Car hire in Ireland with a brand new license

RATM

Right Ive just passed my test a few weeks back ( Woo-hoo ! ) and I want to hire a car in June for three days. But every hire company I've rang seems to have a 2-year rule, i.e. they won't rent you a car till you've had the license 2 years.
Does anyone know of a firm that does not have this rule ( possibly a smaller regional outfit ? )

The irony of the whole thing is I don't own a car and nor will I for the next two years so it really doesn't make a sod of a difference as I won't be driving over the next 2 years in any case:(

Alun

I think you'll probably be out of luck. In addition to the 2 year rule, many companies won't rent to anyone under a certain age say 21 or 25.

BlackWizard

I was able to rent for my driving licence test

I'll get the name of the company this evening. It's wrote down somewhere at home.

cormac_byrne

AVIS only require you to have a licence for 1 year, their min age requirement is 23. (I rented a car from them when I had my licence for barely a year and all the other companies wanted 2 years)

Enterprise's website says they will rent to a 21 year old,
no mention of minimum period for holding driving licence.

http://enterprise.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/139/related/1


If that's no good maybe checkout car rental in Northern Ireland.
(maybe the rules in the UK are less restrictive than here)

robtri

cormac_byrne wrote: »

AVIS only require you to have a licence for 1 year, their min age requirement is 23. (I rented a car from them when I had my licence for barely a year and all the other companies wanted 2 years)

Enterprise's website says they will rent to a 21 year old,
no mention of minimum period for holding driving licence.

http://enterprise.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/139/related/1


If that's no good maybe checkout car rental in Northern Ireland.
(maybe the rules in the UK are less restrictive than here)

Enterprise should rent to you, they rent to anyone over 21 will provide insurance everything you need, but because you licence is less than 2 years old, if they still do it they have an additional risk charge of €10 a day, you can rent cars up to 1.4.....

but if you lucky you might get a newbie and be able to get something a bit bigger..

RATM

Thanks for the replies lads. Black Wizard I'd appreciate it if you could find out the name of that company. I'll defo check out Enterprise too, I don't mind paying a €10 per day premium, I just want to rent one so I can take a spin down the country and do some hiking in a remote area. I drive a motorbike normally but this is too long a journey for a 125cc

I'm alright on the age thing, I'm 31, its just all the big players ( Hertz, Avis, etc ) seem to have this 2 year rule.

I'm guessing its there so peeps have at least 2 years of fully licensed driving experience ( including motorways ) so they are supposedly safer when hiring. In my case I wont be owning a car between now and 2011 so my driving experience in 2011 will be exactly the same as it is now....i.e. a passed test and that's it !

ps isn't Boards fantastic they way you can get good info like this, what did we ever do before the interwebs ?! thanks again lads=)

TomMc

I never could understand how they could enforce a one or two year rule. Unless it is up to the person renting to meet these criteria or else any insurance claim etc would be invalid. Minimum age, yes fair enough DOB in on a license and passport.

If you passed your test at 17 and say get a 3 year licence rather than a 10 year one at the time. Then next time you renew it for say 10 years. It is a brand new licence (date wise) but they do not from what I can see put any detail on it to say if it is your first, second or tenth license. So what is to say if a 20 - 21 year old with a new licence isn't on his/her 2nd one.
Is there anything extra endorsed on your first licence to say so, if anyone has one to hand?

Carawaystick

In the category section it states when you first got licensed

TomMc

I last renewed mine in 1999, so it just has category B & W and XXX everywhere else, no dates or nothing. Have they changed this since? Thanks.

May be they just endorse dates on the 1st one.

josey_whale

Did you ever have any joy with this? just curious

nozzferrahhtoo

I too would be curious if someone has found a result on this.

I have just acquired a Full German License in Bavaria where I live now.

I plan to be in Ireland at the end of May and was hoping to rent a car for 4 days.

I am currently looking at Enterprise to find out about them, but every other company I can find has a 1 or 2 year minimum in their terms and conditions.

nozzferrahhtoo

Just for the info of anyone who read my last post and wonders what happened...

Enterprise Ireland do not rent to people who have only just acquired their license.

