Renting a car in Ireland

Kathleen, You can rent a Peugeot 5008 for about $500. This is the vehicle our family used this past summer. It was more than big enough(wife and girls brought big suit cases). Are Dublin & Galway the only cities you are planning to visit? If so you may want to look and taking the bus. Round trip from Dublin to Galway is about €20.00 per person. Check out www.gobus.ie. When we were in Galway we used Galway Tour Company for tours to Cliffs of Moher & Burren and Connemara & Cong. Galway Tour Company picked us up and dropped us off at our B&B. Check out www.galwaytourcompany.com.

I would always choose to rent a car, unless I was staying strictly in Dublin. You just have so much more flexibility to come and go, and if you see something interesting along the way, you can stop and investigate instead of just passing by, wondering what that was. It's impossible to give you a good estimate for a car for the week, since prices change all the time. I would suggest booking something through Expedia or a particular company, then continuing to watch for deals. You can cancel the original booking if you find something better along the way. Since you want an automatic, I would suggest doing it as soon as you are sure of dates, just to get one held (presumably, though it isn't guaranteed) for you.

Agree with Nancy, but don't need a car in Dublin, spend a few days there at beginning or end of trip and rent a car for a few days to sightsee. Must reserve automatic car unless you are familiar with driving on opposite side of road and shifting, I found that really hard to do.
Also, always get CDW especially in Ireland.

check out Ireland Travel Forum on the web (I think it is irelandyes.com). Great info from Michelle Erdwig (sp?) From that site I decided to rent from Dooley Car Rental, an Irish company and I would highly recommend them. All the charges are told to you beforehand - no surprises at the counter when you pick up the car.

Take Gail's advice on the CDW in Ireland. Strangely, most U.S. credit cards won't cover you there. You should check with your CC company on this issue.

Don't bother checking with your credit card about insurance (personal opinion based on a bad experience). Just get the Super CDW.

Hi Kathleen, we just got back from a week in Ireland. We rented a midsize car and were able to get luggage and backpacks for 4 in it (some backpacks on floor of the car) but it wasn't terribly uncomfortable. We drove from Galway up the coast to Connemara which wasn't part of the original plan but that's the great thing about the car FLEXIBILITY! You can come and go as you please. You won't need it in Dublin though. Definitely need the insurance, some of the country roads are pretty narrow and we thought for sure we would loose a side mirror. (Luckily didn't happen) We got the best rate through AAA here if you're a member. Also the diesel got great gas mileage. Have a great time!!

Definatley get a diesel if you can. 10 cents a litre cheaper and prices keep going up! Have a great trip, Sherri