Not sure about the tyres - I've never had a tyre problem in Ireland. Not even gotten a sideview mirr

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I know you asked about Shannon, but based on a fradulent experience that we had with Hertz Dublin Airport in March, I will never again rent from Hertz in the US or abroad. I'm sure something like we experienced can happy with any company, but it left us very disgruntled. Thankfully, our credit card company (Capital One) was on top of it. Be sure to take pictures of the car before you drive off and save all documentation from the rental (it came in very handy!!).
We rented from Dan Dooley and had a great experience with them. They were extremely rome italy hotels helpful, and they didn't tack on any charges when we returned the car. I called the New Jersey office and set up the booking through them. If you go with Dooley be sure to mention Pat Preston's website and you'll get 10% off, as well.
ALSO, we put in a price quote on both Dan Dooley websites-- www.dan-dooley.ie and www.dandooley.com--and the Irish website gave us a much lower quote. rome italy hotels When I called the New Jersey office they honored the lower quote, and even took off another $30 before giving us the 10% Pat Preston discount.
My advice is to don't think twice: Buy all the insurance you can get and just forget the outrageous cost. In our 10 days of driving, we ran into at least 5 groups/couples that had been involved in an accident or had a flat tire. Even good drivers can lose a tire on the country roads that are filled with potholes. Our least favorite part of traveling in Ireland was the driving.
It's so interesting how different everyone's perspectives are. We thought rome italy hotels one of the best parts of our trip was the driving! We were able to see so much while driving through the country, and we thought it was really easy to get around.
I have a better idea. Scream bloody murder to their travel representatives and anyone else who cares to listen. Or, just don't go there. Why do we need to be ripped off by Ireland? I thought they were a civilised country.... I had a good experience, but I don't care for they way they play the game ( same goes with Italy).
Sorry, didn't mean to rant at the Irish people , just at whomever the appropriate conspirators involved who made the Irish car rental system such a can of worms , as evidenced by the countless threads, confusion and general emptying of pockets of the fearful tourists....
It took every once of my concentration not to run off the side of the road or rip the mirror off the little Pug 207 we had. And, although I have been driving a manual gearbox for 30 odd years, selecting with my left hand took even more concentration. I didn't damage anything , but the offside front tire had been severely whacked and the wheel cover bent by some previous renter. But, I don't know how else you could possibly see much of Ireland without a car.
Padraig, we in the US are used to very wide, open roads without hedgerows or stone walls right up next to them. Even most of our small, rural roads are at least two lanes, big enough for two large lorries to pass without worries. Our roads are also mostly straight rome italy hotels (thanks to Eisenhower, who did lots of road straightening for military reasons) and multi-lane. It's not uncommon for 8 lane highways through or around major cities.
The other unusual feature, even on the major but older highways ( what would be the equivalent of the US Highway system) is the inconsistency of the width of the road. I was constantly trying to stay to the left, most times would be stradling the yellow lane marker. Many of the major roads I saw were 2.5 lane highways.
I get it about the width of the roads, and the fact that hilly terrain means that we have plenty of bends in our routes, and I understand the unease about being on the "wrong" side, and feeling attacked by hedgerows -- but it's the problems with tyres that mystify me.
Do you think that it might be mostly Yanks complaining about flat tires (or tyres if you prefer) because its mostly Yanks on this site? Having said that I have rented from many companies in my thirteen trips to Ireland and most satisfied with Dooley who I will again be renting from this year. The only horrible experience I have had was with Budget at Shannon a couple of years ago. Staffed by two young men who did not want to be there and could care less. Have fun
rfische1, we generally do not have curbing (what we call kerbing) because there isn't room for it. Main roads have some room, which is used to provide hard shoulders; lesser roads generally have grass verges which are often very uneven -- you should not drive on to them unless you really have to.
I think that because of the way our roads are, most Americans tend to be lazy drivers. We made it easy to get around, but we also made it seem easy to drive with half (or less) of our attention on the task. Most mornings rome italy hotels on the 30 mile drive to work, I can easily rome italy hotels count a dozen or more people who are a) talking on a cell phone b) doing their makeup or hair c) reading or d) eating.
