Hi,
My wife and I are planning a trip to Ireland in April. We will stay in Dublin for 3 nights, but plan on renting a car on fourth day and traveling to the southwest of Ireland for 10 days.

Any recommendations on rent a car agencies?I have looked at Auto Europe and Budget. Auto Europe is cheaper, but I had a bad experience in London where they did not have my car and the price went up because of a bunch of unnoted charges. (However, I did have a good experience in Italy two years ago with them). I know Buget from the U.S. trips and have always been happy with them.

Also, it appears that CDW is different in that it only covers damage over 900 Euros and getting full CDW is pretty expensive. What have other traverles done, get the full coverage? I have driven in England, so I am used to the roads. I am still thinking of getting an automatic instead of manual. But how hard is it to switch hands on the stick?

One last question, I was planning on taking the car out of Dublin city and returning to the airport the next day. Is that a good idea?

Thank you for any comments,
Chris

Chris
I can only tell you our experience. We did not pay for the full coverage and ended up with a 1000.00 bill when we returned our car. The streets are very narrow with stone fences and we scraped a lot of them. Our windshield was cracked by another motorist but we had to pay for it. We will have full coverage next time! My husband drives a standard shirt here in the states but he rented an automatic in Ireland and was glad he did.

Shift! sorry....

I started out with automatics but now drive a manual shift. What I like about the manual is that it's a constant reminder that you're not in Kansas (or Denver) anymore. My brother in law got a manual shift on his 1st try and other than a few stalls, did fine.

Try OScannlain.com as when you buy their CDW, it is Super CDW (or it used to be). They are a discounter for Hertz. Small car prices seem competitive. Larger, not so much. Try also Kemwel; http://www.kemwel.com/booking/car.cf...tedAgency=IYES The prices I got from them for Feb were the lowest I could find.

Bill

Thanks for the info.

One more question I forgot to ask. In the US, diesel is inconvenient in that only a few stations carry it, so it is hard to find. But generally, diesel is cheaper than gas due to the better mileage it gets. Is it better to get a diesel rental car in Ireland?

Thanks again,
Chris

I don't know about hiring diesel cars in Ireland, but I can tell you that every filling station has diesel pumps. The price is about the same as for petrol.

I'm not sure about the fuel costs but one very important thing to keep in mind is that diesel has a black hose in Ireland and regular gas has a green hose...just the opposite of the U.S. We've driven a diesel the 2 times overseas and my husband really likes them. They are SO quiet that you hardly hear the engine unlike many vehicles over here.

The differential between diesel and gas (petrol) has narrowed in Ireland to just 1-2% (0.99 to 1.02 euro/litre), but diesel cars still get about 20-25% better fuel economy than petrol equivalents. And yes, diesel is sold at every station.

I would recommend renting a car from an agency outside of the city center. you can then cab to the rental car place and drive on from there. This will allow you to avoid driving in Dublin, which you definitely don't want to do if you don't have to.

I have done this several times. If I can find the name and address of the company I used I will post- we picked up the car and drove south to Kinsale it was a breeze. have a great trip

We used Auto Europe for our Nov. 06 trip. We had no problems. The car was through EuropCar. We rented at and returned to the airport. We opted for the super CDW.

Thanks for all the responses. Strangely, except for the sub-compacts, all the rentals appear to be petrol based. jkbakes, if you find the name of the rent-a-car place that was a bit outside city center, I would appreciate that as that sounds like it may be a wise choice. Although, I did successfully navigate London last year, although my wife will disagree with me

Thanks again,
Chris

Chris, If you can get out of London, you can drive in Dublin. We took one wrong turn, went to the next bridge and were out of Dublin in no time...compared the horrific time we had getting out of London (on SW corner, needed to go to the NE side, driving a manual, first time and we live in a small town in Wyoming). We rented from Avis or Hertz and got a taxi to the rental place. As it turns out, we could have walked since it was a short trip from our motel and very expensive.

We have been in contact (by email) with the conceirge at the hotel (The Brooks) we'll be staying at in April. He recommended Avis, although they are more expensive than Budget. He and I compared the rate I got on line and what he was able to get and said it was about the same. The Avis office in City Centre is on Killmainham Road, looks like it is near a ring road, so it won't be bad to get out of the city. Taking the cab back to the airport would be much more expensive.

Can anyone tell me if a gold or platinum Master card will still cover Super CDW? I know a gold Visa will NOT cover CDW at all.

Only a World Mastercard will cover a zero deductable on CDW. Gold are Platinum will not.

Turns out that none of my cards, even with the plus plans, cover Republic of Ireland. They do cover Northern Ireland (even if we travel into the Republic). Even American Express Platinum, even with the extra extra coverage you pay even more for, does not cover the Republic, and my Platinum Visa does not either So, make sure you check about the Republic of Ireland. If you plan on going to Northern Ireland, you could save yourself some dough in Super CDW rates. But alas, we are not.

Anyway, right now it looks like it is Hertz that maybe the cheapest! Strange, in the US Hertz is usually really expensive, but with Super CDW, it is over $200 less than AutoEurope for 6 day rental.

Chris

I am Irish, but I don't live there any more. each time I go back - every few weeks I rent a car from Hertz. I have tried other companies but have not been swayed - because of hidden costs etc. Book through the ryan air portal - www.ryanair.com and you will get a competitive rate - with no hidden costs.

Checking prices with Auto Europe, Dan Dooley, and Hertz Ireland, it looks like Auto Europe has the best price for a manual Ford Focus. We are considering getting a World Mastercard. Will that cover all the insurance on the rental?

On one of the car rental websites, they offered a US$ pay-when-you-book rate and a Euro pay-at-the-counter rate. Any advice on which one is better? Also, has anyone had a problem driving a rental car into Northern Ireland or onto a ferry?
Also, is air conditioning necessary in July (we live in Texas where everything has AC).
Thanks!

afree - does the site you are looking at for car rental also give you a pre-pay quote in Euro? Dan Dooley's site does this. If so, compare the rate you are getting in US $ against the rate you are getting in Euro at a currency exchange site such as http://www.xe.com. Last time I checked, the Dooley US $ rate was about the same as their Euro rate.

As for driving into NI, I've only rented from Dan Dooley before, but no issues travelling there. Also no trouble on the Killimer-Tarbert ferry.

Not sure about A/C, (we didn't need it in May ) but even our low-end Fiat Punto had it.

The question about CDW coverage through Credit Cards has been ever-evolving on this board -- possibly because the "RULES" keep changing. My MBNA Platinum MC covered me in Ireland every year from 1999 until 2006, but they 'dropped' coveraage in Ireland as of September (shortly before they were acquired by Bank of America).

I have a CHASE Plantinum MC that claims to cover Ireland. The GUIDE TO BENEFITS (copywrited 2006)spouts the usual,
"You may be unable to receive benefits in Australia, Ireland, Israel,Italy, Jamaica and New Zealand. Please contact your vehicle rental agency before you travel."

What THAT means, at least, in Ireland, is that the Rental Agency CAN chose NOT TO ACCEPT the MC Insurance, but if they DO, then I have coverage...

I will, of course, contact 1-800-MC ASSIST to verify, which EVERYONE SHOULD DO, but it looks good to me.

In eight trips, I've picked up a few dings and scratches and I've only ever had to pay once -- for a tire (about 100 Euro), in June of '05, and I've used the MC to decline the CDW and the Super CDW EVERY TRIP.

FYI: NO CDW and NO SUPER CDW THAT I KNOW OF will cover tires OR windscreens. MC DOESN'T EITHER...

Bob