Enterprise UK however do and I have made a booking with them. They then do allow you to take the car into the Republic if you wish. They charge a one off fixed fee for this which does not vary based on how long you are renting the car, nor how long it will be out of the UK.

munchkin_utd

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

Just for the info of anyone who read my last post and wonders what happened...

Enterprise Ireland do not rent to people who have only just acquired their license.

Enterprise UK however do and I have made a booking with them. They then do allow you to take the car into the Republic if you wish. They charge a one off fixed fee for this which does not vary based on how long you are renting the car, nor how long it will be out of the UK.

Are you sure enterprise IRL dont?
I hired a car from them over easter and neither my licence nor the Mrs' was a year old. Also got a car twice off them over the past year no problem.
Both licences fresh german ones so no bother with non Irish licences.
They must have changed their conditions very recently then so!!

BTW, I found no other operator in Ireland aside from Enterprise that allow you to drive on a <1 year old licence. Sixt in germany allow it but not sixt in Ireland unfortunately.

nozzferrahhtoo

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Are you sure enterprise IRL dont?
I hired a car from them over easter and neither my licence nor the Mrs' was a year old. Also got a car twice off them over the past year no problem.
Both licences fresh german ones so no bother with non Irish licences.
They must have changed their conditions very recently then so!!

BTW, I found no other operator in Ireland aside from Enterprise that allow you to drive on a <1 year old licence. Sixt in germany allow it but not sixt in Ireland unfortunately.

Well I am only sure in that is what they themselves told me.

However your story does not surprise me. There are many firms which will “forget” to look at your license and give you the car anyway.

Had you crashed the car, you would have found them pretty quickly saying “Sorry, you are not covered… why exactly did you sign this contract right here claiming to have a license more than X months old???”

Officially their line is they do not rent to new license holders. Clearly they look the other way at your risk not theirs.

munchkin_utd

Before my first rental last year, I specifically asked them on the phone was it ok for a driver with a new licence and they said no problems. And same when picking up the car, as I'd prefer to get the bus than to have invalid insurance.

That was april last year. I cant remember if I asked again whether a <1 year licence was still ok or not, but theres definitely no mention of it on the website that their policy in Ireland has changed.

Maybe the person on the phone was mistaken? (or if it was the german callcentre as they may have thought that its the same conditions for ireland as in germany, because in germany enterprise want you to have the licence for a year)
Ring an irish office directly rather than the call centre general number and see what they say.
I would trust the people in the office more than a call centre person who is more interested with getting through the call then the answers they give.

Heres the number for the cork office with who i was dealing with 021-4975133 .
You'll never talk to a more friendly and helpful bunch!

keithclancy

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Are you sure enterprise IRL dont?
I hired a car from them over easter and neither my licence nor the Mrs' was a year old. Also got a car twice off them over the past year no problem.
Both licences fresh german ones so no bother with non Irish licences.
They must have changed their conditions very recently then so!!

BTW, I found no other operator in Ireland aside from Enterprise that allow you to drive on a <1 year old licence. Sixt in germany allow it but not sixt in Ireland unfortunately.

I had the same situation in reverse, rented a car from Sixt in Germany without an issue.

I was searching for ages and never found a company (except Clancy Car Rentals in Cork) that would rent a car to me.

AFAIK the minumum is 2 years with all, some are even 4 years.

Clancy car rentals has nothing to do with me either !! I didnt rent with them in the end but they did say you just needed a license, no requirement on how long it had to have been valid for.

L1011

Merlin I think it was rented to me on a provisional a few years ago - with one major kicker... I had to transfer my own insurance to the car for the rental period! If you're looking to rent without having a car already you're realistically out of luck.

WilliamEgan

Have you tried possibly getting someone else to rent but listing you as a named driver. Same problem might remain but worth a try?

notnem

If you have your own fully comp insurance, it doesn't matter how long you have your license because you'll be insuring the car yourself. If you don't have a car, this isn't going to work for you, but for others with a similar problem this is the best way forward.

robo008

is there anywhere in dublin that will rent a car to a 20 year old im really stuck here!

notnem

As far as I know all car rental companies will rent to you as long as you insure the car on your own policy. You need a fully comprehensive policy in your own name.