We had a brilliant amount of luck even getting the car; when we reserved one online, everything seemed peachy keen, yet when we were about four hours out we phoned and they said there might not be any available. We arrived on the train and walked up just to see a car being returned; great, we have a car! What's this "reservation" system for, then, if we have to be this lucky getting a car?
The car itself was a bit dented, but mostly clean. It ran fine, and got us where we needed to go. It had a spare that worked, since...
We also had the misfortune of popping a tire on the backroads of Ireland; sure, I signed the little waiver that said I was liable for tire damage no matter what. But then they charged us $250 to fix the flat tire. I phoned up a few nearby garages, who all quoted about $15 for a patch, or $70 for a new tire. Only after a scathing email describing all the possible ways they could have fixed the tire and a threat of disputing the charge through our credit card, did they finally reverse most of the charges and only charge us $90.
When we returned the car we noticed another couple complaining about the fact that they had reserved a car and it wasn't actually reserved. In short, use Enterprise; they had brand new cars and a very efficient and safe reservation system. read more