Car Rental in Ireland

I just booked a 9 passeger van at Avis. They seemed to be by far the cheapest in my looking. $321 or Euro 321? either way, sounds to cheap or an automatic with insurance. I would have expected almost twice that for 3 weeks.

Try Dan Dooley.

Unfortunately Dan doesn't rent or doesn't have an automatic for the time we are going to be there. We really wanted to rent from them. Thank you for the suggestion.
Andy

Try going online and see if you can get that in writing or just go with Avis, prepay and you will have your confirmation in writing. If there is a problem, contact your credit card company. I am not surprised at the variation in prices. If you rent cars a lot it can be like that. Makes no sense, but go with the cheapest. Just make sure it says automatic. I have rented there before...can't remember from who, but had no problems.

Andy, Try calling them. They have a US number you can call: 800 331 9301. I think this rings through to an office they have in NJ.

I used Sixt car rental when I was there and didnt have any problems. I even hit a curb and bent one of the really tuff plastic hubcaps on the car. I bent it back and no questions were asked.

Be sure to get a written confirmation and read it carefully. I thought I'd reserved an automatic with Avis at a good rate. When the written confirmation came via email, I just printed it out and tucked it away only to discover a few weeks later when going through my file that what they confirmed was a manual transmission (it was in small print). I called and argued my case but they now wanted to charge me a much higher rate to change it to automatic. I ended up booking with Hertz instead. I've discovered that the earlier you book the better the rates. Also be sure to add in those extras. Ireland requires insurance and the car rental companies charge a fortune for it; they also can require a certain amount. I got a better deal by getting travel insurance that included coverage for rental cars.

Have you tried Auto Europe?

You know it is a curious thing, these Car Rental agencies. I talked with Auto Europe and after a very long and detailed conversation, the helpful agent found a car from Avis costing $1,336 for 17 days which includes everything (extra driver, CDW, Super CDW, the airport fee). I had a very long and detailed conversation with Avis yesterday and they quoted me a price of $421.00 for the same thing ($312 if prepaid). Auto Europe stated that Avis required a deposit of $258.70. Avis said nothing about a deposit. I do find this dance with car rental agencies interesting and a bit maddening. I'm not new to renting cars, but I just don't know who to trust. I'm really not looking for someone to solve this for me, I am just saying that the whole business of renting a car (in Ireland, at least) seems strange and it leaves me confused as who to trust. Thank you for all the help with this.
Andy

I book with whoever gives me the best deal as soon as I know my travel dates. Then I continue to check out the various companies as the dates approach to see if any better deals have come along. If you book with a company that doesn't charge for changes or cancellations, you can switch at any time. In four trips to Ireland I have made that switch twice.

"....seems strange and it leaves me confused as who to trust." That describes Ireland pretty well too!

Michael 1...Oh boy, I better get with the program, eh? Thanks for the reply. It does help.
Andy

Try http://www.carrentals.co.uk/ I always go there first. Roger