I need to rent a car in September in Ireland. I have quotes of 1600 euro for 10 days. Is Ireland always this expensive?
It didnāt use to be, but since Covid it has gone absolutlely mental! Hotels & car rental have become virtually unaffordable for the average tourist. 
In the UK, Iāve found relatively good prices from Enterprise by finding neighborhood locations. For example, I have a week booked in mid-Aug for GBP 320 by renting from London Hammersmith. An airport rental would be double.
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We used Turo (peer to peer rental) on a recent sit in the US ā¦ the rate was about 1/2 of the rental company rates. I checked and found Turo active in the UK with rates in August starting around 33 GBP, but there did not appear to be any Turo listings in Irelandā¦ but perhaps there is another similar platform there?
When rental rates get so high, sometimes Uber, taxis, and public transportation start to look reasonable if youāre not out on a lot of trips most days.
Happy travels!
Iāve always found car rental in Ireland to be a little pricy, but itās totally out of control right now. Iām going in a couple of weeks and am lucky enough to be using a family memberās car, but I did notice during my search that itās significantly cheaper in Northern Ireland. If youāre flying into Dublin, hopping on a bus up north to pick up might save you enough to be worth the detour.
We were checking flight and car rentals for a sit in Las Vegas for 5 weeks. Car rental was $2900 
. Needless to say, if a car is not available for use, we are only sitting where we can drive to.
Iām going to be in the UK for 4 months so Iām thinking of buying a cheap car and then taking it over to Northern Ireland from Scotland on the ferry. This is if I can get a housesit in Ireland. They tend to be quite rare by the looks of it. But it appears driving around Ireland is the best way to go? Iām not sure what their bus service is like. Then Iām not sure whether to sell the car or take it with me to Europe where Iāll be headed after Ireland. A few different options, but I can see there are a few cars for 500 pound or under 1000.
Have you tried searching on Kayak or Priceline?
I just checked Priceline for Sept 12-22 and found a Ford Ka for 564 euros.
It depends on your dates, the location, and the size of vehicle, as well as how much insurance you need.
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Another consolidator to check is autoslash.com which pulls in all the best results from Priceline and all/most of the other outlets.
Put in your details and they email the current best options.
Car hire has become very expensive in Ireland recently. Remember the roads are small so you only need a small car. Automatics are not common in Ireland so therefore very expensive to rent. If you can drive a manual stick shift it will be cheaper.
Also depending on where you are dropping off and picking up make a huge difference, as does if you want to take the car cross border (North to South of Ireland and vice versa).
I think it is a case of shopping around for the best deals.
Good luck.
Thank you so much for all the responses and great advice! I really appreciate it!
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If you include Northern Ireland in your search, you will see quite a few sits in Ireland. The problem is that NI is listed under āUnited Kingdomā, so you canāt search for āIrelandā and find them. You need to search using the map.
I think England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland should be their own separate countries, not lumped together.
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I agree! It gets confusing for sure! It would be so much easier to have them separated on the site as I see myself going to the map all the time to zoom in!!!
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Hello @Lassie. Youāre right. To find all of the sits in both Ireland and Northern Ireland you do have to use the map. You can search for the countries within the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) individually by name, or, if youāre interested in looking at more than one of them, by using āUnited Kingdom.ā
If you stay in a city you donāt need a car, but rural Ireland is difficult without one.
Great to hear that youāre heading to Ireland! Itās where I live and in my opinion the most wonderful place in the world.
When and where are you hoping to do a sit?
Iām actually just touring for 2 weeks-mid September. I have Airbnb booked in Spidall, Killgorlin, Kinsale, Blackwater and hotel in Dublin. Then I have a petsit in London. Iāve discovered I like pet sitting better as planning a trip takes too much time! We are renting a car. Are the villages I picked good choices?? Anything we should not miss? We have no time to visit Northern Irelandš. We donāt want to rush things too much.
We spent a few days in Kinsale and loved it. Dublin is Dublin so thatās a definite. Havenāt been to the other places but everything is lovely in Ireland IMO.
Good to know! Thank you
I use the EasyJet car rental site to find the best car rental deals. If you just put the location as Dublin, it should show all locations in the area and the best prices. I have managed to find very cheap deals for London and Italy by doing this. I am originally from the west of Ireland and car hire there is a nightmare since Covid started but gradually getting better. In terms of places to visit, Galway city is very charming, avoid Limerick and when travelling from Kerry to Galway take the coastal road in County Clare to see the Burrin region. If you have an extra night, Doolin is a lively village with great traditional music. I live in London so happy to provide tips when you are there.
Thank you so much!! The main reason for the very high car rental is because we are Americans and MUST have an automatic. Driving on the left is going to be all we can handle. We will definitely check out the places you recommended. Thanks again.
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