GuinnessFan
Unregistered User
(6/17/03 11:13 am)
 
Car rental for 6 people (and luggage) ?

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Will be arriving at Shannon airport and i need to rent a car for 6 people (4 adults and 2 big kids). Was hoping to get recommendations. Have heard a lot about the very narrow roads and am a bit anxious about finding a vehicle that is big enough for our group and still be able to fit on the road too. Will be based out of the Kerry / Kenmare area.

Any ideas? Recommended rental agencies? Expected prices (late july).

thanks....

DebbieK
Registered User
Posts: 27
(6/17/03 10:22 am)

Re: Car rental for 6 people (and luggage) ?

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You are probably going to have to get a mini-Bus or people-mover.

A friend of mine was there in April with 6 adults, and had originally rented a minivan - when they went to get in, they could fit the people inside, but not the luggage. They had to switch to a minibus. Be aware though - most of the mini-bus's are manual transmission.

( they went through Dan Dooley , as did I )
Good luck.

Ande
Unregistered User
(6/17/03 1:36 pm)

Rental cars

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I rented from Hertz last week. If you rent from them, really go over your car well. They gave me a car with two bald tires. It was scarey that they would send someone off with a car with such a safety hazard. You can't afford to have safety issues on the roads of Ireland.

Have a good trip!

Ande

Dude
Unregistered User
(6/17/03 1:37 pm)
 
Bus rental

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We had booked through CIE tours a Class N which seats 8 with 9 bags. Hertz didn't have anything when we got to Shannon so we were stuffed into a Land Rover. Five large adults and enough luggage for 5 women for 12 days take a lot of room. On the third day we finally got a Ford Tourneo. Seats 8, plenty of room in back for luggage. I absolutely loved driving it. It's like a bus, you sit right up at the front and up higher than the usual traffic. And it had an automatic transmission. It used diesel (cheaper than gas and good mileage) and was a bit noisy and hadn't much pickup, so I had to be choosy about darting out into traffic. And it was wider than your average Ireland car, but because of that (I guess) people tended to give me more room. "Paddy, look out! There's another van full of crazy American tourist women!"
The Tourneo would give each of your party a window for sightseeing, and you would have room in between for the shopping bags!
I loved it!

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 1569
(6/17/03 10:01 pm)
 
Car Rentals

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Hi GuinnessFan,

You have received some excellent advice from everyone here. A note about inspecting a car before accepting it: look it over, never accept a car with bald tires (most insurance does not cover tire dammage), check the trunk (boot) to be sure there is a spare, jack & tire changing equipment, if the car does not meet your requirements speak to the manager and tell them exactly what you want.

Go to the bottom of this page and click on "Car Rentals" for a list of companies. Shop around and take your best rate. You do know about declining CDW and putting it on a Gold or Platinum MasterCard? The last few times I have rented from Budget and Hertz, with good experiences at both.

Michele

Dude
Unregistered User
(6/17/03 10:11 pm)

Hertz

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I have to be fair here and say that after my polite but firm letter telling Hertz of my experiences they sent me a voucher for $100 to be used on my next Hertz rental. And they did apologize, and promised to pass my comments on to both Shannon and Killarney offices.

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 1571
(6/18/03 4:01 pm)

Hertz Voucher

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Hi Dude,

Glad to hear you got a voucher by complaining. The squeeky wheel always gets oiled!

Michele