If you are renting a car in Ireland apart from paying for the car rental in advance on line, you will more than likely have to pay the car rental company a lot of money as “a deposit” if you have purchased your car hire excess insurance separately and not from the car hire company.

When you rent a car the renter is normally liable for the “excess”. The excess is a set amount that the hirer must pay towards the cost of any insurance claim. It can be set very high, ranging from around €600 to €1,700. This is normally not covered in the price of car rental, so the renter will have to purchase “car hire excess insurance” in case there is a claim and it solves this problem.

As car hire companies have traditionally charged a lot of money a day, around €15.08 in Ireland for example, independent insurance companies have been selling the same product for a lot less. There are currently over twenty five companies offering such products and many can be found at web sites like insurance4carrental.com.

When you buy one of these daily policies from the independent company for use in Ireland, it will cost approximately €3.53 per day whereas an Irish car rental company will charge the renter around €15.08 per day. There are independents who charge more and others who charge less and it is advisable to see exactly what is covered for your money. Are the windows, tyres, wheels, underbody covered? Are car key losses covered? It always pays to read the terms and conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are an American planning a trip to Europe, you probably wonder how you are going to get from place to place. You are probably aware that the most common means of travel for Europeans is by train. But, if this option does not appeal to you or does not fit into your plan to find places “off the beaten path,” then you will want to consider renting a car.

Car hire in Europe is widely available, although typically more expensive and more complicated than it is in the U.S. It is not impossible, however, so you simply need to do a little research before actually renting the car. In fact, you will find the most success if you use a website to broker your car rental needs. These sites offer the best rates for the days you are visiting and will be able to help you with multiple cars in different countries if that is needed.

As an American driving in Europe, there are a few things you need to remember. The first is that the majority of cars available in Europe are manual transmissions. If you are not comfortable with driving a manual, be sure to make that clear when you are scheduling your rental. You will also want to be prepared to drive on the left side of the road and drive a car with a left hand gear-shift in the U.K. Many people say that this is not as hard as it sounds, so just take a little time when you get the car to get adjusted before jumping out into traffic. Read the rest of this entry »