Cost Of One-Way Car Rental In England

[artnbarb]

We were surprised to learn that there was often a surcharge to drop a rental car off in a different location - especially when you consider how small England is! We know we'll pick up our car in Bath, but for the return we were unsure until we decided where our final night would be spent. Once we settled on Windsor I thought maybe Reading might be a better return city than Bath. altho they're both about the same distance from our base in Chipping Campden, Bath is obviously much further west, requiring more time on the train, TWO changes, and of course a more expensive ticket.

I called AutoEurope and was told the my cost would be the same, returning at either Bath or Reading, BUT - there would be a £50 fee, to be collected when we pick up the car.

From what I saw online, dropping off the car in Reading, altho costing £50 more, saves us a good hour on the train, plus about £25 in train fare, so I think for £25 net cost we'll drop off the car in Reading! whew!

 

[Pauline]

This is something new and we were charged for recent France car rentals, picking up in one place and dropping off in another. It seems like they charge more for everything now - rentals, extras, any damage.

Another option would be to drop off in Oxford which is closer to CC. The car rental places are south of the train station, so you can avoid driving into town, but scoot along the western edge and go straight into the car rentals. I don't know where the car rental offices are in Reading. You would have a walk or a short taxi ride from the car rental office to Oxford train station.

Why aren't you keeping the car for your stay in Windsor and then dropping off at the airport when you are leaving?

 

[artnbarb]

I'll check into dropping off at Oxford, Pauline. The proximity to CC isn't as important as the time and convenience of getting from the drop-off point to Windsor. We're dropping the car off the day before we leave because our flight is early - 7:45 am - so I'd prefer to just have a car service pick us up and drop us off at Heathrow.

 

[Pauline]

This might not be worth considering, but on some trips we have dropped the car off at the airport the night before an early flight, checked in (BA let you check in the night before, I am not sure if they or others still do this), then take a taxi to the hotel, and another one back in the morning. But it is probably not worth the chaos of doing this.

I understand not wanting to do your car return before an early flight.

Just throwing this in - you could drive from CC to Windsor, have a nice afternoon there and dinner, then drive to Heathrow after dinner, return the car, stay in an airport hotel where you can walk to the terminal the next morning. There is a Premier Inn I think at Heathrow (but I may be thinking of Gatwick).

 

[artnbarb]

Being at the airport the night before would certainly ease my mind, so I might check to see if there are Premier Inns (or any other budget options) at Heathrow. Thanks for the ideas - sometimes I get stuck in one direction!

 

[Pauline]

With such an early flight, I think it would be best to stay at the airport. There are a couple of hotels in the airport, but there are many on a road on the edge of the airport and they will have shuttle buses.

 

[artnbarb]

When we first started planning this trip we were expecting our flight out of Heathrow to depart around 11 a.m. When we found a flight that would get us back to Louisville before 4 p.m. THAT was worth getting up early for, but now it really does make more sense to stay at the hotel. I'm hoping we don't have to pay more than £50 to drop off at the airport......

There are 3 Premier Inns near LHR, so now I need to figure out if one is a better choice than the other two! I'm not even sure what my criteria should be - cost should be about the same for all three, but I need to know if one location is better for taxiing to/from Windsor, and then assuming all three offer airport shuttles, I need to check the time from each hotel to the airport.

 

[Panda]

Which terminal are you flying out from ?

 

[artnbarb]

Our itinerary says Terminal 3 - is this the usual terminal for flights to the US? Why do you ask?

 

[Panda]

Just that Heathrow is a spread out airport, with 4 and 5 away from the cluster of 1,2,3, which may have had a bearing on your accommodation choice. Flights to the US go from a variety of termini, depending on the airline.

 

[Pauline]

If you are spending the night before the flight at the airport, you don't need to taxi to and from Windsor, do you? Drop your car off after your Windsor visit. I would drive to the hotel, unload the luggage, then drive to the car return. Then shuttle bus from car return to airport and shuttle bus from airport to hotel.

Panda is right (of course)! It is surprising how far terminal 5 is from terminals 1 - 2 - 3!

 

[artnbarb]

I may have flown into Heathrow once - Gatwick is my preferred airport - but in any event it's been many, many years, and I know how much airports change, even from year to year, so thanks for the heads up. And yes, it makes sense to just keep the car to drive to Windsor for the day.... I off to Goggle 'Public parking in Windsor" right now!