Cheapest way to rent a car in Ireland

BogMonkey

It'll be a while before I can afford a car, so I'm wondering if I can rent a car every now and again in the meantime. What I have in mind is renting a car for a couple of days or so whenever I need to go on a trip, I found this site:
http://www.budget.ie/
and they advertise that they have cars for as cheap as €9 per day but I rang them up and they said that that price is for 7 day rentals (which is weird considering they ask you how many days you want it for on the form), and then they said it also costs €75 per day for the insurance, so rather than €9 per day, its €84 per day and you have to book it for a whole week. They mentioned something about optional insurance but I didn't bother to question about that, what were they talking about?

What would be the cheapest way to rent a car for a day or two? The only time I rented a vehicle before was a motorbike in Jamaica, and they let you take it for however long you wanted (3 days in my case) and it was only something like €10 per day, thats the kinda thing I'm looking for, a cheap way to rent a vehicle for a couple of days, even a moped would be grand but I hear you need a different license for that over here.

Dord

BogMonkey wrote: »

It'll be a while before I can afford a car, so I'm wondering if I can rent a car every now and again in the meantime. What I have in mind is renting a car for a couple of days or so whenever I need to go on a trip, I found this site:
http://www.budget.ie/
and they advertise that they have cars for as cheap as €9 per day but I rang them up and they said that that price is for 7 day rentals (which is weird considering they ask you how many days you want it for on the form), and then they said it also costs €75 per day for the insurance, so rather than €9 per day, its €84 per day and you have to book it for a whole week. They mentioned something about optional insurance but I didn't bother to question about that, what were they talking about?

What would be the cheapest way to rent a car for a day or two? The only time I rented a vehicle before was a motorbike in Jamaica, and they let you take it for however long you wanted (3 days in my case) and it was only something like €10 per day, thats the kinda thing I'm looking for, a cheap way to rent a vehicle for a couple of days, even a moped would be grand but I hear you need a different license for that over here.

If you're in or around Dublin check out gocar.ie. it sounds like it'd be great for you.

corktina

gocar operate in cork too....

cgarrad

Sky scanner do cars now. Nearly always the cheapest.

coylemj

Just don't go too low in terms of price because if you do you'll probably end up dealing with the guys who tell you when you bring the car back that the windscreen has been scratched and they'll stiff you for the cost of a new one even though it's obvious that the scratch was there when you hired the car but was so insignificant that either you didn't notice it or didn't see fit to draw their attention to it.

BogMonkey

Thanks, that gocar service looks brilliant.

Del2005

BogMonkey wrote: »

Thanks, that gocar service looks brilliant.

Only going by a friends experience with a London based car club. They are great value for when you are only using it for a few hours or a day, but if you want to take it for a few days you could rent cheaper elsewhere.

If your going to be renting a lot get a separate car hire excess insurance it's cheaper than the hire companies. Here's the 1st one I found on Google, there should be others.

Merch

As this thread is open, seems no point in opening another about the same thing.

I'm looking to rent a larger car than I have for a few days, so a focus-mondeo size estate/hatch, plan to take a trip withing Ireland but need room to pack up baby stuff that would otherwise be a crush, preferably an estate, and automatic would be handy as the wife can only drive an auto, so save me doing all the driving.
any pointers on who would be good for that? Any smaller rental places?
It wouldnt have to be a brand new condition car like any I have seen from the larger companies, just fit the bill above.

ironclaw

Its always a bad idea to go low end on car rentals unless you really have to. I always go with Hertz personally and you can literally bring back a ball of steel (Strangely with the clause "as long as you have the keys"), and you won't pay a cent provided you took out all the extra cover. Hire companies take the mick when it comes to recovering costs if you don't suitably insure yourself.

ABajaninCork

There's GoCar in Cork too.

EDIT: Oops - Corktina beat me to it! :P

Merch

Im reconsidering renting at all, seeing the prices, not sure why anyone would if they had an alternative
Id probably rent something out every now and again if I didnt have a car and needed a specific kind of transport.
It makes the cost of running a car appear to pale in comparison

Anyone got the name of somewhere cheap that does larger family car sized rentals at all?

fasttalkerchat

Enterprise in Belfast will pricematch any quote thats even close to what they will do. They do a special rate for regular customers too. I assume all branches do it.

belcampprisoner

you need to book online and in advance,theres also a fee from the airport always bring car back full of fuel,no matter what they tell you,get them to mark all the dings,as theres a lot now in the cars,try not hire automatic it uses a lot of fuel,some gold cards let you skip the insurance,insurance nearly doubles the price of the car,renting weekly is usully cheaper,you pay extra daily for extra driver

you should be able to use your own insurance if you have a car,they charge you 8 euro for the toll,so pay it at a shop

pockets3d

Buy a 95 1.3 Corolla, drive it for the required time, sell with slightly less petrol again
Free rental car!

jackcruso

hello! Bog Monkey...
the optional insurance is actually the rental car insurance policy, i think you need to take a serious look at it because these days the insurance companies do not cover the rental cars. so it will be wiser decision to go for a extra insurance policy for rental cars.

chicorytip

Enterprise rent - a - car offer by far the best value rates. They also accept payments made by debit card. I have no relationship with this company other than of being a regular previous customer.

keithclancy

Just use a broker like Auto Europe or Carhire3000

I've rarely seen a cheaper price directly on the website of the rental company.

The one exception may be Hertz if i get my ANWB (AA Discount) on the rental price.

*Kol*

Argus car-hire is quite good. They provide separate insurance rather than the rental companies insurance so it works out cheaper. I have used them a few times with no problems. Normally you will pick up the car from Hertz, Avis etc

18MonthsaSlave

kayak.com seemed cheapest when I checked and it used the same cartrawler backen as arguscarhire even though cartrawler owns the arguscarhire brand.
I use my own annual rentalcarinsurance so as to get all the best options of hire company. When you need excess coverage in the portals the number of possible hire companies reduces considerably.