Hiring a car to drive to Europe

B-D-P--

Is it possible to hire a car, preferably in the west of Ireland to be covered in Europe?

punisher5112

I don't know of any rental that is allowed out of the Republic, even crossing the border some have it as no....


You will need to try a few and see is there any way.

Samuel T. Cogley

Enterprise do it but there is a hefty price to be paid. Back in the day (over 20 years ago) Eurocar allowed me to take a car from the UK to Ireland and back basically telling me the clue was in the name.

TrailerBob

It would be cheaper and easier to fly to an airport and rent from there. Obviously it limits what you can bring with you, but extra charges for leaving the state are huge with those that may allow it.

CiniO

I wonder why is that.
Most rental companies on the Continent allow to drive abroad free of charge or for a small fee. Mostly all EU countries are allowed and that would include Ireland.

bazz26

I'm guessing it maybe something to do with the cost of insurance here for rental companies.

Marcusm

It’s simply not worth the hassle. Car rental companies are generally franchisees in most territories, it’s not easy to recover a car in another country even when you can drive there not to mind when a ferry is needed. I remember back when the Icelandic ash cloud grounded flights around Europe that there was a mass migration of rental cars from Southern Europe up to the channel ports. If anything, I suspect that will have tightened up many policies even though they could eventually be transported back relatively easily. Many GB rental agencies restrict travel to NI.

Del2005

CiniO wrote: »

I wonder why is that.
Most rental companies on the Continent allow to drive abroad free of charge or for a small fee. Mostly all EU countries are allowed and that would include Ireland.

Try bringing a rental into Italy.

Larbre34

Nope. Not done.

Jim2007

B-D-P-- wrote: »

Is it possible to hire a car, preferably in the west of Ireland to be covered in Europe?

Do you understand that there are on generic transport laws in Europe and that as the driver of a rental car you are responsible for ensuring that the car meets the laws in each country you drive through?

Furthermore as an EU citizen you cannot drive a rental car a cross an EU border without exporting the car out of the EU and into the non EU country.

Normally when you rent the car you need to tell the company which countries you will visit and they will ensure the car you get complies with the relevant laws.

For example for a trip through France, Germany and Switzerland, they will ensure the car has the correct emergency equipment required by the French, the correct eco and motorway sticker for Germany and Switzerland and the import duties paid and documents needed to enter Switzerland.

Depending on which countries you decide to visit it can be expensive.

Water2626262

Would you consider just buying an old car? Buy an old Corolla with nct for 1500 or less? Gotta be cheaper than what you are proposing.

Also what the previous commenters said is correct. The likes of hertz here has no connection to whoever runs it in the uk or France. All franchises.

Isambard

yeah buy a banger and walk away from it if it breaks down over there.

CiniO

Jim2007 wrote: »

Do you understand that there are on generic transport laws in Europe and that as the driver of a rental car you are responsible for ensuring that the car meets the laws in each country you drive through?

Furthermore as an EU citizen you cannot drive a rental car a cross an EU border without exporting the car out of the EU and into the non EU country.

Normally when you rent the car you need to tell the company which countries you will visit and they will ensure the car you get complies with the relevant laws.

For example for a trip through France, Germany and Switzerland, they will ensure the car has the correct emergency equipment required by the French, the correct eco and motorway sticker for Germany and Switzerland and the import duties paid and documents needed to enter Switzerland.

Depending on which countries you decide to visit it can be expensive.

Import duties?
That surely doesn't apply to tourists taking a car into a country only temporarily.

Isambard

CiniO wrote: »

Import duties?
That surely doesn't apply to tourists taking a car into a country only temporarily.

probably true in the case of a hire car as there is a special VRT/VAT arrangement for them

elperello

A major issue from the rental companies point of view would be -

Right Hand Drive in ROI and UK.

