Flying to Ireland and hiring a car can prove cheaper than taking your own car

Driving to Ireland looks like it is getting more and more expensive. Not only has the price of fuel increased in Britain recently (despite the 1p cut in last week's budget) to get to the port, but the cost of crossing the Irish Sea.

I have to take my car to Dublin several times a year and had a €12 reduction voucher from Stena Line. I made a booking earlier this week and despite my €12 discount the return trip is going to cost €475 including credit card charges. That is the equivallent to around £411. Stena are starting up their large fast craft service HSS from the 1st April and that is slightly more expensive than the ordinary car ferry, however for the last three years, they go slower to cut down on their fuel costs.

The last time I actually used the HSS was in December 2009 when the premium price for a car and 2 passengers was £237. So in just over a year it has increased by £174!

On top of this £411 there is the cost of fuel - This can be around £150 for the return trip from Greater London to Dublin. This means taking the car can then cost over £560! You can buy a resonable length holiday for that.

For a family planning to visit Ireland for their summer holidays and taking their car that is a lot of money and that is before they pay for their own fuel and accommodation. This is an unfortunate situation and probably a reason why so many British people will cross the English Cannel to France for a fraction of the price they would pay going to Ireland.

If you are thinking of going on a short break, flying and hiring a car could prove better value. Flights to Ireland tend to be most expensive on a Friday, however there are bargain about if you can book in advance.

On the 30th March there was an advertisement from Ryanair in The Independent for flights from £9.99 per person (plus taxes and charges) if you booked by a certain time on the 31st March. Ryanair and Aer Lingus are alway promoting bargain flights, but book early. My wife has to visit Dublin a couple of times this year and found car hire very resonable provided by one the worlds largest car hire companies.

You can save money by declining the car hire company's excess insurance and buying it from an insurance company advertising on the www.insurance4carrental.com site.

Affordable Car Hire teams up with Halo Insurance

News Release from Affordable Car Hire Tuesday March 15th 2011

We are delighted to have joined forces with Halo Insurance to offer comprehensive, low cost car hire excess insurance protection to our customers.

Most hire car drivers now understand that unless they purchase excess insurance they are liable for charges of around £1,000 if the car is damaged or stolen, even if it's not their fault and customers increasingly want to protect themselves against these charges. By teaming up with Halo Insurance, we are able to meet this customer demand whilst at the same time save them money when compared to the traditional way of buying this insurance at the rental desk when vehicles are collected.

Affordable Car Hire have a sophisticated online booking engine which enables customers to search for a range of vehicles from different rental companies in over 6,500 destinations around the world. As part of the relationship with Halo Insurance, our customers will be able to buy the company's new "Supermax" excess insurance policy when they are booking their car, saving both time and money.

The Supermax Policy acts as an excess reimbursement policy to protect customers against their excess liability if a rental vehicle is damaged or stolen. The policy also automatically includes additional cover, such as Vehicle Key Replacement and Lock Out Protection as standard. Supermax even includes cover for vulnerable parts of the vehicle that are often excluded by other excess policies such as tyres, windscreens, roof and undercarriage. Prices for the Supermax excess insurance policy start from just £4.50 a day, a saving of over 50% when compared to the typical prices charged by rental companies themselves.

Angela Day, founder of Affordable Car Hire said "We have a clear commitment to our customers to provide high quality rental vehicles and deliver a premium service at affordable prices at all times. Offering customers the option of buying cost effective excess insurance at the point of booking is a natural extension of that ethos. The Supermax Excess Insurance Policy directly supports that fundamental principle as it's not only more cost effective, but is also more comprehensive than the alternative products that are available at the rental desk. We're delighted to be working with Halo Insurance to offer this innovative product to our customers."

