Try both http://www.rentacar-worldwide.com/Lo...IRLUSAirlr3004 and www.irishcarrentals.com and see which one is cheaper. Also note that they allow you to waive their collision insurance (if you have a gold/platinum MC); you can e-mail them for a lower rate. Do also look into Auto Europe (www.autoeurope.com). In my case, Auto Europe was willing to match the price but would not let me waive collision coverage (which meant I would have to live with a deductible which doesn't exist with MC coverage).

When I was looking to make car rental reservations, I looked at and compared Avis, Dan Dooley, Hertz, Sixty (or whatever it's called), and a couple of others and found, in my case, Hertz to be the lowest price at the time. Most of them are in the ball park of one another, so I'm not sure it's really fair to bash Hertz. I was leaning towards Dan Dooley, but Hertz' price was about 30 euro cheaper, so I booked with them over Dooley. That was my experience.

Just to be sure you might want to check with your Platinum MC issuer to confirm that the coveraeg is in effect for Ireland. All Plat MCs are not the same, I guess. Others have reportd they had coverage, but I received notification from mine that Ireland coverage was no longer provided.

Thanks for this helpful discussion.

I booked a car on www.budget.ie and now want to extend my rental. I have e-mailed them at [email protected]
but they have not responded. I have e-mailed 3 times now (beginning about a week ago) and have received no communication from them. I called the Budget Car Rental in the US, and they said that I have to contact Budget Ireland directly, but it is an international phone call. Has anyone had problems with them? What should I do?

Tracy, call them. There are lots of ways to make cheap long-distance calls. Try this one: http://www.dialarounds.com/1010629.html

We used Budget in the past but O'Scannlain/Hertz was much more competitively priced both times we used them. They are less expensive than Hertz.

allisonm--Thanks for the nudge. I called them and have been able to work out the changes to my reservation. I was beginning to worry that something was wrong since they did not e-mail me back. Everything is fine now and I am getting excited about our trip in July.

Thanks for the tip about Hertz/O'Scannlain--I just booked them for 2 weeks in September. For a manual it cost me $231 (using my Citi Platinum MC to waive the CDW). Even as a Hertz Gold Club member, the best Hertz International could quote me was $310! Only 3 months to go; it's going to be a long summer!!

I booked with O'Scanlain for Sept. for 4 days. I have mastercard platinum, but fot $50 I got the CDW- otherwise they put a 2K hold on MC- and if there is damage you pay immediateley and deal w/ MC later. For 50 bucks it was worth piece of mind.