driving from london to dorchester

Yes! Anything to avoid driving inside London. And did you mean Dorchester in Dorset west of Southampton, or the smaller Dorchester south of Oxford? Heathrow is the best rental point for either, I was just curious.

Thanks, Kent. I mean the Dorchester in Dorset. I will be staying in London for a week before this, so I will take the National Exprtess bus from Victoria Station to Heathrow and pick up the car there.

Taking your car at Heathrow is wiser, but more costly because of the airport tax added to the rental fee.

I would try to find a remote office of the rental agency in a small town in the direction you plan to drive from Heathrow and take a train.

Don't drive in London unless you are very brave! I think your plan is good and the drive to Dorchester is pretty easy. What car rental company are you using? It's just that I was brought up in a town near Heathrow and I am wondering if it might be cheaper for you to pick up your car there rather than at Heathrow itself.

Thanks, Laura. I am looking for a town near but outside London, accessible by rail, that would have car rental companies. I would pick up the car there and drive on to Dorchester. Would your town be one I should be investigating?
Kate

I'm from Hayes in Middlesex (it's actually in Greater London, but in postal terms it's described as being in Middlesex. Don't ask, it's a complicated story!). There is a train station there and the train comes from Paddington. It's also right next to the M4 motorway. It's a fairly grim little place, but as long as you are not planning on walking around at night it's okay. It's fine to drive in as well.

Just up the road is a town called Uxbridge. It has a tube station. It's a bigger place and nicer than Hayes, but if you want to get onto the motorway it's a little bit further away.

That's very interesting, Carl. My husband has always been in charge of the rental car and has rented it at Heathrow. I did not know there was an airport fee added on. We will be traveling there in August and plan to get a rental car and travel to Swindon the first night (we don't land until 1:30) and then head to Hay-on-Wye the next day. So, it sounds as if we would be better taking a train outside the city (in our direction) and then getting the rental car? Does it save much money to do so when you're spending train fare?

Sharon - I don't think you'd even need to get a train. The tube lines go quite far out of London (into Essex and Buckinghamshire for example) so you could just pick a town at the end of a tube line that's in the direction you are going. If you travel off peak I think you could get a travelcard for about £10. So, you'd just need to weigh up the difference in prices and take into account how much time it may add to your journey etc.