NewWay Car Hire Ireland Reviews 

Misled by staff, scammed on fuel, and given a battered, smelly car. Avoid.**
**Rating:** ⭐☆☆☆☆ (1/5)
Avoid NewWay Car Hire unless you want to be completely misled by staff, hit with astronomical hidden fees, and given a subpar vehicle. I usually use a major operator like Enterprise, but I wanted to support a local Irish business this time. I won’t be making that mistake again.
To start, the vehicle itself was in poor condition. The car was all banged up—which I suppose is to be expected from a rental company that relies on a "full insurance included" model where vehicle care is clearly neglected. To make matters worse, the interior had a distinct, unpleasant smell, like something damp had been left rotting inside it.
But the real insult came with their predatory fuel policy. I rented a 2024 Toyota Corolla Hybrid and returned it 5/8 full. Since the vehicle has a 43-litre tank, it required roughly 16.13 litres to fill. At the local pump price of €1.89/L, the actual petrol cost should have been around €30. Instead, NewWay debited **€70.25** from my account. They effectively charged me **€4.36 per litre**—a massive 130% markup.
The worst part is the outright dishonesty of the staff. When I picked up the vehicle, the counter agent explicitly assured me that if I didn't return it full, they would simply fill it up and charge me the actual cost of the petrol. Then, at drop-off, I was prepared to use the petrol pump located right beside the return yard, but the attendant explicitly told me "not to worry about it."
To be told by yard staff not to worry about filling up, only to be secretly slapped with a €40 premium, is deceitful. I contacted customer care (Ticket ID: 666406) to resolve this, but they refuse to acknowledge how badly their on-site team misinformed me.
Shameful business practices from start to finish. Save yourself the headache, skip the "local" excuse, and stick to a reputable global rental company instead.

Excellent service 💯
Fast collection and drop off
10/10 will use again

Good service, full recommended

The most stress-free, super-smooth, quick and easy car rental ever from booking to picking up the vehicle!!
No need for credit card with extortionate amounts held for excess/deposits.
The inclusive fully comp insurance is absolutely grand. A big thank you to the fantastic staff at the front desk, who took no time at all to get through the process.
Highly recommended!!!

Very transparant way of booking and trustworthy appearance. A bit surprising was the need of info when returning the vehicle. During our more then 1000 km’s we encountered one little stone on our windscreen, due to a truck which came on to us. As such no problem because we are fully insured, but we could have been more specific with our info id we had known the need for this info.

The lack of a huge deposit was a big draw for me that the payment covered everything and all I had to do was return it full of fuel. NewWay are a bit more expensive than the other companies, but Avis etc ask for huge security payments (up to two grand) on a card and that makes me very nervous. Car was fine and perfect for the environment. The cost was only slightly more than you might pay in the UK, so it is all good...

Although the paperwork at the counter took somewhat longer than expected, everything else went smoothly. The car was spotless and in very good condition, and the return process, including handing back the keys, was straightforward and hassle-free.

We should’ve gone with My Irish Cousin. I read all of the reviews and comments about how great New Way was & how they provide exceptional service and support. I firmly believe that none of those people with rave reviews have actually had a situation that required assistance. It was a nightmare. For starters, the signage is poor—at best. There are signs outside of the car park, but there is not a single building sign indicating where to go to pick up the car. We walked around and finally asked at the budget desk. They informed us that we needed to speak with them. Fine. But how were we to know that from what was displayed on the building? We were basically given the keys, told we’d be charged for gas id we didn’t return it full, that was that. The gentleman next to us, an actual Budget customer, received a full set of instructions about tolls, considerations when driving, what to do in an emergency situation, and directions for returning the car. The car itself drove well until it didn’t. We were in Bunowen, Leenane when we encountered the problem. We had been out of the car for about 1.5 hours & when we returned it wouldn’t start. Nothing. Not a whir or a gasp. Nothing. Running low on battery, & in a spot with terrible service, we did what the website says is sooooo easy. We called NewWay for help. We got them at first & explained the problem. Things looked promising—until we were put on hold. And transferred. We got picked up by another rep. Same thing: put on hold & transferred. No one knew what to do or who to connect us with. Eventually someone said they’d reach out to AA, but no one could tell me when/if that was actually going to happen. I finally connected with someone with AA, but she had NO answers. She said I would have to call NewWay, but I’d better do it before 17:00 because they wouldn’t answer after that. It was 16:55. She couldn’t find an agent to dispatch to us. I asked what would happen if no one picked up the call. She didn’t know & wouldn’t defer to anyone to ask. I asked what protocol was if the car wasn’t fixable. Yep. Again. She had no clue & even started becoming defensive. She blamed NewWay, but those are AA-level questions. She should know protocol for her own company. She did not. She transferred us back to NewWay, but guess what? It was 17:01. No one answered and we got sent to… the Budget desk in Dublin. They couldn’t answer the questions either. Instead of finding someone who could, they just transferred us to the Galway office—again. No answers. Nothing. And supremely unhelpful. Thank goodness someone DID pick up the AA dispatch. And that someone was incredibly helpful. He couldn’t get it fixed after his first, and second, and third try, but he gave it one more shot & we were off. No check ins or confirmation at all from NewWay. For all they knew, we were still on the side of the road.

