Shannon Car Hire

Cost was twice the quoted price

Cons: The final price was double the price quoted on my confirmation. Complete rip-off. I rented cars around the world for over 40 years and never had such an experience. Shame on Avis.

Way too expensive

Pros: The car got good gas milage.

Cons: The headlights did not work and caused us to almost get in an accident while driving. It was very scary driving on the winding roads of Ireland with no headlights! The car was also way too expensive for the type of car I rented. Disappointed. Also when we returned the car, it took 20 minutes for the counter to close out my account. The guy next to us was able to close out 4 other customers in the time it took the guy helping me to close me out. Frustrating.

Cons: Price quoted not same at time of pick up! Very confused reps at counter! I had a quote with CDW insurance yet they said I did not and then tried to almost triple my quote to add coverage!! VERY DISSAPOINTING! While waiting in line a woman told me that she was charged double her quoted rate! Long lines to rent car and I guess that would be why since others were having rate issues as well! Car uncomfortable and under powered!!! Especially, for Irish roads!! Car exterior was dirty. Upon return no agent at counter, had to wait 10-15 mins once he returned computers were down so he could not give us a receipt of charges and to date still have no breakdown receipt of charges.

Shannon Rental

Pros: When the car broke down the Kerry Airport staff were wonderful.

Cons: That when I went to pick up two cars that were supposed to seat 7 people and hold 4 suticases I realized even for 10 people between cars that was impossible. The car had no storage. So I had to take a much larger 9 person van and was charged an extra $500. It was really highway robbery that their ad quoted the space and the actual car was something entirely different. The one of the cars broke down because the clutch went. it was a new car and a few miles from the airport it kept popping at low speeds. It seemed to be okay on the highway and I made it to Killarney. The next day when I went to road test it to make sure with my husband it totally broke down. It took a few hours to wait for car and tow to reach us and entire group delayed for the morning.

Cons: Drop-off was incredibly confusing: the drop off section was closed and directions to the after hours drop off were not well written and could have been more detailed. It ended up taking a half hour to return the vehicle.

Cons: I brushed a stone wall in Ireland to avoid a head on collision and was horrified to learn that the two insurance coverages I thought did not, in fact, cover Ireland. It seems that it would have been a courtesy for the rental agent to mention that, but I must take responsibility for my ignorance. The manager at the airport was rude, unhelpful, and sent me away in an uninsured car because he did not want to deal with the problem at 8:30 pm. I was told to come back in the morning. I drove long distances to get back and forth, wasted a day, and was horrified to learn Hertz has charged me $13,000 to fix cosmetic damage that can be filled and buffed. 20% of the value of a car to repair cosmetic damage?! There will be no opportunity to receive fair estimates, and no proof that the work is ever done. Do your insurance homework before you rent, and above all never use Hertz! I will be living with their nightmare for years to come.

waiting around

Pros: car mechanically was OK

Cons: Had to wait around half an hour to get the car when I had booked in advance, I would have expected them to know I was coming and therefore had a car ready. They didn't even have the one I booked (a Qashqai) so was given a Dacia Duster instead which was smaller than I was expecting. When I got it it was still muddy on the outside, probably because they had rushed to clean it.

Warning - Do not rent from Hertz at Shannon

Pros: The location is very convenient

Cons: This is as close to an extortion racket that I have ever experienced. The staff at the Hertz near Shannon Airport will charge you exorbitant amounts for any tiny scratch. We were assessed over $700 for three very short (the largest was less than 2 cm) thin (a couple of millimeters thick maybe) on the front bumper. These were not dents at all, just superficial scratches on a plastic bumper. In case you are thinking that this was just one person's bad experience be advised that 3 other people dropped off cars here while we were waiting for the "damage" report to be completed. All three of them were also being assessed for scratch damages. I do not know if those assessments were valid or not but they do illustrate a pattern. OK... you have been warned.

Pros: Car was the promised size.

Cons: Extra fees changed despite information from Kayak. No assistance for a damaged tire. The agency tried to insist on purchase of insurance despite me providing proofs of insurance.

Hertz wouldn't rent to me

Pros: After extensive research on renting a car in Ireland for people under 25... Hertz seemed like the best option.. No where on their site did it say they couldn't rent to you if you were under 25.. Nor that was going to be a problem when we arrived. Even reserved the car online, but still didn't ask my age, or say anything about them requiring you to be 25. I've renting many cars, some in Iceland, Thiland, Nepal, Laos, always been fine.. Usually just charged an extra amount per day because you are 25. After tons of trouble at the London airport, we land in Shannon, Ireland... And Hertz wouldn't rent us car because we were under 25. In fact, none of the 7 car rental places would rent to us.. So, I would say it would be nice to know that a head of time. It's very frustrated planning a whole trip around renting a car, because Hertz said it wouldn't be a problem... Only to find out we have to take a bus across Ireland, and not anything we wanted to.