Ernesto Suarez, CEO and founder of Halo Insurance Services said, "Many people find car hire insurance confusing, and often don't realise that even though a rental vehicle is insured, they could still end up with a large excess bill if the vehicle is damaged or stolen, even if it's just for a small chip to the windscreen! We've developed our product with Affordable Car Hire to be easy to understand, and to offer comprehensive protection against the range of excess insurance charges that customers could potentially find themselves exposed to. Affordable Car Hire has a reputation for offering quality products at affordable prices and we feel that our insurance products are an ideal compliment to their existing service."

More Information about Affordable Car Hire: Affordable Car Hire have partnerships with many of the world's best known car rental companies including Alamo, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Toyota Rent a Car, National, Sixt and Thrifty.

More Information about Halo Insurance: They are a specialist provider of hire car excess insurance and are based in the United Kingdom in Uxbridge we offer excess protection for car hire users in the UK, Europe and Worldwide. They also offer great value Collision Damage Waver and Supplemental Liability Insurance for customers planning to hire a car in the USA and Canada.

Their policies are sold through their consumer website iCarhireinsurance.com please visit this site to find out more about our great products or to buy a policy.

Insurance4carrental.com has mini makeover

The car hire excess insurance promotion site insurance4carrental.com has just had a makeover to bring it in line with the online products it advertises for car hire insurance, van hire insurance and motorhome hire excess insurance.

Read all of this news release at: -

Insurance4carrental.com has mini makeover

Economy Car Hire Are Pushing Forward Their Expansion Plans!

Following this years World Travel Market, one of the UKs leading car hire brokers, Economy Car Hire has announced that its focus for 2011 will be continued expansion into new countries.

The dynamic team at Economy Car Hire has concentrated on adding new car hire suppliers to its portfolio in key locations such as Spain, Portugal and Turkey. This ensures that competitive prices and availability can be secured at peak times worldwide. Consolidating existing relationships with car hire suppliers also ensures that the customer is always offered a competitive price.

Car hire including no insurance excess, free additional driver and all taxes and surcharges at all locations is unique in the industry. The headline price is not always the cheapest, although when comparing the product like-for-like, customers will make a substantial saving.
Economy Car Hire is also keen to take advantage of the growing trend of taking a staycation by working with more car hire suppliers in the UK.

93% of customers would use us again or recommend us to friends and family. We want to guarantee that customers can find Economy Car Hire in every location worldwide said Managing Director Rory Sexton. Our unique selling points mean that we can offer consumers something different, combined with our unrivalled levels of customer service we are confident that we can become the biggest car hire broker in the UK!

A family run business, Economy Car Hire has been established for over 10 years. Currently specialising in Spain including Car Hire in Palma, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece and the Greek Islands, Slovenia and Malta, Economy Car Hire relies on personal service to receive repeat orders and positive word of mouth recommendation.

Source: Economy Car Hire

Find out more about renting a car from Economy Car hire at http://www.insurance4carrental.com/Economy_Car_hire.htm

Irish Car Rentals records a €3.4 million operating loss

According to a report in The Irish Times 12th March 2011 "Irish Car Rentals (ICR) is expected to move into profit in 2011 after recording a €3.4 million operating loss for the 19-month period before it exited examinership last year. Accounts just posted to the Companies Office for the Europcar, Alamo and National Car Rental franchise-holder show the result came on turnover of €25.2 million.

The car hire company was placed in examinership in February 2010 and re-emerged in May 2010 after securing investment from the owners of the Thrifty car rental franchise."

On the 30th April 2010 The Irish Times reported "Irish Car Rental's board agrees to quit for investor" - A clear-out of the board of Irish Car Rentals Ltd sought as a condition of investment in the court-protected ICR motor group of companies has been agreed, the High Court heard yesterday.

The executive directors of the company said they were prepared to resign in the interests of the survival of the group, which employs 160 people. They have also agreed to resign as employees of the companies without any compensation for loss of office so as to facilitate the survival."

On the 2nd September 2011 the same newspaper ran a report "Irish Car Rentals posts loss of €13m for 2008" It had posted a loss of just under €13 million for the 53-week period ended November 2nd, 2008.

