The other thing to ask is where you're heading for the rest of your trip, as driving may not necessarily be the fastest/most cost effective way of getting around. You may wish to take the train, and perhaps only hire a car in areas where you really need one.

In terms of staying in/bear London, it's also worth thinking about cost of accomodation v cost of taking the train to London (if you're intending to stay outside of the tube network).

As far as car hires go, the simple approach is "if you know it from home" so Hertz, Avis etc

Two to avoid are Drivalaia and Green Motion whose poor customer service is a staple of these boards...... also be careful of booking through a broker when you don't know who the final supplier will be....

Accommodation-wise you are confusing me... You can't "tour England" with a base "near London" and doing the maths you can't visit Scotland AND Ireland in 5 days either . Stay in central london for 3-5 days, UNLESS you mean to stay in London for 10 days THEN travel? It's not clear to me - but you need to give us a clue on places you want to see or the type of things you are interested in (and train rather than car is often a good way to travel between cities ).

There are many brokers who show you the supplier on their list of availability,eg rentalcars.com, holidayautos.com, Autoeurope etc. And OTAs such as Expedia, Booking etc. And you often can book rental cars thru your airline. Pricewise these options are usually the best.

If visiting London I would just stay somewhere central. Look at Premier Inn as a chain that's reasonably priced, spotlessly clean and comfortable.

If you stay outside London then you waste time and money commuting in, often on trains or the tube crammed like sardines.

This post has been removed at the author's request.

I'm not sure I understand your question. You want to stay somewhere close to London to hire a car? Or for your whole time visiting to London you don't actually want to stay in the city?

I have a feeling that PMQ’s first take in the the third para of #3 above is correct - the proposal is a 15 day overall trip to cover England, Ireland and Scotland, of which 10 are to be based just outside London with a car for day trips to cover England, and the other 5 will deal with Scotland and Ireland.

If so (and I hope I’m wrong), this is just impossible - not in the sense of many other Australian itineraries where there is room for debate about how far you are prepared to drive each day v the very different level of congestion you will face here, but literally impossible. You could just about do the travel, but you wouldn’t see anything at all - you would drive to somewhere, stop for an hour and drive back again.

If you want to visit London, stay in London. But I'm another one who's confused by your plans and timeline - are you spending 10 days in London then 15 visiting the rest of England, Scotland and Ireland, or is your trip 15 days in total with 10 spent somewhere 'outside London' with a view to visiting 'England'. If the latter, it's not doable and you need to totally rethink your plans. Let us know more about what you're thinking of doing.

When are your travel dates?

What is your nightly budget?

It's 50 minutes into Liverpool Street but the Premier Inn at Ware, Hertford could fit your needs.

Not in London but not too far.

It is just a few minutes walk to the station and has free parking for guests.

In September, working out around £115 per night.

You need to add on £20 a day for travelling into London.

Still beats paying £250 a night in Central London and the area is pretty with some nice pubs on the canal.

I live not too far from there and commute into London for work.