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!

I would avoid the Budget/Avis at Heathrow. I had initially booked with a reasonably priced automatic transmission. It didn’t offer sat/nav on my site. I had the choice of an upgrade with sat/nav or a portable. I took the upgrade and it cost whatever I had paid plus another 1 1/2 times more. My bad for not reading the fine print and being jet lagged. The real issue started 6 weeks after I got home. I had another £90 taken from my card. If it had been for tolls or speeding ticket, no problem. There wasn’t an explanation and I literally got lied to when I phoned and got a fake receipt. It just said misc. fees. Three days later I get a parking ticket given to me which literally covered the time that I was turning in the car and 25 minutes after. I turned in the car at the return space next to the kiosk, checked out and got on the bus. It was too late to dispute with the citation company but I disputed the charge on my card. The company then sent a copy of the citation and my contract but they deliberately left out the timestamp on my receipt that showed I had turned in car. It took weeks of calls, getting bumped to different offices only to be told in the end that it was a franchise and any US office had no control. It wasn’t the money, it was the principle of being cheated. It seems like a scam!
In the end it’s best to have a car in the COTSWOLDS, maybe just find a company away from Heathrow. The Cotswold roads are wide by British standards though. Also do go with automatic transmission as the shift will be left handed and maybe have some trick to it.

Just returned from London (five nights), Cotswolds (3 nights) Oxford (1 night) and Heathrow (one night). We had a wonderful time on our visit to the UK, first time for us, and I will offer a few tips. First, we were lucky enough to use Marriott points and checked in on Friday morning at 1030 am, after arriving at Heathrow at 8:05. We had an 8 35 PM flight out of Boston. We were staying at the Sheraton Park Lane, which was across the street from Green park, and the green park tube station. Took the Picadilly line to Westminster from Heathrow, then one stop to Green park station. This was so easy, and very convenient. Will post more about our stay in a different post, but as far as travel, it turned out to be very easy. Ask questions of tube workers, or other locals. Everyone was always glad to help out.

On Wednesday, we took a train from London Paddington to Oxford, which was a very pleasant, easy journey out of the city. In Oxford, we had a little trouble getting from the station to the Hertz office (our only glitch of the trip). We ended up going out of the train station, bearing to the right to the tunnel-like obstacle course, to the street which lead to the sort of obscure location of the Hertz office. We had made a reservation months in advance, and when we checked in they told us they did not have an automatic, but did have an automatic electric. Both my husband and I had never driven an electric car, and of course only once ever drove on the "other" side of the road in Grand Cayman 10 years ago. The two gentlemen finally convinced us we would have no troubles with the car for three days in the Cotswolds. They never mentioned that we would have quite a bit of difficulty locating an electric charging station, the need to have an app downloaded in order to refuel, etc. Be very wary of renting an electric car, if you've never used one, and if you do rent an electric, be sure they have given you specific directions on refueling, where you can possibly refuel in the Cotswolds, etc. As it turns outs, we thought the GPS in the car was wonderful and got us to all the small towns in the Cotswolds we wanted to visit. Moral of the story is, you won't always get what you reserved with Hertz in Oxford. The two gentlemen at the Hertz office were nice enough, but could have given us much more information on the car. Of note, people at a refueling station in the Cotswolds told us that many of the older charging stations would take 3-4 hours to refuel, when we were on 65% strenght to begin with. Thank God for friendly people, young and old, who tried to help us remedy that situation.

After three wonderful days in the Cotswolds, we drove back to Oxford and turned the car in, stayed overnight at the Oxford Courtyard Marriott, within a couple of blocks from the Airline Bus, which we took to go to

Part II
Airline Bus directly to Heathrow. Got off at the Central Bus station, and then made our way to terminal 4, where we stayed at the Holiday Inn, which is connected to the Crowne Plaza and is inbetween terminal 3 and 4. We asked questions of terminal staff to find our way, but had a very good idea on how to navigate because of help from MARDEE on this forum. We are walkers, so didn't mind the 10 minute walk. You will need a free ticket to go from terminal 4 to 3, or from 3 to 4. We had an American Airlines flight back to Boston at 9:35 AM, so we were down to partake in the free breakfast that Holiday Inn provided, beginning at 5 AM, and then on our way home!

Thanks to the wonderful people who share such great information !

Sue

Susan, why not put this in a separate thread since it's a full-scale review?

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!

Sorry, I know you're already taken your trip but just for future travelers, I have rented from both Arnold Clark directly and through Celtic Legend. Both have worked very well. The biggest advantage with Celtic Legend is that you do not pay until you pick up the car. When I rented directly with Arnold Clark, I had to pay a large deposit, although the price was a bit cheaper than CL. So I think you just need to check with both.

What I will probably do in the future is get a quote from Celtic Legend and one from AC and see which one I like.