Tourist quoted €51,000 for car hire in Ireland for nine days amid ‘shortages’
Chester T. Dean
2 min read
The subject of the cost of living in Ireland saturates the media by the minute and a man’s attempt to hire a car for nine days is the latest story to rile people up.
The tourist, who was due to arrive in Ireland with his family in the coming weeks, wanted to hire a nine-seater car for the duration of his trip so he could see the countryside.
After doing some research online, the anonymous dad received an estimated – and staggering – quote of €51,000 for 9 days.
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His brother-in-law, former Leitrim Cllr John McCartin, spoke to OceanFM earlier today saying the car in question isn’t even worth the weekly sum.
He explained: “He is coming to Ireland and decided to book a car to take him and his family out into the countryside and he was charged something like €51,350 for a car – which he would only have use of. for nine days.
“You could buy the same car for around €45,000, so clearly we recognize that there are supply chain issues and there is a shortage of cars at the moment, but clearly these Companies have a policy of charging the maximum they can get from anyone desperate to use a vehicle.
“The tariffs sought are simply exorbitant and embarrassing for the country.”
He went on to say that he has looked into things and found that it is much cheaper to hire a helicopter in Ireland at the moment than a car.
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“So for the sake of comparison and a bit of divilition, I googled if you could charter a helicopter and found that for around 200 kilometers a day it would be in the region of €3,500, that which is a far cry over nine days from the €51,000 my brother was quoted for using a nine-seater car.
Speaking about the effects this will have on incoming tourists this summer, Mr McCartin said: ‘It’s an annoyance to the country, and it’s an annoyance to our tourist trade and, to be honest, it hurts the future of any business that operates in the tourism industry.
“These people bite their noses to spite their faces, and the message that sends is that Ireland is not a place to visit and that is not the reality.”
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