CARHIRE.ie Reviews 90

Avoid Europcar ( Carhire.ie ) Dublin Airport! I prepaid for an Economy Hybrid (EDAH) Toyota Yaris Hybrid, but agent JMASUEME lied to my face, claiming a Hyundai i10 (Mini Petrol - MDAN) was a hybrid. This is a double category downgrade and a flat-out lie to save their fleet.

I drove 900 km and spent €35 extra on fuel because of this deception. When I complained, "Alex" from Customer Service offered a laughable €0.60 (sixty cents!) refund. They hide behind "signed contracts" even when those contracts were signed based on their staff's deliberate lies.

Professional scammers. I have initiated a chargeback with my bank and a formal complaint with the CCPC Ireland. Do yourself a favor—rent elsewhere.

Watch out for luggage scam! I was forced arbitrarily without them taking any measurements into a larger vehicle - at over double the original price at the rental desk. I had a small surfboard with me that easily fits inside a Ford Focus requested. The 'upgraded' (Dacia Jogger) car I was forced into was barely larger than the one I had requested and was a bag of nails, broken seat clip so it wouldn't fold down and shuddered on the motorway. AVOID AVOID AVOID.

I arrived to Terminal 2 Dublin Airport to collect pre-booked rental on 3rd Dec. 2025. It was about 23.00 and the desk should have been open according to the information that I'd been given. It was closed with no written notice as to the reason or how to collect the car. I eventually learned that there was a desk in Terminal 1 where I was told that there was a problem with the computer system in Terminal 2 causing the closure. Surely a small notice would have been helpful.

I was given the keys and some very sketchy information as to where I could find the car. After half an hour (it was now midnight) of trying to navigate the car park, I eventually found it.

I dropped the car off at the end of my trip on 9th December 2025 and all was fine, no damage, tank full etc. On checking my credit card statement I realised the the damage deposit of €1800 had been debited. This should have been a hold and not an actual transaction on my cc account. I advised Carhire.ie who advised that the hold had been released. I again wrote to advise that there was a transaction and that it had never been a hold but got the same useless reply that the hold had been released. I wrote more emails but didn't receive replies. So, a month later I'm still waiting for a refund.

Do not use this company, they only want to steal your money.

Update: Today 27th January, I eventually received the return of my €1,800 thanks to a chargeback by my bank.

One of the worst company to hire car with. They took the entire booking amount from me without giving the car. I spoke to them for about 3 hours straight standing in the airport and they just did not give any resolution. Never ever book a car even if they offer for free. And more surprisingly they did not even offer me a refund. So now they took my money and did not even give the car. Never ever book from them

I would strongly advise against renting a car through Europcar Dublin airport. from start to finish this company are dishonest, pushy with its full insurance its employees will do anything to earn their commission by identifying scratch marks on hub cabs and charging the client 215 Euros. The vehicle condition report is not up to date does not include previous damage in order to charge customers fees who do not take out full insurance. Avoid this company at all costs

I was a woman with 2 children renting a car late at night and I was left feeling intimidated and unsafe. I was given the wrong car, they attempted to aggressively upsell, and shut up shop and then left me in the car park in the dark in the wrong car and tried very hard to ignore me. Avoid.
When I returned the car they tried to claim a fuel discrepancy and charged me €700 for a chip in the windscreen.

I booked my trip on kivi.com to Ireland which forwarded me to Carhire to rent a car.
Carhire uses Europcar, I had paid from home, with insurance. But Europcar claims that their cooperation does not apply to insurance.
And I therefore had to pay insurance there of 1,636.98 kr. which I had already paid, then he said (very angry) that I would have to pay tolls if I used it! (very unpleasant man) When I get home they have deducted 966.65 kr in alleged missing refueling of the car!!! THIS IS A PURE SCAM COMPANY, and I demand my 2,603.63 kr back.
Add a scam company.

I had a terrible experience with Centauro Car Rental. After paying for a full week’s rental, they refused to accept my credit card for the deposit. When I asked to change the booking to the other driver’s name so we could use their card, they flat out refused. Because of this, we couldn’t pick up the car at all, even though everything was already paid for. To make matters worse, they also refused to issue a refund.

This company is completely inflexible and shows no interest in helping customers, even in simple situations that could easily be resolved. I was left without a car, out of pocket, and with zero support. I would not recommend Centauro to anyone — avoid them if you don’t want to waste your money and time.

No waiting for check in or check out, good car and in excellent condition (they upgrade my election), helpful staff and good locations in cork and dublin. Everything with Autoeurope, but they were the final supplier and it was smooth and pleasant.

