Do most Irish rental cars have iPod interfaces?

March 5, 2012 6:07 AM

Does the typical rental car in Ireland come with an auxiliary port for an iPod?

So I'm going to be going on an Irish road trip in about three weeks, and I need to book a rental car. I also need to have some good tunes to listen to as I'm driving, preferably from my iPod. Is it pretty par for the course these days for rental cars to have an auxiliary jack for an MP3 player? If not, are there any rental companies where my odds are better? I'm currently looking at the cheapest options available (well, those with automatic transmission), but I'm willing to spend a little more if it means not driving in silence or being at the mercy of Top 40 radio the whole time.

Unrelated to the central question, any suggestions on great places to go for Irish music sessions (particularly in Dublin and Galway, but anywhere else, as well) are also welcome.

posted by FaustianSlip to travel & transportation around Ireland (4 answers total)

I've rented heaps of autos from Europcar in the last years and they've all had line-in connectors. That being said, usually it's a 1/8" jack, although on significant occassion, it's 2 x RCA connectors. Thus, a small travel kit with both cables. So far, we've never been forced to muddle through foreign radio in faux enjoyment, so yeah, I say Europcar.
posted by nickrussell at 6:13 AM on March 5, 2012

Hi FaustianSlip - here's a suggestion for Dublin. Its a decent bar.
posted by kev23f at 8:45 AM on March 5, 2012

We've rented about eight different cars in the last six months here in Ireland and five or six did, but not all. The quality of the stereo varies wildly too, even within similar sized cars from the same company. We generally get the smallest/cheapest or second smallest/cheapest model, and usually rent from an aggregator site (e.g.) so we're asking for a general style of car rather than a specific model. Because of the aggregator we've rented from all the main companies at our airport (Budget, Europcar, Avis, Hertz) and it seemed to be pretty random what we'd get from each. They do all have CD players so we've never been stuck listening to the radio, but I know that's not as useful if you're traveling.

I think if you contact to the rental companies directly and request a car with this feature you should have no problem getting one, particularly since the few automatics available are a lot more expensive than the manuals anyway (so it's not like you're going for the shittiest car on the lot). Ask for a decent stereo while you're there, nothing worse than your favourite music all tinny and sad!
posted by shelleycat at 9:51 AM on March 5, 2012

I rent a car in Ireland for several weeks a summer every other year (my wife is a travel book writer). My experience lines up with everyone else's here: it's a total crap shoot, although it's getting better and better every year. Your best bet is to find the cheapest one you can. I've had GREAT luck booking through http://budget.ie/ (NOT through the American Budget site, which will do the booking for you, but always seems to want to charge me a lot more).

I would contact whatever company is cheapest and just ask. They might not be able to tell you (again, some have it, some don't), but if you ask initially, they might be willing to make sure you get into one with the AUX port.
posted by Betelgeuse at 10:15 AM on March 5, 2012