Car Rental

Michael (good name):

You should check out Auto Europe. They're a consolidator that finds you a good deal based on the details of your trip. My wife and I used them to rent our car in Ireland last year. We got a great price and a good car for our two week trip.

A few items of note:

1. No matter what, you should take the full insurance option. It's costly, but totally worth it. That way, if you have an accident, they'll simply bring you a new car. Without it, your entire day (if not your entire trip) can be ruined. US credit cards do not cover driving in Ireland, so that's unfortunately not an option.

2. A manual is a good bit cheaper than an automatic, but learning to shift with your left hand is not necessarily a fun way to spend your vacation. If you're sure this won't bother you, then go with the manual. If not, go with the automatic.

3. Drive SLOWLY. Travel takes longer in Ireland than elsewhere. Leave yourself enough time to make your trip without rushing and you'll be much happier.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks Michael. I agree with you re the name!

I understood that We had to have a major credit card to rent a car in Ireland. Is this true? Can I just pay cash and leave a deposit?

Erin, You would need to check with the different rental companies but to the best of my knowledge you need a credit card to rent a car. Just how large a deposit were you planning on leaving?

I always use Irish Car Rental (www.eirecar.com).

Michael, I researched car rentals to death for our September trip to Ireland! The best advice I got was to use Dan Dooley; which turned out to be exactly correct. We got the best price from this company and quick communication. Check out comments on Frommers or Fodors about them and you will see what I mean.
Have a great trip, we are looking forward to ours!

We just returned from Ireland where we used Irish Car Rentals to rent a car. No problems. We have used Dan Dooley twice before and we had no problems with them either. We went with Irish Car this time because we wanted an automatic and Dooley did not have any for us. Have fun. We had a great trip.

We rented from Irish Car Rentals in May. I an EMPHATICALLY recommend to not use them.

When we got to Dublin airport, they had absolutely no cars. This was not a particularly busy day, and to my knowledge there were no big events in town.

We were placed 16th on an hours long waiting list, with no guarantee that we would get any car, let alone a car that the four of us could fit in.

We went around the airport,and checked on cars and 2 different agencies, when we told them our rental wasn't honored, the desk clerks said, "Oh, rented with Irish Car Rentals, did you?" They didn't even have to ask us who we rented through.

They were both low on cars as well, but had some. We wound up paying twice as much, which will hopefully be covered by our trip insurance.

The vehicle was also twice the size of what we wanted on those small Irish roads, and was a manual. (We had reserved automatic - my sister has bad knees).

To top is all off, we prepaid, it will be 5 weeks tomorrow, and we still have not seen our refund.

Others may have different experiences, but this is ours.

I will never rent from Irish Car Rentals again.

Avis was great.