The 8 Best Car Rental Companies at Shannon Airport (2026)

My Irish Cousin is the only car rental company in Ireland with a perfect 5.0-star Google rating — 1,918 reviews and not one of them dragged the score down. At Shannon that record comes with the one fee every international chain demands stripped out entirely: the €1,500–€3,500 credit-card hold is replaced by a €1 pre-authorisation.

The desk is in-terminal on the ground floor with the car in the compound directly outside, and the quote covers collision, theft, third-party, glass, tyres, roadside assistance and tolls — the toll tag is fitted in the car, so the M50 is the only toll you could ever touch and it's already included. With 30+ locations across the island, one-ways and cross-border trips continue at no extra charge.

NewWay brings the same zero-excess, zero-deposit model to Shannon with its own in-terminal desk inside the terminal building — no shuttle, no compound. Tyre and windscreen damage are covered, and cross-border cover is included in the price.

The differences from MIC: tolls aren't included (confirm M50 handling at booking), and the network is smaller — Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Dublin City. A strong 4.3 Trustpilot rating from ~977 reviews backs the service record.

Enterprise at Shannon takes the friendliest deposit structure of the majors: €250 rather than the thousands a hold usually means. The desk is ground-floor with the car a sub-5-minute walk away, after-hours key-drop returns are available, and 7/9-seaters are in the fleet for touring parties.

The excess still applies — €2,000 for Mini/Economy, €2,700 for most cars — and debit-card acceptance is restricted at airport branches. National and Alamo bookings are served from the same counter.

Value Car Rental's meet & greet removes both the rental queue and the shuttle: a representative with a name board collects you from arrivals, with flight-delay monitoring and unlimited mileage included.

The €350 excess is stated upfront — far below the majors' €2,000+, but not zero like MIC and NewWay. One-ways between their Irish locations are free.

Hertz has the widest hours at Shannon — to ~23:30, which genuinely matters for transatlantic arrivals — with one-way rentals supported and Dollar and Thrifty budget options served from the same desk.

The standard excess model applies: €2,000–€3,500 by car group unless you buy Super CDW, and a €250 mandatory deposit. Counter upsells are part of the experience.

Avis at Shannon runs to midnight on peak nights with 24-hour drop-off, and Preferred members park about 100 metres on-site instead of taking the shuttle. Budget and Payless share the desk for lower rates.

The classic excess model applies: €2,000–€4,500 by group unless you buy Super CDW, or a €5,000 hold plus €30 admin if you decline CDW entirely.

Europcar has been operating at Shannon for 30+ years with an in-terminal desk and several budget sub-brands (Keddy, CARHIRE.ie, Irish Car Rentals) for cheaper rates.

Standard excess and pre-auth terms apply — the group table isn't published for Shannon specifically, so confirm your exact figure at booking.

Sixt at Shannon is unusual for the west — its own desk, one of only three Irish airport locations (Dublin, Cork, Shannon) with a premium and EV-leaning fleet.

The trade-off is network: with three Irish locations, one-way options are limited, and the standard Sixt excess model applies without a zero-excess product as standard.