Sedan car rental in United Kingdom
Sedan car rental in United Kingdom gives you a choice of 8 cars from £36 per day — from the Volkswagen Passat Variant at £36 a day up to the BMW 5 Series at £110 a day, weekly from £216 and monthly from £756.
Sedan car rental in United Kingdom across eight models
The Rent-Trip sedan line-up covers 8 cars from 4 brands, every one a 5-seat petrol model. Seven come with an automatic gearbox and one — the Volkswagen Passat — with a manual. The range runs from the Volkswagen Passat Variant at £36 a day to the BMW 5 Series at £110.
What a sedan class booking gives you
Rent-Trip offers 8 sedan cars, all 5-seat petrol models, and the exact car is confirmed when the booking is fixed. The range splits into two groups. Four front-wheel-drive cars sit between £36 and £65 a day: the Passat Variant (1.5 L, 150 hp), the Audi A4 (2.0 L, 150 hp), the Passat (1.5 L, 150 hp, manual) and the Mercedes-Benz CLA (1.3 L, 136 hp). The other four — C-Class (1.5 L, 204 hp), E-Class (2.0 L, 204 hp), BMW 3 Series and BMW 5 Series (both 2.0 L, 184 hp) — run from £62 to £110. The exact car on your dates is agreed when booking: tell the manager which one you want and the reservation is matched to what is free on your dates.
Every model on the page, side by side
| Model | Engine & power | Gearbox & drive | Daily rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volkswagen Passat Variant | 1.5 L, 150 hp | Automatic, front-wheel | £36 |
| Audi A4 | 2.0 L, 150 hp | Automatic, front-wheel | £65 |
| Volkswagen Passat | 1.5 L, 150 hp | Manual, front-wheel | £46 |
| Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 1.5 L, 204 hp | Automatic, rear-wheel | £62 |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA | 1.3 L, 136 hp | Automatic, front-wheel | £65 |
| Mercedes-Benz E-Class | 2.0 L, 204 hp | Automatic, rear-wheel | £74 |
| BMW 3 Series | 2.0 L, 184 hp | Automatic, rear-wheel | £77 |
| BMW 5 Series | 2.0 L, 184 hp | Automatic, rear-wheel | £110 |
The 1.3 L CLA has the smallest engine on the page but still puts out 136 hp, and the rear-wheel BMWs and Mercedes models are the ones to look at for long motorway runs.
Longer bookings and what the price covers
A week of sedan car rental in United Kingdom starts at £216 and a month at £756. Those figures follow a fixed multiplier: weekly is the daily rate times 6, monthly is the daily rate times 21. Nothing else changes the arithmetic — the same 8 cars, the same class, the same £36–£110 daily spread. What the daily rate does not settle is the deposit, the insurance excess and any delivery fee; in our practice these are the questions that come up most often at reservation, and all three are set out in the rental agreement rather than quoted up front. Ask the manager to walk you through them before you confirm dates, so the total you see matches the total you pay.
Choosing sedan car rental in United Kingdom
A sedan is the default choice for two adults with luggage, but it is not the only body style on the page. Seven of our 8 cars are saloons and one is an estate — the Volkswagen Passat Variant — so the real question is how much boot space your trip needs, not how many people are travelling.
Boot space and the estate exception
Seven of our 8 cars are saloons; the Volkswagen Passat Variant is the one estate. It carries the same 5 seats and the same 1.5 L 150 hp petrol engine as the Passat saloon, but the roofline runs straight to the tailgate instead of dropping behind the rear screen. That shape is what people book when the luggage is longer than a saloon boot takes — folded pushchairs, golf bags, ski sleeves, flat-packed furniture. At £36 a day it is also the cheapest car on this page, which makes it the practical starting point for a family of four. If your cases are standard cabin and hold size, a saloon swallows them without the estate body.
When an SUV or MPV makes more sense
- Five seats is the ceiling here: every car on this page seats 5, so a party of six needs a different class rather than a bigger sedan.
- Bulk beats height: an SUV adds ground clearance and a taller load bay, which matters for rough access roads and not for motorway miles.
- MPVs trade driving feel for space: sliding doors and a third row suit airport runs with children, while a sedan stays quieter at 70 mph.
- Boot length decides most cases: if the longest item fits behind the rear seats of the Passat Variant, no larger class is needed.
What each class costs
| Class on this page | Cars | Seats | From per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sedan | 8 | 5 | £36 |
| Estate (Passat Variant) | 1 | 5 | £36 |
| Saloon, automatic | 6 | 5 | £62 |
| Saloon, manual | 1 | 5 | £46 |
| Rear-wheel drive saloon | 4 | 5 | £62 |
The line-up runs from £36 to £110 a day, and the estate sits at the bottom of that range rather than above the saloons. The four rear-wheel drive cars — Mercedes-Benz C-Class, E-Class, BMW 3 Series and BMW 5 Series — start at £62 and reach £110 for the 5 Series, so the step up in price buys engine output and driven wheels, not extra seats or doors. On a weekly booking the same multipliers apply across every class: seven days cost six times the daily rate, so the estate week starts at £216. Deposit, insurance excess and any delivery fee sit in the rental agreement, and the exact car is confirmed when the booking is fixed.
