For a fly & drive vacation in Ireland, earlier this year, I had to
make special arrangements for a rental car with automatic
transmission.
Manual transmission is standard - in more ways than one :-)
... the extra cost for the automatic amounted to almost 1/3
of the total ! Insurance waiver was 1/3 ; rental 1/3.
Stupid little Skoda was "programmed" to shift like a manual
though - causing annooying jerks and delays.
I was glad to have it though - crazy narrow winding roads
provide enough excitement - combined with right-hand-driving
on the wrong side of the road ..
John T.


We went to Ireland two years ago. Quite the scam for rental cars. I
opted for a manual. I didn't reserve a diesel, which cost more, but
that's what Avis gave me which was fine, some sort of Kia SUV. Only a
very limited number of credit cards cover Ireland in terms of insurance,
most exclude a few countries, including Ireland. You have to bring a
letter from the credit card company stating that they provide coverage,
and I expected it to be hard to explain to the credit card company what
I needed, but they instantly understood and seconds later they e-mailed
me the necessary documentation. You still have to pay a small fee to
waive the insurance.
I thought it would be a pain to have to shift with my left hand while
driving on the left, on narrow roads, but it was fine. In fact, I think
that it made me more involved in driving and helped me pay attention.



My credit card limit wasn't high enough !
The rental company wanted about 10 thousand dollars
" reserved " on the card before they waived the huge
deductible - or as they call it excess. It creeped me out,
so I just paid through the nose for their insurance.
My own car insurance covers rentals for North America only.
John T.