Best Car Rental Company for England!

Lots of opinions about this in previous posts. We always rent at Heathrow and use either Avis or Enterprise.

The Cotswolds is a large area so research which villages you want to visit before heading out. From the airport it’s about a 2.5-3 hours drive depending on where you go first. Parking in the popular villages could fill up quickly if you’re traveling in mid to late May so be patient and flexible with your plans.

Thank you so much jaimeelsabio Good advice. We use Enterprise as well everywhere we go. And airport location is usually our first choice. But this time we are spending some days in London first so that's why I asked for other locations. Maybe we take the train to Bath and then we rent a car?

Who do you rent with in the States?

Is it a must to drive in the Cotswolds? Have you considered day trips by rail?

Driven on the “ opposite “ side of the road before?

From a Christmas sojourn to visit Sudley Castle in Winchcombe I rented with Hertz. Same car rental I use in the States. Got ALL the insurance as back roads are tiny and you’ll discover often encumbered with dog walkers, sheep, bicyclists and lorries.

Thanks Claudia. Yes I have driven in 4 continents and 29 countries some on the Left side, so driving on the opposite side wont be a problem. From what I heard the public transportation in Cotswold is not that great, that's why we are thinking about car rental!
LT

I have rented from AutoEurope twice in England (once back in 1996). I have also rented from Arnold Clark twice (last year in Scotland and this year in England) and have been very happy with both of those companies.

I will say that I think Arnold Clark is more thorough and I have gotten more free upgrades from them. They really take the time to go over everything with you and make sure you know what you are getting. I like AutoEurope but sometimes the companies they broker for can be iffy. For example, I recently rented a car through AE and got the car from Europcar (this was a couple of weeks ago). I wasn't all that happy with the agent who kept trying to upsell me on a better car, and then some kind of service package. Plus the car was okay but nothing great, and the agent had no clue about how to work some of the features.

OTOH, when I picked up my 2nd car at Arnold Clark this week, they upgraded me to a Mercedes-Benz Class-A car, which is probably the nicest car I've ever driven. And there was no extra charge.

I have not rented from Enterprise in the UK but I have a good friend who uses them all the time (she and her husband live in England and don't own a car, so they rent from them). She really likes their service.

Last fall I used Enterprise and was very happy with the service. I had a car for a week around Devon and Cornwall, and then for one day from Hexham, up near Hadrian's wall. I have no problem recommending them.

For a four week rental in May 2022 I booked through AutoEurope. The rental was with Enterprise at Heathrow. Staff was friendly and helpful, no attempt to push anything extra. We had a small issue with a warning light and when we returned the car the manager apologized for the inconvenience and refunded the second driver fee as a goodwill gesture (I didn’t ask for anything). I would definitely use Enterprise again.

Thank you very much Mardee I have been always renting through AutoEurope whenever I rented a car in Europe , But I surly will check out Arnold Clark, which I never heard about before. Now the question is which location did you rent your car from Heathrow?

Thanks so much for your reply Greg. Did you rent from their airport location?

Thank you Katheryne, much obliged!

Last September, I visited Yorkshire, after landing at Heathrow. I spent a couple days in London, took the train up to Yorkshire, and then took the train back to to London and took Eurostar to France.

I had considered driving up to Yorkshire, but it seemed too long... and definitely would have been. The only thing was, I noticed how much cheaper renting a car was at the airport versus renting it in York: this was through Enterprise, whom I chose because I needed to be picked up from the York train station to go to the rental car place.

After returning from France back to London, I rented a car from Heathrow from Hertz to head to Hampshire and I was amazed at how much cheaper it was to rent a car from Heathrow. I think it cost half as much... Enterprise seems like it can be more expensive compared to other alternatives in the U.S, and of course at some point I would rather pay the extra (even $200 extra!) than have to drive all the way from Heathrow to York, but I had heard from various people it would be cheaper to NOT rent at the airport. Not true in my case.

One thing that happened with Hertz was that I needed to extend my rental by one day and it was a huge process. Even though the app indicates you can do it easily, I was unable to do it through my phone and for some reason was unable to reach them with my cell phone. Luckily, I was able to use a friend's landline, but they (Hertz) charge you to call customer service.

It wasn't possible to contact Hertz at Heathrow via phone (no answer) and so I ended up having to talk to Hertz UK customer service and they sent an email to Hertz Heathrow and informed them of what was going on. When I dropped off the car one day later beyond the original extension everything was okay but I probably spent more than an hour on the phone working things out.