Don't book. This is a scam!! We had booked and payed through booking.com, but when we came to pick up the car they demanded 2x the price we already paid for the car. They gave some bullshit reason, but our friends that booked with another company didn't have any issues at all. We refused and walked out. I called booking.com and luckily they refunded us, but they are not obliged to do that. So be carefull. It is tempting to book from this company because they are cheap but it is a total scam.

These will likely be the cheapest rental cars you'll find on the web, which is why we booked one (like everyone else) for our summer holiday.

They allow their cars to be reserved on Booking.com. Booking.com provides comprehensive insurance, valid in Ireland, at a normal rate. And of course, Carhire will not accept said insurance at the rental desk. And they'll pull out all the stops when you make your case. Like most everyone else's experience, your costs will balloon when you hit the counter (their insurance is ~60 EUR a day).

If you instead book through a reputable company, you'll pay more up front for the car, but experience no lines to pick it up, and that company will (hopefully there are some good ones left) accept the valid insurance that you paid for.

I felt bad for the lad at the desk who has to experience people being angry at him all day for being ripped off.

Very bad experience, massive wait at counter. Over an hour in room full of frustration and unhappy customers.
Company only interested in their profit, so really bad service
I felt sorry for the few staff there, left to cope with room full of frustrated customers.
They know when customers will be arriving. They are booked in advance, so no excuse.

I’ve rented from here a few times and every single time the experience at the airport counter is consistently frustrating. The queue is always long and there is never enough staff at the counter. Various employees wander in and out but apparently the queue is not for them to help or acknowledge.
Clearly paying the price of cheap car hire, by sacrificing my own time and patience - it’s not worth it looking at the other reviews.

Our road trip was from 30th June to 9th July. I prebooked from Autoeurope and choosed carhire.ie which is operated by Europcar. Our flight arrived 9 a.m. Europcar counter there was six customers in line and three customer service agents. Why people don't prebook? Most of the time the customer spent thinking about what they wanted. Anyway we got our confirmation about after 20 minutes without any extra cost. shuttek to car park 20 min and directly to key pickup. We got brant new spotless Renaut Capture (4000 km). My cell phone attached to android auto and right to the road! Returnin the car with no issues, Autoeurope charged afterwads one road toll I wasn't possible to pay in place (8,66 €) One of the best carhiring experience that far even I was quite worried about many bad writings here. In USA my experiences has varied, most horrible was in London couple of years ago (sometimes chepest is worst too). My big recommendations to Carhire & Europcar based my first experience. Best wishes from Finland!

Carhire and Europcar are part of the same group. I've been hiring with Europcar for about 6 years and they are okay, you need to watch costs and the add ons. The guys at the desk mentioned Carhire.ie may be better as cheaper. Please don't touch, when looking to rent i was comparing both, Carhire about 50 EUR cheaper so thought I'd try. I made the booking and when I went to collect the car, I couldn't take it unless I paid for insurance. They said it's compulsory, which i agree with, that I need something. But that wasn;t make clear on the site, anyway had to pay or cancel and I needed the car for work. So it cost me around 100 more than if I'd gone with Europcar. To me it looks scam-like and I said this to the guy, essentially I was making a reservation for a car but would never have been able to drive it. Please avoid.

Absolutely disgusted!!! After an initial quote on booking.com, Carhire wouldn't accept my credit card for insurance. What should have been a 2 week rental for $500, ballooned to $950 with their additional insurance, etc.
I rang to discuss, got cheek from the operator and then they hung up when they got bored of my complaint.

Giving us Irish a bad reputation!

Europcar cardiff took extra insurance money yet I was covered by Trip.com my granddaughter was pushed into it £395.74taken out my account but not authorised

We used ok mobility when in Gran Canaria. When we picked up car, there were scratches on it which the ok mobility rep assured us were all mentioned in the email they sent us when we arrived. Car was not very clean. The worst was to follow. When we returned car, there was no rep at the car park, retuned keys to separate desk and told them all was in order. When we arrived home the following day, our card was charged € 400 for scratches which we didn’t do or were not evident on car. Ok mobility did not even send an email or invoice to state any damage. Do not use this company!

It's unfortunate to see so many bad reviews on Trustpilot for this company. I have used them at least 10 times and have had nothing but great experiences each time. I have always refused the excess insurance and have never been forced into taking out their insurance. The cars are always perfect and returning the car has never been a problem. Just always take plenty of photos when picking up the car, as with any rental car. I find them a lot more reliable and easy to deal with than the other rip-off car hire companies. Just my opinion!

Trust the majority of reviews & the damning fact that this company doesn't respond to reviews, feedback or even customers. Got me with some scam about having booked an exclusive North American offer (despite living in & booking from the UK). Had to pay exorbitant insurance. No other CDW accepted. The only thing they would accept was a bankers draught from a US bank that they would then need 3 days to verify. WTF! This company deserves to go out of business. Do NOT use!