Rental cars...age limits?
 

I have heard that the auto rental agencies in IReland will not rent to seniors over 75 yrs?
Is that so??

It depends on the agency. Some will, but charge a hefty fee.

Thank you jaja..(btw, is that "grandad" ?) Also wondering if our daughter drives, are we able to use our credit card..(I am pretty certain we cannot, but if there is a way..I would like to be aware of it)

I'm not an expert as I've only been there once, but I think some agencies, if they allow rentals over age 70 or so, don't charge extra for the rental charge but may have different deductibles or insurance payments (eg, a higher deductible you must pay for car damage).

Also, I hope your daughter is age 25 or more (ideally 30), or other problems arise with someone too young. I think you can probably use your CC to pay if you are present, even if you aren't the driver, but if you are doing that to get insurance from your CC for the rental, that may not work if you aren't the driver or in Ireland. Most CCs don't cover it in Ireland, from what I've heard, but you'd have to check with your card if it will cover if you are not the actual renter of the vehicle, but just trying to pay for it. It might, I don't know, except usually you can't use that policy in Ireland anyway.

I think you have to finally read the terms and policies of whichever company you use, bottom line.

If your daughter has her own credit card, have her rent the car and reimburse her with a check.

Actually, jaja is (are?) my initials. And I am a grandmother (seanmháthair) 8 times over. Taking the grands to Ireland a few at a time as I save up the money! 4 down, 4 to go.

Every rental company I've dealt with requires that the renter be the credit card holder. I agree with Michael. And you will use the credit card on the initial rental; the only thing you will "buy" at the rental desk will be any add-ons and a full tank of petrol.

Several years ago we ran into the problem of being "too old" for car rental in Ireland but our friend in Ireland found us www.enterprise.ie which didn't have an age limit. We have since returned to Ireland (2 years ago) and had no problem with the "age thing," even though DH was then 80. We rented through autoeurope.com and the renting agent (I think europecar but not sure) had no upper age limit although as seniors there was an additional fee. BTW, if you have a World Master Card (it has to be the World card), they do insure in Ireland if you initiate the rental and pay all charges with that card. Phone them to make sure this is still in effect.

It's absolutely NOT my experience that car hire companies insist on accepting ONLY the driver's credit card.

I once encountered this bizarre pickiness about getting paid in the US: it's never happened to us anywhere else. Indeed in some cases, clerks have been positively puzzled the question was asked.

Individual companies (and in the car hire business, sometimes even individual franchisees) can have different policies about the finer points of insurance, payment and validity outside designated territories, and those finer points can sometimes be differently understood by individual clerks. You need to ask the specific hire company about payment policies, and not rely on the highly limited experience of web contributors - especially on a website like this with scarcely any contributors from the country you're asking about.

<i>It's absolutely NOT my experience that car hire companies insist on accepting ONLY the driver's credit card.</i>

My current rental agreements with Autoeurope specify that I am the driver and I would pay extra for a second driver. That is why I am suggesting that the credit card belong to the primary driver.