County Car Rental

We booked through Car Trawler for a vehicle from County Car Rentals (now called Sixt Rent a Car) at Dublin Airport in May 2012. We paid Car Trawler for the rental with the expectation of paying for airport tax and gasoline on pickup of the car. On arrival at the County Car Rental desk we were advised that we also had to pay for optional Collision Damage coverage. It was more than double the cost of the car! We carry our own insurance for collision damage and have never had a problem with any other rental agency. They refused to accept our coverage and refused to give us the car unless I paid the additional cost. I called Car Trawler from the airport but they would not help. We had no choice but to take the car as we had pre-paid. On arrival at their pickup location off site we were given a very dirty car that was missing a wheel disk. On complaining they agreed to a cleaner vehicle. I would never use either Car Trawler, County Car Rentals or Sixt Car Rentals again.

Before the review, a note about the location. It's kind of hidden in the basement of Terminal 1 with all of the other car hire desks. However, you have to go around the corner, behind the escalator to find the desk.

County Cars has now been taken over by Sixt, and it sounds like they have turned everything completely around. Upon arrival we were greeted by very friendly desk staff. We were a large party, so were renting two cars. However we wanted all of the charges on one credit card, this was no problem. We had pre-paid through economycarhire for the rental costs, but still had to pay for the tank of diesel and SatNav. All the conditions of the pre-paid voucher were honored with no problem, including the free super CDW, free additional driver and reduced rate SatNav. Most places have you return the car with the fuel tank empty, which is why you are paying up front for that.

The staff were great. One must have been new, so she needed a little help, but was very friendly. It took about 15 minutes to get everything sorted, but part of that was the staff explaining everything and answering all the questions we had. Very helpful!

We had to take a shuttle to an off-site location to pick up the cars, but it only took about 15 minutes between waiting for the shuttle and transit to the location. Once we got to the location, we were in the cars and off! The cars were great, very new and in great condition. We each had a Toyota Auris, which was a Group C car, so nothing fancy. No problems at all with the cars, but we did have free roadside assistance included if we had a problem.

Return was fast and simple, just drop off, give them the keys and take the shuttle back to the airport. There were stories about the formerly-owned County Car tacking on extra charges once you arrived home, but it has been a month since we were returned home, and no extra charges at all.

In summary, I would highly recommend County Cars (now Sixt) to anyone going through Dublin. With the new ownership, the company has completely changed from the many horrible reviews on this site, which it received under it's former ownership. The entire experience was nothing less than excellent.

PS: We traveled to the west of Ireland, which is why we hired the cars. However, if you are only staying in Dublin, don't bother with a car. Streets are crowded and parking is scarce, the car would be a huge pain.

I rented a car with "Countycarrentals" from the 16TH to 23 of November. This happen at the Dublin's airport desk. When i arrived at the desk, i asked for an extra insurance. I asked the guy if i could reduce the risks involved, so he present me an extra insurance (Master Cover), he didnt recomend me to get a higher insurance. Then he gave me the keys for a TOYOTA AVENSIS, when i ordered a WOLKSWAGEN GOLF (new one). I didnt go with me to the parking to take a look at the car he just delivered the keys. When i arrived at the car i noticed that the car was in bad shape, it had damages all over the place including scratches, dent in the boot, and a SMALL damage on the WINDSCREEN. I was stupid enough to trust the guy, so i tought that everything was normal. During the rental i had a puncture in the tyre, i was in the middle of the highlands in Connemara moutains, with no phones, it was when i realised the car didnt have the necessary tools for changing a tyre, so i had help from strangers, luckely...

When i returned the car, the same guy who celebrate the contract, tooke a look on the car, whrite down something and tooke a picture. Then he came to me and sayed everything was ok and apolagize for the lack of tools in the car. I DID NOT sign any papers concerning the vehicle condition (not on at the time of rental nor return). He tooke me to the airport an sayed tank you, bye bye.

Now, 15 days latter i received a letter with a picture of the damage Widscreen ( wich i swear to God i didnt do it, i remember the damage when i first entered the car) saying that i will have to pay the damage wich is 460 euros (what a great coincidence)???? I didnt not autorize the payment, i wasnt informed about the damage. This business has contours of scam!!!! The only thing that the insurance didnt covered was tyres and broken glass, this is a big coincidence or a big scam. I already contact a lawyer, and i know my rights! They are taking advantage of my ignorance and naivety. They cannot treat people like this!

I will not stop! I will not rest! Its not about the money but its about justice. This (company) or the employe have no scruples!

I will go to justice if the money is not returned!