Left Hand Drive in virtually all the rest of EU.

theguzman

Renting a car in Ireland will cost more than in any other European country, you could fly and rent locally for far less. You'd need to factor in the ferry to France or UK landbridge Ferry & Ferry or Channel Tunnel. Then you would have the obvious drawback and hassle of driving a RHD car from Ireland on the continent. If I was in your situation I'd fly with Ryanair and rent locally or else search donedeal for a LHD car here in Ireland.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars?words=lhd%20left%20hand%20drive&price_to=2000

A2LUE42

elperello wrote: »

A major issue from the rental companies point of view would be -

Right Hand Drive in ROI and UK.

Left Hand Drive in virtually all the rest of EU.

Always great fun overtaking when you are depending on the front seat passenger to tell you if it is ok to go.:eek:

Turbolounge

CiniO wrote: »

Import duties?
That surely doesn't apply to tourists taking a car into a country only temporarily.

Most countries you have 6 months to get it registered if you are not normally resident there. You see cars on middle Eastern and American plates in London.

Samuel T. Cogley

Isambard wrote: »

yeah buy a banger and walk away from it if it breaks down over there.

There was a foreign reg car parked for ages in D4 which had clearly been dumped in the manner you describe. The application to either Europol or Interpol, can't remember which, came across my desk much to the amusement of us in the office that it took that sort of application to sort out an old banger. Maybe it's changed with the introduction of SIS.

Samuel T. Cogley

Turbolounge wrote: »

Most countries you have 6 months to get it registered if you are not normally resident there. You see cars on middle Eastern and American plates in London.

I distinctly remember seeing two Mustangs in Dublin city centre with some sort of middle eastern plates.

The J Stands for Jay

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

I distinctly remember seeing two Mustangs in Dublin city centre with some sort of middle eastern plates.

I used to see a Kuwaiti registered Peugeot 206 round the IFSC about 15 years ago. Always wondered why they'd bothered

elperello

McGaggs wrote: »

I used to see a Kuwaiti registered Peugeot 206 round the IFSC about 15 years ago. Always wondered why they'd bothered

Possibly an employee of a MNC relocating and shipment of the car was part of the re-location package.

Jim2007

Isambard wrote: »

yeah buy a banger and walk away from it if it breaks down over there.

The car will be impounded long before you get to the point of walking away if it fails to meet the traffic laws.

Jim2007

CiniO wrote: »

Import duties?
That surely doesn't apply to tourists taking a car into a country only temporarily.

Only the register owner of the car can drive it a cross the border. Every year we have newspaper reports of people getting caught doing this.

DubDani

In the republic it is difficult, but if you really wanted to do it you could go with Europcar in the North. They allow cars to be taken to certain European countries when purchasing the Europdrive pack:

https://www.europcar.ie/terms-and-conditions/specific-terms-per-country?countrySelector=United%20Kingdom%20TAC

https://www.europcar.co.uk/services/europdrive

Actually have done that myself 3 years ago with a Van and it was quite easy and not hugely expensive.

Spook_ie

Sixt allow EU cross border but not from Ireland you'd need to be in one of the countries that they do allow it from, which funnily enough usually allows them to come to Ireland.


Example Belgium

Territorial restrictions
The vehicle selection can restrict travel to certain countries. For a description of these restrictions on admission, the countries are divided into three zones.

Zone 1: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Vatican

Zone 2: Croatia, Czech Republic*, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland*, Slovakia and Slovenia

Zone 3: All countries which are not in zone 1 or 2.

Jaguar, Land Rover, Maserati, Tesla and Porsche passenger cars and all convertibles are only permitted in zone 1.
Audi, BMW, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen passenger cars are only permitted in zone 1 and in countries marked with * in zone 2.
Passenger cars of all other makes have access to zones 1 and 2.
Access to countries in zone 3 is not permitted for any vehicle whatsoever.

The local transport of the vehicle by ferry is permitted in compliance with the above-mentioned entry restrictions. Damage to the vehicle during the crossing will be covered according to the protection booked in the rental contract.

In case of offence against cross border and territorial restrictions all insurances lose their validity.

Extras