Car Rental Companies

Lot of people like the big ones and have no problems. We have used two predominantly and had great experiences with both numerous times......Dan Dooley and Easirent. Our preferred is Easirent. We have gotten great rates, fair treatment, wonderful customer service and reliable vehicles. We get what we ask for which hasn't happened with the others.

Big thing is though regardless ......get full CDW and tire and windshield coverage. In Ireland it's a must and though pricey can EASILY EASILY save you thousands. Also would recommend an automatic ..... Irish roads are fun and not as difficult as many make them out but they do requires concentration and effort and dealing with shifting from the "wrong" side, unless used to it, is a royal pain.

Personal choice, but I always use Avis. To add to ewewoolknit, other than the main roads, I didn’t find the roads in Ireland to be very well marked.

We used Dan Dooley. We had a few unusual requests/issues (multiple cars in two separate timeframes, one really big car, and an accident in mid-trip), and never had a problem with the complex booking or resolving the accident paperwork.

We used Conn's, which is a Hertz franchise at the Dublin airport, on the South Circular Rd in Dublin and I think at Shannon We chose them because unlike the other companies, Conn's includes the super CDW in its quote. One less thing to have to consider. Super CDW covers everything but tire and wheel damage. We opted to add the tire and wheel damage because on our first trip several years ago we blew a tire on the first day when we hit the curb - easy to do as you get used to driving on the "wrong side."
There was no additional fee to pickup in one location and drop off at another, they have a US phone number to call as you make your reservations, promptly return messages, and gave us the exact car we requested. No hassles, no up-selling.

Dan Dooley- Pretty popular, not sure you, might be able to look at Europecar as well

We used Sixt and had a great experience. I agree with a previous poster who said get the full insurance package

I got the best price from Hertz, about $20/day for 27 days; manual compact, no insurance, no problems. Used the Collins road atlas instead of gps and drove on roads only two feet wider than the car. Great experience.

Regardless of which car company you rent from, remember if you are driving all around the island, that Northern Ireland is the UK!!! Be sure when you are using the vary valuable GPS on your car to put in UK or you will be driving blind!
We couldn't figure out after successfully driving for 10 days suddenly it wouldn't work for us when we were heading into Derry!
It certainly would have been nice if the car rental people mentioned it!

I stressed after reading the headaches of other renters on forums and did a lot of research on this topic. Just returned and had a great experience with Conn's Ireland Rental Car. Competitive rate, transparent, and you have an advocate if needed. Buy all the insurance including tire and wheel -- this is an out of the ordinary rental experience. You'll understand why when you experience narrow roads with hazards of high speeds, tour buses, cyclists, stone walls, and sheep. Don't complicate your life with World Elite MC. We had no issues renting or returning the vehicle even with minor damage (brush scratches and wheel scrape to curb). Save yourself a headache and make it simple. You won't regret using Conn's.