Renting a car(van) to travel from London to Edinburgh with 6 people and 6 suitcases

[we] are assuminng (sic) that Edinburgh will have suitable parking.

driving and parking in Edinburgh is awful.

driving through central London is awful - do make note of additional charges for driving in central London.

It's a long, tiring drive.

No one who has experience of driving in the UK would suggest this - the train is far easier, quicker, more comfortable, more relaxing and you get discounts with group bookings

Check out prices and compare.

No major city needs a vehicle, walking and tube in London is enough, walking in Edinburgh, train to St Andrews.iMHO unless kids are heading for school in the UK, large suitcases are a pain and could a problem in smaller rooms. There are laundry facilities in all major cities. Last May we did laundry in Florence, Edinburgh and a very small load in London.Sounds like a great trip!

Random thoughts:

• make sure you add the cost of petrol into your calculations. At ~$8 a gallon (I did this in
  my head, so someone with more accurate info may want to chime in), it would add up.

• if you are starting in London and ending in Edinburgh, is there a dropoff charge for the
  vehicle? Or a mileage charge?

• it sounds like you are in London for a bit before the trip to Scotland, but if not, I would
  not want to undertake a long drive right after getting off a plane.

• if there are 8 of you (you+hubby+6 children) and at least 5 large bags, I would question
  whether the 9 person van is big enough.

• at the least, I would consider renting at Heathrow, if only for the likelihood of having more
  vehicle choices vs a small location in central London.

• But overall, I think driving vs the train is a very questionable choice. How's about taking
  the train and renting a car for a day or two in Scotland? It's ease and comfort of travel,
  not just cost. Unless you have something you absolutely want to see between London
  and Scotland, I'd take the train. But buy tickets now as the price is relatively reasonable.

Driving time from London to Edinburgh as estimated by ViaMichelin.com: 7-1/2 hours, with no allowance for any stops, traffic tie-ups, searching for parking or dealing with the rental agency. It would be a whole-day, tiring slog, with little if any extra time available for wandering off the direct path.

Train time from London to Edinburgh: 4-1/2 hours (some longer). You can pack a picnic and eat on the way. Tickets for May aren't available yet. To get a really good fare you might need to buy the tickets shortly after they go on sale. I see a 10:45 AM departure from Kings Cross on March [corrected] 21 that costs less than 50 GBP per person. There are rail cards (Two Together, costing 30 GBP for two people) that would bring down the cost of tickets enough to be worthwhile if you somehow found yourselves facing much higher ticket costs.

We […] are assuminng that Edinburgh will have suitable parking.

Do not assume that. Where in Edinburgh are you heading and why are you assuming there will be parking there?

Also, renting a car in central London sounds like a bad idea. I don't know where you plan to rent the car, but both Trafalgar square and the city sounds like terrible places to drive in.

As mentioned you need to look at the total cost of driving, not just the cost of renting the car. And you also need to consider travel time. The train will take you to Edinburgh in around 4.5 hours, while driving will take around 8 hours. So not a lot of time to stop and see the countryside.

And for a day trip to St Andrews I'd suggest train or bus.

For St. Andrews you would normally take the train to Leuchars and then one of the frequent buses to St. Andrews. Stagecoach runs most of the buses. The trip takes about 12 minutes, with departures during normal weekday hours every 7 or 8 minutes. I didn't check the weekend schedule, but locals depend on those buses to connect to the rail system.

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/

Your destination will be "St. Andrews Bus Station, Fife". There's also a "St. Andrews Bus Station" in Edinburgh.

https://edinburgh.org/planning/getting-around/driving-in-edinburgh/

https://caura.com/payments/city-charges/edinburgh-lez#

We are not trying to put a damper on your plans, but rather trying to make your trip much easier.

Edinburgh is a nightmare ….a nightmare….to park in, and large vehicles make it even more difficult.
I’m just back from there, and friends there were telling me all about the new Low Emission Zones …LEZ….where you can accrue some big fines if a vehicle is non compliant.

Perhaps encourage your family to pack lighter, and look into trains?
It’s so easy to get around the UK by public transport!
Edinburgh and London are especially good.

mhcrouse, please write a post here telling us of your decision on how you plan travel to and in Scotland. The advice given here is excellent, from locals and well traveled posters. Please take their advice.

Tickets for May aren't available yet.

LNER tickets are available on their own website, now, for up until 24 May. The 1045 train is actually a LUMO train, not LNER. They also have tickets on sale now until the end of May. There are 6 of the lowest priced Lumo tickets on the 1045 each day- On 22 May 6 tickets is a total of £227.40 on that Lumo service. On Lumo your maximum baggage size is (63 x 41 x 27cm).
But LNER have lots of trains for just under £50 each available right now on those dates.

We rented a 8 passenger van (Ford Tourneo/Transit) for 3 weeks last summer. We had planned to rent a minivan (which we drive at home), but 6 adults + luggage don’t fit.

It was quite an adventure. One I will never repeat. Thankfully I didn’t have to drive. My brother in law, an electrician, drives one of these vans for work so he was very comfortable driving it. It was a beast. Horrible turning radius. Parking had to be VERY carefully planned. It was taller than several parking garages allow, and street parking is pretty much non-existent. We had to hope and pray for parking spaces that you could pull straight into. Trying to turn into a perpendicular spot was very stressful, as a passenger! There were several times where we all had to get out, he parked, then shimmied out of the spot. Thankfully he’s very thin!

