Car Hire UK then Ferry to Ireland

[bobe]

Anyone had any experience in hiring a car in the uK then taking car on ferry to Ireland?? Your thoughts please

 

[Yipchoi]

Hi

The big majors, you will need to inform them at least 2 - 3 days prior as they have to arrange a VE103B form (this is a legal doc that will show you have permission from the vehicle owner to take the vehicle outside of mainland UK. In addition you would need to purchase a 'Overseas' travel pack (used to be called RAC Travel Pack), which is a nutshell is a separate breakdown cover policy that will help in the event of roadside assistance outside of UK, repatriation for passengers in the event of irreparable vehicle, repatriation / tow costs back to Mainland UK in the event vehicle can not be repaired. The fees for these extras can be quite expensive on top of your rental fee.
Hope this is of some help

 

[Duffa]

The ferry charges/paperwork are a major hassle IMHO and I'd suggest two separate hires. You can pretty much fly from anywhere in England to either Dublin or Belfast. Example --- I just hired a car in England for £6 a day, then another in Dublin for about £4 per day - Ryanair got us to DUB from MAN for £20 each inc 20kg checked bag. Total £104 for the 14 days hire including the price of the "transfer" flights

 

[tgh]

I hired in the UK , ferried to Ireland and returned to the UK.
It suited our itinerary and although the insurance was not insignificant , the convenience was worth every cent.
I used Europcar.

 

[bobe]

Did you hire from Aust online or from UK? Also was it straight forward ? And what were the extras that you usually have to do when the hire is straight forward sorry about the questions , hope you can help.

 

[tgh]

Booked it from Oz , interrogated all the websites and studied the fine print. (which can be well hidden…. )
I choose to minimise chance and have as many ducks lined up as possible…
Europcar was the most straightforward AND if one joined their program they were warranting the class of vehicle.
We scored a new Skoda Superb Diesel wagon and it was perfect for the job.
We enjoyed the drive down through Wales to the ferry ,found the ferry trip itself quite pleasant, and drove off into the Irish Countryside.
Another tick for Europcar in this instance was that I picked up at Gatwick and returned to a location in Portsmouth just by the hotel and over the street from the cruise terminal..

addendum.. As I recall there was a simple enough process to select the country and pay the additional fee..

 

[bobe]

Many thanks for your detailed experience, this is just what I have been wanting, by pure coincidence I got a reply from Avis this morning ( enquirered) about 6 weeks ago , they said no problem , 90 pounds a week for the extra in insurance, I have previously done my booking through the intergrated sites and always get Europcar, once again many thanks.