I am wondering if other major rental car companies that are in the U.S. and operate in the UK are easier to deal with.

It was true, too, that I was able to easily call the York Enterprise office and talk to them directly... and so there is something to be said in that... even if it was more expensive.

A final thing: I used a decent credit card (my USAA credit card) that covered some things having to do with rental car damage. I opted out of the insurance that Enterprise offered, because USAA covered damage to my own rental (though apparently not if I damaged another car.)

I sustained damage to one of the tires while dealing with rocky Yorkshire country roads and the charge was covered by the credit card, which I appreciated... though of course that involved filing a claim, and took some time to do, but it worked out.

I think the bottom line is despite everything, I love having access to a car to explore the UK countryside. It would have been impossible to see everything I did without one.

(I recommend video tutorials on YouTube, though, on refreshers to negotiating the roundabouts. ;)

I found a good one that was made for UK drivers who were going to take a driving test.

thank you so much ebennett1803 for your time and advice it is surly appreciated.
LT

“Thanks so much for your reply Greg. Did you rent from their airport location?”

No, I rented from their Southside Exeter location in Devon. I trained it from Heathrow to Bath, stayed overnight, then train from Bath to Exeter. And since it was my first time driving on the left, I cabbed it to the Enterprise outside the city centre to avoid driving in congested traffic. It was right beside the freeway, so very easy to escape the city.

Thank you very much Greg.

Now the question is which location did you rent your car from Heathrow?

LT, sorry, I just saw this. I am currently in England and driving around with my Arnold Clark Mercedes. :-) But I did not pick it up at Heathrow. I picked it up at the AC office in Liverpool on Sefton St. and still have it. I will return it in Carlisle as i get near the end of my trip. So far everything is going great!

Cue the music: “Mercedes, Mer mer mer Mercedes” (title was “Mercedes Boy” by Pebbles)

Fun song from the late 80s I used to love and can’t get out of my mind now! Lol

Hope you’re having a blast mardee. Driving in style for sure!!

We have used Auto Europe numerous times throughout Europe and even in New Zealand.
We have not had any major issues, although
we had some upsell pressure in Naples once. Most seem to be through a Europcar outlet with Hertz a close second. It depends on which is cheaper or in some cases better located.

We have been driving around Devon and Cornwall for the last couple of weeks and rented from Auto Europe, picking up our car in Plymouth at the Europcar. We had reserved an automatic because of the left side driving instead of our usual manual.

Fortunately, we had a different experience than Mardee with our Auto Europe rental.
They too upgraded us to a Mercedes because that's all they had in automatic. No extra charge. And no pressure for upsell or extras.

Sorry, Mardee that you had that experience. We had that once a few years back and it is not pleasant,and since then we bring a recent email from our Visa card stating what our coverage is. That tends to shut down the insurance pitch. We are returning in Exeter in a few days after hours. Hopefully there will be no surprise. If there is I will report back.

Mardee,I will look into your suggestion next rental since it seems the service goes above and beyond.

Thank you Duluth and MA Traveler. I've used Europcar before and it's luck of the draw. sometimes very good and sometimes a disaster! I will definitely try Arnold Clark, when we finally decide which location (outside London) we finally rent from.

Mardee,I will look into your suggestion next rental since it seems the service goes above and beyond.

MATraveler, it really does. When I was in Scotland last year, they upgraded me from a manual transmission to an automatic, just because I asked, and didn't charge extra. I couldn't guarantee that would happen, as they may not have any left in stock, but it was a nice perk. I just really appreciate the thoroughness of their service and how they want to make sure and explain everything, rather than just throwing the keys to you.

Also, just an FYI to anyone, it really pays to keep checking back to see if prices drop. I did that for this trip and wound up saving around $500 by rebooking 6-8 weeks before my trip began.

Hope you’re having a blast mardee. Driving in style for sure!!

Ha ha, yes, in my Mercedes-Benz! The only issue is that the shift lever is in the upper right hand corner above the steering wheel, which is the exact same place that the windshield wiper lever is on in my Subaru Outback at home. So there have been a few occasions where I've accidentally switched it to Neutral as I'm driving along.

Depending on where in the Cotswolds you want to explore you could also consider taking the train to Oxford and renting a car there rather than Bath. I think it just depends on where you want to go. Enjoy!

This is for Mardee and anyone else who have rented from Arnold Clark -

Did you rent a car in Scotland directly from Arnold Clark or through Celtic Legend? I requested a reservation from Celtic Legend and am now wondering if I would be better served by renting directly through Arnold Clark. Thanks for your thoughts!