from £22
per day
Car rental in United Kingdom
From £22 per day, car rental in United Kingdom with Rent-Trip puts 147 self-drive cars on the road, from an economy hatchback to a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ at £3,300 a day. We deliver the car to any address in London and to Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend airports, with the delivery address, date and time agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.
Car rental in United Kingdom and how a booking is fixed
We keep 147 cars on this page, from £22 to £3,300 a day, and hand each one over at an address you choose rather than at a counter. What follows is what the rental includes and how the delivery details are locked in before anything is confirmed.
What car rental in United Kingdom with Rent-Trip includes
The Rent-Trip fleet on this page numbers 147 cars across 32 brands, and the condition of the vehicle at hand-over is the condition we expect back. We supply every car clean, and every petrol, diesel or hybrid car with a full tank that must come back with a full tank; for an electric car the return terms are set out in the rental agreement. That full-to-full rule is the only fuel option we offer: no pre-paid tank, no full-to-empty arrangement. Full-to-full means you plan one refuel before return, not a refuelling fee on return. If the car returns short of fuel, the missing amount and a refuelling service fee are charged as set out in the rental agreement. The same agreement carries the deposit, the insurance excess and any delivery fee — none of these is a figure we quote in advance.
How the delivery address and time are agreed
The delivery address, the date and the time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed. Nothing about the hand-over is settled by the website alone — the manager confirms the details with you first. Agreeing the address first tells you whether your street is inside the delivery area before you commit. Requests outside London and the six airports are arranged case by case and are not promised on the site.
- Clean car, full tank: the vehicle arrives washed with a full tank of fuel and must be returned the same way.
- Manager-agreed booking: address, date and time are confirmed with a manager before the reservation is fixed.
- Delivery area: any address in London plus the six airports named above, with anything further out handled case by case.
- Paperwork in the agreement: deposit, excess, delivery fees and discounts sit in the rental agreement, not in an online quote.
One practical note from our side: tell the manager the exact postcode and the time window you actually need, not the one you hope for — the booking is fixed around those two details, and a vague window is the most common reason a hand-over gets pushed back.
Car classes for car rental in United Kingdom
Our fleet on this page runs to 147 cars across 14 classes, and the class you pick sets the seat count, the gearbox and the daily rate before you look at a single model.
Which class fits your trip
| Class | Cars | From per day | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | 14 | £22 | Solo trips and city parking |
| Crossover | 14 | £22 | Families wanting a higher seat position |
| Comfort | 15 | £23 | Longer motorway runs |
| SUV | 10 | £34 | Luggage and mixed roads |
| Electric | 10 | £71 | Low-emission zone driving |
| Sedan | 8 | £36 | Business travel with two passengers |
| Convertibles | 8 | £80 | Weekend touring in good weather |
| Minivans | 6 | £44 | Seven-seat family groups |
| Premium | 16 | £55 | Badge-conscious business hire |
| Commercial | 3 | £47 | Cargo and equipment moves |
| Passenger vans | 5 | £90 | Group transfers up to 17 seats |
| Luxury | 15 | £294 | Weddings and formal occasions |
| Sports | 11 | £404 | Performance driving days |
| Exotic | 12 | £954 | Special-occasion hire |
A class "from" price is the entry car of that class, not its ceiling: Economy starts at £22 and reaches £72, while Exotic opens at £954 and tops out at £3,300 for the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ.
Seats, fuel and gearbox across the fleet
- Seat count: 98 cars take five seats, 18 take four, 15 take two, nine take seven, and the largest — a 17-seat Ford Transit — carries a full group.
- Gearbox: 101 cars are automatic and 46 are manual, so an automatic licence holder has the wider choice.
- Body style: 37 SUVs, 28 hatchbacks, 19 sedans and 17 crossovers cover most trips; convertibles, coupes, estates, MPVs and vans fill the rest.
- Fuel: 100 cars run on petrol, 24 on diesel, 13 are hybrids and 10 are electric, which matters inside London's ULEZ.
- Brands: 32 manufacturers appear on this page, from Volkswagen and Kia to Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari.
Seat count narrows the list faster than class — a seven-seat need removes every hatchback at once, so fix the seats first and choose the class second. In our booking practice, groups that start from the class and work backwards usually end up paying for a bigger body than they need. If the trip is a single traveller with a cabin bag, Economy or Crossover at £22 a day covers it; a family of five with luggage should look at Comfort or SUV before the price column. Delivery to your address is agreed with a manager when you book, so tell us the seat count and the luggage at that point.
