New electric car rental service launching in Ireland

Petetheroadie

Just noticed that www.ufodrive.com is launching in Dublin soon. They rent Model S, Kona electric etc, and not at completely silly prices by the looks of it.

I signed up, and they do €30 discount off the first rental with a referral code. I'm not affiliated with them in any way, just happy to see electric rental options starting to appear!

Pete

biko

Referral code removed. Should anyone want it, please PM OP

Petetheroadie

Perfect, thanks Biko, and apologies, I should have asked about the policy for posting referral codes

Miscreant

I'm glad someone is offering this here. The Kona and Leaf are booked out well into June this year so they are obviously popular options. I've signed up anyway and will keep it in mind . Might ping you for that referral code Petetheroadie.

Petetheroadie

Miscreant wrote: »

I'm glad someone is offering this here. The Kona and Leaf are booked out well into June this year so they are obviously popular options. I've signed up anyway and will keep it in mind . Might ping you for that referral code Petetheroadie.

No worries. It's great to see!

_dof_

Tesla Model S booked for a day for 69 euro incl OP's 30 euro discount, ty.
Should be some craic

unkel

Miscreant wrote: »

I'm glad someone is offering this here.

Indeed. Had a family holiday last year which involved driving several thousand km in the USA and I would have loved a Tesla Model S as a rental, but it was almost impossible to get and the one or two places that I did find were charging exorbitant money.

antodeco

Thanks! Registered myself. Shall book the Tesla S for a sunny weekend!

n97 mini

Collect and return to the multi-storey at St Stephen's Green SC. That's pretty off-putting IMHO.

unkel

You would want to be very careful with a Model S in some of Dublin's multi-stories. I had an E38 BMW 7-series - slightly longer but nowhere near as wide as the Tesla - and those car parks were challenging.

n97 mini

unkel wrote: »

You would want to be very careful with a Model S in some of Dublin's multi-stories. I had an E38 BMW 7-series - slightly longer but nowhere near as wide as the Tesla - and those car parks were challenging.

That's what I'm getting at. Then you've to drive out into potential mayhem. God forbod you've to park in Tallaght hospital multi-storey. The scars on the walls tell their own tales.

Teddy Daniels

_dof_ wrote: »

Tesla Model S booked for a day for 69 euro incl OP's 30 euro discount, ty.
Should be some craic

thats a model 3

Miscreant

Teddy Daniels wrote: »

_dof_ wrote: »

Tesla Model S booked for a day for 69 euro incl OP's 30 euro discount, ty.
Should be some craic

thats a model 3

Nope.... Model 3 is not available here. Model S is €99 and he had a €30 discount.

_dof_

Miscreant wrote: »

Nope.... Model 3 is not available here. Model S is €99 and he had a €30 discount.

Exactly, it's a model S and on some rare days they have it for 99 euro, and I'm getting it one of those days.

_dof_

n97 mini wrote: »

That's what I'm getting at. Then you've to drive out into potential mayhem. God forbod you've to park in Tallaght hospital multi-storey. The scars on the walls tell their own tales.

Yeah, I'm a bit concerned about that alright, I'll have to be veeery careful in the car park and the narrow streets around there.

The insurance had 1000 excess too, but they've recommended an insurance excess company to cover that, which is only 12 pounds sterling.... but they have a notice on their website that they're not taking non-UK customers after April 12th unless Brexit is sorted out. So if I can't get excess cover, then I'll cancel the rental I think.

Fr Tod Umptious

Miscreant wrote: »

I'm glad someone is offering this here. The Kona and Leaf are booked out well into June this year so they are obviously popular options. I've signed up anyway and will keep it in mind . Might ping you for that referral code Petetheroadie.

What value is having an EV as rental to someone visiting Ireland ?

The lack of changing points, the time to charge and the (likely) inability to charge overnight would make it far less attractive than an regular ICE.

Phibsboro

I think Pete might be offline at the mo, could someone who got it PM me the referral? - Thanks

Petetheroadie

Phibsboro wrote: »

I think Pete might be offline at the mo, could someone who got it PM me the referral? - Thanks

Just PMd you it there

Miscreant

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Miscreant wrote: »

I'm glad someone is offering this here. The Kona and Leaf are booked out well into June this year so they are obviously popular options. I've signed up anyway and will keep it in mind . Might ping you for that referral code Petetheroadie.

