Leaving this Thursday for my 5th visit to Ireland. I actually learned to drive a left handed stick shift in England when I lived there when 17 years old. However, we do age and while I can competently drive an American manual car or even Italian or French etc. I find the small roads in Ireland, driving on the left and shifting with my left hand more than I can cope with nowadays. So, we're renting an automatic! You must have good insurance coverage in Ireland. The roads are not great and there are a lot of tourists going the wrong way and making basic mistakes. Also....rent the smallest car you can. Although we've already rented, I noticed good rates from Dan Dooley just about a week ago. Thought about changing our reservation. Tourism is down this year and October is not prime time, so I think your quote is probably legit.

Lisa - We usually get a full tank of gas when we pick up the car and then fill it up just before we return it. There are plenty of petrol stations on the way to Shannon Airport.<BR><BR>Just curious - how much are you paying for your rental? Did you check out www.irishcarrentals.com? They really are the cheapest and very reliable - you pick up at Dan Dooley.<BR><BR>Molly

Molly - I went through www.goireland.com (the Irish Tourist Board) which I think is through Sixt car rentals. I paid $234 (our Mastercard covers the CDW - it is $286 with CDW) I did a lot of research and this one was the cheapest I found and it includes 24 hour breakdown service which made me feel better! But thanks for your suggestion!

Lisa, goireland.com IS NOT the Irish Tourist Board!!! They are a travel agency that books trips, cars, acomodations for people. Did they mis inform you?

Lisa - goireland.com is not the Irish Tourist Board. You say you did a lot of research, but you don't say if you tried irelandcarrentals.com. I think if you did, you'd be booking through them.

I pressed the post button by accident.<BR><BR>Anyway, my husband is going in September and I checked out goireland.com for the same dates I already booked for him. It was more money through goireland.com.

I pressed the post button by accident.<BR><BR>Anyway, my husband is going in September and I checked out goireland.com for the same dates I already booked for him. It was $155.80 with www.goireland.com for 27 Sept. through 30 Sept. We are paying $95.88 for those days thru www.irelandcarrentals.com.

I'm sorry I am starting to get my websites mixed up...I know goireland.com isn't the tourist board site...I have been spending too much time on the net!! <BR><BR>Molly - Thanks for your advice re irelandcarrentals.com but I just did another check on that site and it was actually more than what I got quoted on goireland.com but they were close. I can definitely see why people like irelandcarreantal.com. Thanks again.

Can someone explain what is Dan Dooley? Is it a rental agency? Is there a website? I noticed a previous post mentioned to pick up the car at Dan Dooley. I'm confused.<BR>Thanks!

Dan Dooley is a rental car company.<BR>http://www.dan-dooley.ie/

I'm wondering if anybody has noticed what appears to be a substantial discrepancy in car rental rates between last year and this. Last year I rented from Sixt (through Irish Car Rentals), the smallest of the automatics for two weeks with the whole package (CDW etc). The price was 382 Irish punts. This year exactly the same package for exactly the same dates, pick-up and drop-off points is 614 euros. As far as I have been able to discover, the exchange rate from punts to euros isn't even close to explaining the increase. More meaningfully to me personally is that changing the two figures into Canadian dollars (the rates of exchange on the $CDN being more or less of a constant), results in an increase of about $CDN 290! Anybody else notice a substantial increase in rental prices? Thanks.

Thanks for the support! I actually drive a stick when I'm in Ireland, but I lived there for a time and visit several times a year, so I'm used to it.<BR><BR>Anyway, I've been using priceline.com or priceline.co.uk the last several times I've rented cars over there (once picking up in Shannon, once in Dublin, and twice in Belfast), and have had good luck. The prices have been fantastic, as I place a very low because I always have the option of just going through the rental agencies. And all of the insurances (including CDW) and VAT are included in the bid price.<BR><BR>Usually, my ridiculously low bids are not accepted for economy or compact cars, so I end up with a full or mid-sized car at less than what I used to pay for a small car. This works well for us as we've been brining our golf clubs the last few times, and you just can't fit them in a tiny car.<BR><BR>One caveat: I did have a problem where National/Alamo charged my credit card for 500 pounds. Priceline ended up taking car of it, and I got it back, but it did take nearly 3 weeks from when I first noticed it.

We'll be renting an economy (smallest) car for 8 days in October, and I've noted all your suggestions. I found the best deal by far at rentacar-Ireland.com. It's sometimes tricky to compare quotes, but I found their rate of E168 to be the best. It INCLUDES cdw, airport fee of about E20, VAT, and there's no surcharge to take the car into Northern Ireland (E20 at some companies). Autoeurope, goireland & Kemwell all came to more than E200 when those other charges are added in. At the E168 rate I think I'd spring for the super-duper insurance for another E9 a day. I know some of you were planning to book with rentacar-Ireland, but has anyone found any reason not to, or is there something I'm missing?

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