Belfast International - Hire Care Options
Discussion
My son and I are due to attend an Offers Day at Queens Uni in Belfast on 12th April.
Flying into International, no suitable flights to City unless I want to pay £200+ and drive 3 hours at 2am, and looking at trains, buses etc.. it looks like it will be cheaper to hire a car for £20 for the day plus £10 fuel.
Also quicker to get there as we'll have limited time to do everything on the agenda as it is.
Anybody has experience of hiring a car and what's the best/quickest/nearest to the terminal etc...
Don't want to be fathing in a queue for 30 mins
Thanks
Flying into International, no suitable flights to City unless I want to pay £200+ and drive 3 hours at 2am, and looking at trains, buses etc.. it looks like it will be cheaper to hire a car for £20 for the day plus £10 fuel.
Also quicker to get there as we'll have limited time to do everything on the agenda as it is.
Anybody has experience of hiring a car and what's the best/quickest/nearest to the terminal etc...
Don't want to be fathing in a queue for 30 mins
Thanks
We used Sixt, a 10 mins walk from the arrivals exit and have no complaints, they were fine with us returning the car slightly late due to standstill traffic coming back out of Belfast, I think some of the others like Hertz are maybe closer.
Edited by Martyn76 on Wednesday 5th March 13:37
Martyn76 said:
From memory most car hire places are off-site, a 10-15 min walk, we used Sixt and have no complaints, they were fine with us returning the car slightly late due to standstill traffic coming back out of Belfast.
Thanks for that.Just want to get the car as quickly as possible but there's no guarantee that will be possible no matter who I hire with.
Last time I was there (2018) I hired from Budget. The counter is in the terminal and the cars are a short walk away, but the return is a bit odd - you return the car to a building quite a distance from the terminal, sort out the paperwork then get back in the car while one of the staff drives you to the terminal drop-off. Fine for collecting, but make sure you leave plenty of time going back.
They also gave me a “free upgrade” from the Focus I’d booked to a 3 year old diesel Insignia with no unscratched panels, Dublin plates, an expired NCT disc on the windscreen and a km only speedometer.
They also gave me a “free upgrade” from the Focus I’d booked to a 3 year old diesel Insignia with no unscratched panels, Dublin plates, an expired NCT disc on the windscreen and a km only speedometer.
alangla said:
Last time I was there (2018) I hired from Budget. The counter is in the terminal and the cars are a short walk away, but the return is a bit odd - you return the car to a building quite a distance from the terminal, sort out the paperwork then get back in the car while one of the staff drives you to the terminal drop-off. Fine for collecting, but make sure you leave plenty of time going back.
They also gave me a “free upgrade” from the Focus I’d booked to a 3 year old diesel Insignia with no unscratched panels, Dublin plates, an expired NCT disc on the windscreen and a km only speedometer.
Thanks alangla.They also gave me a “free upgrade” from the Focus I’d booked to a 3 year old diesel Insignia with no unscratched panels, Dublin plates, an expired NCT disc on the windscreen and a km only speedometer.
Picking up is when I need it to be hassle free
Our return flight is at 7:30pm so no issue there.
I hired a car there about two weeks ago using Hertz via Ryanair.
Desk was in the arrivals section, paperwork and given the keys then a short 5 min walk to collect the car.
Like you I looked at buses and trains and couldn't make it work - plus a day pass was £16 or the hire car £22 plus a bit of fuel.
Return was simple, hardly looked over the car and gave me a receipt then the 5 min walk back in to the terminal. Was about 5/10 mins late back and they were not bothered either. Deposit was back off my credit card within a week.
If you are on something like the Ryanair flight back at the end of the day it was the last flight and the airport was dead, I was the only one going through security when I got there which was a little unnerving with 10 security bods all watching you trapes up and down the queuing lanes!
ETA just read it is a 7:30 flight back so a little earlier than then the one I had.
Desk was in the arrivals section, paperwork and given the keys then a short 5 min walk to collect the car.
Like you I looked at buses and trains and couldn't make it work - plus a day pass was £16 or the hire car £22 plus a bit of fuel.
Return was simple, hardly looked over the car and gave me a receipt then the 5 min walk back in to the terminal. Was about 5/10 mins late back and they were not bothered either. Deposit was back off my credit card within a week.
If you are on something like the Ryanair flight back at the end of the day it was the last flight and the airport was dead, I was the only one going through security when I got there which was a little unnerving with 10 security bods all watching you trapes up and down the queuing lanes!
ETA just read it is a 7:30 flight back so a little earlier than then the one I had.
I took the same approach and didn't bother with the extra insurance for 1 day and all was fine - which doesn't happen often with my luck!
They took just over £1600 deposit on my card, £1500 for the insurance bit and the rest was based on a tank of fuel at something silly like £4 a L so make sure you return it full, although they were really good at telling me this when I picked the car up.
Haven't rented a car for years but was surprised at how easy it all was, they just needed my driving license and CC deposit, didn't ask for any utility bills etc like the website said they would and as mentioned on return they literally looked at the front of it whilst walking to the drivers seat, checked the fuel level and sent me on my way.= - I did however do a small walk around vid in their carpark when I collected it incase it was needed on return as have heard of people being caught out.
I did also get a DVLA check code before going and no idea if they looked at this when they had my license details but worth doing as it costs nothing.
The whole thing barely added 10 mins either side of my landing and arriving back at the airport to leave.
They took just over £1600 deposit on my card, £1500 for the insurance bit and the rest was based on a tank of fuel at something silly like £4 a L so make sure you return it full, although they were really good at telling me this when I picked the car up.
Haven't rented a car for years but was surprised at how easy it all was, they just needed my driving license and CC deposit, didn't ask for any utility bills etc like the website said they would and as mentioned on return they literally looked at the front of it whilst walking to the drivers seat, checked the fuel level and sent me on my way.= - I did however do a small walk around vid in their carpark when I collected it incase it was needed on return as have heard of people being caught out.
I did also get a DVLA check code before going and no idea if they looked at this when they had my license details but worth doing as it costs nothing.
The whole thing barely added 10 mins either side of my landing and arriving back at the airport to leave.
Like any hire car experience, take some photos of the cars before and after to cover yourself.
In my experience as others have said Oirish and Norn I companies aren't too bothered about damage.
I rented from Kerry airport once, got given the keys, walked 5 mins from the terminal to the car park to find a Toyota covered in mud with every single panel scratched to oblivion as though it had been through a hedge a thousand times. I looked at the damage sheet to find it clean and walked back to the terminal to protest. The clerk was nonchalant and said: "Oh, you've got our managers car" and with that she coloured in the car pictogram with her biro!
In my experience as others have said Oirish and Norn I companies aren't too bothered about damage.
I rented from Kerry airport once, got given the keys, walked 5 mins from the terminal to the car park to find a Toyota covered in mud with every single panel scratched to oblivion as though it had been through a hedge a thousand times. I looked at the damage sheet to find it clean and walked back to the terminal to protest. The clerk was nonchalant and said: "Oh, you've got our managers car" and with that she coloured in the car pictogram with her biro!
Sgt Joe Roberts said:
Belfast traffic is horrendous, the city is a feckin nightmare to drive through. You'll also find parking anywhere near QUB almost impossible. I'd take the airport bus into the city and a taxi to the university.
I was going to ask about parking.There's limited parking on campus but no guarantee.
ETA. Just looked and there are a few Just Park spaces within sensible walking distance for under £10 for the day.
Edited by GreatGranny on Thursday 6th March 09:04
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