Cheap car rental in United Kingdom
Cheap car rental in United Kingdom starts at the bottom of our fleet, where 147 cars are listed and the entry point is £22 per day. Two models sit at that figure, the Citroen C3 Aircross and the Fiat 500, and both are petrol manuals that cover city work and short motorway runs without fuss. Hyundai Kona and Kia Rio cost £36 and £31 per day, both 5-seat petrol manuals. The Kona is a Crossover with a 1.0 L 120 hp engine and front-wheel drive; the Rio is an Economy hatchback on the same 1.0 L block at 99 hp. Neither is a stripped special: both take five people, both run on petrol, and both are manual, which matters if you have only ever driven an automatic.
Above the entry point the ladder climbs gently — Citroen C3 Aircross and Fiat 500 at £22, Seat Leon, Volkswagen Polo and Ford Focus at £23–£24, Volkswagen Golf Estate at £31. The weekly figure is always the daily rate × 6, so the cheapest daily rate is also the cheapest week.
Longer bookings and the weekly rate
A week is priced at the daily rate × 6, from £132, and a month at the daily rate × 21, from £462. The multiplier is fixed across the fleet, so the arithmetic holds whatever you pick: the Kia Rio at £31 per day becomes £186 for a week, and a Comfort-class Volkswagen Golf at £24 a day becomes £144. Because the multiplier is fixed, a longer booking is worth comparing per day rather than per total.
Where the low prices actually run out
Deposit, excess and any delivery fee are set out in the rental agreement. In our experience the trap is picking a car by its headline day rate and then discovering the boot is too small for four suitcases — a Crossover at £22 and an Estate at £31 differ by £9 a day and by a whole luggage compartment.
- Economy and Crossover: the £22–£72 band holds 28 cars between the two classes, and it is where most week-long bookings land.
- Comfort: 15 cars from £23, with a spread up to £80, so the label alone tells you little about the price.
- Weekly maths: at daily × 6, a £22 car costs £132 for seven days, and a £35 car costs £210 — the gap widens with every extra day.
- Fuel: a diesel van or seven-seater rarely works out cheaper to run than a small petrol hatchback.
We deliver the car to your address in London and agree the delivery address, date and time with a manager before the booking is fixed.
Family and group car rental in United Kingdom
Group size decides the class faster than budget does. On this page 98 cars take five seats, while everything above that — 7-seat, 8-seat, 9-seat, 12-seat and 17-seat vehicles — comes to just 14 cars, so the seat count is the first thing to fix before you look at a single model.
Nine cars here have 7 seats and the largest is the Ford Transit 17 Seater at £138 a day. Between them sit the Volkswagen Sharan at £44, the Volkswagen Touran at £65, the Peugeot 5008 at £65, the Mercedes-Benz V-Class at £176 and the 12-seat Ford Transit at £132, with the 8-seat Mercedes-Benz Vito and the 9-seat Volkswagen Transporter and Ford Tourneo covering the middle. Above five seats the choice collapses quickly, so book the seat count before the model — a 7-seat requirement removes every hatchback on the page at once, and the 17-seat Transit is a single car, not a class you can swap within.
Vans and commercial vehicles
Commercial starts at £47 a day and passenger vans at £90, with 3 and 5 cars respectively. The Commercial tier is three diesel panel and cargo vans — the Ford Transit Cargo at £47, the Volkswagen Caddy at £67 and the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cargo at £94 — with 3 to 5 seats, so they carry load rather than people. Passenger vans run from the 9-seat Ford Tourneo at £90 through the 8-seat Mercedes-Benz Vito and the 12-seat Ford Transit to the 17-seat Ford Transit at £138.
- Seats, not doors: a panel van and a people carrier are different vehicles — match the body to the load, not the price.
- Licence category: driving rules for larger vehicles are agreed when booking, so raise the seat count early.
- One-way loads: delivery and collection points for a van move are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.
In our experience the mistake families make is booking a 7-seater for the airport run and then discovering the luggage does not fit behind the third row. A people carrier with the rear seats folded takes four large cases; the same car with all seven seats up takes two. If you are collecting at Heathrow or Gatwick and driving on to a hotel, tell the manager the case count along with the passenger count — we deliver to both airports, and the right body style is easier to confirm at that point than after the car arrives.
