Jon Maiman

This will be my first time driving in the UK. We will be arriving on the typical redeye flight from the US at 10AM local time. So rather than taking on the adjustment immediately, when I will likely be exhausted, my current plan is to pickup a car in Bath (our first destination) and keep it for the rest of the trip and eventually return it to LHR.

Our Parameters:

1. Family of 3 with one medium piece of luggage and one small carry on/personal item size bag each.
2. Automatic required. Been way too many years since I drove a manual to attempt it again while also adjusting to driving on the left side of the road.
3. Rough Itinerary with day trips to explore in each are: Bath -> Cotswolds (Day Trip Enroute) -> Cardiff -> Exeter -> LHR.
4. From my research looks like only Hertz and Europcar have locations in Bath. Hertz doesn't have any availability so they're out. I do have a cancellable reservation with EuropCar
5. Many more options in Bristol. Currently have a cancellable reservation with Avis for a pickup at Bristol Airport. Avis seems to get good reviews for Europe and I have had good experiences with them in the US.

Questions:

1. While Bath pickup would be much more convenient, Europcar has terrible reviews. Am I asking for trouble booking through them?
2. If I go with Avis at Bristol, debating between picking the car up Sunday Evening or Monday Morning. Sunday pickup would make it easier to get an early start to the Cotswolds on Monday. How good is Avis at honoring car types later in the day/early evening? E.g. how likely am I to find myself stuck with a manual?
3. Any other recommended car rental agencies (I don't do National/Alamo/Enterprise)?
4. Should I just deal with it and drive from LHR to Bath. Currently planning on train or perhaps private car to get to Bath from LHR. Car rental would be much simpler with pickup and return at LHR and lots of options.

Thanks,

Jon


P.S. I also initially considered doing most of the travel by train to get between the locations we're staying Bath, Cardiff, Exeter. While service is plentiful, it would be costly for 3 people and I would still need to rent a car during each of our stays for a local sightseeing. We're not organized tour people and prefer to control where and how much time we spend at each area/attraction. Furthermore, while we plan our days, we also like having the option to adjust on the spur of the moment when desired.

AlienInTheFatherland

I use Europcar a lot and have always been very satisfied with their service - always seem to get an upgrade, vehicles fitted with satnav very good customer service ( I was once involved in an accident in Aberdeenshire and they handled everything very well).

rcspeirs

Make sure that your accomodation in Bath has parking, because it can be very difficult in Bath.
Picking up from LHR gives you much more choice.
If you book an automatic, you'll get an automatic.
All European rental companies are very strict on damage control. A lot of negative reviews on Europcar are from people who don't seem to understand that - and I do find Europcar are even more "picky" than other companies on this. Be sure to throughly check the car before you accept it and make sure any existing damage is logged on your agreement before you drive away.

plunet

Avoid Green Motion like the plague. Agreements with this bunch of crooks are often resold through consolidators where it's not obvious which rental agency your contract with be with. If you need any further confirmation just look at the online reviews.

If a specific big brand location has consistently poor reviews then that is worth taking into consideration if you are not prepared to take their extra expensive all risks insurance, or you won't have your own policy to cover you if they come up with a spurious damage report when the vehicle is returned.

USA_flyer

After a bad experience with Europcar, i would never recommend them. They claimed i lost a parcel shelf even though one wasnt provided and then tried to charge me £400 for a replacement. If you do go with Europcar, take lots of photos outside and inside before driving off with their rentals.

Swanhunter

I’ve not had a bad experience with Europcar but would agree they are much more pedantic about car condition. Avis are significantly more relaxed.

My preferred would be to collect the car when you are heading out of Bath on the road trip to avoid parking hassles. Please don’t try to drive straight off a red eye if you can avoid it!

Jon Maiman

I was thinking along the same lines. We arrive on a Friday and leave Bath for Cardiff on Monday. So I would be picking up a car on Monday (No Sunday Pickup, at least in Bath). I can get the equivalent car from Avis with full coverage for the for 25% less than Europcar wants with no coverage. The tradeoff is I would have to go to Bristol Airport to pick it up. While my credit (Visa Signature) does provide rental car coverage, I am leaning towards buying it from the rental car company anyway. Basically willing to overpay a bit for the convenience of not having to deal with any hassles if I have an accident or otherwise damage the car while overseas.

