Credit Card 'Deposit' for Rental Car in Ireland

Holy smokes 5000 would be quite the deposit! Are you sure it isn’t 500 euros? I took a quick look at their site and payment policies and saw 500.00 mentioned.

I had a 500€ deposit on a car rented through Enterprise earlier this year, rented and returned at the Dublin Airport.

And that's on top of the rental company (and Irish government) requiring that you purchase CDW insurance through them. Irish CDW is not as favorably priced as other places, i.e. Italy. They lowball you on the rental rates then knock your head off on CDW coverage.
See AutoEurope.com
If you get off on the backroads of Ireland, you'll find the roads to be narrow, crooked and in generally poor condition. There are often ditches on each side of the road, rock walls or bushes that can scratch cars. It's not a place for marginal drivers.

€500 seems to be the norm for most of the rentals I undertake when I use my own car rental insurance. The highest I've been charged was £2000 but that was because it was a luxury car. I've never had any issues with the deposits being returned.

Driving in Ireland is insane and there is a good chance you’ll encounter some sort of damage to the car. It’s just the rental car companies protecting themselves. We drove there once, found it very stressful, and will never do it again. We ended up scraping our car against one of the ubiquitous rock walls to avoid a giant truck and lost the hubcap.

Just curious, but did you decline the insurance package offered by the company and opt for the cover via a credit card? Some here have reported similar experiences as yours if they try to do it that way.
Good suggestion to research rates thru AutoEurope. Their pricing is competitive and the insurance options are clearly spelled out ... not at all the norm when renting in Ireland.
We've been to Ireland more than a dozen times and have always rented a car with never a scratch or an incident. The rural "R" and "L" roads can be challenging at first, but you'll quickly learn the local rules of the road and should do fine.

They want to protect themselves if the car gets damaged and you don't have their insurance because they do not know if your insurance will actually pay anything. Most European rental companies have been doing this for a few years, even many US based rental companies have started doing this for US rentals (very quietly, and not that high of an amount). And the amount is just a hold, not a charge. It will eventually disappear and has no impact on your average balance so it does not cost you any interest. Of course if that is all the available balance on the card it does make it difficult to use the card for anything else as funds on hold cannot be used to cover purchases.

The way around this credit card hold is to take out the maximum insurance coverage from the rental car company. The coverage that leaves you with as close to zero deductible as possible for collision and other damage to the vehicle. Yes, this costs more, but it is a lot easier if there is any actual damage to the vehicle -- you simply turn in the keys and walk away vs dealing with the rental company and your insurance for months on end and probably end up paying some out of pocket anyway (my experience with rental car insurance thru a credit card). A lot less hassle than anything else will give you.

Thank you all for you replies. The fine print on the Alamo rental contract reads 5,000.00 Euros deposit, That's what shocked me. I've driven thousands of miles in England , Scotland and Wales with a 5-speed transmission so I'm not worried about narrow, bumpy roads or getting dents and dings in the vehicle every day. I just do not like them placing a large deposit against our credit card at the beginning of a trip. I will try a few different companies and check about having insurance with a low deductible. THANKS!

Just so you know, many of the credit cards specifically do not provide the CDW waiver in Ireland (or Israel, or Jamaica) - read it carefully before you assume your credit card will provide insurance in Ireland!!

I am in Ireland now and used https://connsirelandcarrental.com/. Read the website thoroughly and know what you want to do before booking. Everything is up front with them. I added wheel and tire coverage to my rental and it cost about $1400 for 11 days. But there is no hold on my cc: $0.

My "small stick shift" rental car this May was cheap. 61 euro for ten days. Taxes and fees, including 30 euro to pick up at the airport, made it closer to 180 total.

They did charge my credit card another 5000 for a deposit. I thought it was a little over the top. It could have been that I went with my credit card CDW coverage. I didn't really care because if I caused any damage, they'd charge my card and I'd have to be reimbursed by insurance.

Check with your credit card companies. I called Chase to see if my United Mileage Plus credit card covers the liability, and they do. They advised that I need to call them a few days prior to travelling and then they'll email me a letter that I need to show to the rental company as proof of coverage.

I just returned from Ireland, and rented from Payless. They actually operated out of a Budget rental office. I had a letter from my credit card company saying they cover CDW insurance, so that worked fine. But they said I "had to" have PAI and liability, and I had no internet or time to argue. I found out that PAI is life insurance (don't need that) and health insurance (I had a separate policy for my trip). So, because I was caught unprepared, I lost close to $200 in useless charges. The car was fine, the final bill was reasonable, so it all worked out ok. Having an automatic transmission was very nice, rare in Ireland. The rental agents talk very fast, use lingo no one understands, and make you think you will not get the car if you refuse "up charges." So be prepared. Have fun!