Car rental in Ireland isn’t for everyone… or anyone in fact
It is a fair assumption that the majority of those renting cars in Ireland are tourists. Many arrive into this country on a Boeing 737 having clicked their way into Ryanair’s production line and arrive at the other end with their 15kgs in hand. They have already had their first experience of Ireland before they even know it and if they found the journey here a little less luxurious they are fully aware of what they were getting. They price reflected it.
As many of these budget explorers head to their car rental outlets they assume that their next mode of transport will carry on from their previous. They went online, researched the places to rent from and then proceeded to book their car for their time in Ireland. So it’s a Bank holiday in Ireland, €60 for a car. You can’t beat that.
The car rental companies in Ireland, however, seem to think that the price you pay and the price you were quoted when you book are two different things. It seems that the €60 is more of a ball park for tourists looking to rent a car. As an example, take 2 of the biggest car rental companies in Ireland; Budget car rental and Europcar. It seems that when you collect your car you are told that the insurance you paid for online only covers… well pretty much nothing. If you have a crash you are liable for an excess in the region of a few grand so it makes sense to take out the extra insurance to bring that excess down to around €100. If you’ve booked with Europcar that’ll be an extra €14.09 a day please. There is also an extra Windows and Tyres insurance for €5 a day. How would you like to pay for that? As we don’t accept cash we will accept your credit card so that’ll be €5 extra too. Also, you are collecting the car from us so you’re going to have to pay the €10 “City centre premium” with Europcar and what seems to be €25 for the privilege of collecting the car from the airport. Budget car rental like to treat their customers to a €28 surcharge for both city and airport collections.
So let’s add that all up for our tourist. A car rental for 3 days which was quoted online at 60.78 will actually cost our tourist (AFTER V.A.T.) €151.01 from Europcar and budget are no different. That’s almost 250% of what the budget tourist was quoted.
You’ve been in Ireland 30 minutes and you already want to leave. Oh and before you do leave could you please pay our government €10 departure tax.
Welcome to Ireland, why don’t you tell your friends about us while we’re over here shooting ourselves in the foot.
