Senior renting car in Ireland

No, all rental companies establish their own rules, which vary from no rental after a certain age, to requiring a Doctors certification of your fitness for driving, to requiring additional insurance, or just an outright heftier rental fee.

You are certainly of the age where it will be a concern, I would start out by picking one or more of the major firms (Hertz, Avis, Auto Europe) and see what their policies are, and what they will require of you.

I would not go with some small, unknown, firm, just because they are willing to rent to you.

Quick question, have you driven on the left side of the road before? Is this something you are comfortable with?

Public transportation is also an option if it turns out driving doesn’t work out for you.. It does require significant planning, but it does work.

I rented a car in Dublin and went to the southwest end of Ireland--about 200 miles.

It was as demanding as any road system I've ever driven in. We stayed in a 5 star B&B out in the countryside, and the roads were rough, crooked and had deep ditches on both sides of the road. We'd often have bushes touching the car as we drove by too.

I've driven thousands of miles in right hand drive cars, and that didn't bother me. Just a warning to the wise.

Be sure to include Enterprise as a company to check when you’re researching rental companies. We used them the last time, picking up the car in Galway (after getting to Galway from the Dublin airport via express bus), and returned it at the Enterprise office outside of Dublin. We hadn’t reached 70 yet, so I can’t guarantee what their policies might be as of now.

Book directly through the rental company, rather than a 3rd party (e.g. Kayak), and you’ll be assured that whatever rental contract provisions regarding age and paperwork requirements they specify at the time of your booking won’t result in surprises upon arrival.

A couple other suggestions: minimize your driving at night. Daytime and daylight helped us. Also, having the person in the passenger seat frequently remind the driver not to steer too far to the left can help ensure that there’s not undesirable contact with ditches, hedges, or stone walls on the far (left) side of the car. Actually, our 2019 trip covered northwest and north Ireland, plus Northern Ireland, in a clockwise direction, and the roads were wider than expected - similar to any 2-lane highway here in Colorado, and ditches and brush-covered stone walls were few and far between. Both my husband and I drive manual transmission cars at home, so it wasn’t prohibitive for us to have a standard stick-shift rental car (although having the shifter on the left resulted in a couple noisy, grinding shifts), but many on this forum advise spending more for an automatic tranny.

Out of curiosity (and because I plan to do the same thing myself) I did dummy bookings for a 77 year old on the AutoEurope website to see what might pop up. There were only two options for pickups at Dublin Airport - Hertz and Sixt. Here's what each had to say:

Hertz: Maximum Age: 79
Senior Driver Policy: Any renter aged75 -79 years require the following to be sent to opcalls within30 days of pick up, documents must also be dated within this same time frame. If documents are sent outside of that time they will not be accepted:-
- Confirm that they drive on a regular basis.
- Provide a letter from their insurance company confirming that they have an up to date insurance policy, and have not had any accidents in the past5 years.
- Provide a letter from their doctor confirming that you are in good health for one year and fit to drive.
- The rental agent may ask to sit in the car and assess their driving.

Sixt: Senior Driver Policy: Drivers age 75 and over are required to provide a current note from their doctor (legible and in English) stating that they are in full health and a current note from their insurer stating that they have not been involved in any accidents in the past 5 year(s). A driving assessment with a supplier representative may be required.

My suggestion would be to speak directly with a live human being at the particular company to positively verify their requirements and to ensure that you have the required documentation upon arrival.

Thank you all for your input. You have confirmed a lot of what I knew and gave me a few gems of new information.

I've spent about 6-months over the last number of years driving on the left side of the road in various countries including a month in Ireland. I'm not over-confident because I know the challenges (rock wall one side and tour bus coming head-on), but I'm also not intimidated. I'm more intimidated by the rental requirements and the potential of a rental office clerk having the ability to deny the rental on the spot. I have heard from some sources that Enterprise may have suspended their requirements so they are definitely on my list. I like the advice of sticking with the major companies and will do so. I will also rent an automatic only because that is one less thing to be thinking about. The last time we were in Ireland we did not have GPS in the car or on the phone so one of us always had her face in a map and I anticipate this will be less cumbersome.

I have talked to my doctor and insurance agent and they are on board so I don't anticipate that being an issue. Like Robert, I will do a couple dummy bookings to get the information in writing and make sure I'm prepared. It's just a hassle considering that 77 is the new 27 (in my mind). Thank you all again!

A couple more points.

First, for the general discussion, some countries do have an upper age limit for drivers, so that is usually one thing to check. Ireland does not, though they do have increased requirements for resident drivers, so not applicable here.

The note about proof of insurance (auto, I am assuming)...my assumption is that this is more of "reference" letter, that you are in good standing with an insurance company. Your insurance coverage will of course be of no use for renting the car. That likely means that they may require additional insurance. Also be aware that in Ireland, most "credit card" insurance is not accepted, nor do most cards cover Ireland. Ireland also requires at least some amount of insurance (liability, I believe) to be purchased.

Bottom line, any discussion with a company should include something about what insurance will be required due to age, and I would just urge you to get a zero deductible comprehensive package.

Your credit card T&Cs will specify if they cover Ireland. My Visa does and my MC doesn't. If you plan to waive collision damage coverage, which I ALWAYS do, make sure you have a personalized email/letter from the CC company to show the desk agent. My Visa carrier has an 800 number to arrange those letters. Even if you have an accident, the worst is that they freeze an amount from your credit limit until the card company settles the case. I speak from experience.. My insurance salesman father taught me that all insurance is a scam that you must suffer only if required by government (car) or term life insurance if you're a crucial bread winner.