Car rental prices

fun loving criminal

What is going on with rental prices here?

I rented a car here a few months ago and it was €350 for two weeks rental.

A rental for a weekend in June will cost me 817 from Dublin airport. This for a Friday to Monday rental.

Comparing prices in other cities for the same weekend

Cork: 752

Paris: 185

Barcelona: 93

Rome: 167

What is going on here to have such crazy prices here?

bazz26

Already discussed recently:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058245554/price-to-rent-a-car-for-a-day

afatbollix

Its simple,

The car hire companies sold the cars when the pandemic hit as demand slumped. Car hire companies used to get huge discounts for buying in bulk. The car manufacturers at the moment have 6-month+ waiting lists so are not doing offers. Even if you put in an order for a new car at the moment you could be waiting 6 months to a year for that car.

So they don't have many cars at the moment they have jacked up the price as people will get desperate and pay anything! It sucks....

Atlantic Dawn

VW are in the process of buying Europcar, that should make things interesting as they will be able to directly supply vehicles and potentially sell them on and maintain them via the existing VW Group dealer network.

Pawwed Rig

I had a Ukranian refugee ask me something similar. She wanted to rent a car for her family to go to West Clare and asked me where the best place was as she keeps getting stupid high quotes. It was embarrassonto tell her that this is the price and she just needs to suck it up*.

* she obviously can't afford to do her trip because of it

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099817#Comment_119099817

This wouldn't be an Irish thing, would it? I mean, the pandemic affected other countries as well. Prices seem to be expensive in the UK as well but still not as bad as here.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099853#Comment_119099853

Interesting. Isn't gocar part of europcar as well? What will happen to gocar if VW takes over?

bazz26

Remember Ireland and UK are RHD, most of the Continent is LHD. Maybe rental companies on the Continent held onto their stock during the pandemic rather than sell them also or are reploying their stock from other locations depending on demand?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099853#Comment_119099853

Ford owned Hertz from 1987 to 2006 and didn't really alter how they operated much; GM also owned a substantial stake in Avis for some of that time period.

afatbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099885#Comment_119099885

UK & USA is also crazy money at the moment.

I'm flying into Belfast in the summer as it's cheaper for car hire for my two weeks instead of Knock/Dublin. Not sure what to do at Christmas, I looked about a month ago and it was e750 for the week now it's about e1500.

fun loving criminal

Does anyone know what's up with enterprise car rental? They don't seem to have any cars available to rent at all? I thought it might be a Dublin problem but I checked cork as well and there's no cars to pick from. I thought maybe it might be a problem for a weekend rental but it's the same for a mid-week rental.

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119101398#Comment_119101398

See post number 3 in this thread..... The rental companies got rid of most of their stock and can't replenish it now. There is a severe lack of rental cars as a result, even mid-week.

macvin

If there's just two of you, rent a small van. Far cheaper and plenty available.

4 days for €230 including insurance from gorentals in Naas.

I've done that in the UK before and its a no brainer unless you just don't like the van. Usually its a VW Caddy or similar.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119101693#Comment_119101693

But to have no cars at all? Like no cars today, next week, next month, July.

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119101739#Comment_119101739

Enterprise is very popular so, yes, it is possible. It is not just an issue here either. I was in the US recently and needed a car on short notice for a day. The only one I could find was a "Premium" SUV that I had to pay through the nose for to get. It was also the last car that any of the rental companies in the city had left that day, so I was very lucky.

You could try something different like UFO Drive as a rental choice (they have EVs only). They seem to have reasonable availability for those months. Or resort to something like GoCar instead. Depending on how many of you there are, you could also try a small van as suggested above.

The same is happening with hotel rooms at the moment. There are price increases across the board with many places being booked out for months in advance. The demand out there is very high at the moment and supply is limited so this is what we are all facing into now for the next while.

Wildly Boaring

Knew it was expensive but only now realised how bad.

Car from Drogheda for 2 days in June - €330.

And forget about heading to the airport - €750

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119101890#Comment_119101890

I remember getting a weekend rental for €50. But 800+ is far too much.

wonski

Enterprise is a funny one.

I tried to rent from them last month and they had just one van available at the time.

The garage I did repairs in has booked a car for me with them with no hassle and at excellent rate (for them, I wasn't paying).

The rental took 8 days instead of 3 and they had no problem with me keeping the car for 5 more days.

Seems like they are fully booked on their insurance and garages contracts so their stock is not available elsewhere.

8 days rental was €258 including vat invoiced.

Crazy difference between that price and what you get charged as a private customer.

That was for hybrid Toyota Corolla auto.