The 2nd September Irish Times report went on to say "The €12.9 million pre-tax loss revealed in the recently filed accounts compares to a pre-tax loss of just over €4,000 for 2007. It gives an insight into the financial decline of the business in the years preceding the examinership process. Turnover increased in the same year, from €13.2 million in 2007 to €15.5 million in 2008"

The ICR group operates the Europcar, Alamo and National car rental franchises for the Republic. It comprises Irish Car Rentals Ltd, Irish Car Rental (Holdings) Ltd, ICRG Dealerships Ltd, Ennis Road Motors Ltd, Motorzone Ltd, Car Central Ltd and Clareview Auto Repair Centre Ltd.

View these Irish Times reports in full at:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0430/1224269363017.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0902/1224278049922.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0312/1224291979853.html

100 New Jobs Announced at Hertz car hire in Dublin Ireland

Global Leader in Car Rental Expands its Irish Operation to a Next Generation Shared Services Centre in Dublin - 11/02/10 - 100 New Jobs Announced at Hertz in Dublin

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, TD, today (Thursday 11th February 2010), announced that Hertz, a global leader in car rental, is to expand its European Shared Services Centre in Dublin with the creation of up to 100 new jobs.

The increased capacity of the Shared Services Centre will see the transformation of Hertz’s existing Dublin operations to include support elements in the areas of human resources, finance, sales and customer care, in addition to handling customer reservations and other support services activity for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The investment is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.

Making the announcement, the Tánaiste said: “Hertz has successfully operated a European Shared Services Centre from Dublin for over 10 years and the transformation of this facility with the creation of 100 high value new jobs is a welcome step. This expansion will enable the Hertz team in Swords to focus on further enhancing its strategic partners with the business units across EMEA and to grow the operation’s reputation as a centre of excellence for customer care within the group.”

“A high-value transformation of this nature is characteristic of the Government’s ‘Smart Economy’ Strategy and I look forward to working closely with Hertz as it continues to develop and expand its presence in Ireland,” the Tánaiste concluded.

Andrew Varley - Vice President Hertz Europe Service Centre, said: “I am delighted with this announcement and mandate expansion at Hertz in Dublin (Swords). A number of new functions in both Finance expertise and Customer Care and growth elements will be managed from the Shared Services Centre. This will include the establishment of a Best in Class centralised Employee Shared Services Operation for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The new jobs created by these functions will bring total employment in Swords to over 930 jobs.”
“On behalf of Hertz I look forward to this further development and to continue to build on the company's relations with Ireland and the Irish Government.”

Hertz is the world's largest general use car rental company, operating from over 8,000 corporate locations in 145 countries. Hertz is in its 91st year of delivering quality car rental solutions to leisure and corporate customers

Source IDA Ireland - Ireland’s inward investment promotion agency, IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency) is responsible for the attraction and development of foreign investment in Ireland

Looking for Hertz Car Hire in Ireland? Follow this link to carrrentals.co.uk

Good report insurance4carhire on tripadvisor

Came across on the Google alterts. Ireland Forum: Insurance4carhire on tripadvisor

“ Insurance4carhire ”
Mar 01, 2011, 11:30 PM We will be renting a car during our trip in June and I learned about insurance4carhire through post on TA. The rates are great, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience actually submitting a claim with them. Are they easy to deal with and reputable?

1. Re: Insurance4carhire Mar 02, 2011, 7:45 AM Have a look here:
Aug 11, 2010, 6:15 PM
Before leaving for Ireland, we purchased the SCDW through insurance4carhire.com. We had an accident and were charged the deductible (approx $1700) by Murrays/Sixt (don't get me started on the terrible experience we had with them re. the accident and follow up- they were HORRIBLE).

