabout again, I ended up taking a wrong turn as I tried to work my way up the hill (the streets leading up to the castle are confusing as hell). It didn't amount to anything more than some embarrassment, but I probably handled it better after having 40 minutes of freeway driving under my belt than I would have if this had happened immeidately upon leaving the rental agency.

I don't know why you think it would be best to learn to drive in a city. I've driven several times in the UK and Ireland and driving in London would be like a nightmare for me. Driving in the country is a pleasure but I avoid B roads as much as possible.

(B roads are very narrow)

We found driving in England the first time pretty daunting (by the end of the day I had a headache from all the curbs we hit). Fortunately, neither we nor the car were any worse for the wear, and we might even try it again someday!

Where you rent also should depend on easy access and on the opening hours so you can take the car back without time pressure, and know how you get from there to wherever, without the wheels.

Consider renting from Heathrow. Airport rental locations usually cost a bit more, but consider this: Taking the tube to Heathrow is a cinch, and cheap. It will be open 24/7. From Heathrow the freeway access is very well signed, before you know it you're on your way, on a broad expressway where you can get used to the car as long as you stay in the left lanes, taking it easy at the speed limit.

Coming back, Heathrow is signed from all directions, can't miss it, and no need to rush before closing time, they stay open, unlike the suburban rental locations that close midday on Saturday until Monday morning.

I think renting in a tiny town is a really bad idea. You want to rent at an office that's large enough to have reasonable opening hours and a good selection of cars. (You might not want to arive and find all they have is a super-mini car with standard shift.)

Since we were going to Oxford from London, we picked up a car at Marble Arch; there are several rental places there.

From there, it's easy to get on the A44 for Oxford.

If that doesn't suit you, I would pick up at Heathrow as others have suggested.

Lee Ann

flanneruk, isn't there a rental agency near the train and/or bus station that connects easily to the A34 and A44? It would be a shorter and less expensive taxi ride than to Kidlington.

There is a rental agency ( sorry can't remember which one) just off Botley Road west of Oxford train station. From there it's easy to get onto the A34 and A44.

I'm just back today from England. Like Lee Ann I picked up my car from Marble Arch and it was easy enough to get out of the city heading towards Oxford. The route to the motorway along Edgeware Rd. etc is well marked.

Motorways are actually easier roads to start off on IMO. Many of the roads in the Cotswolds are really narrow and it can be hard to get used to the placement of the car within the lane.

The thing that always strikes me is how much "stuff" you need to get used to when driving in the UK (and I don't mean the operation of the car). One gets used to the "look" of roads in North America. In the UK (and Europe) there is a lot that's unfamiliar - from the look of the buildings to the road signs, speed signs, road markings, etc. That's the part I find takes more adjustment that operating the vehicle. There is soooo much signage on the roadways!!!

Also, people are much better over there about indicating (signalling) and they just seem to be more skilled drivers overall.

All that said, I am quite proud of the job I did driving around the Cotswolds in the snow, in Shropshire and the West Midlands, and back to Heathrow today. The car and I both emerged unscathed.

If you google "rental cars oxford" you will get a list and the location of rental agencies.

About 5 years ago we (2) rented in Glasgow and dropped off at Hertz in Kidlington. Hertz took us to the local bus stop for the bus station in Oxford and the Oxford Tube express bus to London. The bus terminates at Victoria but we got off at Nottinghill Gate and grabbed a taxi (5/7 GBP) for our hotel in Kensington. We thought it convenient and inexpensive.

Google oxford tube for more.

<i>B roads are very narrow</i>

That's far from the case. It all depends on the road and where you are. There are plenty of very good B (and even unclassified) roads. There are also narrow and horrible A roads.

One way to drive over in England is to drive so that you are in the center of the lane. This way you don't have to think left, you just have to think center. (does that make sense) This helped me as I lived in the UK for a number of years and going back and forth driving on the right, then on the left I said NO--I have to think of it this way: as long as I am (driver seat that is) in the center of the road it doesn't matter what country I am in.

&quot;flanneruk, isn't there a rental agency near the train and/or bus station that connects easily to the A34 and A44?&quot;

If you want to deal with a cyclist-stuffed medieval city, and a traffic management system that almost killed me this morning, as it often comes close to round the station, within 2 minutes of collecting your first ever RHD car, Budget's virtually at the railway station. Avis is to the west of the station, in a slightly more modern area with a more logical road layout to deal with. Both require you to turn fast onto the A34, then turn off it, five minutes later.

Why do it to yourselves?

flanneruk, there is an Enterprise rental in Botley about one mile west of the Oxford RR station and on the west side of A34. Wouldn't that avoid the &quot;cyclist-stuffed medieval city&quot;?

BTW, my first car rental took me from Winchester to King's Cross thru Picadilly and out Shaftesbury Ave. Of course that was so long ago we only had to contend with horse drawn carts then.

atpmrphnp: If I read you correctly, what I think you are saying is that you should focus on staying as close as possible to the center stripe, as left hand drivers will typically misjudge the left side of the vehicle (and tend to hit curbs, parked cars, etc., on that side) than they are to cross the center line which is next to them.