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Monday 26 January 2015

Good Weekend Car Hire via Economy Car Hire in Dublin

Had to hire a car for a visit to Dublin a couple of weekends ago. As Hiring cars in Dublin had been a bit of a nightmare over the years I was a little concerned when I made the booking in December.

The Irish car hire market has had a very bad press over the years which is most unfortunate as tourism is so important to the country's economy.

I used Economy Car Hire.  I carefully checked the fuel policy terms and conditions of each car hire company they put forward on line. I knew we would not be travelling a great distance so having to pay for a full tank of fuel and bring the car park empty without a refund was out of the question.

Budget Car Hire had the deal that meant that you paid them for a full tank of fuel and returned it full to get your money back.

I took out excess waiver car hire insurance with Questor Insurance Services. Just before departing, I received an email from Economy Car Hire saying "
£7.50 will make sure you are covered - Our improved top-up insurance provides reimbursement cover against any loss or damage to the vehicle not covered by the car rental insurance such as wheels, tyres, glass, under body, roof, keys, locks, mis-fuelling, lock outs and battery failure. Insurance also covers mobile phone charges, curtailment, car-jacking, and road rage incidents.

You can add this additional cover to your car hire booking for just £7.50"  I believe they use Questor for their "top up insurance", but had already purchased separately. I in fact paid a lot less than £7.50 as I used the discount system for Questor Insurance on the jml Insurance websites.
 
Arriving at Dublin Airport Terminal 2 early on a Friday morning, I went to Budget Car Hire's desk who re-directed us to a mini bus from Avis and Budget on the ground floor. 
 
We did not have to wait for any other people as it was in the very quiet time of year after the Christmas rush.
 
We were soon in the car hire terminal located just outside the airport. A very helpful Budget / Avis representative processed the hire and I pointed out that I was declining any excess waiver insurance and a large deposit was held from my credit card, although checking the credit card details they did not put the transaction in as debit and credit, but just retained the right to do this if necessary.
I also double checked the fuel policy and was debited £73.78. I signed the paper work also writing on it declined excess waiver insurance and we checked the car over before setting off.
 
On the Sunday I had great difficulot getting 10 euros worth of fuel in the car. On my credit card statement £73.78 was refunded.
 
The car was checked back in and in no time at all were in the mini bus that dropped us off at Departures at Terminal 2,
 
A very pleasant experience of car hire at Dublin.
 
 
 
 
 



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