Congestion Charge
If your going to drive into central London in your hire car then beware of the congestion charge. Here at London car rentals we’ve summarised the essential information, but for the ultimate detail visit www.cclondon.com.
Most vehicles will incur the charge if driven into one of the zones between 07:00 and 18:00 from Monday to Friday. There is no charge at the week-ends or English public holidays, also there is no charge for any day between 25th December and 1st January inclusive.
The outline of the charging zones can be seen below.
London congestion charging zone
The congestion charging system doesn’t rely on physical tickets or passes, there are a series of cameras around the zone entries that analyse your London car rentals registration plate and takes note of your entry into the zone. Whilst this is all clever stuff it also means that unless you spot the big cameras you may enter the zone without realising it.
Another common misconception is that the charge only applies when you enter the zone, if you stay the night in central London within the zone and then leave in the charging hours, you still have to pay. Make sure you do or the London car rentals associated company will receive a fine and this will be passed on to the person responsible for renting the car.
To take your hire car into the London congestion charging zone will cost £8, £10 if not paid until the day after and a massive £60 fine will be levied if you don’t pay within 48 hours. The London car rentals car hire partner will pass this on to you person responsible for the car hire.
There are several ways in which you can pay for the congestion charge:
By SMS
You need to login to CClondon.com and register to use this service. Once registered you’ll be able to pay for your hire car by texting 81099 with the last 4 digits of your card. If you’re only going to have your hire car in London for a few days then you should probably try and use one of the other methods.
By Telephone
Call +44 207 649 9122 between 06:00 and 00:30 Sunday to Friday and 06:00 and 22:00 on Saturday. Have your hire car registration handy along with your credit card details.
At a shop
There are plenty of shops around London that will enable you to pay the congestion charge for your hire car. These include convenience stores, petrol stations and newsagents, just look out for the CC payment logo. If you have any questions, when you pick up your hire car from a london car rental partner be sure to ask then.