The 1.3 L Mercedes-Benz CLA is the smallest engine on the page at 136 hp, yet it costs the same per day as the 2.0 L 150 hp Audi A4 — worth knowing before you assume displacement sets the price. For long motorway runs to Oxford or Bath, the 2.0 L cars hold 70 mph more comfortably and return better economy than the small-capacity CLA working hard.
Hand-over for sedan car rental in United Kingdom
Sedan car rental in United Kingdom works on delivery: Rent-Trip brings the car to the address you give us in London, and the address, date and time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed.
Where we deliver and how the reservation is fixed
The delivery address, the date and the time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed, so the hand-over slot is set with a person, not by a form. We deliver to any address in London and to Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend airports. Delivery outside these places is arranged case by case and is not promised on the site. In our practice the airport runs are the ones that need the most lead time — Heathrow sits 30.3 km out by road and Gatwick 48.6 km, and a morning arrival plus a fixed hand-over slot is easier to line up a day ahead than on the day itself.
Fuel, cleanliness and the rental agreement
- Full tank out, full tank back: the car is supplied with a full tank and must be returned with a full tank; this full-to-full rule is the only fuel option we offer.
- Missing fuel: if the tank comes back short, the missing fuel and a refuelling service fee are charged as set out in the rental agreement.
- Clean car: the car arrives clean with a full tank, so there is nothing to sort out before you drive away.
- Deposit, excess and delivery fees: these sit in the rental agreement, and the manager confirms them before the booking is fixed.
All 8 sedans on this page run on petrol, so the full-to-full rule is the same for every model, from the Volkswagen Passat Variant at £36 a day to the BMW 5 Series at £110. The one manual in the line-up is the Volkswagen Passat — worth flagging at booking if you would rather have an automatic.
Driving rules for sedan car rental in United Kingdom
Driving here means two things at once: you keep to the left, and the steering wheel sits on your right. The rules below are the ones that catch visitors out first, and they apply the moment you leave the delivery address.
Left-hand traffic and roundabouts
Traffic drives on the left and every car is right-hand drive, so the gear lever falls under your left hand and the mirror angles take a day to trust. Highway Code rule 160 puts it plainly: keep to the left unless signs or markings say otherwise, and rule 183 asks you to stay near the left edge when turning. Roundabouts run clockwise and rule 185 gives priority to traffic approaching from your right — the single habit that decides whether a junction feels calm or chaotic. In our experience the first roundabout is the hard one, not the motorway: book the car for a morning arrival and drive the quiet streets before you join anything fast.
Licences, speed limits and penalties
A full foreign licence is valid for 12 months from your last entry into Great Britain, covering England, Wales and Scotland. Speed limits are 30 mph in built-up areas in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, 60 mph on single carriageways, 70 mph on dual carriageways and 70 mph on motorways; on lit roads 30 mph applies unless signs say otherwise, and London boroughs post 20 mph zones in many places, so read the signs rather than the road type. Drink-drive limits in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are 80 mg per 100 ml of blood, 35 µg per 100 ml of breath and 107 mg per 100 ml of urine; Scotland is stricter at 50 / 22 / 67. Holding and using a phone, satnav or tablet is banned even at a red light — £200 and 6 penalty points, and drivers who passed their test under 2 years ago lose the licence outright.
Seat belts, children and the paperwork
- Seat belts: required for every occupant where one is fitted, front and rear, on every journey.
- Child seats: children travel in a car seat until they reach 135 cm or turn 12, whichever comes first; the fine runs up to £500.
- Hands-free calls: allowed, provided the device never blocks your view of the road.
- Documents: the delivery address, date and time are agreed with a manager before the booking is fixed, and anything beyond that is set out in the rental agreement.
The pattern behind these numbers is simple — British enforcement works on the assumption that you know the limit before you pass the sign. Ask about the licence and the hand-over arrangements when you book, and treat the first hour behind the wheel as practice rather than transport.
London charges that affect sedan car rental in United Kingdom
Two charges and two toll crossings can apply on the road. Who pays them is agreed when booking, so read this before you plan the route.