Fast forward to car return. At least we knew where to go this time. And on the return booth, there was a small sign for NewWay. Alas, we were once again dealing with Budget. The return experience was the icing on the cake. It was a disaster. When we arrived, we were initially ignored. Our travel companion who also rented from NewWay piped up and asked for help. She turned in her form & I turned in mine. When she asked for confirmation of receipt, the woman at the counter indicated that my friend hadn’t returned it. She couldn’t find the form that had already been submitted on the messy, chaotic desk. After a few minutes of shuffling, it turned up, but in the meantime, my friend’s integrity was questioned. At the same time, I was told I needed to fill out an accident report for the accident I was in. Dumbfounded, I asked for clarification. She changed her wording and said I needed to report my role in causing the incident that made me call AA. Maybe it’s semantics, but I didn’t call AA. I wasn’t even sure they were going to be called at all—much less? Being asked to identify my role? Are you kidding me? Yeah. I siphoned off battery energy while we went to the sheep farm. She was relentless in her contention that I was at fault.

We signed up for a “speedy, hassle-free” experience,” with “complete peace of mind,” and “24/7 roadside assistance.” We definitely did not spend the time after the breakdown traveling “with confidence.” It was quite the opposite.

New Way is NOT the better way. Either pay the insurance with the traditional car hire services or use My Irish Cousin.

All good.. If I will need renting car again, I choose you again!

Avoid this company.

I prepaid €131 for a 2-day rental and was required to leave a fuel deposit of over €202. On return, the company deducted an entire extra day's rental (€65.50) from that deposit based on an alleged delay of less than one hour.

The problem? Their timestamps do not reflect when I actually had possession of the vehicle.

They claim my rental started at 14:02, but at that time I had only been given paperwork and instructed to take a shuttle to the rental facility. My Google Timeline shows I did not even board the shuttle until around 14:20, and only then could I collect the keys.

On return, I parked the car before 15:00 and have timestamped photos to prove it. Due to a lack of clear instructions, I then had to find the return desk and hand over the keys. Despite this, they treated the key handover time as if I had continued using the vehicle.

So the company charged me for a full extra rental day based on what they themselves say was a delay of less than an hour, while ignoring evidence that I did not actually receive the car at the time they used to start charging me.

Extremely disappointing. It feels less like customer service and more like finding reasons to keep part of a customer's deposit.

I would strongly advise to avoid using NewWay Care Hire at all costs. My recent experience with them completely disrupted my trip, cost me extra money out of pocket and exposed a shocking lack of customer support.
I was handed the keys to a rental car that was not well maintained and had a damaged tire. I tried calling NewWay multiple times across different days and times and they never picked up the phone. Not once. It took over an hour and multiple calls just to get a roadside assistance technician to come out and inspect the car, leaving me stranded for hours. I had to pay for the tire replacement entirely out of my own pocket and research a location on my own with little internet available during travel, wasting both time and money. It has been weeks and NewWay still has not refunded me after sending multiple emails and being approved for such refund when dropping off the car.
This company doesn't care about customer SAFETY, nor following their agreement. You would think after overpaying for all insurances that you would be in safe hands, however, if an issue occurs during your travels, you are left on your own.

I highly recommend using NewWay Car Hire. The entire process was straightforward and hassle-free. There were no surprise fees or additional charges when I picked up the car, and their pricing was fair and competitive. The experience was both convenient and cost-effective. I would definitely use them again.

I booked a car with Newway and it will be the last time doing this. They advertise they are in dublin city centre but they are over 6 km away.
The confirmation email was showing the location next to EPIC so we travelled to this location just to find out that they are not there at all. After calling the office they told me the pickup location.
We had to pay €20 for a taxi to take us there.
When we arrived we complained about this experience and asked if there is anything they can do for us to rectify this error by the company but the line manager has done nothing just telling us to contact the customer service to complain and after few emails they have done nothing.
I would avoid this company at any cost.

Collection and return of car was very easy. Car was clean. Staff at the counter were helpful and friendly

Great prices
No ridiculous deposit
Staff very polite and helpful in dublin
Thoroughly recommended

Very fast very easy all incluses , the car pick up is very easy with a good information and the return is so easy ….. thank you

Absolutely great to be able to rent a car for a whole week, with insurance included, and without having to pay a huge balance on a credit card for it. It's actually much better value and transparent. I had originally booked through my flight app, for another company, but didn't trust the wording of the confirmation email, so I called them and found out I would have to pay 2000 Euro as a deposit. I had rented with New Way before, so I cancelled my booking and booked with them instead.
Their service is really good, very friendly staff when you pick up the car (not so much on return) but overall a good experience. My only small gripe would be that they only put water in the window washer (there is probably good reason for not doing this?) and nothing with a grease solvent so it was sometimes hard to see out the windows as they were not so clean. Otheriwse, everything is seamless, from booking to collecting the car.

Super easy to book a completely stress-free car hire from Alaska, USA! Everything is included, nothing billed at pickup or drop off - no trying to upsell us at counter, which was very refreshing! Our vehicle was nice and comfortable, as well. We had a Suzuki S-Cross and the only negative was it’s a bit big. This made for some anxious moments on very narrow country roads in Northern Ireland. But that was user error and not a fault of the car.

Rent the smaller vehicle you can comfortably fit in with your stuff and you’ll do fine on the smaller roads.

When we come back next summer, NewWay is my first stop when planning. Thank you for your excellent rental policy, kind responses to my query emails, and for the friendly staff upon return.

This is my second time using New Way and both times that experience was seamless. However, I want to give special mention to the wonderful Louise at the Shannon desk, who went out of her way to resolve a distressing issue for me. She was magnificent! I will be back!

All good, professional service. I'm not giving it 5 stars because the car was delivered a few kilometers before its service, and evidently no one checked the oil level. On the second day, the water temperature light came on (orange, not red) and a message saying to check the oil level: it was below the minimum. I had to buy the oil and add the correct amount (but I was reimbursed). I can't be the customer to have to do this, especially with 8 days of driving and a lot of kilometers to do in remote areas of Ireland.