Cons: .

Initial Customer service excellent.

Pros: The guy I met initially at desk who dealt with me, he very nice, so helpful, gave me a good deal, very pleasant to deal with, it was more straightforward than I thought it woud be. he also went with me to car to get me started. Brilliant. At time of breakdown those I dealt with professional and helpful, AA guy, Customer service breakdown at Europcar, guy towing car, garage holding replacement car.

Cons: A New car I got broke down, issue with clutch, had problems with changing gears, I ended up having to park up on hard shoulder on a very busy motorway near to Nenagh, so dangerous, I could have been killed, , very shaken, got so lucky, I was able to park safely. This car should have been checked to ensure it was ok to be driven. Ended up not being able to restart car, had to call for help, This took a bit of time, affected time I had in Dublin. The new car I then got in Nenagh was grand but the radio was so bad, most of time only got one station, made drive very long. Follow up customer service experience when highlighting my dissatisfaction both on phone and eventually face to face after dropping car back not great but hopefully when it's hightlighted to Manger it will have a more positive outcome.

Problem after problem

Cons: We weren't told about the insurance required until we arrived and didn't get insurance notification from my credit card in advance so our original payment options had to change very quickly. We had a boulder from a tunnel fall onto our car and they were of little help and wanted us to drive an unsafe car. When they replaced the car they didn't fill out paperwork with us or go over the car, and we had problems with the new car. Would not recommend them to anyone.

Insurance gotcha

Pros: Car and service were good.

Cons: Requirement to have a physical letter from credit card company stating that Ireland was not exempt from standard insurance coverage was not disclosed in advance. Having that thrown at me at 7am local/2am Eastern time upon arrival was extremely aggravating. I realize I could have been more diligent in mutt research upfront, but this should have been clearly disclosed at time of reservation. Was left with option of buying supplementary insurance through Eurocar or trying to connect with credit card company and get them to fax letter too rental car desk. Extremely pissed off and exhausted I bit the bullet and bought the insurance through Eurocar, which effectively doubled the cost of the rental. That's a poor way to do business and I will not rent from Eurocar going forward.

Highway Robbery - Entrapment!

Pros: Nice vehicle, staff were very polite

Cons: Initially I was delighted when booking the car when I received an email stating the estimated cost of the rental would be about $150. This was the best deal that I had seen in years so I went ahead and booked my car months ahead of my arrival. Upon landing at the car pick-up office I was informed that fully comprehensive insurance would cost €40 per day. This put the rental on the vehicle at around $600 for the 9 day trip. What was I supposed to do when stuck without internet or phone access at 6:30am on the morning of arrival but only accept. I informed one of the Europe car staff that I have never payed this much for a vehicle in my whole and was promptly informed that insurance prices have gone up recently. I informed the staff member that I visit home/Ireland at least twice a year and that I have never paid so much for a vehicle (I was actually in Ireland just 6 weeks earlier) The main reason of my discontent is that the overall cost was withheld when booking and did not become apparent until I arrived at the vehicle rental office. I never would have used this company at that cost I was changed and this was quite literally a case of rip-off Ireland. The rest of my trip was good but the initial experience with getting hosed with the overall cost of the car was terrible I can imagine what first-time visitor to Ireland would think. The hidden (cost) overall cost was too much and the the manner in which was rolled out would not be acceptable anywhere in the retail industry. Feel free to use my last name also. Thank you! Mark Sheehan

Beware the hidden costs

Pros: Car was comfortable

Cons: Final price came in nearly double what we were originally quoted due to additional services (roadside assistance, personal insurance, etc.) being added by the agent at pickup. We specifically stated that we required no insurance (we have our own) & were not asked or informed about any of the other services/charges that were added. When we inquired about these charges at drop-off we were told it was too late to protest or receive a refund. Absolute rip-off.

Cons: what a rip off,,$99 rental turned into $1,000,, buyer beware budget and payless are bait and switch..don't do it go somewhere else.

just dropped off

Pros: it was one guy working and he refunded our gas and then took us to the airport

Cons: we had to wait for the van guy to come back from the airport since he was the only one working but it wasn't long