Located in the North Atlantic, the Republic of Ireland features beautiful landscapes, including hills and cliffs which makes it a popular filming spot for movie shows. Here are some instructions for you to facilitate your driving there.
Driving in Ireland is on the left-hand side. Before you drive on Irish roads, we recommend you to choose a compact car since roads in Ireland - especially those in countryside - tend to be narrow. Do not forget that honking around residential areas from 23:30 to 7:30 is prohibited.
Speed LimitSome general speed limits should be kept in mind while driving. There are speed limits of 31 mph (50 km/h) in built-up areas, 50 mph (80 km/h) for non-national roads, 61 mph (100 km/h) for national roads and 75 mph (120 km/h) in motorways unless signs say otherwise.
Traffic SignsTraffic signs in Ireland can be mainly classified into 3 types: regulatory signs, warning signs and information signs.
Irish regulatory signs are mostly circular and feature red, with some exceptions.
 Stop |  Yield |  Yield (In Irish) |  Max Speed Limit (80 km/h) |  No Overtaking |  Pedestrianized Street |
Warning signs are diamond shaped with a yellow background.
 Slippery Road Ahead |  Series of Bumps or Hollows Ahead |  Level Crossing with Lights and Barriers |  Pedestrian Crossing Ahead |  Deer or Wild Animals |
Irish regulatory signs are mostly rectangular with different background colours.
 Airport Sign |  Advance Sign for Facilities in Lay-bay |
To read more about Irish traffic signs, you can refer to Ireland Traffic Signs Manual 2010.
Seatbelt LawsAll passengers are required to have their seatbelt fastened at all times when the vehicle is moving. Drivers are obliged to make sure passengers under 17 are suitably restrained. Failing to do so can result in a fine of €60 which must be paid within 28 days.
Booster Seat LawsAll children under 17 must be in an appropriate restraint system when they are in a vehicle. Kids under 150cm (4ft and11in) in height or 36kg (79lbs) in weight must sit in correct child restraints that are appropriate to the weight of the child and must be in accordance with EU or UN standards. Rear facing child restraints must not be used in seats protected by an active frontal air-bag.
Parking· Forbidden Parking
You must not park on the following spots:
- Opposite to another vehicle on a narrow road
- At the entrance or exit of a fire station, police station, ambulance station or hospital
- Where you would block other road users' views of a traffic signal or the road ahead
- 15 metres before or 5 metres after pedestrian crossings or traffic lights
- Where parking is forbidden by traffic signs or road markings, as detailed below
- When there is a single yellow line as a road mark with an upright information plate nearby, you must not park during the times shown
- When there are double yellow lines, you are not allowed to park at any time
- Parking spots with a disabled person symbol are only available for people suffering from a disability
· Parking Sign
Permitted and prohibited parking signs in Ireland may specify multiple times, places, durations, restrictions and vehicle categories in a condensed form on a single sign.
 Parking Permitted |  Parking Prohibited |
You may also find this sign with two-way diagonals indicating a specific area must be kept clear during the specified times of the day.
 Clearway |
· Paid Parking
Disc parking and Pay-and-Display parking system are both valid in Ireland. You are most likely to find a solar powered meter for Pay-and-Display, which prices usually range from 80 cent to €2.9 per hour.
Fuel PricesThe average value for Ireland gasoline price during November to December, 2017 is 1.4 Euro, while diesel is 1 cent lower.
TollBoth Irish residents and foreign tourists using a toll road should pay for the fee. There are eleven toll roads in Ireland.
You will need to stop at the toll plaza to pay the tolls either by cash or by card, and 10 of the toll roads in Ireland are equipped with barrier toll plazas except for the M50. To use the M50, you need to pay before 8pm the following day. Failure to do so will result in a fine of €3.00.
If you plan to rent a car and use the toll roads in Ireland, it is advisable for you to rent an electronic tag from the car hire company, enabling an automatic payment of the toll fee directly from your credit card. Please note that electronic tags are subject to availability at the rental desk. If you have any question related to your toll fee billing, feel free to contact QEEQ' 24/7 customer service team for assistance.
