Maste

Wife and I are visiting my family for Christmas. We are looking at car rentals from Heathrow for the duration of our stay. Does anyone have any good recommendations for websites to find rentals or rental companies they have used/have experience with? I've used skyscanner and found cheap rentals through 'hotwire' but online reviews are bad for hotwire.. Anyone have experience with this company?

Thanks in advance!

lansbury

wtkp0u

If you've got an Amex card, this $25 insurance for up to 42 days is a good deal.
https://feeservices.americanexpress....verage/home.do

michaelr711

I just booked through Thrifty for Christmas - albeit this was Manchester. Saved around $200 by getting it from one of the downtown train stations (which has direct service to the airport) as well.

Jamackabi

I'd echo what Michael says above, choose a branch that is away from the airport so that you do not have to pay the airport surcharge. I am also flying back to visit family at Christmas and will be arriving into Heathrow. If I choose the Enterprise located at the airport to rent one of their "Small Premium" cars, it'll cost $180 more than if I just choose the Enterprise in Hounslow, a 5 minute drive away from the airport. It's the exact same car! I'll be catching an Uber and still be saving a lot of money.

Ash UK/US

I found my best deal with Easyjet, I did not book any flights with them but they beat everyone else on the car rental.

Also check out you coverage on you credit cards for insurance, Most cover theft and damage, in the UK the car rental company are legally bound to cover third party injury.

I really like Amex coverage. Their $25 flat fee is awesome.

lansbury

Steerpike

Try Costco Travel. I use them exclusively in the US and find them to be very cheap and easy to use. Also, as an aside, re-check the prices daily and re-book each time the price drops - they don't mind if you cancel a dozen times! They also don't include any Insurance in the reservation, which is a refreshing change from most other sites.

https://www.costcotravel.com/

It's run by Costco but has a different login, sadly.

I tried them for my last trip to UK, but ironically I really wanted a bundled insurance package on that trip (I don't trust myself driving over there, so wanted all the insurance I could get, and didn't want to be 'negotiating' at the arrival desk) so ended up using another site, but I think I'll use them next time.

Awesome Welles

I hired a car for 7 days in the UK albeit from Gatwick - around this time last year. I can't imagine picking up/returning to LHR would make a lot of difference.
I used www.rentalcars.com to book it and collected it from Europcar.
The total cost was $125.38. The credit card I booked it with covered the additional CDW insurance.
Car booked was a "Vauxhall Astra or similar" - and ended up being a Vauxhall Meriva.

chawkins99

As with ALL rentals, do a full walk round before accepting the car and make note (with pictures) of any existing damage. Do the same on return. I took a video of the walk round when I dropped it off.

Alleged damage after the rental is one of the biggest scams of the car rental business. Particularly with international visitors.

BenK91

Thanks for the tip on Delta, I've been searching this past weekend for a good deal as me and my wife are heading back to England next July for my friends wedding. We're also making a quick stop to Geneva to visit my family and also spending a weekend in Venice (so definitely trying to save some cash!).

Delta vacations were showing great prices, just unfortunately too many connections (Denver > ATL > JFK > London) which for me is just too much considering I hate flying!

Looks like we'll go with Expedia in the end, $2100 for two non-stop return flights, and car rental.

michaelr711

Yeah, that's less than what I paid for just two return flights for this year so you are saving some!