With foreign travel this summer likely to be subject to restrictions, many of us will end up spending more holiday time than usual nearer to home.
In preparation for things opening up, I thought it would be useful to see what the rules/fees are with hiring a car in Northern Ireland, and driving it across the border in the Republic of Ireland.
Disclaimer: This is correct at time of writing, April 2021, check that the rules / fees haven't changed if you're about to hire a vehicle!
The UGLY
Europcar have the highest fees of the big rental firms. Their website makes it clear that you need their "Europdrive Pack" - which starts at £90 for a 1 day hire, and costs £130 for a week's rental.
With SixT it's also clear - you need to pay a daily fee to take a car you've hired in Northern Ireland across the border. For the smallest cars that I looked at, the fee is £8 a day.
Budget charge a one off fee of £23 to take a car to the Republic of Ireland - irrespective of the duration of your rental period.
The UNCLEAR
I'm not really sure about Enterprise. There's clearly a charge of £125 to take a car hired in "mainland" UK over to the Republic of Ireland, but the wording is unclear whether this also applies to cars hired in Northern Ireland.
The GOOD
With Avis their extra "continental cover" is NOT required when taking a car from Northern Ireland over the border to the south.
Hertz also make it clear that there are no extra fees for taking cars from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland.
Final Hurdle
One extra complication is if you hire your car through an agency or as part of a package, for example with airline tickets. The agency may impose their own terms and conditions, and whilst the car hire company's terms may take precedence, it's probably best to avoid any doubt, and hire directly from the rental firm.
So if you see a good headline rate with Europcar, SixT or Budget ... stop, think, what are the fees!
