We are going to ireland next week following rick steves plan. We are renting a car and wife says usa license is ok.
Is this correct? If so are there any steps i need to take stateside before going there. Do i need to do anything else there.
What kinds of additional insurance do i need there for driving?
Thanks!
You USA license is fine and take every bit of insurance offered when you rent the car. Many roads in Eire are tiny. There are hedges and rock walls.
Easy to scrape car doors, ruin side view mirrors.
Just get the coverage. You’ll be driving on the opposite side of the road so there’s a bit of a learning curve.
I’ve driven the island 3 times and happy to say no scrapes, collisions or near misses.
However as a passenger with a friend she took off both side view mirrors in a vain attempt to negotiate driving through a village where there was a soccer match. People had parked along the the wee roadside. She wouldn’t turn back, had to go through. Stubborn. I drove from that incident on.
We are using europcar. Is this a good company or should we switch to an american one.
I have used Europcar a few times with no complaints.
Europcar is good. I and others here have used them all around Europe.
Europcar is fine.
Definitely get insurance.
If you're worried about driving manual transmission and shifting with the other hand, maybe you should consider automatic transmission.
Also, rent a GPS to give you directions, which I definitely needed driving from Dublin Airport to Buncrana to Portmagee and back to Dublin Airport one weekend a couple years ago.
We'll be a week or so behind you in Ireland. Based on watching this Forum for months we reserved: small car; ALL the insurance; automatic transmission. We've driven standard transmissions in Scotland, Italy, France, etc. with no problems -- but based on the numerous comments found here, we blinked and ordered the automatic. Insurance on foreign rentals is covered by our Chase Bank credit card but, again, based on the Forum advice we've ordered up everything the car rental firm sells. (Using AutoEurope/Hertz. Oddly they couldn't confirm the "windshield/wheel" coverage often mentioned here, but assured me we can add that when we pick up the car.) If you opt for your own insurance coverage, ask your credit card or insurance carrier to send you written confirmation of coverage in Ireland. They can do so by email in the blink of an eye.
Bon Voyage!
Would you recommend that we get liability coverage if possibel in ireland? Does europcar offer this?
Thank you all for your invaluable help so far!!!
Get SUPER CDW coverage AND tire and windshield coverage. Don't try to save a few bucks. I'm in Ireland now and yesterday saw a German driver scrape his driver side tire and rims in Sneem. So easy to do. That is €1000+ if he doesn't have coverage.
My credit card provides same coverage. How about liability
Make sure your cc covers Ireland. Many cards include overseas coverage but most exclude Ireland.
I would ad liability absolutely.
We called chase and found out that they used to not cover it so they emailed us a letter stating that they now cover ireland so it is covered.
We also read in our credit card form that liability was covered by europcar in the price based on the email we got. Im not sure if this is normal or if there is an issue so we are wondering if anyone else has encountered this.