DUI LawsIn Ireland, drink driving is a serious offence. The legal limit varies and depends on drivers’ qualifications. Full licenced drivers are not allowed to consume more than the legal alcohol limit which is 50 micrograms per millilitres of blood while professional and learner drivers are limited at 20mg/100ml. Being deemed as drunk driving will result in a two-year ban and a €1,500 fine.
Traffic FinesIf you are caught speeding on the road, you need to pay €80 as a fine and give out 3 penalty points in 28 days. If you miss the deadline, you need to pay €120 in another 28 days. If you still have not proceeded to the payment after 56 days, a court case will be filled against you.
Parking offence will result in a fine from €40 to €80 depending on the situation.
Car hire companies will pass on the driver’s information to the authorities in case of traffic infringement, while the post or email notification enlisting breach details will only be issued by the traffic authority.
Note that the fine usually comes with a service/administration fee as well. It is advisable for you to contact QEEQ' 24/7 customer service team if you have any question on this matter.
Q1.What is an insurance excess？
Q2. How can I add an addtional driver?
Q3.What if I want to pick up or drop off my rental car out of office hours?
Q4. Can I take the hired car to another country or cross border?
Q5. Can I pick up my car at one location and return it at different location?
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Customer Service
March 12, 2025
Destination: Dublin
Friendly and no pressure to upsell.
View moreMarch 1, 2025
Destination: Dublin
Very satisfied.
View moreFebruary 18, 2025
Destination: Cork
Not a smooth and great rental experience. They charged me further for insurance despite everything was fully booked online through qeeq.
View moreFebruary 18, 2025
Destination: Galway
Very good.
View moreFebruary 11, 2025
Destination: Dublin
Excellent! This is the best communication I've had so far, everything was explained very clearly.
View moreFebruary 7, 2025
Destination: Dublin
Satisfied
View moreFebruary 5, 2025
Destination: Dublin
The staff attitude was average. However, the car pickup process involved online signing without a physical contract and no prior notification to inspect the vehicle's condition. Luckily, I took some photos. When I returned the car, they claimed there was a scratch, but it was already there when I picked it up, yet they completely denied it. They wanted us to pay for it. Additionally, on the first day of driving, the tire pressure indicator showed an issue, followed by an oil level warning on the same day.
View moreFebruary 4, 2025
Destination: Dublin
The experience was great, efficient service, clear instructions, and excellent car condition.
View moreJanuary 30, 2025
Destination: Dublin
The car rental location is staffed only during daytime, with a short waiting time. The instructions were fairly clear. However, the return process is self-service and available 24/7.
View moreJanuary 24, 2025
Destination: Dublin
Pretty good
View moreJanuary 15, 2025
Destination: Dublin
There was a Canadian guy in front of me who really tested the patience of the staff but they handled him well. His idiotic questions were the cause of my delay picking up the car.
View moreDecember 30, 2024
Destination: Dublin
One major problem when I picked up the rental car and left the airport I was driving the the motorway and I noticed the bonnet was shuddering so I had to find a place to pull in, the bonnet was on the latch, whoever serviced the car before pick never closed it properly. We were very lucky it didn't fly off on the motorway
View moreDecember 28, 2024
Destination: Shannon
Way Way way too long - every other country it’s about 3-5mins max
View moreDecember 27, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Very good!
View moreDecember 25, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Very friendly and helpful staff.
View moreDecember 25, 2024
Destination: Shannon
Everyone was very helpful.
View moreDecember 23, 2024
Destination: Galway
Everything else was good, but the rental office charged me a fee of 27 euros, and I still don’t understand what it was for.
View moreDecember 17, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Picking up the car felt like opening a mystery box, but I got lucky this time. It was exactly the model I reserved. Even after driving nearly 2,000 kilometers around the island in the Volvo XC60, it felt effortless.
View moreDecember 14, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Stay away from these lads,my first and last time i rent any car of anybody and they try to scam me straight away. Gave me car with chip in windscreen,which i piccked up after half an hour and took a picture of it. After returned car they tried to charge me 560e,but next they they said it's only 160e as it doesn't need to be fully replaced. Them boys should be sacked,dishonest liars and chancers.
