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Picking up rental car at Heathrow - any tricky bits?

We're arriving at Heathrow at 6:00 am, one week from today. Will pick up an Enterprise rental car and drive to Kingsnorth in Ashford (staying with our son for the first part of the trip). My husband has driven in England (two years ago) and Ireland (last year), so he's confident about the left side of the road thing, but I'm just wondering if there are any navigational issues we should look out for when getting away from Heathrow. The last time we were in England we picked up a car in Exeter, so no experience with Heathrow (haven't flown into Heathrow before, either). The drive looks pretty straightforward on the map, but one never knows what it's like on the ground. Since we arrive so early, should we be concerned about weekday commuting traffic? It will take some time to clear customs and pick up the car, of course, so perhaps we'll be outside the rush hour by the time we get on the road.

Also, we'll be returning the car on a Friday at the end of the trip, driving from Asthall in the Cotswolds for a 2:30 pm flight. Any traffic concerns? Google says it's about a one hour drive, but is that realistic? We'll leave post-rush hour ( after 9:00 am?), so I think we should have plenty of time to return the car and comfortably make our flight, but let me know if there is any potential for delays en route.

Thank you!

Posted by
37 posts

Do you know the exact location of the car pickup? Last time I picked up a rental was a very long time ago and the rental place was offsite.

Posted by
40 posts

It's right at the airport on Perimeter Road, so I'm assuming there will be an Enterprise bus to the location.

Posted by
9265 posts

There will be a shuttle from Heathrow to the rental place. Mine for Hertz arrived 20 minutes after I walked outside. 10 minutes to Hertz.

Easy leave onto the major through fares from there. I did the drive from there to the Cotswolds
last year. 2 hours all in.

It's longer than an hour from the Cotswold given traffic and possible weather issues. Build in an hour buffer just to play it safe.

Safe travels.

Posted by
34005 posts

I wouldn't count on an hour for your return trip. I'd allow an absolute minimum of 90 minute and expect to take nearly 2 hours.

Would you prefer the M4 route or the M40/M25 choice?

Don't ever expect the A40/A44 near Oxford to be plain sailing, but you will be practiced with that part during your stay in Asthall, I expect.

Posted by
5554 posts

You'll hit the M25 as soon as you leave Heathrow and it's likely that it'll be rush hour although with the M25 every hour is like rush hour! Expect slow moving traffic which might be beneficial as it'll allow you to get to grips with the car and navigation a bit easier.

Getting out of Heathrow and onto the motorway is very straightforward and the drive to Ashford should be relatively easy.

Posted by
1394 posts

Take note of where you pick it up so you can find it again when you return the car. I rented Hertz and that was easy to find. I just followed the signs for terminal 5 and then for Hertz. Enterprise might be similar.

Posted by
8329 posts

We rented from Thrifty in 2013 and picked up the car in Harwich. We ended up in Heathrow after three days of driving in Southern England. Driving on the left wasn't so bad. Glad we had a Nav system.

The Thrifty car return was next door to the Heathrow Sheraton on the loop road north of Heathrow. That road had went east to west and was easy to hop on to go to Windsor, Stonehenge and Salisbury. Didn't need to get on the M25, thank goodness.

We discovered the M25 parking lot on our drive from Harwich to our hotel at the Sheraton. My advice is avoid the M25.

Posted by
40 posts

Thanks everyone! I will definitely leave extra time for the return, which I tend to do anyway.

Posted by
5237 posts

You might want to reconsider renting a car right away. Jet lag (no matter how well handled), lack of sleep, not being familiar with the local road system, and driving on the left (even though he has done it before) can all be a problem. There are some that are not bothered by any of those things. Others think they are ok but are really driving somewhat impaired without realizing it. And some folks are complete zombies and should never drive on the day they arrive. Just food for thought.