Congestion Charge and ULEZ
The Congestion Charge is £18 daily when paid on the day of travel or in advance, and £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 Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, and it is not charged from 25 December to the New Year bank holiday inclusive. The zone sits inside the Inner Ring Road — Pentonville Road, City Road, Old Street, Commercial Street, Mansell Street, Tower Bridge Road, New Kent Road, Elephant & Castle, Kennington Lane, Vauxhall Bridge Road, Park Lane, Edgware Road, Marylebone Road and Euston Road form its edge and are themselves outside it. ULEZ is separate: £12.50 daily for non-compliant cars, 24 hours a day, seven days a week except 25 December, across all 32 boroughs. Petrol cars meeting Euro 4 or newer are compliant, which in practice means most cars from 2006 on. Check the registration on the TfL vehicle checker before you enter — a car that fails is charged £12.50 a day, and who pays it on a rental car is agreed when booking.
Tolls on the motorway network
Dartford Crossing on the M25 costs £3.50 per crossing for cars, or £2.80 if you prepay, and payment is due by midnight the following day. Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels charge £4.20 at peak — northbound 06:00–10:00 and southbound 16:00–19:00 on weekdays — and £1.55 off-peak with Auto Pay, from 6:00 to 22:00 on weekdays and all day at weekends. Miss the payment window and a PCN follows: £70 for Dartford, reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days; £180 for the tunnels, reduced to £90 within 14 days. Set a phone reminder for the evening after any crossing — the payment windows are short and the tolls are charged per use.
What this means for a rental
- Chargeable days: a sedan booked for a weekday run into central London is liable for the Congestion Charge for each day it is driven inside the zone during charging hours, and who pays it is agreed when booking.
- Compliance first: the sedans on this page are petrol, but the vehicle checker is the only confirmation that counts for ULEZ.
- Crossings: Dartford and the tunnels are paid per use, so a return trip is two charges, not one.
- Settlement: how charges, tolls and any penalty notice are handled is agreed when booking and set out in the rental agreement.
Sedan car rental in United Kingdom
Six London airports sit inside our delivery area, and a sedan handed over at arrivals turns the first hour of a trip into a drive rather than a queue for transport. We confirm the hand-over slot with a manager ahead of the booking, so the vehicle is standing there when your flight lands.
Which airports we deliver to
- London Gatwick Airport (LGW): 48.6 km by road, roughly 70 minutes, and 42,775,241 passengers in 2025 — and alongside it Heathrow (LHR), Stansted (STN), Luton (LTN), London City (LCY) and Southend (SEN), the other five airports we deliver to.
What the sedan class gives you after a flight
Every car on this page seats 5 and runs on petrol, so a family landing with four suitcases fits into one vehicle instead of splitting across two. Seven of the 8 are automatic, which matters on the first drive out of an airport when you are tired and the traffic is on the left. The Volkswagen Passat Variant at £36 daily carries the most luggage of the line-up, while the BMW 5 Series at £110 daily is the most expensive and the roomiest for rear passengers. Charges, tolls and penalties on a rental car are agreed when booking, not assumed.
Reserving a sedan around your flight time
Give the manager your flight number, terminal and landing time at the point of booking, and the hand-over is arranged around it. The tank comes full and goes back full — short fuel and a refuelling service fee are billed as the agreement sets out. A week of sedan car rental in United Kingdom starts at £216 and a month at £756, so a stay of seven days or more booked as a week costs less than the same days bought separately.
Booking sedan car rental in United Kingdom with a manager
Reserving runs through a manager rather than an online checkout: you tell us the dates, the address and the model you want, and we confirm what is available before anything is fixed. That single step covers the delivery address, the date and the time — all three are agreed with a manager before the booking is locked in, so the car arrives where and when you expect it rather than at a default pick-up point.
What to have ready before you call
- Dates and times: the day you want the car delivered and the day you hand it back, with rough hours for both — delivery slots are agreed, not chosen from a fixed menu.
- Delivery address: a full address in London or one of the six London airports; anything outside those places is arranged case by case and is not promised on the site.
- Model preference: name the car you want from the eight on this page — the Volkswagen Passat Variant at £36 a day or the BMW 5 Series at £110 a day — and we confirm whether it is free for your dates.
- Length of rental: a week starts at £216 and a month at £756, so say up front if you are booking beyond a few days.
Choosing a car within the class
The sedan class here holds eight models across four brands, all with five seats and petrol engines. Seven run an automatic gearbox and one — the Volkswagen Passat — is manual, so if you cannot drive a manual, say so when you book and we will keep you on the automatic side of the line-up. A specific model is confirmed at the point of booking; if the exact car you asked for is out on another booking, the manager tells you which sedans are free on your dates.
What is settled in the rental agreement
The deposit, the insurance excess, any delivery fee and the fuel terms sit in the rental agreement, not in a headline price — the car goes out with a full tank and comes back full, and anything short of that is charged as the agreement sets out. Road charges and tolls are the same story: who covers the Congestion Charge, ULEZ or the Dartford Crossing is agreed when booking, so ask the manager directly and get the answer before you sign. Booking early helps most in the school holidays and around bank holiday weekends, when the automatic cars go first.