View moreDecember 11, 2024
Destination: Dublin
A very terrible car rental experience. The return was scheduled for the early morning of the day we were flying back home. When we arrived at the parking lot to return the car, we discovered the car key battery was dead. We contacted the rental company, but since we needed to catch our flight, we couldn't wait for their staff to fix the issue. The rental company instructed us to take a taxi to return the car key to their office. Since the dead car key battery was their fault, we returned the key and left for our flight. Unexpectedly, they maliciously charged us nearly 300 euros, including towing fees, parking fees, and some inexplicable management fees. This rental company already required an excessively high deposit of 2000 euros, which was unreasonable and seemed designed to facilitate these malicious charges.
View moreDecember 1, 2024
Destination: Kerry
It was ok generally allthough it had more damage on it than was annotated on the forms and we were just told to photograph it and we made a video. The extra insurance we took out to cover damages was very misleading as Eurocar still took an imprint of our credit card in case we damaged it and then we were told we would have to claim it back through the insurance plan. The insurance was very expensive and it feels like you were just trying to make up the cost of the cheap hire by loading the insurance heavily. All this needs to be made a lot clearer and not put in small print.
View moreNovember 14, 2024
Destination: Galway
Very good and trustworthy.
View moreNovember 13, 2024
Destination: Dublin
The car is relatively new, but a $2900 deposit is required if you don't purchase the in-store insurance.
View moreNovember 7, 2024
Destination: Dublin
The process of replacing the car after an accident took a very long time. The car was sitting at the lot, and the replacement car they provided was in poor condition. I don't understand why it took 3-4 hours.
View moreNovember 4, 2024
Destination: Cork
I picked up the rental car at 22:15 in the dark and dropped it to Dublin approx 8:00 also in the dark. I was accused of scratching the car which I did not do. I showed them (Europcar Dublin airport) the cctv footage of the scratch 15 mins after pickup and they said it didnt matter because I didnt make them aware within the 12 hour window. I only had the car in my possession for 10 hours and the Cork office told me I had 24 hours to report any issues. (Cork Airport office was great). My review here does not allow me to choose my score which is wrong. The car was ok and drove well. it had scratches you would expect from a 2 year old rental car with 85,000kms. The issue is that they wanted to charge me $1500 first, then dropped it to $850 and then to $800 for damage I did not do. Even with video proof they still charged me and I am never ever going to use them again. I had insurance through QEEQ which covers me but it is the principle of the thing. The car had many other scratches on it 7 of which were highlighted in the pre inspection paperwork. so you think they have done their job and notated all the scratches. Make sure you take pics even in the dark as they obviously charged other people before me and never repaired the scratches that those people were charged for. I have 25 rentals on QEEQ alone and this is the only time I have been taken advantage of. DO NOT RENT from EUROPCAR. Plenty other decent companies renting in Dublin Airport. Hertz Dollar Trifty Alamo Budget Avis have all treated me well recently. I would have scored 5 for Europcar Cork Airport and 0 for Europcar Dublin Airport.
View moreOctober 29, 2024
Destination: Dublin
The staff was quick and responsive, the pick-up and drop-off were efficient, and the location was very easy to find. The car handover process was relatively fast.
View moreOctober 26, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Pickup and drop-off were very fast.
View moreOctober 21, 2024
Destination: Dublin
The store provides a shuttle service; you just need to wait at parking lot 18. The driver, a friendly Black guy, efficiently shuttles customers back and forth, which is quite good. Although the company is not big, it seems busy with quite a few car rentals. They mainly offer small cars, which are convenient given that Dublin's roads are generally narrow.
View moreOctober 19, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Satisfied.
View moreOctober 19, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Satisfied
View moreOctober 8, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Very smooth experience
View moreOctober 8, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Excellent service from a well-established company.
View moreSeptember 27, 2024
Destination: Dublin
It took us 3 cars until we could actually use one. The first one was full of smoke smell and was worse than an ashtray. The second car, we took off the lot, but then 2 km down the road, the low tire pressure warning light came on, so we had to return. Finally we got a third car that was ok. However this entire process took us more than an hour and so used part of our holiday time until we could get a working car.