What value is having an EV as rental to someone visiting Ireland ?

The lack of changing points, the time to charge and the (likely) inability to charge overnight would make it far less attractive than an regular ICE.

Lack of charging points? Most main routes are reasonably served and a granny cable will get you by in a pinch. Besides, I'm not thinking about this as a tourist but I would imagine that anyone availing of this service will do their homework on it as I would if I were thinking of renting an EV on a foreign holiday.
This is not a thread about charge points or lack of infrastructure in any case, as that subject has been done to death on this forum already. I am purely interested in this service as a way to sample some vehicles I would be interested in purchasing without actually paying 40k or more to own one or have a limited test drive from a dealership with the associated "sales" speak that happens afterwards.

unkel

Miscreant wrote: »

I am purely interested in this service as a way to sample some vehicles I would be interested in purchasing without actually paying 40k or more to own one or have a limited test drive from a dealership with the associated "sales" speak that happens afterwards.

If you want to sample a BMW i3, you can sign up to gocar, you get a big discount for your first use. You'd get a good go of one for a tenner iirc.

Slaanesh

No autopilot on these cars, citing insurance restrictions as the reason.

Zenith74

n97 mini wrote: »

Collect and return to the multi-storey at St Stephen's Green SC. That's pretty off-putting IMHO.

I parked there this week and noticed a bank of 8-10 Tesla destination chargers being installed, makes sense now.

This is the tightest carpark I've been in in Dublin though, would not fancy my first drive in the big Model S getting out of there :eek:. Though the chargers are on the bottom floor so not too far to go.

Stealthirl

Would be nice if they offered the Excess Waiver themselves as i bet it wont be cheep is you do any damage.

Petetheroadie

Looks like they've sorted out the issues they were having with the referral system. They've changed it now so it's phone number based. I.e you just need to enter the phone number of the person who's referring you and you each get a €30 discount.

PM me if you want to use my phone number to get that discount

Slaanesh

I have a rental coming up in June for the weekend, really looking forward to spending some time with the Model S.

Be wary that they have changed their terms and conditions. It's now 300km for the first day then 150km for each subsequent day. I'm driving to Killarney so when they laid this on me I was a little surprised.

However, they honored the original terms and conditions and I have 1050km for the weekend (3 days).

Also they have an excess waiver option in the application:

jusmeig

Slaanesh wrote: »

I have a rental coming up in June for the weekend, really looking forward to spending some time with the Model S.

Be wary that they have changed their terms and conditions. It's now 300km for the first day then 150km for each subsequent day. I'm driving to Killarney so when they laid this on me I was a little surprised.

However, they honored the original terms and conditions and I have 1050km for the weekend (3 days).

Also they have an excess waiver option in the application:

Nice trip, enjoy :cool:
There are a serious lack of FCP in Kerry FYI! I think there is just still one in the whole of Kerry.

Miscreant

Slaanesh wrote: »

I have a rental coming up in June for the weekend, really looking forward to spending some time with the Model S.

Be wary that they have changed their terms and conditions. It's now 300km for the first day then 150km for each subsequent day. I'm driving to Killarney so when they laid this on me I was a little surprised.

However, they honored the original terms and conditions and I have 1050km for the weekend (3 days).

The reduction in the daily mileage allowance is disappointing as I thought 350km per day was quite enough for this country. I wonder what has triggered that....

I rented their Kona for a weekend earlier this month and had the full 1050km allowance as per the contract. I only used 600km of it as I went to Galway, pottered around and came back again. I can imagine that heading to Killarney for a weekend would use more than 600kms so you would then be on to paying per Km after that.

