In 2017 when I went home to Ireland I rented an Audi A8 for a month and it cost 100 a day so 3k. This is the cost to rent an Audi A4 – a considerably cheaper car than an A8 – for the same period now. Almost 13k. The cheapest car for this period was more than 8k and it’s a compact car.

34 comments
  1. Car rental prices have gone through the roof everywhere. The global microchip shortage and supply constraints from the pandemic have had huge knock-on effects on the entire car industry, just look at the price of 2nd hand cars.

  2. If I book via the US site on enterprise.com to rent in Ireland it’s 5800. So by not using the .ie and picking enterprise instead of hertz you save almost 7 grand, but it’s still double what it was 5 years back.

    **EDIT** The Audi A8 is 19k up from 3k in 2017. So that’s a proper comparison. Crazy.

  3. Was hoping to rent when I got home snd the prices had increased by 400% after I had first checked a few months ago. So annoyed I didn’t book when I first went on

  4. The rental companies sold off all their stock during pandemic and now just don’t have the stick to meet demand

  5. booked a flight home for the summer as well,

    try the p2p rental sites, I got a tesla model 3 for 100 per day. (link https://www.jointhefleet.com/listings/1857)

    just dont look at airbnb prices, I got literally robbed paying 300 a night for a basic place in Galway for 4 people in an apartment i rented a room in for 300 a month 10 years ago

  6. You could try gocar I think they do it by the day,but as others said you’d prob be better buying a banger and selling it on

    Actually I just priced it there for a weekend with 5000km it was 1170euros

  7. that is insane

    obviously they don’t have that car but if you give them that amount of money

    they run down to the audi dealership and buy one

  8. Do you really need a car though? Public transport prices have been slashed, you might be better off with no car at all.

  9. Car rental companies sold off their fleets when used car prices spiked and now are jacking up rates for the small fleets that remain.

  10. It’s just a sign of the shameless greed that’s insinuating itself into every aspect of the Irish economy. I was asked €5k by a builder recently to repair a bit of cement, he mentioned two taxes if I wanted it “on the books”. I said I understand about VAT, but what’s this other tax? Income tax, he says, and I told him I’d already paid my income tax. He wanted me to pay his also. So he was told to fuck off. I hope the good times last(they won’t) because people won’t, and shouldn’t, forget being fleeced by these money grabbing chancers.

    Oh, and the car rental: it’s pretty standard in Ireland these days that they shaft you for some imaginary damages after you hand it back. At those rates, doesn’t bear thinking about.

    You should really name and shame the franchise, judging by the yellow … 🤔

  11. Prices are up across Europe. Last year we were going to rent an Alpha Romeo SUV in Sardinia for 12 days, and the price was 1200. For the same price now, you can only get their smallest city car. Ireland’s rental car prices are probably on the more extreme end of the scale.

  12. I’d have said this is just an Irish thing but from talking to some people in the UK it seems to be happening there as well.

    The big companies see the demand and aren’t ashamed to try and see how much they can screw people over for.

  13. This is price gauging at its worst. Between these and the hotel costs it’s as if they want tourists to stop coming here

  14. Rip-off Ireland alive and well.
    Between the scarcity of hotel rooms and the exorbitant amounts being charged for them and this insanity, why would anyone decide to spend their holidays in Ireland right now?

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