Karoy

Hi Forum, need your advice please. We want to rent a car in London (St Pancreas) drive upto Scotland, go over to Ireland return to Uk and back to London. Roughly 26 days. What are our best options.
1. Hire with different drop off, fly to Ireland, hire car then hire another car for the rest of our England trip.
2. Hire car, ferry across keeping the same hire car.
Looking to see your thoughts on costs and logistics please. Thinking of going into Dublin and out down the bottom think its Waterford. Also thoughts on the car rental as well...looking at a compact car. Thanks in advance

Rubicund

It may be that your hire company wouldn't allow their car to be taken to the Republic of Ireland. Hire your car from a little further out of London to avoid straying into the Congestion Charge Zone, maybe Heathrow and then leave it in Scotland and fly across.

Fly back and then rent another car for the remainder of your stay.

nytraveler

You have to check with the rental company - many will not allow cars to be put on ferries or taken to Ireland.

Alec

I agree. Hire one for UK (except Northern Ireland) and another for the Republic. Drop off UK car in Scotland such as Glasgow or Edinburgh airport, fly cheaply to Ireland (from £20) and pick up another. Drop off before flying to London. Try Auto Europe for competitive quotes. I had good service with Budget at Dublin Airport last year - keen rate, quick paperwork and no scrutiny for damages.

bilboburgler

As others say, hire one for the Island of Ireland (to clarify the geographic situation) checking that for drop off fees if you decide to pick up in one country and drop off in another.

Then fly and do the same in Great Britain (which includes Scotland, Wales and England). Drop off will be easier because the place is one country.

However, if you decide to go to a small island close to any of the two main islands check your rental company has agreed to that, since a few have restrictions.

Karoy

Thank you everyone. What I have come up with your help is hiring a car London (we will be travelling upto Nottingham ..is there car hire heading that way) Scotland, drop car off at Glasgow Airport and fly to Belfast. Pick car up drop off at Dublin Airport fly to Liverpool or Birmingham (depending on time) pick up another car and because we are arriving back in London from Kent is there a drop off there before getting on Eurostar? Is there any restrictions hiring a car in Belfast and driving in around the country? Thank you again

flanneruk

"because we are arriving back in London from Kent"

Don't go back to London. Drop your car at Ebbsfleet or Ashford and get the Eurostar from there. There's no pain-free dropoff point for those unused to our system of town planning on the way into London, and few casr hire depots around Kent.If you want to spend time in London between Kent and your departure date, you really need to get rid of your encumbrance somewhere like Maidstone, then get a train in.

Unless you're from an English-speaking country that drives on the proper side, it really isn't a good idea to get your first experience in central London (and for most navigation, it's not even a good idea if you regularly drive in the Sydney CBD.) From St Pancras it's about an hour and a half by train to Nottingham, versus at least three and a half by car. The only possible alternative is Luton airport: from St Pancras to an LTN hire depot to Nottingham will be a bit over 4 hours.

I'd get the train, then collect a car at East Midlands airport after your Nottingham visit for the rest of your British driving.

Alec

Most companies charge a fee for dropping off a Northern Irish car in the Republic. Not a huge amount but maybe 50 euro.

bvlenci

I found a pretty hefty difference in cost when I was considering picking up a car in NI and dropping at Dublin this coming summer. Part of it might have been because I wanted to pick up in a smaller town (Omagh). I decided to pick up and drop off in Dublin instead.

bilboburgler

"Is there any restrictions hiring a car in Belfast and driving in around the country"

No

Nor are there any restrictions for driving around the two countries.

Drop off fees, check with the hire company, note that you will have two currencies to deal with Sterling and Euro. To add to your thinking, you don't want any NI sterling notes with you when you come back to Great Britain. You should be able to read which is which on the notes. The money can be used in GB but basically the locals don't like the notes.

Equally you don't want any Scottish notes when you come back into England for the same reason.

Tony2phones

Have answered this recently somewhere else?
Basically renting in London returning to London you can keep the same car with some UK rental companies, They will charge a little more for insurance to cover the Island of Ireland.
What you have to work out is whether just renting one car and paying an extra £150/£200 of ferry fares makes it cheaper than having two or maybe three rentals.

In many situations it might be better to just have the same car all the way through especially if there is less than £100 difference in the mix.

Karoy

Great feedback, thank you so much. I am going to do some comparables and see the difference. I would rather keep the same car but the cost of flights to the ferry is so different.

Havana128

Take a train to Nottingham.

BTW it's St Pancras. The pancreas is not a railway station.

ballinaraw

I think you'll find there is a sizable difference in rental car rates for the UK than for the Republic of Ireland. If you go to any of the majors, Avis, Hertz, etc and price each country separately you will see what I mean. The currency in the UK is the pound sterling and in the Republic of Ireland it is the euro. Presently there is roughly 30% - 40% difference in exchange rate which could make the idea of separate car rentals more attractive.

You might finds some good prices on flights between the UK and Ireland but make sure you check the carrier's baggage allowance as that is where you could lose your savings!

AutoEurope was mentioned in a post above and I believe they can quote you for the UK as well. For Ireland take a look at easytourireland.com as they work with Hertz and include all insurances and have a free GPS promotion going on right now. Dan Dooley is also another one to consider for Ireland.

Hope that helps.