Dublin Airport car rental

monosharp

Probably not the best place to post this. Mods please move if appropriate.

Will be arriving in Dublin end of Sept, middle of the week around 11pm (if anyone wants to welcome me home, I'd appreciate you waiting there with a guinness ready for me and maybe a packet of cheese and onion)

Will the car rental lads be still open ?
Should i Book in advance ?

And heres probably a really daft question. Do they have automatics ? Its not for me but someone else who only has an automatic driving license because apparently 90% of the cars here are automatic for some reason I can't contemplate because they sound like lawnmowers pulling off.

Another question but of less importance. My mate who is coming and renting the car, they haven't driven on our side of the road before and haven't drove actually for nearly a year so not very comfortable with the idea of starting off in a new car somewhere busy.

Will the roads be busy at 11pm at the airport ? If they waited a couple of hours would it be quieter ?

Thanks a million in advance

Davidth88

Let me answer what I can

Will the car rental lads be still open ?

They are usually open till midnight, so if you are delayed ( common at that time because your aircraft will have done about 8 sectors that day ) , then you will be stuffed. You can phone them and tell them your flight details they will stay open for you , AT A COST !

Do they have automatics , of course ... make sure you request one on booking .

The roads will be quite busy adjacent to the airport, however most of the car rentals have now moved to the long term , which is away from the airport a bit.

If your friend hasn't driven in a while , and is nervous about driving , what I would do is book a hotel close by and only make that short drive that night in the dark. Then drive the next morning .

Good luck , I hope your friend enjoys their trip !

monosharp

Davidth88 wrote: »

They are usually open till midnight, so if you are delayed ( common at that time because your aircraft will have done about 8 sectors that day ) , then you will be stuffed. You can phone them and tell them your flight details they will stay open for you , AT A COST

Thanks. I'm going to assume its not or I might decide to call them

Do they have automatics , of course ... make sure you request one on booking .

I'm really a thick culchie, I honestly have never seen an automatic in Ireland before.

edit -> Oh man why are the automatics nearly twice the price of the manuals ?

Would we get away with renting a manual with an automatic only driving license ?

Thanks X 2

The roads will be quite busy adjacent to the airport, however most of the car rentals have now moved to the long term , which is away from the airport a bit.

I never lived in Dublin, will the roads be relatively quiet after midnight during a weeknight ?

Ponster

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186591-c2757/Ireland:Renting.A.Car.In.Ireland.html

Insurance - The License awarded for a person doing the test in an automatic only authorises them to drive this class of gearbox whereas a person passing their test driving a manual gearbox vehicle can drive either/or. This means that anybody insuring an automatic car has to pay a subsidy.

The roads out of the airport will be fine at that time of the night. Also they'll *probably* be driving onto either the M1 or M50 which I imagine is better than finding yourself not only driving for the first time in a year but down a bóithrín.

olaola

Use a broker like www.travelsupermarket.com or www.easycar.com to look for the best prices. I've never rented a car in Ireland before, so I don't know how much of a discount you're going to get!

monosharp

Ponster wrote: »

The roads out of the airport will be fine at that time of the night. Also they'll *probably* be driving onto either the M1 or M50 which I imagine is better than finding yourself not only driving for the first time in a year but down a bóithrín.

Thanks man.

btw completely off-topic but I've been out of the country a year, got no full driving license myself, my old provisional is probably out of date.

Are the waiting lists for the test still a mile long ? Ne chance I could apply and get one within a month ?

Ponster

monosharp wrote: »

Are the waiting lists for the test still a mile long ? Ne chance I could apply and get one within a month ?

Not in a Gazillion years. We have a "learning to drive" forum somewhere though if you want a real answer.