recommned car rental company

Milkman

Hi all,
We've to rent a car for a week and a half to be driven round Ireland ( finally goiing on a road trip around the west!).

Can anyone recommend a good rental company in Dublin, and what should we be on the look out for? We've never rented a car before!

Tnx.
M.

seamus

Are you under 25?

Keep an eye out for mandatory excess (some companies have a mandatory excess of €1000 or more for under-25s) - this is the maximum amount you have to pay in the event of any damage. If the damage is less than the excess, you have to pay for all the damage. PITA.

Most companies should give you unlimited mileage, but don't be caught out by petrol allowances. I know of a few companies that give you a car with a full tank, and then charge you for the amount of fuel used when it comes back - i.e. if you give it back with a full tank, you don't get charged.

www.argusrentals.com are pretty good.

Milkman

cheers Seamus.

over 25. Checked out Arugs, Jebus didn't realise it'd be so expensive to rent a car for a week!

tnx
M.

toad

did you try www.budget.ie ? I rented from them on holidays, worked out well even though it was scratched while i had it!

ubu

Try www.thrifty.ie i work there, and the rates are usually pretty good, in the summer the rates are the most expensive because demand is alot higher (good aul tourists!)

Chinafoot

i work for Hertz myself so i guess i have to be loyal and recommend them!

rates generally include unlimited mileage, taxes and service charges and insurances. there is an excess of around €800 but you can buy that off for a few quid extra per day. that way should you write off the car, you dont have to pay a cent.

also, prepaid rates are almost always cheaper than paying when you pick up the car.

Hertz require that you're over 25 and have a credit card in your own name.

and of course we're all lovely people that work there......although im on the UK market, not the Irish market.

stratos

try Opel their giving them away.

ciarsd

@ stratos, not a bad idea if you could arrange one in time. think you could like with the big signage on the sides of them.

@ milkman, i got an IS200 and an E60 520 off enterprise in the past year - although I didnt have to pay for it so not sure on prices.

here's the url:
http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/home.do

just click on ireland then.

Borzoi

Lately I've used ebookers.ie - thay're a multi agent, but the rates have been the best - better than going direct to some of the companies too

Milkman

Folks,

thanks for all the info, looks like hertz is the most reasonable, I'll probably go with them.

mucho gracius to one and all

M.

dahamsta

Thing that pisses me off about rental companies these days is that they never seem to have the cars they promise. Last time I rented I wanted a large saloon for a trip to Dublin and they "upgraded" me to a Zafira. They just couldn't comprehend why that's not an upgrade.

adam

seamus

dahamsta wrote:

Thing that pisses me off about rental companies these days is that they never seem to have the cars they promise. Last time I rented I wanted a large saloon for a trip to Dublin and they "upgraded" me to a Zafira. They just couldn't comprehend why that's not an upgrade.

adam

Heh I know what you mean. Twice I booked a Fiesta, one of the times they gave me a Ka, and the second time they gave me a Micra. Neither of these I would consider "similar" to the fiesta.

Through work recently we also booked a Galaxy for lugging around some equipment. They gave us a Zafira. I've never driven a Galaxy but I wasn't overly impressed with the Zafira for a 1.6l.

dahamsta

I didn't find mine too bad to drive, although I should add that I don't know what engine it had, and it was a couple years ago so it could have been another model. I'm just not an MPV guy. I guess I could have downgraded to an Astra, but even though the last one of those I rented was a pretty good drive, I dislike them even more.

adam /auto fashion victim

GAFF

seamus wrote:

Most companies should give you unlimited mileage, but don't be caught out by petrol allowances. I know of a few companies that give you a car with a full tank, and then charge you for the amount of fuel used when it comes back - i.e. if you give it back with a full tank, you don't get charged.

I got charged before in Cyprus for bringing a car back which was full of petrol. They said I had signed something saying to bring it back empty but I HAD actually asked the guy about bringing it back full before signing and he said it was ok.

I think it was holiday autos

ubu

Holiday Autos are a booking agent and they use several different rental companies, as for not getting the car you booked, it happens sometimes and you would generally give the customer a car in the next grade up instead, in adams case it was a Zafira, it depends on availability, you could be lucky and get a merc instead next time!

redman

I need to rent a car for a week for use around Dublin as I will be in between cars (sold my own and looking for another)

Any current recommendations?

Redman