Car rental companies and luggage on train

Need some clarity.

So correct me if I’m wrong. You arrive at LHR and you want to rent a car from there. In those first few days you want to visit Bletchley Park, get rid of the rental and take the train into London.

Is this correct?

First question. Where are you driving too from Heathrow?

Second is it just you driving until you retrieve your mother OR are all of arriving at Heathrow and then getting into the rental? Will make a difference regarding size of rental for you and the luggage.

In answer to your luggage question yes trains have space for what you described and No need to opt for First Class. Waste of money IMHO. But hey if want to pay for it then by all means do so.

Lastly, all the rental car places are away from LHR so you will need to take their respective shuttle bus to get the car. I use Hertz because I’ve had Gold Plus membership for years. Compare prices. Read Trip
advisor reviews and see which agency meets your needs.

Avoid Green Motion for car hire – numerous complaints on other travel websites.

Yes, it’s easy to take luggage but you have to carry it on and off yourself.

The difference between first and standard class depends on the train journey. Short distance on commuter trains – very little difference. Long distance trains, wider seats and meals. First can be nicer but it’s not luxurious.

Just so you know the trainline charges a booking fee. Use http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ which will direct you to the train operating company to buy tickets with no booking fee.

Thank you all. Sounds like we can manage the luggage on the train from Bletchley Park to London after dropping off the rental car and will buy standard tickets.

Claudia, I am arriving four days before the rest of my party as I have work in Canterbury, Maidenstone and Portsmouth. I will then swing back to pick up rest of party (3) at Heathrow and then we visit Salisbury, Stonehenge, Cotswolds and finally Bletchley Park (over several days). I want to drop the car, without backtracking, before traveling by train to London where we stay for 5 nights.

There is an Enterprise car place between Bletchley Park and Bletchley station, about 2 or 3 minutes walk from either.

I don't know about any other major brands at either Bletchley or Milton Keynes.

Both Milton Keynes and Bletchley are good stations for getting into London as long as it isn't at rush hour going in. Tickets do however cost more during the evening rush hour - from 4 to 7 inclusive pm, slightly different times between the Virgin and London Northwestern trains - and there are frequent trains on both companies from Milton Keynes Central. Virgin have the fancier trains and run non-stop from Milton Keynes Central to London Euston. Slightly smaller doors and a bit more of a step up but easy. xx:00 (some hours), xx:03, xx:47 and sometimes others. The front third of their trains are First Class, probably not worth it for such a short journey).

London Northwestern run the commuter trains from Milton Keynes Central and their xx:07 (stops only at Watford Junction and Euston), xx:15 (nonstop), xx:22 (slow, stops Bletchley and 4 more times before Euston), and xx:41 (stops only at Bletchley and Leighton Buzzard before London Euston) all have double sliding doors and are virtually all standard class (First class only has 24 seats in a small compartment in coach "B" of each of these trains. Not worth it for such a short journey.

There are more staff about at Milton Keynes Central who can answer questions, but it is always a very busy station.
There may be one person in the booking office at Bletchley (or not) and there may be somebody on the barriers there (or not). The lifts are more reliable at Milton Keynes Central and they are larger and more modern, but the grotty ones at Bletchley work most of the time and will get you up to the overbridge and down to the platform usually. The stairs at both stations are fairly steep - because it is an overhead electric line you have to go up the equivalent of 2 storeys to cross over.

There are 3 trains most hours to London. The xx:27 is slow and stops 4 times. The xx:46 is fast and only stops at Leighton Buzzard 7 minutes later, and is then express to London, and would be my choice. The third possibility is the xx:52 is very slow, stopping 6 times on the journey.

It is a shame that you will have all of the party and all of the luggage when you get to London. I can't think of a better way to do it at the moment, but shepherding your mother in law and the luggage onto the train and off again may take forethought. Perhaps you could drop everybody and luggage at the station then return the car - and hope for a dry warm day.

In addition to Green Motion also avoid Easirent (anything but), also mentioned frequently on other travel forums.

We had a bad experience with Europcar. We had booked a very reasonable price for a rental car (it had the proper amount of space in the trunk for our luggage). We booked through a car rental discount site.

When we arrived at Heathrow to pick up our car. That model was not available and the only car they could offer us was a way more expensive larger vehicle the had the NAV system that I wanted. The price for the new car tripled. We could have rented another car for half that much had I booked directly with Budget or another American company that I have used in Europe before, but the bait and switch from Europcar snared me.

I could have skipped the NAV system had I had a GPS, but Europcar wanted a ridiculous amount to rent a GPS. I should have just found a GPS at a local store, but I needed one immediately to find our B&B in Bath that day.

Thanks for the clarification.

Nigel has provided great intel. Pay heed.

Merely remember to secure a car which will comfortably hold your family and their luggage.

Safe travels.

Thank you everyone! Really appreciate the help and all the details Nigel.