Once we were able to get the accident report from Sixt (a month later- again, don't get me started)- Insurance4carhire wired the money to our bank account within hours of receiving the necessary documents.They were easy to contact, always prompt in their replies, and sent our money very quickly.

When I was researching them I had a hard time finding anyone who had actually had a claim - so wanted to let others know of the good service we received. The only down side is that you must pay the charges ($1700) and wait to be reimbursed. We knew this going in so were prepared - just not expecting the lack of service received from Sixt.

Further comments at: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g186605-i90-k3848844-GOOD_REPORT_Insurance4carhire_com-Dublin_County_Dublin.html

Car Hire and Car Hire Insurance In Daily Telegraph this week

The Daily Telegraph has run an article earlier this week "Car hire: a guide to finding the cheapest rates -Nick Trend explains how to keep down the cost of hiring a car and launches a campaign to find those insurers willing to go the extra mile and minimise their exclusions."

The articles talks of the problems most people experience of booking a car rental and finding essential extras and then added on like car hire excess insurance.

He suggests "One way of getting around the confusion caused by excesses is to buy an independent policy. Several companies now offer these, covering either a single hire or multiple hires over 12 months. You will pay from about £3 a day, or £45 a year, which is generally less than the amounts charged by hire car companies.

Exact rates depend on the countries you are travelling to. Try icarhireinsurance.com; Daily Excess dailyexcess.com and Insurance4carhire ; Questor Insurance; and Worldwide Insure.

These and other companies advertise on the www.insurance4car.rental.com site.

The article itself can be found Here

New insurance option added to Affordable Car Hire

Rental broker Affordable Car Hire has launched an excess cover option with Halo Insurance.

The policy will protect drivers if the car is damaged or stolen, as in these instances clients are deemed liable for the excess on their basic hire policy, often around £1,000. Affordable claims the new option is cheaper than buying insurance at a rental desk when vehicles are collected.

The Supermax policy is offered on Affordable’s website and covers Affordable’s 6,500 locations worldwide. It includes key replacement and lock out protection as standard and covers tyres and windscreens plus the roof and underside of the vehicle. Rates start at £4.50 a day, which Affordable claims is a saving of more than 50% on typical rental company rates.

Affordable is also running a sales promotion throughout March with free upgrades and additional driver offers. Free cancellation is also offered up to 24 hours before rental.

Source Affordable Car Hire March 2nd 2011

iCarhireinsurance.com is a trading name of Halo Insurance Services Limited - Find out more about their car hire excess insurance and van hire excess insurance HERE

Are women in the drivers seat when it comes to van hire?

In the month when the Davies Report is reporting on inequality in the boardroom in the UK, men are still the main renters of vans. This is probably true due to the fact that the majority of vans are driven by men.

Looking at the copy insurance van hire sales generated by www.insurance4vanrental.com via Towergate’s Insuremyvanhire.com for February 2011, out of the sixteen sales only one was for a woman.

We have also found that the majority of daily and annual car hire excess insurance purchases over the last twelve months have been made by men. Is this because there are more male business people travelling and hiring a car, or do these come from the holidays and breaks that people take and the “male” in the household makes the booking and rents and drive when on holidays?

Some car hire excess companies cover all the drivers who are renting the vehicle.

When you take out car hire (van hire or motorhome hire) excess insurance there is no difference in costs for a man or women. Drivers over the age of 75 (to around 85) will have to pay more and this is of course different to the “Gender issue” for car insurance in the UK. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) to ban the use of gender in insurance policies from December 2012 where women in the UK are facing the prospect of higher car insurance. This move will mean that women aged under 25 could see a 25% increase in motor insurance premiums, but men are expected to see a reduction of just 10% in their premiums.

If you are about to move, got a lot of DIY materials to collect or furniture or taking a day trip to France to buy lower price alcohol, find out more about van hire excess insurance at http://www.insurance4vanrental.com

3rd March 2011 - Postscript to this. First van hire excess insurance sale of the month has gone to a female customer. Will there be any more this month?