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When we landed in Dublin, we were fortunate to have Noel Treanor (was bearded) pick us up and tour us through Dublin. I recommend this if you can talk Noel into it. But when we were going to tour more of Ireland we needed our own car. We picked our car up at Avis in Dublin City Center and eventually dropped it off at the airport. Different pick-up and drop-off locations can be confusing if you’re going through a third-party car-hire service. We tried to use carental.com, which was very accommodating but had trouble with this. They can find you a good deal if you’re picking up and dropping off at the airport, but otherwise they have trouble coordinating this.
Our credit card offered their international Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver benefit, which saved us some money. We almost purchased that from RentalCover.com, $126.56 for $79,100 coverage just to give you an idea. That covered theft and vandalism and was technically called Loss Damage Waiver. RentalCover says if you pick this up at the rental desk, you may be getting this with an “excess limit,” which means you are responsible for some of the damage. We did not go this way, so I can’t be sure. Be sure to get a letter from your credit card company saying they have you covered! We needed that letter at the counter.
We have since picked up an umbrella policy from our homeowners insurance, and that covers the liability insurance part of your rental. That will be good for our Gathering ’21.
We drove all over Ireland, first through New Ross (for the Famine ship), then Waterford, Kilkenny, Cork, Killnarney, Birr (for the castle), and Monaghan. I recommend designating a driver assist. My dear spouse reminded me what to do at every approaching turn or traffic circle, which sounds annoying but I really liked it. “You’re turning right, so look first to your right, then left, then go to the other side of the road.” A quick Hail Mary and we made it. On a Ring of Kerry bus tour we came across what the driver recognized as a rental car that had been totaled. The driver side was crushed and it looked like it had pulled out to make a right turn. This is the too-common way things go bad. Sorry to be a downer.
Our Nissan Juke was great. Good gas mileage, unlimited miles, smooth, and enough room for two people and 10-day’s worth of luggage. $550 for the 10 days. Confirming the credit card purchase at the desk with an iffy connection to my email was tricky. See if you can get onto their wi-fi before you start the transaction, if that’s how your credit card will confirm the transaction.
We had a good experience, but almost did not. Our app worked on our phone with the Tesco SIM card we just purchased, so we dutifully walked out our hotel and stood by an area where our ride could easily pull over. I was a little confused because the fellow who showed up was in a taxi cab. It turns out, that was not necessarily a clue that he was not our man. I think taxis do sign up for Uber and so this can happen. We were loading our bags when our ride showed up and our driver thought to step out and call us by name. Had we gone with the taxi, Uber would have had to charge us a no-show fee and who knows how much our taxi ride would have cost. In the end we went from the Wynn hotel to Avis Car Hire Dublin City Centre, 39 Old Kilmainham, (5 km or 3 miles) for about $17 US, and had a great conversation with our driver.