View moreSeptember 27, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Would be helpful to have info about toll roads.
View moreSeptember 24, 2024
Destination: Dublin
They don't recognize domestic insurance and require persistent communication. A deposit of 2900 euros is needed for one month, which is very time-consuming!
View moreSeptember 16, 2024
Destination: Shannon
Avoid Europcar at all costs; this company is essentially a scam! I rented cars from them in both Ireland and Scotland, and the tactics were the same. When you arrive, the car you booked is never available, and they pressure you to upgrade for an additional fee. Then they inform you that if you use domestic insurance, they’ll require a high deposit at the counter. In my experience, a high deposit overseas always comes with hidden risks, so I had to purchase some insurance at the counter to reduce the excess amount. Later, I realized how crucial it is to avoid unscrupulous rental companies! In Ireland, the excess amount was zero, so when returning the car, they couldn’t find any issues with the vehicle itself. Instead, they claimed my fuel tank wasn’t full and directly charged my credit card for an exorbitant fuel cost and an extra refueling fee! I booked the Irish rental through a platform, and thankfully the platform helped me successfully recover the money—kudos to them! In Edinburgh, I booked the car directly. This time, Europcar was even worse. The minimum excess amount was set at £100, and when returning the car, their inspection was absurdly meticulous. They found a minor blemish on the tire that couldn’t even be captured during a pickup photo. I asked the inspector about it, and he said it shouldn’t be an issue requiring compensation. In a rush to catch my flight to Ireland, I signed off on the report. After returning home, I received an email stating they charged my credit card £380 for damages! I emailed them to dispute the charge and mentioned that the inspector assured me it wouldn’t require compensation. They replied, saying they reviewed all terms and contracts, and insisted I owed the money. I pointed out that my excess amount was £100, and then they responded with, 'Oh, sorry, I missed that; I’ll adjust it for you.' This was clearly a deliberate attempt to exploit foreigners. I find it hard to believe someone assigned to process claims—who claims to have reviewed all terms and conditions—could overlook such a basic detail regarding the excess amount. If you don’t argue carefully, you’ll end up paying way more! Absolutely a shady operation; avoid Europcar at all costs.
View moreSeptember 14, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Satisfied!
View moreSeptember 5, 2024
Destination: Dublin
It's okay. They were very patient and communicated through a translation app. We contacted QEEQ customer service to arrange a later pickup and drop-off.
View moreSeptember 4, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Poor
View moreSeptember 4, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Very satisfied!
View moreSeptember 3, 2024
Destination: Shannon
Europcar was quick and efficient. Two points worth noting though 1. They seem to hold one of the highest deposits compared to theirs we spoke to. 2. They say they are in the airport but it is only their desk there. You take a free shuttle just a short distance to their actual compound. On arrival we waited 10-15 mins for the shuttle but it was immediate on departure. It is also just about a half mile away.
View moreSeptember 3, 2024
Destination: Kerry
Very satisfied
View moreAugust 30, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Very satisfied
View moreAugust 27, 2024
Destination: Dublin
The staff at the store were warm and welcoming. The car was very new and in excellent condition, equipped with features like a rearview camera, adaptive cruise control, and seats that offer both heating and massage functions. On Ireland's narrow country roads, it's unavoidable to occasionally brush against roadside tree branches. The rental company explicitly stated during pickup that such minor scrapes are not considered damage. During the rental period, the left side mirror had a minor collision. I initially planned to claim insurance for it, but the staff member didn't count it as damage.
View moreAugust 25, 2024
Destination: Dublin
The vehicles had high mileage, and almost every car had a musty smell.
View moreAugust 22, 2024
Destination: Knock
Everything was fine
View moreAugust 19, 2024
Destination: Cork
Hidden costs that were not highlighted during the booking process. Had to go back in and resubmit the times for the car drop off even though I clearly gave them during the phone booking process. When I went back in to resubmit I was charged an additional cost for the drop off. Not impressed with the process.
View moreAugust 16, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Very satisfied.
View moreAugust 16, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Super helpful, smooth and wonderful experience! Highly recommend!
View moreAugust 13, 2024
Destination: Dublin
Very satisfied
View more