V-Flyer

I usually take the tube after arriving at LHR, but feeling lazy this trip, and figured I'd take a car/cab.

Any suggestions for the best car service, or if I should just get a cab from the airport?

any suggestions?

in my opinion a black cab could be quite pricey anyways so maybe taking a CDC could be good.
tristar is one option
another one is ichauffeur though i have not used them

Addison Lee worth a Try

Not sure what CDC stands for?

I'm finding the ground transport costs in London to be excessive (an understatement). Have taken taxis dozens of times in large cities (NYC, etc), and the rates just seem like highway robbery (literally).

CDC = Chauffer Driven Car

The rates on the site for CDC were pretty outrageous. It's not for lack of having money - I just refuse to pay >100GBP to be driven 20 minutes.

There are any number of private hire airport car services serving LHR that you can book online - just do a Google search.

You shouldn't have to pay more than about £50 for a one-way trip to Westminster in a standard car. If you want a higher end company like Tristar or Addison Lee you'll pay a lot more but there's no need to if you're happy with a standard car.

GreenTomatoCars quoted me 51.45GBP. I responded my budget is 40 Curious if they'll come down, or if it's really set-in-stone (I'm so cheap, it hurts...)

You asked 'best' and IMO Tristar is the best bookable service because a) there's always on time b) usually a Mercedes, c) drivers speak English and know where they are going e) there's a Tristar agent at the Virgin CDC desk (for VS customers) able to help with any problems.

Also the priciest, but you said 'best'.

The advantage of a black cab in rush hour traffic is that it is likely quicker since they can use the bus lanes once in London.

What I find funny about this is I can get a mercedes CDC one way from LHR to rural norfolk/suffolk for ~£120 via a local firm work use... prices into London do seem rather high.

When doing work trips inbound from Long haul - I always use a CDC - it's not worth risk of driving IMHO.

Ah but presumably a cab company based in rural Norfolk or Suffolk has considerably lower costs than one based in London.

But ultimately, like any business, they'll charge what the market's willing to pay and the London car firms know a lot of their trade comes from business people on expenses who'll happily pay £70+ for a 15 mile journey into town.

I should have specified. In my estimation, Best = reliable + cost efficient.

I've put some thought into it, and seeing as I'm arriving in the evening on Saturday, I'll probably just take the tube. I imagine traffic will be fairly bad that time of night, and there's no sense paying a premium to sit in a cab, when I can sit on the tube.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.