Electric and hybrid options for car rental in United Kingdom
Electric and hybrid cars make up 23 of the 147 cars on this page, so the low-emission choice is not a token row in the fleet. We keep 10 electric cars and 13 hybrids, and both run on the same booking route as everything else: the delivery address, date and time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.
Electric cars on this page
Ten electric cars are listed, starting with the Nissan Leaf at £71 a day. The Volkswagen ID.4 at £171 is an SUV with 5 seats, 204 hp, rear-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox, and it sits alongside the Mercedes-Benz EQA and Volkswagen ID.3 at £171, the BMW i4 and Mercedes-Benz EQE at £309, the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model S at £309, the Tesla Model Y at £322 and the Porsche Taycan Turbo S at £500. The electric class as a whole runs from £71 to £500 a day across its 10 cars. Charging is not fuel — our full-to-full rule covers the tank, so plan charging separately from the hire and check the connectors your route needs before you choose the model.
Hybrids as a middle option
Thirteen hybrids are in the fleet, and they cover both the small end and the large end. The Toyota Yaris at £25 a day is a 5-seat automatic with a 1.5 L engine and 116 hp, the Toyota Corolla at £31 and the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports estate at £36 use a 1.8 L unit with 122 hp, the Honda Jazz at £32 and the Toyota Prius at £31 sit in the same band, and the Toyota C-HR crossover at £41 adds a higher body. Above that come the Toyota RAV4 SUV at £40 with all-wheel drive and 218 hp, the Jeep Compass at £40, the Volvo XC60 at £91, the Volvo XC90 at £102 with 7 seats, the Kia Sorento at £49 with 7 seats, and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class at £294. A hybrid needs no plug at all, which in our practice is the reason travellers pick one over a battery car for a first trip on unfamiliar roads.
- Charging vs refuelling: the return terms for an electric car are set out in the rental agreement, while a petrol, diesel or hybrid car follows the full-to-full rule on its tank.
- Seat count first: 98 of the 147 cars have 5 seats, so a family of six or seven moves straight to the 7-seat hybrids rather than to a battery model.
- Gearbox: all 10 electric cars are automatic, and the hybrids here are automatic too, which matters if you have only ever driven a manual.
- Range against route: the ID.4 and EQA suit city work and short runs, while the longer-range Tesla and Porsche models carry the higher daily rates.
One detail catches people out: an electric car booked for a week is priced at the daily rate × 6, from £426, so the battery model and the petrol equivalent are easy to compare on the same footing before you commit.
Driving rules that affect your car rental in United Kingdom
Car rental in United Kingdom comes with a set of rules that differ from most of Europe, and knowing them before you collect the keys matters more than knowing the model you booked. Traffic here keeps left, and every car in our fleet is right-hand drive.
The rules that change how you drive
- Keep left: drive on the left unless signs or markings say otherwise, and stay close to the left edge when turning (Highway Code, rule 160 and rule 183).
- Roundabouts: traffic already on the roundabout comes from your right and has priority, so you give way to the right and travel clockwise (Highway Code, rule 185).
- Speed limits: 30 mph in built-up areas in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, 60 mph on a single carriageway, 70 mph on a dual carriageway and 70 mph on a motorway; on lit roads the default is 30 mph unless signs say otherwise.
- Phone at the wheel: holding and using a phone, satnav or tablet is banned even at a red light — £200 and 6 penalty points, and a driver who passed their test less than 2 years ago loses the licence; hands-free is allowed as long as the device does not block your view.
- Drink-driving: in England, Wales and Northern Ireland the limit is 80 mg per 100 ml of blood, 35 µg per 100 ml of breath and 107 mg per 100 ml of urine; in Scotland it is 50 / 22 / 67.
- Seat belts and child seats: a belt is compulsory where fitted, and children need a child seat until they reach 135 cm or turn 12, whichever comes first — the fine runs up to £500.
Documents and the first hour behind the wheel
A full, valid foreign licence lets you drive for 12 months from your last entry into Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). What the rental agreement requires beyond that — age, driving experience, the card held for the deposit — is agreed when booking, not fixed by law. In our practice the first hour is where habits slip: drivers who learned on the right tend to drift right at roundabouts and forget the left-hand mirror. Set the mirrors before you pull away, and take the first junction slowly.