I also know that "CarGlass" or a similar company can repair a broken glass (i didnt do it but the damage was MINIMAL) for about 80 to 100 euros. So they are also overcharging for the repair.

• Without prior notice whatsoever almost 600 Euros is withdrawed the customer's credit card account. This happens about a month after the car is delivered.

• County Car Rentals suddenly claim that the car has two dents. The clients have not had any accident with the car and are completely baffled. Furthermore, the car was thoroughly reviewed by County Car Rentals by delivery, and the car found ok!

• County Car Rentals uses a unsharp picture where you see nothing as evidence

•County Car Rentals will not inform whether it is normal procedure, without prior notice and without consulting the client, to withdraw extra money from the customer's credit card account.

NOTE: The car was hired through arguscarhire.com. - They refuse to remove County Car Hire. (Do they split the money?)

I rented from county, being Irish myself I wanted to put some business to my compatriots. More fool me.

Like many other people who rented from County, there are few complaints about the vehicles, all the problems seem to arise in the customer care and checking out process and charges to customers.

I brought the car back to Dublin, to the depot at the airport.I filled the car just before the M50 motorway, approx 15 motorway miles from my destination. On arrival at the depot I found the office closed and a member of staff refused to take the car, citing office closure times.I then drove a mile back to the Clarion hotel where the secondary drop off point was.

We photographed the car , inside and out for future reference's.But we forgot to photo the dash instruments.

I returned to the UK.Two weeks later I get my credit card bill with a charge of e15.95 for fuel. County charged for 10.3 litres of fuel at e1.55. They stated that I used this fuel in 15 miles ...........what a crock.

I am now in the process of raising a criminal complaint against County for fraud, through the Irish Police (Garda) .........no doubt I am the tip of the Iceberg, if you wish to join in my compalints , then contact the Garda fraud squad at [email protected] , Be clear about your complaint, and push for an investigation via the Criminal Assets beureau (CAB).

County Cars are the largest independently owned rental comapany in Ireland, 6 million tourists visit Ireland, thats a lot of ripped off people.

[email protected]

I rented a car through Argus Renta Car, and it ended up being with County Car Rentals. I thought I was getting a good deal at around $15 USD/day. Instead of pre-purchasing insurance with County, I called my credit card company to see if they covered rental car damage, etc. in case of an accident, and since my credit card does provide it's own rental car insurance, I did not opt to purchase insurance through County. When I arrived at the airport to pick up the car, I was informed that I would have to purchase County's insurance even though my credit card covered it. Since I already pre paid, I went ahead and paid the extra USD $14/day for the insurance and was then informed that they would have to put a hold on 1700 euros on my credit card for damages. I did not have that amount available on my credit card, so they told me that they could lower it to 600 euros if I paid another $14/day. I did not have any other options, so I went ahead and paid it. I wish I would've saved my money and went with another company. During the week I had the car, it went dead and would not crank, so I called the AAA roadside assistance. They came out and the guy said it was probably a bad connection between the cables and the battery, so he cleaned them, jumped the car off, and it was fine. Now, a month later, I am being charged over $200 for the roadside assistance because County is saying that I was at fault for the dead battery. I am in the process of trying to dispute the charge, but I don't know how it will turn out. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY!! I would give zero stars for County Car Rental if I could.

Like so many others in this list of reviews, I too was told that I had damaged the vehicle and was charged 578.85 Euro for the repairs. I tried to dispute the charge through my credit card, but to no avail. The car was not what we had reserved and there were several "mandatory" upcharges when we picked it up.

No, I will never use them again.

Hired a car through Rhino Car rental in the UK and they subcontracted to Country Car Rentals at Dublin Airport. Pulled a fast one at the check-in desk by asking me to pay for the fuel and then when the rep had my card in his hand proceeded to take for CDW, I only discovered that it loched 1,100 euro in my a/c- no money for the weekend. The car was no great shakes with scratches and dents. Returned car at 6.00am on 28th Feb- no one to check the car so took photos. This week I received paid invoices for 685.45 for damage to the car for a scratch which took 2 hours to repair at 405 euro labour and 138 euro for the paint. Money taken from my a/c on 18th March 2011. Please, please do not use this firm they are running a scam.

This Rental Car Service is only trying to mask their high price using the low-cost-look. They don't have a clear Terms and Services text, they only have bookings for people >25 years and >5 years of license and their service was poor and not confident people.

We rented a small car that had no major damages. After we returned it County Car claimed we were responsible for a scratch that was not present when we left the car. We'll never book with them again!!!