If you are planning to visit Dublin, Ireland, You would naturally be faced with two options as regards mobility. These options are hiring a car or sticking to public transportation means. The first idea would generally seem more appealing because of the luxury, ease, and comfort it affords you while moving around. You can easily stock your car with enough supplies or decide to stop by at any appealing sight you spot on the way. Our understanding of the car hire world in Dublin is definitely replete in this article, and you would learn some massively helpful tips on hiring your own car in Dublin.
Here are 9 solid tips you should be armed with
Practice driving on the other side of the road
For visitors whose home country roads are not as structured as Dublin roads. You are advised to practice driving on the other side of the road to avoid confusion while driving. You can make use of any terrain around your rental location to practice driving on the other side to get accustomed to it. The drivers training will be of tremendous help. You might find it strange and more uneasy than you thought without prior familiarization with the new road orientation.
Book beforehand
It has been discovered that booking online helps beat down the cost a bit in Europe. Surfing different Webpages of agencies will give you an idea which one has better services to offer at the most cost-effective price. Booking earlier eliminates the need for urgency which might make you settle eventually for an unsuitable car hire plan. If you are probably new to Dublin, you definitely do not know where agencies are physically located. To save you unnecessary stress, the best bet is to stick to the online means with a trusted driving test car hire Dublin services.
In booking online, you might want to be put into certain cognizance factors such as;
- Age- 21-24
- The kind of car prefers whether stick shift or automatic. The manual is usually always way cheaper than automatic hires.
Hold your EU state-issued license
You could use your driving license issued by EU/EEA member state if it happens to be your home country. The driving license, however, needs to be valid. Translations will also be required from any other language to English. Basically, you need a valid driving license and your motor insurance certificate.
Select a medium sized car
The size of the car and space inside the car are significant factors to consider. You might end up not being very comfortable in a very small car. You might need to put quite some things in your car, and a small car really might not afford that. Small cars are also poor at accommodating so many people.
As much as a very small vehicle is not advisable, so is a big car too. Irish cities require parallel parking, and they are also much narrower than other roads you might find in different cities of the world. Moving on the road and parking might not be as much of a sleek, straightforward experience with bigger vehicles. It is smart to strike a balance in between the two so your best bet would be to get a medium sized vehicle.
Ensure you have car rental insurance
Most car hire outlets for marketing purposes do not usually display the cost of insurance and collision damage waiver. They usually add quite a sum to your regular car hire fees. If you are from America and you happen to have your credit card, there is a possibility that it already does cover the collision damage waiver insurance in some other European states, but in Ireland, this is not possible.
Different credit cards now cover it although it must first have a reasonable credit limit. Finding the right card might be an issue MasterCard might generally be your best option in an instance like this. You should consult your credit card company to get the exact details about credit card/CDW status.
Plan your itinerary beforehand
Having a close to precise idea of what your journey would be like could be of great advantage in Dublin. You could cancel off the days you were not active with the cars and not be charged. You could pick up the hired vehicles in airports as they usually are cheaper there in Dublin as all car stocks are usually at the airports.
Airfare might also seem more costly, but at times when you place the cost side by side with car hire, it might seem like the most cost-effective option when considering time, distance and comfort over a long distance.
Keep the possibility of extra charges in mind
Unforeseen circumstances usually arise, and you might be required to pay specific fees you never budgeted for. Administration fees are generally a standard fee levied on people by car hire agencies. Other costs you may incur include credit card fee, credit card holds, gas and taxes.
The credit card hold that your car hire agency will place on your credit card might be moving into the range of thousands of dollars if you use your insurance coverage. For gas, it is advisable to bring back the car filled to the brim with gas as you might be charged unnecessarily for gas. Generally, it is advised that you bring along a couple of credit cards, at least two. One card will be for your regular expenses, and the other for servicing your car rentals.
Stick to Google map
GPS might seem like the best bet for finding your way in Dublin, but in reality, you might enjoy more utility with the Google map. Most locations in Dublin use coordinates, not precisely the address of those locations. You can easily get a Google map on your phone. It is mostly always updated. GPS units may sometimes not be updated, and their accuracy largely depends on when last they were updated.
With Google map, you can easily locate hotels, gas stations, grocery stores, and the likes. It pre informs you about traffic, and amazingly, Google map with all these facilities is not a data hog. You could use several apps alongside the Google app. It is greatly flexible.
Book an automatic
You could easily get stuck in traffic, a stick shift in such situations most times make up a lot of stress. It is way more expensive, but you don’t want to be having bitter experiences on your holiday probably. Using your left hand on the left-hand side of the road could be way more complicated than you thought.
