Guide
Supercar hire in London: what to know
Updated 7 min read Performance & Prestige
The Congestion Charge and ULEZ apply to the vehicle whoever is driving it, so they apply to a hire car in the central zone on the days you drive there. Almost every modern petrol performance car meets the ULEZ standard. We have no London depot: the car is delivered to a street, mews, hotel or car park at a time you set.
Do the Congestion Charge and ULEZ apply to a hire car?
Both schemes apply to the vehicle, whoever happens to be driving it, so a hire car is treated exactly like your own. The Ultra Low Emission Zone is rarely in play for the cars on this site: almost every modern petrol performance car meets the emissions standard. The Congestion Charge is a daily charge for driving in the central zone during its operating hours, and it applies for the days you drive there. We are deliberately not quoting the amount or the hours here — Transport for London sets both, they change, and a stale figure on a web page is worse than none. Check the current rate and hours with TfL before you travel. What we do commit to is telling you before you commit to anything which charges sit with us and which are billed on.
Who pays a charge or a penalty incurred during the hire?
You do, for anything incurred while the car is in your hands. Where we settle a charge on the vehicle's behalf, it is one of exactly four things that can be deducted from the security deposit — the others being miles above the allowance, fuel or charge not replaced, and damage up to the insurance excess. Nothing else comes out of it. Penalty charge notices for parking, bus lanes and box junctions work the same way. The practical advice is duller than the pricing: London enforcement is camera-led and unforgiving, red routes mean what they say, and a supercar is the most photographed object on any street it stands in.
Where in London can the car actually be delivered?
Anywhere a car can legally stand for ten minutes: a residential street, a Mayfair mews, a hotel forecourt, an office loading bay, a members' club, a private garage. Central deliveries are easiest before 10am or after 7pm, when kerb space exists at all. If you are on a red route or a permit-only street, give us the nearest side road and the handover happens there instead. What governs the window is the address rather than the distance: a Mayfair mews at nine on a weekday morning is a harder ten minutes to find than a Surrey driveway two hours further out. We agree the window with you and a person confirms it before anything is committed, and peak weekends go earlier than everything else.
Why does delivery beat collecting from a depot?
Because we hold no premises in London and never will — the whole model is that the car comes to you. There is no counter, no queue and no branch, and handover happens standing at the car with the walk-round and the photographs done together. There is a practical wrinkle worth knowing: most private and hotel car parks will not admit a covered transporter, so we normally drive the car in on the last leg and agree a street-level meeting point nearby if access is tight. Tell us the barrier height at your car park and we check it against the specific car before the day rather than discovering it on a ramp.
Where can you genuinely not take a wide, low car?
This is the part nobody publishes. Underground car parks are the usual problem: a barrier that clears an ordinary saloon can be marginal for a supercar on lowered suspension with a front splitter, and the ramp into it is often the harder half. Sharp crests, aggressive speed cushions and steep driveway lips are all approach-angle problems rather than height ones. Narrow multi-storey bays are a door-opening problem, and a partner-sourced McLaren's dihedral doors need overhead clearance as well as space beside the car. None of this is a reason to avoid London — it is a reason to tell us where the car is going. Send the barrier height and the car park name when you enquire and we will tell you plainly whether that car fits, or which one does.
How should you park and secure it?
In a secure, attended or gated car park rather than on the street overnight, wherever that is possible. Treat the keys as you would your own: theft where the keys were left with the car is a common exclusion on motor policies generally, and an exclusion removes the excess ceiling entirely rather than raising it. Discretion is a stated policy on our side too — the car arrives without a branded transporter parked outside your office, and handover is a conversation at the kerb, not a performance. If a hotel is handling the parking, tell us at the enquiry stage so the arrangements are agreed with them directly rather than improvised by a valet.
Is London the right place to hire, given the traffic?
The car is rarely for London. It is for the Friday run down the A3 or out on the M40, a weekend in the Cotswolds, a wedding in Surrey, a birthday that starts in town and ends somewhere better. Delivery in London and collection in London means the car exists only for the days you want it and takes up none of your parking for the rest of the year. Mileage is worth a thought on the way out rather than in town: allowances run from {{fleetMilesPerDayRange}} miles a day on our own fleet, and London to the Cotswolds and back is around 200 — a whole day's allowance on the tighter cars before you have driven anywhere once you arrive. Our own fleet runs from {{fleetDayRange}} a day, from the Mercedes-AMG C 63 to the Lamborghini Urus Performante. Delivery detail for the city is at car hire in London.
Common questions
Who pays the Congestion Charge on a hire car?
You do, for the days you drive in the zone during your hire. Where we settle it on the vehicle's behalf it is deducted from the security deposit. We set out which charges sit with us and which are billed on before you commit, never afterwards. Check the current rate and hours with TfL.
Do you have a depot in London?
No, and we do not plan to. Every hire is delivered to an address you choose — a street, a mews, a hotel, an office or a car park — anywhere in mainland Britain, with collection arranged the same way.
Can you deliver into an underground or hotel car park?
Usually. Most private and hotel car parks will not admit a covered transporter, so we drive the car in on the last leg. Send us the barrier height and the car park name when you enquire and we check it against the specific vehicle before the day.
Can the car be delivered to Heathrow or Gatwick instead?
Yes. Airport handovers are arranged to arrivals or to a nearby agreed point rather than a rental desk, with the timing set against your flight. Ask when you enquire and we will confirm the meeting point in writing.
Related guides
Supercar hire in London: what to know
Every figure in this guide is published per car, before there is any form to fill in.
A person confirms every booking · No payment taken online · Brought to your door
Written by Performance & Prestige against the rates, driver criteria and delivery areas published on this site. Rates are “from” prices inclusive of VAT and are confirmed with you before anything is agreed — see driver requirements, insurance and excess and delivery.