Car rental in ireland has got worse

Clare · Newbie

Car rental in ireland has got worse

Michele Erdvig · Host

Welcome to the forum and back from Ireland. Unfortunately, this has been going on for a long, long time. There is an extensive and very long post here on the forum all about car rental companies and their practices. The Car Rental Council in Ireland represents the car companies. It is not a consumer advocate association. The tourism authorities are well aware of such rules and practices and do not deign to change anything. Politicians represent their constituents and since tourists to Ireland are not voters their voice is not heard. In the past I have contacted them all. I am sure my correspondence went right into the bin. I was never acknowledged in any way.

Each car company has different rules. Some do "holds" while others put an actual charge on your credit card. I was caught out by Budget several years ago, had to pay for the charge, and was then reimbursed just as you were. I have not used Budget since. I now use companies that only put the "hold" on my card. Many other people have had even worse experiences than you or I did.

My conclusion is that we as consumers need to do our homework in advance, document everything, choose the car company that best suits our needs and book with them.

It is very uncomfortable being "caught out" by a car company. Hopefully, others will learn from our experiences.

tony2phones · Guru

The "Hold" has been increased since Budget became part of Avisbudget group and should have been updated on the US web site (assuming that you basing in $ is where you were looking) as it has been for some time now on the Irish web site.

As Michele has indicated different companies have different rules regarding the amount of "Hold" and also the Administration fee charged for changing insurance from their own policy to the Credit Card policy in line with Irish laws. The other problem is that Brokers/Consolidators do not under Irish restrictions have to give any more than basic Dayrate information hence even more complaints about the final price.

It is unfortunate, not only Ireland but the rest of Europe has been hammered by insurance hykes since the financial collapse of 2007.

I would suggest that your grievance as unfortunate as it is lies with the $ side of budget for failing to update its information rather than the Irish franchise.

Hopefully the rest to your stay over here was enjoyable.