Definitely get the zero deductible coverage and factor that into your cost. Know that there will probably be no functional windows for 2nd and 3rd row passengers. So hopefully no one gets car sick.

Driving an SUV in the US is no comparison to driving a full size van in tiny streets in Europe. There will be places you just cannot go to. You’ll be pulling in side mirrors at time. I would use google earth to carefully plot your route and avoid narrow streets when possible.

Quite honestly, I would reassess the need for big suitcases for such a short trip, and then take the train. Take a day trip from a tour company to St. Andrew’s.

Michelle,

You need to scratch the idea of renting a van. It is just a really bad idea for the places you want to see. Driving on the left is the least of your worries. My relatives who live 50 miles outside of London, do not even drive their vehicles into the city. Congestion charges, Lack of parking, one-way routes, four-lane roundabouts, etc. It would be just a nightmare for the poor driver. Just take the train and book ahead to get the best prices.

Do yourself a couple of favors. Take the train up to Scotland and pick up your rental car as you leave the city you're staying in the fist night.

And do not allow anyone in your party to bring any big suitcase. We travel with 21 inch rolling carry on bags, and we can travel indefinitely using Rick Steves' Packing Guide with some minor changes.

Vans in the U.K. and Europe are not nearly as big as those in North America, and 6 grownups are pushing it. There's just not room for a bunch of 50 pound suitcases.

We were going to visit Scotland last June, however we couldn't find accommodations for a reasonable price a month ahead. I had no idea it was such a busy tourist place. An itinerary and room reservations should be made as soon as possible. Our Plan B was flying down to Rome and taking a cruise around the Eastern Med, Greek islands, Sicily and up to Florence area.

Michelle...my first response is "you gotta be kidding". Sorry for being blunt. My wife amid I spent May circumnavigating the UK. We put 2300 miles on our mid sized rental car. The problem is the size of the roads.....they are just tooooo narrow for a nine person van, unless your have lots!! of experience driving a rig like that in the UK; "furgetaboutit".

But we still feel that the only way for us to see all the nooks and crannies was with a car. If we did it again we would rent a car. And I'm over 75. Our auto expenses were not bad; we got an awesome hybrid that averaged 35 mpg. It could have held four people with room for 4 medium sized bags. You could do this with two cars.....but for the group you have it may be best to use public transportation.

We picked up and returned our rental in Heathrow...(there are great rates if you do your pick-up and drop-off there)....but ...NOOOO way would have driven in London...or Edinburgh. And yes, we picked up the car the day we flew in...all jet lagged. (I do not recommend this...but we do it all the time...)

When we got to Edinburgh we parked our car and used public transportation. And we planned our time in London to be without a car.

If you really love your husband, don't ask him to volunteer for this. If someone else in your group is a fearless driver, and the math works out, rent two cars, and go for it. IMHO There is just so much more that you can experience with your own vehicle.\

Cheers!

Steve

I agree with all of the comments above, There's no way of earth I would consider driving in Central London. For the rest of the trip, I can't see how renting a van and all the attendant cost of petrol, parking, tolls and ULEZ is going to be cheaper than a train.

I do understand the desire to see more of the countryside than you might by public transport, so renting a car in Edinburgh to go to St Andrews would work - I've done it before and didn't find driving in and out of the city particularly difficult, but I wouldn't want or need a car and the attendant hassle or parking etc when visiting Edinburgh itself.

And yes, go for two cars rather than a van. You're making a lot of assumptions based on your US experience on what UK roads are like - I certainly wouldn't want a large van, and I think you'll struggle to fit yourselves plus luggage in what you'll be able to find.

Michelle,

Trust the information and experience here. You have a short trip to cover a lot of territory. You don't want the hassle of renting and dealing with a large vehicle. You lose time in the rental office, you lose time in finding suitable parking, you lose time trying to move large luggage.

We had an SUV for 4 of us this past fall. We drove from Heathrow airport to Leicester, Peterborough, York, then Stirling. There is so much $$ when you factor in fuel, extra insurance (for peace of mind) and rental.

My husband has driven over 5000 miles in UK/Ireland. There was a noticeable difference in parking options with an SUV vs the smaller car we normally rent. We all only had carryon plus a personal bag each--the car was pretty packed except for the middle seat in the baback. Do not rent in the city. It sounds as if St. Andrews is the main location outside a big city. Great specific info here in the posts regarding transit.

Are 5 of the travellers taking special gear or clothing that require a large suitcase? An 8 day trip is really short and a variety of clothing should fit in a carryon size. There are many ways to get clothes and necessities down to carryon size. If cost is an issue, see if friends or family can loan carryon luggage or duffelbag. Lots of good threads on the forum about packing. I'm happy to share more ideas or talk specifics. We have travelled for 2 and 3 weeks with just carryon and a large personal bag. If we had more to bring home, we've picked up a suitcase in a charity shop to check on the way home, or we have taken a foldable bag to use as a personal bag and have used our backpack personal bag as our carryon.

Make a contest to see who can get everything in the carryon---and whose carryon is the lightest.

Hope you have a great trip.

Those train prices are great.