Searching for the best car rental deal for a reasonable price is not always easy. How to find the cheapest vehicle? Where to look for it? When is the best time to book? Do not worry! In our article, we have collected the top 7 tips to get the best prices on car rentals in Dublin.
Book as early as possible
Foremost, book in advance to find the best prices for cars for hire while booking in advance. It is better to start planning your journey in Dublin a month before so you can decide upon vehicle hire duration. When you are sure what pick-up and drop-off dates approximately are, start searching for your option as soon as possible.
By looking for your perfect car, you usually avoid high demands and, as a result, high prices. Moreover, if you are lucky enough, you will find discounts provided by rental companies for pre-bookings! We advise you to check the logistics situation every day before your journey starts. If you discover that you will not need a rental car soon, you will cancel a reservation and save money.
Use aggregators
This tip is an amazing time-saver for any trip. Aggregators help you to find and compare rental cars from a wide range of options provided by trusted companies. The more options you have to choose from, the higher the chance of catching a cheap deal. Moreover, some aggregators have multiple services, which makes trip preparation faster and easier.
If you plan to book a Dublin airport hire car, then you can choose one of the following aggregators:
- Kayak;
- Rental24h;
- Expedia;
- Turo;
- 14CARS;
- Momondo
Do not choose popular brands only
While searching for a car hiring service that suits us, we usually pay attention to famous brands, such as Enterprise, SIXT, etc. Of course, we already know that their cars are of high quality, yet the price is not pleasant sometimes.
So, when you look through the search results for vehicle hire options, do not rule out companies you see for the first time. Try to find out more about them, read some reviews, and get into details about these companies’ politics, etc. Who knows, maybe you will find a true hidden gem for your journey.
Return car with a full tank of petrol
If you are not in a hurry and eagerly wish to pay less for your car rental, then choose a full-to-full policy. It will help you to avoid additional surcharges from the companies for refuelling a vehicle once you bring it to the drop-off location.
Try not to choose upgrades
When your booking comes to the registration stage, you will necessarily encounter upgrades offered by rental services. They usually provide extras that increase the price and are not always a must-have during every trip to Dublin. They are as follows:
- GPS
If you think that Google Maps will help you better, or if you know the roads in Dublin, then avoid GPS.
- Satellite radio.
Before adding it to your Dublin car hiring reservation, think about gadgets that can replace the radio. If you need music or some noise while driving, you can use a mobile phone instead.
- Toll pass.
Most of the time, you might not even use it. Always have some cash with you instead.
However, do not consider child toddler and booster seats as unnecessary extra. This one is something you should not skimp on because it concerns safety.
Look for Economy cars
The Economy category of rental vehicles comes to mind first when we speak of cheap and reliable cars. They suit almost every journey because they are easy to operate and stylish. Additionally, they save petrol!
Below you will see some facts about the Economy category:
- Such cars usually have four seats and can fit up to 2 suitcases.
- Economy cars are the smallest vehicles among the other ones.
- The models include Mitsubishi Mirage, Hyundai Accent, Chevrolet Spark, and similar.
- Economy cars are larger than mini but smaller than compact.
We highly recommend renting Economy if your journey in Dublin will take a couple of days and will not require too many suitcases.
Hire a vehicle with only one driver registered
Whenever we travel with family or friends where more than one person can drive a car, we might consider adding an extra driver to our car rental. Yet, it is not a cheap service, so while booking, ask yourself the following questions:
- How often will we drive a car in Dublin?
- Where will we travel in Dublin?
- Will one driver handle our journey?
Think thoroughly and decide whether you even need an additional driver. Renting with only one person to operate a car means avoiding surcharges and thus paying less for hire.