I will also continue to check Europcar prices. I just joined their privileges program which in theory will get me a %10 discount. Anyway, if I can get the Europcar price with full coverage closer to the Avis price, I would go with them. Otherwise, I lean towards Avis.

One other option I have is Sixt. I would still have to go to Bristol to pickup the car, but the location is right across from the train station. So much easier to get to then Bristol Airport. What have folks experience been with Sixt?

I appreciate all of the feedback and guidance I have received so far. I trust the FT community to give more accurate information than any of the traditional review sites.

--Jon

Gagravarr

Bristol Airport isn't that easy to get to from Bath. I'd suggest looking at either Bristol city centre (short train ride), or Swindon. Swindon is a fairly quick train ride, and unlike Bristol takes you in the right direction for the Cotswolds. Pick up the day you want to use the car, as others have said parking in Bath isn't easy and the narrow roads / one way systems won't be fun as your first experience driving in the UK for a while!

tom tulpe

Consider booking though adac.de (German AAA equivalent). Start at https://autovermietung.adac.de/mietwagen/ and put it through Google translate or similar. Their non-member rates are slightly more expensive than their member rates, but they tend to come with unlimited mileage, free additional drivers, and - most importantly - zero excess.

Also, I would pick up at LHR. Free shuttle to the rental car lot, and then just a short drive to a nearby hotel for the first day/night. Better than a shlep on the train w/ luggage.

Jon Maiman

Thanks for the suggestion for picking up at Swindon. Europcar with full coverage at Swindon was less expensive than picking up in Bath without any coverage.

--Jon

Gagravarr

Excellent, glad that helped!

Though instead of narrow streets and one way routes, you'll be hitting the magic roundabout instead... You might want to watch a video on it, so you're prepared for the madness of a roundabout of roundabouts!

Otherwise, to get from Bath to Swindon, I'd suggest not buying your trains ticket online. There are no advanced purchase fares between Bath and Swindon, so you won't save anything buying in advance. With 3 people, you'll qualify for a GroupSave discount - https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/way...kets/groupsave . Easiest is to get to the station 15+ mins before you planned train, and go to the ticket office to buy the discounted group ticket from a person

Jon Maiman

Gagravarr Thanks again. I was just starting to look at train tickets. Will wait and buy them from the stations.

--Jon

Gagravarr

The "don't buy in advance, buy on the day" advice applies to Bath - Swindon specifically. If you have other trains trips planned, let us know what those are, and we can advise on if it there's a big saving for locking in one specific train in advance, or if those too have little/no discount for that.

(In the UK, broadly we have three different kinds of tickets. Anytime are valid on any train at basically any time, no discount for booking in advance. Off peak have time restrictions but are valid on any train around those, no advanced discount. Advanced tickets lock you into travelling on a specific train/trains, need to be booked in advance, get more expensive / sell out as the travel date approaches, but may not always save money! Then there's split ticketing...)

jimlad48

Former Bath local here - Dont drive in Bath unless you are feeling brave. The city is a maze and not a good place to begin refamiliarising yourself with UK driving.

Puzzled by your itinerary - Cardiff - Exeter - LHR is very time inefficient. Also unless you have personal reasons for trip, Exeter is fairly 'meh'. I'd spend another day in Cardiff and go into the Brecon Beacons which are magnificent.

To be honest you could do Bath and Cardiff without a car and just train between them - its a lot easier and less hassle and cheaper too.

Jon Maiman

The only other train travel I am currently considering is from LHR to Bath. I arrive on BA at 10:05 on a Friday. Unsure how long it will take to clear immigration, etc. I've looked at advance tickets 82.80 for three people which is a good fare. The catch is it is via Reading with two changes with short connection time <15 minutes. So I am not comfortable with that. More direct routes via Paddington with one connection are 194.70. If I understand Advance Tickets properly, I can change them anytime up to departure time; however, I have to pay the fare difference plus a 10 admin. fee. So likely will have to pay 194.70 + 10 admin fee if I have to make a change. I can get a private hire car to Bath for 175.00 guaranteed price even if we're delayed at immigration. So currently leaning towards doing the private hire car which should be easier and will drop us off directly at our hotel. Is there a better way to do the train closer to the 82.80 price point for 3 people and hedge my bets if were delayed? Other thoughts/suggestions?

--Jon

P.S. I have lots of experience with big city subways (tubes) and trains: NYC, Chicago, Washington DC, and Boston. It is the short connection time in a system I am not familiar with while having my family in tow that makes me uncomfortable.