CarHire.ie discriminating against Spaniards … and Irishmen too
I was just having a look today at several car rental websites for a weekend trip out of Dublin when I came across this ‘interesting’ answer in the FAQ at CarHire.ie.
What are your age limits?
23 – 74 years. … snip … The minimum age for holders of Irish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Israeli licences is 30 years.
and also:
Holder of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Israeli licences there is a non waiveable excess of €2,500.
Is this kind of discrimination legal? Why did they throw in Israeli people too? Why not Greeks? Don’t they trust even their own Irish people?!
June 25th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Empresa de alquiler de coches irlandesa discrimina a españoles [EN]…
Una empresa de alquiler de coches en Irlanda exige a los españoles tener como mínimo 30 años para poder alquilar un vehículo, mientras que para la mayoría de las nacionalidades la edad mínima es 23. No solo no se fían de los españoles. En el mi…
June 25th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I guess they’ve seen Spaniards trying to park. Not great for the paint job!!
Disclaimer: I live on Madrid
June 25th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Yeah, I have to admit we are pretty terrible and that that’s probably just based on statistics. But still … a 7 year difference?!
June 25th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Actually, it is illegal to discriminate against other EU countries. So they should apply the same rules as for Irish people. The €2,500 excess is not really enforcible in court. I guess that if you make a big fuss about it, they would treat you better.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Hmmm, it’s almost as if driving standards and regulation vary by administrative region
June 26th, 2009 at 9:51 am
At least with regard to Irish drivers under 30, I expect the Irish car hire industry is taking its lead from the insurance industry. Every time I started nearing the age at which reasonable rates began, up it went again.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I would wager this has almost nothing to do with the hire company and almost everything to do with their insurance broker.
June 26th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Is this kind of discrimination legal? Why did they throw in Portugese people too? Why not Swedes?
June 26th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Have you sen the way Israelis drive??? I have, close up, as a passenger in a car crash…
Same goes for Italians too. It’s just an insurance thing based on relative risks and claim histories, and it is perfectly legal, same goes for gender and medical conditions and anything else the insurer can statistically identify as being a higher risk factor.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Insurances have discriminated this way for ages (using many more, dubious criterias), so why not rental companies ? And these discriminations are based on stats (which, as you know, never lie :p).
As for why those specific nations, italians have a pretty bad reputation, and irish (where I currently live) are apallingly bad on average (even though very polite). No wonder, since you can drive without having a proper licence or having taken classes.
June 26th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
it is called fascism.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:19 am
They aren’t discriminating against people based on their nationality, they’re discriminating based on what qualifications people hold. The statements don’t reference Spanish people or Israeli people, they reference holders of Spanish or Israeli driving licenses.
If you care sufficiently, obtain a license from a different country, one that upholds the standards that CarHire.ie requires.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Apologies for the double comment:
It’s worth noting that Ireland has until quite recently had huge problems with actually making sure that people on the roads had passed any kind of driving test. In 2007, almost half-a-million Irish drivers were on provisional licenses which at that point didn’t require that the driver was accompanied by someone with a full license. The standard of driving has not much improved since then…
June 29th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Swedes don’t wreck as many rented cars. Or English, French, German, Dutch, Americans…. I believe the people from the countries listed do.
Incidentally, the Mediterranean countries listed all have very “macho” cultures = lots of car crashes. (Not sure though about how “macho” Ireland is….)
If you ran a business and certain types of clients kept losing you money, would you keep serving them?
>>>Re: why not Greeks?
Probably not that many of them visit Ireland so far less risk for the car hire co….