Car hire in US

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collieb

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Can anyone tell me if your ordinary irish/EU licence is accepted for driving in US or if you need an international licence?
 
Your ordinary license will be accepted in the US to drive. We were there a few months ago and rented a car out using the Irish Driving License....

Beware though, NOBODY would accept it as a proof of age in any of the watering holes around the East Coast! They wanted passport or US driving license only - and myself and the hubby are a few years past 21 :D
 
Thanks for that, will bring the pasport around just in case!

I was searchng a few sites for car hire and found the best rate with autoeurope.com, 237 euro for a bog standard saloon for 8 days in north carolina.
 
We hired our car from Hertz...it had a fantastic GPS Navigation system, you just could not go wrong with the system, it was FANTASTIC!! We didn't get lost once. It was 15 dollars a day extra, but was worth it. It worked out to be about 300 dollars(including navigation system) for 7 days.
 
Cyrstal said:
Your ordinary license will be accepted in the US to drive. We were there a few months ago and rented a car out using the Irish Driving License....

Beware though, NOBODY would accept it as a proof of age in any of the watering holes around the East Coast! They wanted passport or US driving license only - and myself and the hubby are a few years past 21 :D
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By contrast my battered Irish driving licence was readily accpeted by the inns and bars of California, Nevada and Arizona. Also note in the US ID is needed if you are using a Credit card to buy anything.
 
in order to get myself listed as a named driver on a hire car in the US I was required to produce a credit card, even though i wasnt paying for the car on my credit card, my husband was. When I queried this with the desk clerk, he said that it showed a level of responsibility in an individual....
 
beware of insurance - some rental companies will require u to buy comprehensive insurance which will make car hire expensive. I find dollar.com to be reasonable and they allow you to purchase the cheaper 3rd party insurance.
 
Third party insurance...may be fine, however neither you (the driver ) nor the car are covered.
 
bsloe said:
beware of insurance - some rental companies will require u to buy comprehensive insurance which will make car hire expensive. I find dollar.com to be reasonable and they allow you to purchase the cheaper 3rd party insurance.
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Ebookers.ie will give you a fully inclusive price here which includes all legally required insurances for the US.
 
RainyDay said:
Ebookers.ie will give you a fully inclusive price here which includes all legally required insurances for the US.
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Yes but often times this is not full comp. You will end up paying extra for LDW/CDW. Ebookers are quite misleading in this regard.
 
bond-007 said:
Yes but often times this is not full comp. You will end up paying extra for LDW/CDW. Ebookers are quite misleading in this regard.
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Not my experience - see their [broken link removed]
What does 'fully inclusive' car hire mean?

Fully inclusive includes:

Unlimited Mileage
Third Party Insurance
Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)
Theft Waiver (TW) Airport surcharges
Bail Bonds (where required)
Local taxes
An excess may apply in certain cases on CDW and TW
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The rental agency may well try and 'upsell' additional insurance to you, but your basic ebookers price includes CDW & TW. When I go on to make a booking, it also mentions that LDW is covered.
 
Have used www.nova.co.uk - now owned by Fexco in Killorglin, the last fours times to the USA - they use Alamo, they quote an all-inclusive price i.e. all insurances are included in the rate they quote you, and had no problems with them at all. I have alsways compared them for the exact same rental with Alamo directly and they have always been cheaper. You pay Nova 10% and the rest to Alamo.

I have no connections with Nova should people want to know !!!!
 
North America car rental Gohop.ie worth looking at... cheapest, all inclusive and you call them if you have any questions.
 
Could someone outline the meaning/benefits/disadvantges of collision damage waiver and theft waiver? I'm going to Chicago in September and thinking of hiring a car to go to Cleveland.
 
You need to get an international driving license.
You do this in the AA shop on suffolk street.
Just bring in your irish one and they'll give you an international one.
Costs about €4
 
No international licence required for the USA and most english speaking countries. They will accept a full EU licence. They are only useful where the local language is not english.
 
CCOVICH said:
Could someone outline the meaning/benefits/disadvantges of collision damage waiver and theft waiver? I'm going to Chicago in September and thinking of hiring a car to go to Cleveland.
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CDW = Collision Damage Waiver = Limited insurance in the event of collision for the car and driver. There is usually an excess of min 400.00euro and the agency are within their rights to block this on your (and any other named driver who sign a contract) credit card. It is important to be aware of this for larger models that can have excesses over 1000.00euro

TP= Theft protection = the above principle also applies so in effect if an agency wished to (at their discretion) could in fact block both these excesses on your card..I have come accross people who have not been able to pay their hotel bill because they were unaware of this!
In some countries it is now possible to purchase Super CDW/TP which in effect wipes out any responsability on your part and is not too excessive depending on the model of the car. I worked for a car hire company hence the knowledge!
 
Thanks Gauloise. Having worked in the industry, who would you recommend for short-term car hire in the US, with a different collection and drop-off points?
 
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