Where to rent a car in London

I would recommend Oxford, as it gets you out of London, and the attendant hassles and traffic. Not to mention it's a fascinating place well worth visiting, and in the general direction of the Cotswolds. Obviously you can't take the tube, but the train is not that expensive.

And while you're finalising your itinerary, consider taking the train to key points and then hiring a car as required. Otherwise you risk spending lots of money to spend lots of time in traffic.

Rent at Heathrow. You spend your time in London and then return to Heathrow. If you rent from Hertz you’ll need to board a shuttle to the Hertz lot and rental agency. Easy peasy.

I did it after an overnight from LAX to LHR. Drove from there to Lyme Regis. Small 2 door with stick shift. My choice. I learned how to drive with a clutch so no big deal.

Reiterate your desire for an automatic! Although the
“ preferred “ vehicle for American visitors most UK drivers have vehicles with stick shifts.

I'm sorry you weren't able to find recent discussions - they are frequent and there are lots of recent ones. When you use the search feature after filtering for Forums you can then filter for time span, clicking 6 months or less, so that you get what you are looking for.

If you rent in Oxford, good point for getting to the Cotswolds area (do you know where, it is a big place??) the problem is you may find an automatic difficult, you may need to go between companies to get it, and the main road has been closed for repair for some months, and because they did the work wrong and had to take it all out and start again it will be closed for several more months - no guarantee at all that it will be open by September, so it makes driving in Oxford - a hassle at the best of times - very difficult.

If you rent in Heathrow they will have the car you need and you get right on the motorway network leading to the Cotswolds.

Do NOT plan on driving in London itself, in addition to being very slow, it is replete with hazards, not least bicycles which often flout the law, and you get to pay nearly £20 daily congestion fee for the privilege 364 days a year, and parking can easily reach £50 a day. Just say no.

We rent at Heathrow. Once, when the company my employer rented through didn’t have an automatic, it got one from another company. I didn’t need to bother with it. Getting onto the motorway from the airport takes about 5 minutes. Getting to the Cotswolds will take about 2.5 hours depending on where you’re headed, the route you take, traffic, and construction.

Thanks everyone for all the information. Sorry, I don’t see how to filter for age of replies in the search section, at least on the mobile version, though this would be very helpful. All things considered, especially given the fact that we need an automatic, plus the info on Oxford (another good reason to post an oft asked question as to get updated information like this )we are opting for making a reservation at the airport.

on an iPhone (don't know about android) Search is at the top of the page - put in a search term, I chose car rental cotswolds. It comes back with an thread from 8 years ago and several more. At the top of the page, below the "hamburger" and logo and "My account" (in portrait mode), (in landscape it is upper left), a blue bar with white writing "Filter by Type". Tap "Travel Forum (449)" (the 449 is the number found, it may vary slightly), and up pops another blue line "Filter by Date" and the choices "6 months and newer", "1 year and newer", "2 years and newer", "All" ... pick the one you like, I always pick 6 months, and up will pop those which match, regardless of date but all within the time span you have chosen.... not a great search engine but it helps...

Thanks. I did not know you could filter within he "travel forum" link. That's incredibly useful. Much appreciated!

We ae going to be there in Late July/early Aug. We are renting from Enterprise after spending a few days in London. To avoid both the airport rental fees AND the cost of getting BACK to LHR we are renting from Enterprise Car & Van Hire - Hammersmith. It is only 2 blocks from the Ravenscourt Park tube station, which is on the District line, as is our hotel 2 blocks from Paddington Station (Shakespeare Hotel). This way we will have an easy time as we have to move with our luggage. The rental was significantly cheaper, and we also saved the ~$25 per person cost of the express train from Paddington back to LHR. It also SEEMS to be have easy access to the M4 so I will have only a short distance before getting on a highway to get used to driving on the left side. For your itinerary, it is also on the west side of London and makes for an easier transition to heading to Oxford etc.

watch your speed on the highway near Hammersmith. Major looking motorway elevated above the city - yes those 40 mph signs mean 40. Lots of cameras and strictly enforced - the bridge can't take more than that.

Thanks for the updates. Much useful information...