Put us on a small, unknown, winding road, on the "wrong" side of the car with a manual transmission that most don't know how to use, and it's a recipe for blown tyres/tires, banged up mirrors and lord knows what else.
Not sure about the tyres - I've never had a tyre problem in Ireland. Not even gotten a sideview mirror scratched (yet!). However, it may be partly due to being on the wrong side of the car, and thus poorly judging where the left front tire is going. Therefore, hitting things we would normally not hit in our own car.
Hertz Shannon gave us a very bad deal but the Killarney office people were wonderful. Corporate gave us a $100 voucher rome italy hotels when we complained. Now that I think about it, when we checked out at Shannon the nice young man didn't charge us for the petrol either. The one who was so snarky on arrival was ferrying cars around outside by that time.
Oh yeah, forgot to add my vote. I've rented from Dooley twice; once Dublin to Shannon and the other Shannon rome italy hotels to Dublin. While I may have paid a bit more, I also received some great service both times. I'd rent from them again in a second. Every pickup and dropoff was painless and hassle free. Each time, the cars were relatively new and in good shape, and exactly the style of car I reserved.
in response to sessa's experience with Hertz, rome italy hotels we had the same thing happen, we turned rome italy hotels our car in in Shannon and were told that there was a "bubble" on the tire from hitting something, it cost us $260 eruo for 1 tire before we were able to leave the county - never again would we use Hertz!
debbiev - I am sorry to hear you had the same experience with Hertz. It was such a scam. After we complained to the manager inside (I won't go into all the details of why we complained), he said they wouldn't charge us and printed us a new receipt to confirm that. Then, 10 days later a charge from Hertz showed up on our credit card! Capital One removed the charge when we disputed it, but Hertz sent them the receipt with the charge for the tire and then recharged us. Thankfully, we had saved all documentation and had the first receipt with the tire charge BUT we also had the final receipt that reflected the charge had been dropped. Funny how Hertz didn't share that copy with Capital One. It infuriates me still to know how dishonest they were. I will never again rent from Hertz, and I wrote a very detailed letter to Hertz Dublin and Hertz Corporate here in the U.S. stating as such...not that they care.
sessa, we too sent a letter, but to no avail. We fought, but we didn't win. We did learn a valuable lesson and we make sure that we tell our friends and others rome italy hotels about the expeirence that we had with Hertz, maybe if the word get's around it will help others out in the future.
I've been researching this for some time now. Dan Dooley seems to be the only car hire site that states what they quote is what you pay. Based on this board and recommendations of others, I will be hiring from them.
As an FYI, sounds like some of the practices by Irish car hire companies are making their way to the U.S. A television news report investigated new and hidden fees and tricks the car rental companies rome italy hotels are foisting on customers.
Tire, undercarraige and wheels are NOT covered by insurance - whether you use the company's CDW and 'Excess', or your Credit Card. (SOME Rental Companies HAVE begun to offer, 'EXTRA-Excess' that DOES -- for an EXTRA, Extra Fee!
"AN AA ROADWATCH report earlier this week said 85 per cent of road users interviewed had reported hitting a pothole in 2010. For almost 32 per cent of motorists, this experience necessitated a garage repair to the car or a call-out by the AA." -- Irish Times
We encountered more potholes this past April than any other trip we have taken to Ireland in the past. We understand this is due (at least in part) to the terrible wintery conditions this past year. (Similar to our usual upstate NY weather!)
We just returned from 10 in Ireland and 1500 miles touring in our beautiful new V70 Volvo rented from Hertz Dublin downtown. Had a double blow out on a nice stretch of road in the middle of nowhere. Never saw what I hit, but blew both left tires. No other cars forcing me to the side, just driving down the road. Hertz Emergency number did not work. Called Hertz Dublin Airport and was told you're on you're own "call a service center to get the tires replaced." Eventually got Hertz (5 phone calls at least)to help find an authorized service station to come get us. Service rome italy hotels guy was great and got us back on the road within 2 hours of the blow out. I asked to have the charges put through to Hertz so I would have a paper trail instead of just a receipt from some service station. When I got back to Hertz the tire charges were there, but Hertz added another 100 euros for nothing on top of the tire charge. I complained