age limits on car rental in Ireland

I don't know about Ireland, but we definitely ran into this in Orkney. I was traveling with my parents and had planned to rent a car in Orkney and another in Inverness. We were splitting the cost. When we arrived in Kirkwall to sign the papers for the car, the young woman renting looked at my Dad's license and told him he was too old! We were lucky as I could pick up the car. The really funny comment came from the agent, when she said, "You didn't sound old in your email." So, you do need to check into this. She said it was an insurance issue. You might want to see if you can rent through one of the national companies. The Orkney company was a small independent firm. Plan B could be a car and driver.

I think that this is absurd and really hope that by the time I'm 75 it's been fixed!

Pam

http://www.autoeurope.com/guides/Ireland/Ireland_driving.cfm

From what I've read Avis doesn't have an age cutoff. I think you'd be prudent in contacting whatever rental agency you intend to use and see what their policy is.

Hertz in the UK has no upper age limit so you could check them out for Ireland.

Your best advice, as Claudia said, is to check with the company you are planning to rent from, as each might have different regulations. I don't believe Irish Car Rental has a limit. But it's really not an absurd policy. Accident rates are high among elderly drivers (who many times aren't aware of how badly they are driving). And add in the fact that you would be driving on an unfamiliar side of the road in an unfamiliar car...it's a safety issue for everyone. One person might be a perfectly fine driver at 75, and another might not, but it is a fact that older drivers have considerably slower reaction times behind the wheel.

The policy is absurd because it is based on age rather than on an accident record of the specific renter. If this remains the policy when I visit the Orkney's in my retirement I will have to have a driver or hope that public transit has vastly improved. People live longer today than they did even 25 years ago and are more active than they were 25 years ago. And yes there are some older drivers who don't realize that their reflexes aren't what they used to be. But there are also many older drivers who know exactly where their skill level it. If the concern is increased accident rate, then why not increase the insurance requirements? But wait! We already all pay insurance and are liable for damage to the car. I suspect that these agencies that won't rent to older customers are made to pay a higher premium because the insurer fears greater accidents and there is a percentage of people who default on paying for damages. It would be interesting to know if they really dig in and look at the ages of the people over 75 who have accidents and then don't pay the bill. The only other thing I can think of is that someone or some agency is holding them accountable for an accident rate on their cars? Pam

Age-based rules like these are made because of studies that show the likelihood of people of various ages having accidents. Insurance companies deal with these studies all the time. It's why the insurance of teenagers costs more than that of their parents -- they are more likely to have accidents. Car rental companies probably want to lessen their risk by not renting to people who are, statistically speaking, more likely to have accidents (just as they don't rent to anyone under 25, generally). I don't think it has anything to do with defaulting on paying for damages, just the statistical likelihood of an accident.

I have rented 20 cars since I turned 70. No agent asked my age or read it on my drivers license. Many agencies have an age limit.

I have decided that if you act alert, no one will mention the age restriction.

"I have decided that if you act alert, no one will mention the age restriction." Well, that rules me out...and I'm nowhere near 75!;) I don't know if I'd rely on that philosophy if I WAS over 75 and walked up to a rental car outlet when I was away from home.

"I have decided that if you act alert, no one will mention the age restriction."If a rental agency does have an age limit, then I would think they will verify your age when looking at your drivers license.

Thanks, everybody. My husband actually lived in England for a time and is quite used to driving on the left. Plus we tend to stay on small roads because we hate trucks and prefer scenery and small towns. We'll check with the rental companies.
Katherine

I would also check on the insurance availability. We were unpleasantly surprise a few weeks ago when we rented a car. We were old enough (26) to rent a car, but not old enough to take out the super CDW insurance. Therefore, on the fly, we had to find a way to give them a deposit of 1200 Euros. It cost us about an hour of time because we were not prepared to have to do this.

If you were ever in an accident and were over the age limit for renting there could be all sorts of legal ramifications between you,the insurance company and the rental company. I am sure that somewhere in the rental agreement the age requirements are listed and just saying you did not know you were too old would not absolve you. Sadly, pleading ignorance of the law is not a defense.

I guess Kent and Norm didn't understand my answer:

"I have rented 20 cars since I turned 70. No agent asked my age or read it on my drivers license. I have decided that if you act alert, no one will mention the age restriction."

Kent wrote: "I don't know if I'd rely on that philosophy if I WAS over 75 and walked up to a rental car outlet when I was away from home."

Maybe you wouldn't, Kent, but my point is that I have without problem.

So far, Kent and Norm, being alert seems to work for me.

Carl: I did not say what you quote me as saying. Look (above) at my post and Norm's post. Norm said what you're saying I said. What I said was: "If a rental agency does have an age limit, then I would think they will verify your age when looking at your drivers license." And I stand by my carefully worded statement, "if...then."I'm glad your method has been working for you. Keep on traveling!

Carl....first of all, it was me you quoted, not Kent. And while it may have worked for you, my suggestion was I wouldn't rely on that as a legal defense if I got to a car rental counter and they told me I was over their age limit. "But Carl said, if I was alert, it wouldn't matter." While "being alert" may have worked for you, I would suggest an auto rental company that made a habit of renting to drivers over their particular age limit would probably end up losing their insurance if an over-age driver were involved in an accident.

Regarding age limits - we've rented from an Irish company a few times. The company is called County Car Rentals.

One time I was waiting my turn at their office on O'Connell Street. A couple of young American men were ahead of me. County turned them down because they were too young. They would not rent to someone under 25 who comes from a country that does not drive on the same side of the road that Ireland does.

County's upper age limit was 69. At 70, you are too old, unless you come from a country that also drives on the left.

So, while the original poster asked about 75, for some companies the limit is 70. It pays to check ahead of time, that's for sure.