Charges that apply to some roads
Two London schemes catch out visitors, and both are worth checking before you plan a route. The Congestion Charge is £18 a day when paid on the day or in advance, or £21 if paid by midnight on the third day after the trip; it runs 07:00–18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00–18:00 on Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays, inside the Inner Ring Road, and is not charged from 25 December to the New Year bank holiday inclusive. ULEZ is £12.50 a day for vehicles that do not meet the standards, 24 hours a day, seven days a week except 25 December, across all 32 London boroughs — petrol cars from 2006 and diesel from September 2016 generally comply. The Dartford Crossing (Dart Charge) on the M25 costs £3.50 for a car per crossing, or £2.80 with pre-payment. Who covers road charges, tolls and penalty notices on a rental car is agreed when booking.
Charges and fuel for car rental in United Kingdom
Driving here carries road charges set by TfL and gov.uk — and with Rent-Trip who covers them is agreed when booking, not discovered on the road. Below are the figures that apply, and how fuel works with our fleet.
Congestion Charge and ULEZ
London's Congestion Charge is £18 a day when paid on the day of travel or in advance, and £21 if paid by midnight on the third day after the trip. The ULEZ charge is £12.50 a day for non-compliant vehicles, 24 hours a day, seven days a week except 25 December, across all 32 boroughs. A PCN for either is £180, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days. Who pays road charges and penalties on a hired car is agreed when booking — check the vehicle against the TfL vehicle checker by its number plate before you commit.
Tolls and crossings
- Dartford Crossing (Dart Charge), M25: £3.50 per crossing for cars (class B) on a one-off or pay-as-you-go basis, £2.80 with pre-payment; usually 6:00–22:00 every day, paid by midnight the following day.
- Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels: peak £4.20 northbound 06:00–10:00 and southbound 16:00–19:00 on weekdays, £1.55 off-peak with Auto Pay between 6:00 and 22:00 on weekdays and all day at weekends.
- Missed Dartford payment: a PCN of £70, or £35 if paid within 14 days, rising to £105 if unpaid.
Fuel: full-to-full
Rent-Trip supplies every car clean, and every petrol, diesel or hybrid car comes with a full tank and must come back with a full tank. Otherwise the missing fuel and a refuelling service fee are charged as set out in the rental agreement; no pre-paid tank or full-to-empty option is offered. In our experience the full-to-full rule suits drivers who refuel once before return, and the terms of that return are set out in the rental agreement. Electric cars are the exception to watch: charging is not fuel, so plan charging separately from the tank rule. Ask the manager at booking which charges apply to your route.
Delivery for car rental in United Kingdom
For car rental in United Kingdom we deliver the car to you rather than asking you to collect it, and we agree the address, date and time with a manager before the booking is fixed. That single step decides how the rest of the rental runs — and it is the part travellers ask about most often.
Where we deliver
- City addresses: any address inside the delivery area of London, including St Pancras & King's Cross, Euston, Paddington, Victoria, Waterloo, Canary Wharf, Wembley, ExCeL London and Mayfair.
- Outside these places: arranged case by case and not promised on the site — raise the postcode with the manager first.
How the hand-over is fixed
The delivery address, the date and the time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed. Nothing about the hand-over is improvised: the car arrives clean and with a full tank, and it must come back with a full tank (full-to-full). If the tank is short on return, the missing fuel and a refuelling service fee are charged as set out in the rental agreement — no other fuel option is offered.
In our practice the address conversation is where most bookings either settle or fall apart. A street the manager cannot confirm inside the delivery area is better discovered on the phone than on the morning of collection, so we ask for the postcode and the arrival time together.
What is agreed when you book
| Detail | Where it is settled |
|---|---|
| Minimum rental age, young-driver surcharge | Agreed when booking |
| Deposit, insurance excess, delivery fees, discounts | Set out in the rental agreement |
| Payment methods | Agreed when booking |
| Road charges, tolls and penalty notices | Agreed when booking |
| Delivery outside the listed places | Case by case, not promised on the site |
The same Rent-Trip manager who fixed your delivery stays your contact for the booking, so questions about the agreement, the fuel rule or the return time go to one person rather than a queue. For car rental in United Kingdom that matters most on the first day, when a left-hand-drive habit meets left-hand traffic and a roundabout right of way — the Highway Code rule 185 gives priority to traffic approaching from the right. Two charges are worth settling before you drive off, not after: the Congestion Charge at £18 a day inside the Inner Ring Road and the ULEZ at £12.50 a day for non-compliant vehicles across all 32 boroughs. Neither is a rental fee, and who covers them is agreed when booking.