A couple of things to watch out for though (as I found out):
1. The car park is tight even for the Kona, I had to 3 point turn once to get up a ramp and the Model S is wider and longer so just something to be aware of.
2. There is no key for the car, you lock and unlock it using your smartphone. Make sure you have Bluetooth AND Location Services turned on, otherwise the car won't open. I spent 30 minutes cursing at the car one of the mornings until I switched on Location Services and everything worked.
3. Their built in Help chat on the app is fantastic, someone will answer almost immediately so don't be afraid to use it.
4. If there is a toll tag in the car, they will bill any tolls to your account (I'm still waiting for them to do this for mine but they told me on the chat app that this is the way they operate).

Enjoy the car in any case, I found electric driving to be quite addictive but I am going to wait for prices to come down (a lot) before I take the plunge

Slaanesh

Miscreant wrote: »

The reduction in the daily mileage allowance is disappointing as I thought 350km per day was quite enough for this country. I wonder what has triggered that....

I rented their Kona for a weekend earlier this month and had the full 1050km allowance as per the contract. I only used 600km of it as I went to Galway, pottered around and came back again. I can imagine that heading to Killarney for a weekend would use more than 600kms so you would then be on to paying per Km after that.

A couple of things to watch out for though (as I found out):
1. The car park is tight even for the Kona, I had to 3 point turn once to get up a ramp and the Model S is wider and longer so just something to be aware of.
2. There is no key for the car, you lock and unlock it using your smartphone. Make sure you have Bluetooth AND Location Services turned on, otherwise the car won't open. I spent 30 minutes cursing at the car one of the mornings until I switched on Location Services and everything worked.
3. Their built in Help chat on the app is fantastic, someone will answer almost immediately so don't be afraid to use it.
4. If there is a toll tag in the car, they will bill any tolls to your account (I'm still waiting for them to do this for mine but they told me on the chat app that this is the way they operate).

Enjoy the car in any case, I found electric driving to be quite addictive but I am going to wait for prices to come down (a lot) before I take the plunge

Great pieces of advice, thanks very much. I had been using the chat function quite a lot because I had a lots of questions that weren't quite covered in their FAQ. I have the trip planned out, stop in ballacolla on the way and there is an SCP in the target hotel which I hope is in order and not in use!

mike_2009

Took out the Model S for a day last weekend - 530km down to Clare and charged in Birdhill each way. The hardest part was leaving the car back...!! Did have to figure out where the exit was out of the car park, you have to drive around to the right up and ramp and back down again to exit. It was ....interesting....in a wide Model S and not for the faint of heart!
Lovely drive though and played with autopilot on the road, lane change wasn't working though. Good response to all my questions including trip history for privacy - they clear this for you between rentals. Tolls are automatic using the tag, they bill you when the invoice comes in. They have two cards in the center console for using at non supercharger chargers (ecars etc). Supercharging was so easy but had difficulty disengaging the charging cable the second time around. They had piano music setup to play when you first open the door to sooth your way out onto the road! Great acceleration of course, all within legal limits of course!
If you rent one car this year....make it a model S!!

Slaanesh

mike_2009 wrote: »

Took out the Model S for a day last weekend - 530km down to Clare and charged in Birdhill each way. The hardest part was leaving the car back...!! Did have to figure out where the exit was out of the car park, you have to drive around to the right up and ramp and back down again to exit. It was ....interesting....in a wide Model S and not for the faint of heart!
Lovely drive though and played with autopilot on the road, lane change wasn't working though. Good response to all my questions including trip history for privacy - they clear this for you between rentals. Tolls are automatic using the tag, they bill you when the invoice comes in. They have two cards in the center console for using at non supercharger chargers (ecars etc). Supercharging was so easy but had difficulty disengaging the charging cable the second time around. They had piano music setup to play when you first open the door to sooth your way out onto the road! Great acceleration of course, all within legal limits of course!
If you rent one car this year....make it a model S!!

Wow, they told me there would be no autopilot due to insurance. how much of the journey was on autopilot?

mike_2009

whenever I could on the motorways....overtaking was manual but it kept to it's lane fine and followed the desired distance behind any car it come up to in front - there's 7 set distances you can adjust to on the autopilot stalk. It does nag you to jiggle the steering wheel every few minutes.....worked great, felt like a driving instructor hovering my hands on the steering wheel for while ready to take over from the "student" autopilot if it transgressed...!! It did drive in the middle of the outside lane where I prefer to keep more to the right as a preference.